Flying out of OTH last Friday evening (big time, I know!). Some Kettles carrying various liquids (jelly, I believe) had held up the line, so they were blocking people from the WTMD. I usually won't push my bins through the xray until I know I'm clear to walk through, but for some reason I didn't anticipate how long a delay. So my purse in a bin was already through the xray, as I stood on the incoming side of the WTMD. I said to the TSO..."I don't feel too comfortable with my purse way down there by strangers while I'm waiting here." So another TSO decided that the way to fix that was to bring the bin with my purse back to the incoming side of the belt/xray and placed it on the belt behind the bins of the guy in line behind me. Which means...as I finally was cleared to go through the WTMD, I still ended up on the opposite side from where my purse was, waiting for the man's stuff to clear before they sent my purse and shoes through. ...?

When I commented that there was no need to run my purse through the machine again, another TSO (or maybe the one who moved it) said, "well, maybe they needed to re-check it." I said, "No they didn't, it had already cleared the screener." At this, the TSO who moved it, shot me the look from hell and went and started talking to the LEO, looking and gesturing towards me. I just shook my head, gathered my things, and pretty much muttered what dumbasses they were all the way to the plane.

Anyway...I do realize that I need to not let things go down the belt until I know I can go through the WTMD, but I slipped. They didn't need to move my stuff around, just maybe keep an eye on it so the Kettle kids didn't mess with my purse.

I have to fly out of there a few more times this year. Not sure if I am going to just be slow and inconvenient for them from now on, or just hope they don't recognize me.

I think you out-kettled the kettles.

Why? I don't think that letting my purse get onto the belt ahead of me is that Kettle-ish in this situation...I hadn't noticed that they had stopped letting people through the WTMD while they cleared them, and there were plenty of TSA standing around who could have cleared that family and still let people through the WTMD. I put my purse/bin on the belt and then turned to see a chain across the WTMD. Maybe I should have eyes in the back of my head? Or the TSO could have just offered to scoot my purse/bin away from the Kettle kid. And I certainly didn't ask for them to move it and re-screen it. It was clearly done out of spite.

ouch. I figured people here would be more understanding of this, since we all like to get through security with as little hassle as possible.

Hey, stuff happens. Better to be in control of your belongings than to risk losing something valuable/important. I would have done the same as you did in the same situation.^^

I don’t mean to minimize your frustration with the event but the reaction seems a bit over the top for a situation that lasted for a minute or two.

It seems as if the only thing that would be accomplished by taking a passive-aggressive route your next time through is to slow everyone else in the line down.

Is that kind of behavior going to do anything to make the world a better place? Nope.

Shake it off and forget it.

Ok...that's all fine. I just didn't see any point and thought it an over-reaction on the part of the TSO to completely rescreen my purse and shoes after they had been cleared, thus, slowing me down, as well as the people behind me, who had to wait for my purse and shoes to clear a 2nd time. Someone could have just scooted them away from the Kettles, ya know?

And thought I had a right to question the 2nd screening and the TSO's snotty attitude, when the items had already cleared the first time and were sitting there waiting for me to get through the WTMD. Other people ask/complain about retaliatory behavior on the part of TSA here, I thought I could, too. The re-screening just didn't make any sense.

And I would rather not slow down other people next time I go through there, but would like to irk that TSO if she's there.

You do have a right to question any TSOs attitude...but when for whatever reason i have had a passenger complain they their property was on the inside and they were stuck outside (last time it was becaue we were helping a family with a disabled family member get through the WTMD which basically stopped everything for a minute or two - I also retrieve the passengers property. Not that it would be rescreened, but so that the passenger on the out side could maintain control of their belongings.

However, the TSOs should not have displayed "snotty" attitude toward you. Simple as that.

If your own movement through the WTMD is blocked by others you're not slowing anything down by timing your possessions through the X-Ray to coincide with your meeting them on the other side.

Absolutely. As carybrevard says, just shake it off and forget it. Not a big deal. It's a job, and the poor TSO's are just trying to do it right.

And if you believe ANY of the garbage I just wrote, you DESERVE whatever the TSA decides to do to you next time you line up for them.

Not I, dear folks.

If the OP's purse had disappeared while separated from her, then yes it WOULD be a big deal. A travelers belongings should never be out of view or on the wrong side of the moat. Any attitude from screeners over her concern about her property is totally uncalled for.

So you put your stuff on the belt

Then you complained you were on one side and it was on the other.

Then when they brought it back into your control, you complained about that too.

There was no way for the TSA to win this one. Had they left your stuff down there you would be posting how they didn't allow you control of your stuff. They probably looked at each other and wondered how long it would take to show up in one of those internet blogs.

They must get a kick out of reading stuff like this.

I know I do.

From a kettle point of view, I would of politely asked the man behind me if he wanted to go ahead of me. Then, I would be in line with my purse bin and everyone would be happy.

What would have been so wrong if the screener had turned to the OP and offered to hand her the purse back, explaining that if s/he did it would then need to be rescreened? That would give the OP a choice: leave the purse where it is and pick it up after screening, or be handed the purse and have it rescreened with the rest of her belongings.

It seems that a slight modicum of common sense from the screener rather than an apparently "I'm gonna show her who's boss" attitude would have gone a long way here, especially since the OP's request wasn't unreasonable in the slightest.

While stuff like this isn't going to ever make front page news, it's attitudes like the one that the screener apparently displayed and little "I'm gonna show 'em who's in control" power trips that affect the way everyone else sees, interprets, and interacts with TSA.

+1.

You put your purse through too soon, you told the TSO you weren't "comfortable" with it being there, they bring it back to (presumably) the first empty space on the belt, and you complain that the purse is now back on the same side as you. Seriously - let the guy behind you go ahead and stay with your purse if it matters.

I don't get how this whole thread is related to "attitude" from a TSO - there are plenty of threads that certainly are, and legitimately so, but this doesn't appear to be one of them.

To the OP - when you complained about not being "comfortable" with your purse being on the other side, what outcome were you hoping for - someone to pick it up and hold it in the air at the far side of the WTMD waiting for you to come through, so you could see it clearly?

Your arrogant tone and branding everyone else other than you at the checkpoint as "kettles" is just the finishing touch, especially when you were the one that messed up here