Are TSO's just fed up with security scares?
#1
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: USA
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Are TSO's just fed up with security scares?
Here's a sticky one for the TSO's to reflect upon...
Earlier today, I saw an event that would give most xenophobic, security obsessed individuals a... well, a woody.
Two gentlemen of middle eastern appearance were consolidating their bags airside. They were a little uncoordinated, loud and didn;t fit in with all the nice mainstream ladies and gentlemen sitting at the gate. Their repacking exercise ended with them placing a rollaboard bag (presumably broken) on a trash can at the gate and leaving. As the TSA checkpoint was less than 20 paces away, and I was bored, I decided to have some fun at the TSA's expense and reported the incident. Curiously, the first TSO offered what I believe to be the correct response. "Thanks, we'll get to it when we get to it". For grins, I persevered further by ignoring his response and asking his colleague if he felt safe after what I told his "friend", and whether or not he would feel foolish if something bad were in fact to occur and it later emerged that both he and tubby here had ignored my warning. He informed me that he was about to take a break but that if I could spare a moment he would like me to report what I saw to his supervisor. I told him that since it obviously wasn't a priority, I was going to leave, and that if his supervisor wanted to talk, he could come and find me in the President's Club.
He never did.
So what's the deal? Are TSO's just tired of the false alarms, or were these two just lazy?
Earlier today, I saw an event that would give most xenophobic, security obsessed individuals a... well, a woody.
Two gentlemen of middle eastern appearance were consolidating their bags airside. They were a little uncoordinated, loud and didn;t fit in with all the nice mainstream ladies and gentlemen sitting at the gate. Their repacking exercise ended with them placing a rollaboard bag (presumably broken) on a trash can at the gate and leaving. As the TSA checkpoint was less than 20 paces away, and I was bored, I decided to have some fun at the TSA's expense and reported the incident. Curiously, the first TSO offered what I believe to be the correct response. "Thanks, we'll get to it when we get to it". For grins, I persevered further by ignoring his response and asking his colleague if he felt safe after what I told his "friend", and whether or not he would feel foolish if something bad were in fact to occur and it later emerged that both he and tubby here had ignored my warning. He informed me that he was about to take a break but that if I could spare a moment he would like me to report what I saw to his supervisor. I told him that since it obviously wasn't a priority, I was going to leave, and that if his supervisor wanted to talk, he could come and find me in the President's Club.
He never did.
So what's the deal? Are TSO's just tired of the false alarms, or were these two just lazy?
#2
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,702
Here's a sticky one for the TSO's to reflect upon...
Earlier today, I saw an event that would give most xenophobic, security obsessed individuals a... well, a woody.
Two gentlemen of middle eastern appearance were consolidating their bags airside. They were a little uncoordinated, loud and didn;t fit in with all the nice mainstream ladies and gentlemen sitting at the gate. Their repacking exercise ended with them placing a rollaboard bag (presumably broken) on a trash can at the gate and leaving. As the TSA checkpoint was less than 20 paces away, and I was bored, I decided to have some fun at the TSA's expense and reported the incident. Curiously, the first TSO offered what I believe to be the correct response. "Thanks, we'll get to it when we get to it". For grins, I persevered further by ignoring his response and asking his colleague if he felt safe after what I told his "friend", and whether or not he would feel foolish if something bad were in fact to occur and it later emerged that both he and tubby here had ignored my warning. He informed me that he was about to take a break but that if I could spare a moment he would like me to report what I saw to his supervisor. I told him that since it obviously wasn't a priority, I was going to leave, and that if his supervisor wanted to talk, he could come and find me in the President's Club.
He never did.
So what's the deal? Are TSO's just tired of the false alarms, or were these two just lazy?
Earlier today, I saw an event that would give most xenophobic, security obsessed individuals a... well, a woody.
Two gentlemen of middle eastern appearance were consolidating their bags airside. They were a little uncoordinated, loud and didn;t fit in with all the nice mainstream ladies and gentlemen sitting at the gate. Their repacking exercise ended with them placing a rollaboard bag (presumably broken) on a trash can at the gate and leaving. As the TSA checkpoint was less than 20 paces away, and I was bored, I decided to have some fun at the TSA's expense and reported the incident. Curiously, the first TSO offered what I believe to be the correct response. "Thanks, we'll get to it when we get to it". For grins, I persevered further by ignoring his response and asking his colleague if he felt safe after what I told his "friend", and whether or not he would feel foolish if something bad were in fact to occur and it later emerged that both he and tubby here had ignored my warning. He informed me that he was about to take a break but that if I could spare a moment he would like me to report what I saw to his supervisor. I told him that since it obviously wasn't a priority, I was going to leave, and that if his supervisor wanted to talk, he could come and find me in the President's Club.
He never did.
So what's the deal? Are TSO's just tired of the false alarms, or were these two just lazy?
But believe it not, people throw away luggage all the time. And the fact that you made racial comments and made a decision to conduct yourself based upon racial prejudices, does not mean everyone acts as you. Apparently those 2 TSO have higher standards than you and could care less about the color of someones skin.
So a passenger threw away some luggage; so what?
Edit: I wonder....you said the first TSO gave what you thought was the proper response, yet you still felt compelled to insult him here. You seem to have issues, friend.
#3
Join Date: May 2003
Location: At This Point, Only G*d Knows!
Posts: 3,467
I have a sense that many TSA officers are not thrilled with their employer and are simply doing a job to earn an income.
The other day, I opted out of the WBI and during my pat down the officer volunteered that he does not blame me one iota for opting out and he recently opted out himself when flying to visit his son and daughter in law. I asked what he though of the TSA security theater and he said that he does not approve of some tactics and procedures of the TSA especially the liquid restrictions, but he and his fellow officers are fairly powerless to do anything about it. It is up to the suits in Washington (his words) and they seem to feel that it is necessary.
This officer gave me the impression that he does his job, enforces the rules, but does not approve of at least some of rules that the TSA has set in place. I thanked him for his candor and wandered off to the DL SkyClub, but I was struck by something, TSA officers like the gentleman that patted me down are not objectionable in the slightest, it is the self empowered "terrorist hunters" that so many TSA employees fill the role of that makes the TSA experience very objectionable (and probably the reason for so much of the vitriolic posts in this forum).
I can look past many of the stupid rules, heck my employer has stupid rules, but it is the front line employees (rank and file) that set the tone and when I am greeted with rudeness and disdain, belief that I am guilty simply by showing up to the checkpoint and outright displeasure when I exercise my rights as a citizens of the USA, I am reminded of why I dislike the TSA.
Clearly, there are some rational TSA officers out there, they did not totally freak out when you reported the abandoned bag, this is a good thing. I recently witnessed a BAO (Bomb Appraisal Officer) completely loose it at my home airport when he encountered a bag that he suspected of being abandoned.
In reality, the gentleman had placed his bag a few feet from the urinal, but that did not stop the BAO from reprimanding this guy about the dangers of abandoned bags and how terrorists would love nothing more than finding an abandoned bag and using it to harm the USA(his words exactly).
My point, TSA has way too many "terrorist hunters" and are generally way to suspicious of the average law abiding citizen. The truth, IMHO, the TSA keeps the honest people honest. If a bad person wants to do something bad they are going to find a way to do it.
Dan
The other day, I opted out of the WBI and during my pat down the officer volunteered that he does not blame me one iota for opting out and he recently opted out himself when flying to visit his son and daughter in law. I asked what he though of the TSA security theater and he said that he does not approve of some tactics and procedures of the TSA especially the liquid restrictions, but he and his fellow officers are fairly powerless to do anything about it. It is up to the suits in Washington (his words) and they seem to feel that it is necessary.
This officer gave me the impression that he does his job, enforces the rules, but does not approve of at least some of rules that the TSA has set in place. I thanked him for his candor and wandered off to the DL SkyClub, but I was struck by something, TSA officers like the gentleman that patted me down are not objectionable in the slightest, it is the self empowered "terrorist hunters" that so many TSA employees fill the role of that makes the TSA experience very objectionable (and probably the reason for so much of the vitriolic posts in this forum).
I can look past many of the stupid rules, heck my employer has stupid rules, but it is the front line employees (rank and file) that set the tone and when I am greeted with rudeness and disdain, belief that I am guilty simply by showing up to the checkpoint and outright displeasure when I exercise my rights as a citizens of the USA, I am reminded of why I dislike the TSA.
Clearly, there are some rational TSA officers out there, they did not totally freak out when you reported the abandoned bag, this is a good thing. I recently witnessed a BAO (Bomb Appraisal Officer) completely loose it at my home airport when he encountered a bag that he suspected of being abandoned.
In reality, the gentleman had placed his bag a few feet from the urinal, but that did not stop the BAO from reprimanding this guy about the dangers of abandoned bags and how terrorists would love nothing more than finding an abandoned bag and using it to harm the USA(his words exactly).
My point, TSA has way too many "terrorist hunters" and are generally way to suspicious of the average law abiding citizen. The truth, IMHO, the TSA keeps the honest people honest. If a bad person wants to do something bad they are going to find a way to do it.
Dan
Last edited by dan1431; Aug 3, 2010 at 11:51 am Reason: Fixed a few errors (grammer spelling, etc)
#5
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#6
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I'm glad these two TSOs didn't overreact, and as an academic matter, you performed a nice experiment. Did you mention the perceived ethnicity of the men or their loudness?
For myself, given the culture of paranoia, I would never report anything to any TSO or LEO unless I genuinely believed there to be an imminent threat, in which case I would only report it after I had removed myself and anyone I cared about from the vicinity of the threat.
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#8
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 3,702
IMO you were fortunate that your actions did not trigger a terminal dump, bomb-squad-callout, and discomboobulation of the empty luggage and trash can, and multi-hour interrogation of yourself by TSA and law enforcement. Since you're more than experienced enough here at FT and as a frequent traveler to know that, I assume that you were prepared to deal with the potential delays that could have triggered and that part of your being "bored" was that you just didn't have anything you needed to do that day.
I'm glad these two TSOs didn't overreact, and as an academic matter, you performed a nice experiment. Did you mention the perceived ethnicity of the men or their loudness?
For myself, given the culture of paranoia, I would never report anything to any TSO or LEO unless I genuinely believed there to be an imminent threat, in which case I would only report it after I had removed myself and anyone I cared about from the vicinity of the threat.
I'm glad these two TSOs didn't overreact, and as an academic matter, you performed a nice experiment. Did you mention the perceived ethnicity of the men or their loudness?
For myself, given the culture of paranoia, I would never report anything to any TSO or LEO unless I genuinely believed there to be an imminent threat, in which case I would only report it after I had removed myself and anyone I cared about from the vicinity of the threat.
But since the airlines began cracking down on luggage, charging just to check in bags, and more enforcement at thr gate for larger bags, I see luggage left in trash cans (or near trash cans) several times a month. It's mire common than you think, and nothing to worry about.
Last edited by SATTSO; Aug 3, 2010 at 9:16 am
#9
Join Date: Apr 2003
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Posts: 1,781
For once I think I might agree with star_world... While it's a cute experiment in nature, it's probably best to let sleeping dogs lie.
What would have happened if you'd hit upon one of the screeners who's actively out to make "the big catch"? It's quite possible that you would have been swept up in things quite quickly... and what would have happened if the story somehow changed to involve you in some sort of "plot" at the checkpoint? At the least you probably would have been looking at some considerable explaining... and most likely not to some tubby TSO as they would have involved real law enforcement at that point.
That's a large part of why it's good policy to simply ignore all situations and not report them, no matter how "out of place" they might seem-- no matter where you find them...
What would have happened if you'd hit upon one of the screeners who's actively out to make "the big catch"? It's quite possible that you would have been swept up in things quite quickly... and what would have happened if the story somehow changed to involve you in some sort of "plot" at the checkpoint? At the least you probably would have been looking at some considerable explaining... and most likely not to some tubby TSO as they would have involved real law enforcement at that point.
That's a large part of why it's good policy to simply ignore all situations and not report them, no matter how "out of place" they might seem-- no matter where you find them...
#10
Join Date: May 2003
Location: At This Point, Only G*d Knows!
Posts: 3,467
For once I think I might agree with star_world... While it's a cute experiment in nature, it's probably best to let sleeping dogs lie.
What would have happened if you'd hit upon one of the screeners who's actively out to make "the big catch"? It's quite possible that you would have been swept up in things quite quickly... and what would have happened if the story somehow changed to involve you in some sort of "plot" at the checkpoint? At the least you probably would have been looking at some considerable explaining... and most likely not to some tubby TSO as they would have involved real law enforcement at that point.
That's a large part of why it's good policy to simply ignore all situations and not report them, no matter how "out of place" they might seem-- no matter where you find them...
What would have happened if you'd hit upon one of the screeners who's actively out to make "the big catch"? It's quite possible that you would have been swept up in things quite quickly... and what would have happened if the story somehow changed to involve you in some sort of "plot" at the checkpoint? At the least you probably would have been looking at some considerable explaining... and most likely not to some tubby TSO as they would have involved real law enforcement at that point.
That's a large part of why it's good policy to simply ignore all situations and not report them, no matter how "out of place" they might seem-- no matter where you find them...
Dan
#12
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 132
I agree entirely. What's weird or bizarre to you might be completely normal and reasonable to me. Besides if a person is truly a threat he will most likely be already known to Big Gov through its rampant use of warrant-less wiretaps.
#13
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#15
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 381
"Here's a sticky one for the TSO's to reflect upon...
Earlier today, I saw an event that would give most xenophobic, security obsessed individuals a... well, a woody.
Two gentlemen of middle eastern appearance were consolidating their bags airside. They were a little uncoordinated, loud and didn;t fit in with all the nice mainstream ladies and gentlemen sitting at the gate. Their repacking exercise ended with them placing a rollaboard bag (presumably broken) on a trash can at the gate and leaving. As the TSA checkpoint was less than 20 paces away, and I was bored, I decided to have some fun at the TSA's expense and reported the incident. Curiously, the first TSO offered what I believe to be the correct response. "Thanks, we'll get to it when we get to it". For grins, I persevered further by ignoring his response and asking his colleague if he felt safe after what I told his "friend", and whether or not he would feel foolish if something bad were in fact to occur and it later emerged that both he and tubby here had ignored my warning. He informed me that he was about to take a break but that if I could spare a moment he would like me to report what I saw to his supervisor. I told him that since it obviously wasn't a priority, I was going to leave, and that if his supervisor wanted to talk, he could come and find me in the President's Club.
He never did.
So what's the deal? Are TSO's just tired of the false alarms, or were these two just lazy?"
Earlier today, I saw an event that would give most xenophobic, security obsessed individuals a... well, a woody.
Two gentlemen of middle eastern appearance were consolidating their bags airside. They were a little uncoordinated, loud and didn;t fit in with all the nice mainstream ladies and gentlemen sitting at the gate. Their repacking exercise ended with them placing a rollaboard bag (presumably broken) on a trash can at the gate and leaving. As the TSA checkpoint was less than 20 paces away, and I was bored, I decided to have some fun at the TSA's expense and reported the incident. Curiously, the first TSO offered what I believe to be the correct response. "Thanks, we'll get to it when we get to it". For grins, I persevered further by ignoring his response and asking his colleague if he felt safe after what I told his "friend", and whether or not he would feel foolish if something bad were in fact to occur and it later emerged that both he and tubby here had ignored my warning. He informed me that he was about to take a break but that if I could spare a moment he would like me to report what I saw to his supervisor. I told him that since it obviously wasn't a priority, I was going to leave, and that if his supervisor wanted to talk, he could come and find me in the President's Club.
He never did.
So what's the deal? Are TSO's just tired of the false alarms, or were these two just lazy?"
You might actually save some lives by your persistence in reporting an incident. Certainly worth it to me.