carlhaynes

From Alton Brown, the Good Eats guy on FoodTV:

Let me say right up front that I don’t like terrorists. As a youth I was classic bully fodder (fat, slow, nerdy, uncool) so I know terrorism firsthand. And so, when in the wake of 911 the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) was formed, I figured it for a good thing. As a frequent traveler of the skies, I welcomed tighter airport screenings with open arms. But I have now come to fear people wearing TSA badges almost as much as the bullies who used to torture me in grade school. Why? Because they can do anything their small, mean minds want to and there’s nothing you or I can do about it.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS

clrankin

He should have insisted that a supervisor come over for a second ruling. And if that didn't work, he should have insisted that the supervisor's supervisor get his fat lazy butt out there.

This is absolute stupidity at its finest, and this is why the TSA needs to be put on a leash as quickly as possible.

Screeners going wild getting their jollies from taking frying pans away from the public. Screeners stealing cash and electronics when they get the chance (the TSA couldn't even keep one of their own laptops safe). Screeners dumping things out onto tables all over the place without the slightest regard for sensitive electronics. Screeners wand raping people left and right for no apparent reason ("Gee, sir, you didn't want to take your shoes off and walk on our dirty floor? Then go over there and prepare for anal probing.").

Yes, I'm sure that a frying pan could be used as a weapon on board a plane. I'm equally sure that my laptop could be used as a weapon in the same manner. And there are plenty more things-- how about the glasses handed out on most airlines in F after takeoff? And then there's all the sharp pointy objects (like pens, pencils, etc.) that people still manage to get onto the plane. These people need to get a life and start being reasonable about what they confiscate.

swise

Same thing happened to me in SJC.

I received a chef's pan, along with glass lid as a gift while on a trip and decided to carry it on, rather than see the lid get broken in the heaps of checked baggage. I toodled through the TSA's course, tiptoed through the tires, over the wall, swing over the pit, etc, when I was asked to step aside to show what was in my box with the picture of a chef's pan on it. I read the words on the side of the box, slowly, so they would get it, "chef's pan." I pointed to the picture. Then, I opened the box and pulled it out. The TSA boy raises a concerned eyebrow, called over the TSA man, they mumbled to each other and then turned to me. They informed me that it was not a chef's pan -- it was a "bludgeoning device." Good lord! I was apalled and horrified that I had been carrying a bludgeoning device aboard the plane. I nearly bludgeoned myself right there to save the rest of the passengers from me (all 5' and 98 pounds of me) and my device (103 pounds with device, same height). I had become a danger to society.

I made sure to drag out the ordeal as long as possible, taking up as much of the TSA boy's and man's time as I could, explaining first that I didn't have time to check this, that my flight was boarding immenently. After they said that I just couldn't be allowed to board the plane with a bludgeoning device, I told them I had to bring it aboard, because the lid was breakable. We ended up compromising. I had to check the pan, but I could bring the glass lid on board. So I asked them to check it for me. They said, oh no, you have to go back out to the ticket counter and check it in out there. I hemmed and hawed a bit more, expressing my annoyance that they could determine that something needed to be checked, yet they were not equipped to check it, causing someone to have to be screened twice, wasting time, bogging up the lines, and costing all of us money.

So I checked the bludgeoning device, carried on the GLASS LID, and proceeded to my gate, relieved that I was no longer a bludgeoner. Now, all I had was a 10" SHEET OF GLASS in my carryon. I was completely safe. Once settled in at the gate, I looked around at my fellow passengers and noticed a SAXAPHONE being carried on -- as well as a GUITAR. I looked over into the corridor and noticed a custodian's cart sitting there, unattended, with a few BROOM HANDLES poking out of it, along with several spraybottles of chemicals, probably BLEACH, and most likely something with AMONIA in it. I then proceeded to plug in my AC ADAPTER: TWO PIECES OF ELECTRICAL CORD ON EITHER SIDE OF A SQUARE, DENSE HUNK OF PLASTIC. I thought about how glad I was that I would be back home to resume my MARTIAL ARTS training soon with the originator of the combat training currently given to the South Korean Special Forces and Secret Service.

I leaned back in my seat, comforted that our skies were safe, now that the bludgeoning device was beyond my reach. It was a close call!!



[This message has been edited by swise (edited 07-07-2003).]

[This message has been edited by swise (edited 07-07-2003).]

LAX Screener

Great post swise I was chuckling at your wit as well as the stupidity of some of my fellow screeners. I'll point out that the screeners are NOT encouraged to make any decisions on thier own, so that's why so many calls are pushed up to the next supervisor/management level. It's safe to say that all stupid decisions within the TSA are made at the management level.

If you're traveling via LAX with one of those dangerous "chef's pan" again just tape a picture of teddy bear over the pan on the box and give me a wink. I'll let it pass.

CATSA Screener

If you need help dislodging your nose just give us a call.

flowerchild

We all understand what you really wanted to do was smack that TSA guy upside the head.

tsadude

I think that you are a sad and lonely person.

The Unknown Screener

[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tsadude:

Quote:

I think that you are a sad and lonely person.

He most certainly is.



------------------
"Be the inferior of no man, nor be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart." William Saroyan, American Playwright

swise

Not sad and lonely- just frustrated.

We're in the airport at two-four times a week. Occasionally, my boyfriend has to check a Sparc server in a special case that accommodates rackmount computers. Twice TSA has not resecured the latches correctly, leaving the sides that close up vulnerable to coming off while in transport, and twice they have improperly opened and closed the server enclosure, warping the top panel, and nearly breaking the front panel off. Once, they actually re-seated it incorrectly back in the rails of the case, leaving it virtually dangling while in transit!

This is just careless. The machine is not difficult to access, if you look to observe where the fasteners are before prying at the chassis. It doesn't even require a screwdriver. The latches are simpler than many luggage latches.

Even his luggage has been handled poorly during inspection. the latches on it have been re-fastened incorrectly. He has now labelled them "A" and "B", so that TSA won't attempt to latch A to B and B to A, like they have done before.

It reminds me of the old Samsonite commercials. What are they doing down in that basement?

I myself have had cosmetics not sealed back properly, so that the entire contents leaked out everywhere. In this case, they had just been bought, so I lost the whole value of them, about $40 worth, due to carelessness.

But what's more important than the negligent damaging of passengers' property is that it's really all for naught. Someone could come on board a plane in a speedo and take down the aircraft, with the proper training. The only way to guarantee the safety of the airccraft would be to put all passengers in strait jackets when they board, binding their feet to the chairs.

Why do the custodians leave their carts of cleaning implements our in the open, unattended? The items in their cart would not be permitted through the checkpoints if a passenger tried to carry them on.

Just one example of how arbitrary it all is.

I have to prove that I'm not carrying something illegal on a plane every time I fly. This is a violation of Due Process. And yet, those items that are illegal to carry on reside free for the taking just past the gate.

The whole thing is absurd.

An analogy:
How would you feel if every week you were pulled over by a highway patrol officer on your way to work, who informs you that you cannot proceed down the highway unless you allow him to search your car, empty your pockets and get a pat-down? That is exactly what happens to us every week.

What kind of uproar would the country be in if we implemented such a policy, say, in order to fight the "war on drugs"?

LAX Screener

I hope that all the PAX's take a few moments and e-mail or call TSA to report any mis-handleing of your luggage. It probably wouldn't hurt to cc: your congressperson too.

My take is, that at the high level of TSA (the crowd that Loy listens to) they believe that these mishaps are very infrequent. Please take the time to enlightened Loy and Company.