Hygiene standards for screeners
 

I was walking through the screening area at BNA last week and I saw one of the screeners picking his nose. In fairness, he wiped it on his pants, so it wasn't like he was going to touch anything with it, but it was absolutely disgusting. I thought about telling someone, but who would I tell? It was just sick.

I saw a man waiting in line to go through screening picking his butt. Then he sneezed into his hand. I thought about warning the screeners, but then I realized that it would just make me look like an ....

Yeah, I felt the same way, which is why I didn't say anything at the checkpoint. The problem is, that screeners are civil servants. They work for us. There should be some standards. The fact is, they are paid more than McDonald's employees and I've never seen a McDonald's employee doing anything remotely like that.

Congratulations, by the way. This is the first post I've noticed from you that didn't contain some form of ad hominem. ^ Keep it up!

I am merely a reflection of those I post around. If my posts seem ad hominem, the posters in the same thread may want to look in the mirror before pointing at me.

You know, I have a habit of going around to employees in the private sector of companies I do business with and belittling them and their work. You should see what I say about some of those pampered lazy suburban fat asses that couldn't even stand on their own two feet for 8 hours, much less do anything productive!

Surprisingly, they seem to have some kind of attitude about this, instead of just accepting it as their lot in life. I mean, after all, when I buy their product, they work for me, so why would I bother to treat them with respect or dignity? The dirty little serfs!

Yeah, I always pass judgment on a whole group of people whenever I see one person doing something. I assume that it applies to everyone. :rolleyes:

That's a very bad attitude! :td:

I see passengers all the time leaving the restroom without washing their hands. Coughing without covering their mouths etc. From now on, we need sinks and soap at each checkpoint. All passengers must wash their hands before entering the checkpoint. All screeners must wash their hands before screening passengers. :rolleyes: Seriously. This is just another lame attempt of trying to take a jab at the TSA. Nice McDonalds mention by the way. I like how you slipped that one in there.

If you are seriously worried about it, upon being hand wanded or having your bag searched, simply ask the screener to change gloves.

On the other hand, if you're seriously worried about a screener picking his nose, you're in deep doo doo. You should see how filthy the airport food workers etc. are when they come through the checkpoint on their way to work. Now don't go gettin' all Howard Hughes on us. :)

So, you're apologizing for the worker who did this and saying it's okay, then?

By the way, this was not jab, it was a real incident.

One might suggest not throwing rocks to those who live in glass houses, but I believe in certain cases, it would be like trying to teach pigs to sing.

I do, however, suggest a mirror ... some very interesting things might be revealed if one who thrusts mirrors out like some kind of protective fetish against vampires were to be forced to use it upon himself.

Huh? You guys have been acting like petulant, rude two year olds unchecked for years, and this is the best thought you have is that when someone holds up a mirror to your childishness?

Not to mention the multi metaphor pileup that occured in your post. I can only hope no nouns were injured.

My thought is the obvious one.

If you are standing in a field full of thousands of pounds of litter, and exclaim, "Look, a Mc Donalds bag! Those guys are corporate cretins that hate the environment," it may say more about your attitude towards McDonalds than it says about McDonalds.

Does it have to happen to make it a jab? You saw it happen and you thought it would be another great attempt to make the TSA look bad. That's why you posted it.

I think picking your nose and wiping it on your pants is disgusting, but do you think that the TSA is the only place this happens? If I saw an employee doing this, I'd be like, hey man, here's a tissue. Take it easy on your pants.

Wow! You guys deserve each other!!!

The problem in this case is that that same person might soon be handling your undergarments in a bag check... ick. :eek:

The same goes for the McDonalds employee putting together my order, or the person at the cleaners. If the person has to come into contact with others or their personal items, they ought to have better hygene than this TSA employee expressed.

Actually, no. I posted it because I'm curious about whether other forum members have noticed similar things. If they have, then it is the sort of thing that demands action.

I don't think it is the only place that it happens, but frankly, I haven't noticed it elsewhere with people "on the job," have you?

Two reasons I never eat at airport restaurants:

1. It's really all about having a healthier lifestyle; I make my own lunches and pack them with food that's good for me. However, even if I wasn't so concerned about eating the right types of food.....

2. I've seen airport food handlers lack of good hygiene habits: the way they fail to clean their hands after handling certain items before having contact with food; their poor habits at the restrooms; and other personal habits that are far worse than picking ones' nose.

To be fair, it's not everyone who works at the various airport food services; however, it's enough to keep me away from food that's not already pre-packaged or doesn't come from a vending machine.

3. Even if there's an airport employee discount, it's probably too damn expensive to consistently eat at an(y) airport day in and day out.


But just to go on about the topic. I don't see the TSA employees being out of the ordinary when it comes to hygiene. Just like any other human being, I wouldn't want to be caught picking my nose or grabbing for my arse in front of others. There's likely more germs on the railings of the escalators post-checkpoint (at DEN) than elsewhere.

That said, I do ask the TSA to change their gloves if I'm secondaried, only because what any TSAer has touched (through thrid parties) is akin to those escalator railings.

As for healthier, I'll choose the apples in the RCC over any of the food in any airport.

If this were a flight attendant doing this on his/her company's plane while working, it would be posted in that airline's forum. And if you read the airline forums, the tone is a bit more balanced. But it would have been posted there nonetheless.

As for making the TSA look bad, this is a frequent flyer discussion board for travel security. The majority of participatns are frequent flyers. While the general public may think that the TSA is doing a fine job barking shoe removal orders while dressed in crisp white shirts, the attitude on this board is reflective of frequent travellers. It's not surprising there is a disconnect between what FFers think vs. what Ma and Pa Kettle think on the subjects of TSA, security, or any travel related item for that matter.

reminds me of an old Buddy Hacket joke:

A lady at a restaurant is concerned as she notices her waiter constantly picking his butt. She finally asks, "do you have hemmorhoids?"

The waiter responds, "Please, lady....just order what's on the menu."

I can see this in HR 735-2 "After picking your nose you will deposit the booger in bagged waste recepticle and immediately wash your hands before continuing to screen". I hope these people never see who is really cooking at their favorite eatery.

Two things:

Pretty arrogant to refer to the non-frequent flyers as Ma & Pa Kettle (as in country bumpkins who are out of their element), and

I'm a former frequent flyer...I'm willing to bet that I've logged in more miles than most people on this board...and that's not including my time on military aircraft. I've never had this arrogant attitude towards non-frequent flyers. Perhaps it's more accurate to characterize the negative attitudes reflected here as those of a disgruntled few who believe that the whole world should cater to their needs...thus the frequent cyber temper tantrums we see in here. :eek:

Yup, you're right, & then wait for someone like 'Latrice', who claimed to be the supervisor on duty when I was coming thru LAX on 7/18, who immediately came over & started screaching that I was "being rude" to poor little Amber when I insisted on exactly that. Why did I insist on it, you ask? Because, while standing in line waiting to drop my bag @ the CTX machine @ the first class check-in in T4, I watched her partner in swabbing doing exactly what the original poster referred to-sneeze into his hands, pick his nose, & then go right back to rifling thru someone's bag. Mind you, I would have insisted on the glove change regardless, but having seen it happen first hand, it's not a isolated incident.

Bart-you seem very reasonable here, & I sincerely hope you are that way in practice, but you, from your posts here today (& everyone's entitled to a bad day), seem to forget that the majority of your colleagues on the front line do NOT share that trait w/you & THIS is what leads to so many of us feeling the way we do about your agency & the majority of those who work for it. While a number of expose's have porported to examine the hygeine standards of restaurants nationwide, & I'm sure there's truth to much of it as you stated, the difference is that, by & large, those eating in the restaurants don't see it happening in front of them. So, dismissing the behavior described here as nothing worse than what goes on in a restaurant is incredibly narrow-minded of you. Your agency has an incredible PR problem & this kind of thing does nothing to correct it.

For the record, neither I or ANY passenger should ever have to "simply ask", much less insist on a glove change before you or any member of your agency touches me or my belongings, never mind then putting up w/the behavior I did from 'Latrice' because I did just that. Think about it for a minute-if someone decided @ some point that YOU were @ such a risk of picking up something bad from a passenger or his/her belongings that gloves needed to be provided for you, it stands to reason that those same bad things can just as easily end up on me or my belongings unless the dirty gloves are changed from passenger to passenger & bag to bag.

If you look closely, you'll see that channa did not refer to non-frequent flyers as Ma & Pa Kettle, he just referred to Ma & Pa Kettle.

I know what he's talking about. There is a specific group of non-frequent flyers (not all of them) for which flying is a completely other-worldly experience. I stood behind a pair a few weeks ago. They had absolute apoplexy over the automated check-in machine. Sure, not all non-FFs are this way, but I feel pretty confident that many in those shoes think that airport security is just fine because they don't know any better.

You were doing the generalizing, not channa. He was offering a case, you generalized.

You truly believe that the term "Ma & Pa Kettle" is not meant as a derogatory term equal to "country bumpkin"? You truly don't see the arrogance in the use of this term? If that's not the pot calling the kettle black!

No, actually, I do think it is a derogatory term. I just don't think it was intended to be a statement about all non-FFs. Noticing that there are some rural people who aren't quite with modern conveniences isn't arrogance. Arrogance happens when you mix disdain with pride. There are rural people who have derogatory names for urbanites, I wouldn't call that arrogance either.

Let's turn the tables around for a sec.

I wear gloves all the time and change them frequently. I also wash my hands frequently with the handwash antiseptic lotion TSA provides us. I don't think I'm fanatical about it; however, I know that I try to keep my hands as clean as possible and am careful about not touching my face while at work. I especially wash my hands the same way as medical people do (hands, wrists and midway up the forearm) with plenty of soap. Why?

Because many of the bags I have to search are simply disgusting. I didn't use to be so easily disgusted. Keep in mind, I'm a retired paratrooper who has had to live out in the woods on occasion and has slept in, eaten, and otherwise lived under conditions that would make most people puke. Never bothered me before. However, many bags I search are downright filthy. I am dumbfounded at how people pack their things. Some bags have some pretty interesting odors emitting from them while others look like someone just emptied a garbage bag into their luggage. I especially don't understand why people don't pack their toothbrushes in a container or baggie instead of letting the brush have contact with who knows what that's been residing in their toiletry kit (an ideal breeding ground for bacteria since they're mostly always wet or moist). I especially cringe whenever I see food items packed with shoes, dirty clothes or with spillables. Ever hear of tupperware?

At the checkpoint, I am only too happy to change my gloves when someone requests me to. Keep in mind, I already change gloves often enough, but if a passenger asks me to, I do so without a complaint. I've found myself in a couple of situations when I patted down drunk passengers and found out the hard way that they urinated on themselves. Some people don't even bother washing themselves before they go to the airport; and they reek. I've had passengers spit on the floor, blow their snot out of their noses onto the seats, tables and floors, sneeze or cough without covering their mouths and others fart a cloud of death and destruction without the slightest embarrassment or apology. Are all passengers this way? Of course not. I'm just pointing out that from our perspective, we see a lot. To many people, we're non-existent, so they don't have a problem with doing these disgusting things nor do they care that we see them doing these things.

I don't blame a passenger for asking me to change my gloves.

I'm curious, are you a politician? You have a way of twisting and turning words with such ease.

Healthier lifestyle and vending machines :confused:

:D :D :D

Sounds like MY diet plan :(

I HATE it when that happens!!!

They'll try card after card with no luck; when the screen says "please see agent" they keep trying the same card again. Holding up the line for everebody else who "gets it."

Ask them to move? "Well golly! I've been waiting here in this here line all morn-un. I got to gets my tickets! This here convuluted machinerey is malfuncshun-in."

Heh Heh! I love it when they get on the plane and stop at each seat to look at the number. 1.....2.....3.... I am usually stuck behind them. "What seat do you have?" 34 D. "Do you see the pattern here? The numbers go in sequence and then letters across alphabetically. The airlines do not mix the numbers up randomly! Put that second grade education to work!" :rolleyes: Getting off topic huh?

Anyway any screener would be wise to wear gloves on my return trip. Those dirty socks are something else!

No one is arguing the right or appropriatness of you & your staff to wear gloves-in fact, I'd guess that if any of us were in that position & not provided w/them, we'd put up a stink trying to get them. But the problem is, Bart, most of the TSA staff that we come in contact with DO blame the passenger for doing just that-asking for the gloves to be changed. Or for insisting that our bags be relocked when the screening is done. And, of course, heaven help the hapless passenger who actually has the courage to ask where the screener is going w/his or her belongings or what he/she is doing touching down there...

Those screeners need to get a grip. I guess customer service is something that either comes natural or it doesn't. Either I have it naturally or perhaps I have it because I, too, used to be on the other side of the walk-thru as a passenger and try to treat people the way I wanted to be treated. Of course, some passengers are pretty unreasonable and make comments in an attempt to get a rise out of us. But that can happen anywhere. I'm sure waiters and waitresses could write a book on what they've experienced that would be classified as fiction because nobody would want to believe it.

I understand that many folks have negative experiences at other airports...and some even here at SAT.

When I was a contractor screener, we didn't have gloves even though we were supposed to. We either begged, borrowed or stole them from the airlines OR, as often was the case, a couple of us supervisors would chip in and buy boxes of gloves on a weekly basis...but would ask the screeners to wear them as long as possible before exchanging them. TSA keeps us well-stocked and has a policy that encourages screeners to change gloves often.

No one would argue w/you on that, either! :)

sort of off-topic, but every airport that i've gone to, business or pleasure... in the restrooms-business travellers more often than not do not wash their hands.

i mean... c'mon... at least wet your hands and fake it.

sorry for the digression. now back to your scheduled thread.

No, that observation is relevant to this thread. When those disgusting travelers touch their belongings in their carry-on and luggage, they are depositing millions of bacteria and viruses, some more virulent than others. Then, if screeners examine their bags, the screeners will pick up some of those germs on their gloves. If screeners do not change their gloves, they in turn deposit those germs onto the next items they touch, which could be my bags and belongings. This is how some disease like bird flu, SARS, or TB could be spread thanks to TSA.