birdstrike

You know, I don't think it does. Pre-TSA I've watched passengers berate staff at the ticket counters, staff in the board room, FAs in the air. Not all of them however, and not all the time.

Travel is stressful and somewhat anonymous. Working in a customer-facing position and keeping a pleasant demeanor is stressful.

We all have to strive to be professional, especially when faced with those who are acting unprofessionally.

Someone in a customer-facing position who requires everyone they meet to be pleasant and courteous has an unreasonable expectation about their job.

They do need backup to deal with the outrageously abusive passenger, but I think the merely cranky should get a pass.

FliesWay2Much

I think what we have here is a suicide poster sent from some other web site...

Superguy

Most pax don't go looking for a fight when they go to the checkpoint. Sure, I wear my KHIAH t-shirt thru the checkpoint, but I still comply with the TSO's requests as long as they're reasonable (ie not asking me to drop my pants). My form of peaceful protest ... my point's made that I think what I have to go thru to travel is stupid. A lot of it starts when TSA pulls some assinine regulation out, or pulls out the inconsistency card.

I talked to a guy in front of me boarding a plane about that very thing just yesterday.

Barkers generally set a bad tone for the checkpoint as well. It was a night and day difference between yesterday at BWI with barkers shouting all the time and SLC's quiet yet professional operation. I have yet to have a bad experience screening experience (TSA's idiotic rules excepted, but I'm talking about how it's administered) in SLC since TSA took over as compared to other places like DCA and IAD.

Just because someone's a moderator does not preclude them from having opinions. Moderators are here to ensure that FT's ToS is being adhered to. They're not here to cheerlead any company or organization. There are many subforums here to FT, so one can be a moderator in one forum yet be a regular poster in another.

Super

Superguy

Come on, you throw the grenade and now you're going to leave the party?

Superguy

Thing is, though, it's not just related to travel. Screw up someone's bill or sell someone junk and not want to exchange it and you'll have some pretty pissed off people there too.

I can accept that mistakes happen. It's how it's handled after the mistake is brought to light that determines how I react. Work with me, listen to me, and I'll be pleasant in a bad situation. Try to stonewall me ...

cpx

Its nucular

airboss

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. (Jefferson)

hmmm....isnt this quote from thomas paine??

i never complain about the TSA...i bit*h out simple minded religious types who think they are right....no matter what....guess we have them on both sides dont we !!!!

gj83

That's what trolls do.

The OP did actually hang around for a bit though.

The whole security screening process leaves a lot to be desired. It's not the TSO's fault unless the TSO is obviously out of line. Being a TSO job is probably better than many other options. That does not mean I have to support the TSA or the people who choose to work as a TSO.

Superguy

I had an interesting experience today in SLC, and I think it was quite telling.

Morale really seems to suck within the ranks at TSA. I know we've heard it from folks like Bart before, but hearing it first hand made it a bit more real.

I was on tour with my KHIAH t-shirt the last two days while I was picking up my son from his mom's. I went into Burger King in SLC's terminal 2 to try get my son some breakfast and a few TSO's came up behind me, read my shirt, and talked about how much the job sucked. With the stupidity going on, it was hard for them to take pride in their work. They were tired of trying to do a good job (within their rules) and find it dang near impossible to get a raise.

However, based on the reaction I get to my t-shirt from a lot of TSO's at other airports, this isn't unique to SLC. I saw it at DCA and IAD as well.

Did think I got noticed by a FAM on BWI-SLC yesterday.

Also, a lot of DL employees that read the shirt (pilots, FA's, and airport staff) all agreed. Some of them wouldn't come right out and say it because they felt like they couldn't ("I can't comment on that" but with a big grin on their face). And even some of the regular folks I talked to were getting fed up.

Yes, I think TSA has a lot of idiots in it at all levels. However, with what I've been seeing in the rank and file, and even from the airlines, this organization is much more fundamentally broken than I had previously thought. It really, really needs to be fixed or flushed and rebuilt from scratch.

Super

Taker Park

That's a very good way to put it. I deal with merely cranky all the time and I usually do give them a pass.

I respect that a moderator can voice his or her own opinion, in fact I expect it, but comparing to what I've seen on the site, it was definitely throwing gas onto the fire.

I do think the OP had a point. I'm seeing alot of witch hunting on posts in the TS/S forum and posters generally browbeating others into submission.

Do I enjoy TSA and DHS? No, I don't. Ever since 9/11 my personal and work lives have been thrown into disarray and I find Washington to be very callous and obstinate. Why is some paper pusher in Washington telling me how to do my job when he or she has never done my job a day in their life? Or hasn't done it for the past ten years?

horseguy

Likewise, I fly a little less than you, but in the same neighborhood, and I've yet to run into a bad screener. Indeed, I hobble along with a cane, so I'm generally slowing things up a bit, and TSA people have been nothing but sweethearts and/or professional with me.

VelvetKennedy

A lot of the nonsense seems to be a cultural thing from airport to airport. The experience can vary WIDELY.

For example, the screeners in Austin, TX are for the most part very courteous (even to the point of downright friendly) and they don't bark out orders to you as you wait in line. They smile and thank you and tell you to have a nice day. They will even compliment you when you are particularly efficient and have everything ready to go. Whenever I fly through that airport I feel like they are professionals who are doing their best for my safety.

I just don't understand why screeners in Baltimore, MD have to scream at you the entire time you are in line, make up rules from day to day, order you to remove articles of clothing that would leave you exposed, push your things around roughly (risking laptops falling off the belt), and generally swagger around on a power trip waving bottles of shampoo in the air.

To me, these two airports represent two distinct ends of a spectrum, and there are many versions in between.

To me, the calm, professional ones make me feel safe and confident. The arrogant, screaming ones make me feel like they are more concerned with harassing me than doing their jobs. Which kind do you think I show more respect to?

Any screener who feels they aren't getting enough respect should really take a look at the operation they are working with and try to make a positive impact on the environment. Respectful passengers make it easier to do the job that the screeners are supposed to be doing. Screeners should examine the behaviors they can engage in that foster respect from those they are supposed to be serving.

Superguy

So true. SLC is the same way. Back in the shoe carnival days there, you had a choice of submitting to the carnival or using the puffer and keeping your shoes on. They had someone walking thru the lines, explaining how to use the puffer and asking if you have any questions.

If there's a way to run a TSA operation, I think SLC is how it should be done. The rules may be stupid, but I can at least count on not being harassed.

BWI has always been a mixed bag, but they've always been annoying with the barkers. This was my first time flying thru BWI since the liquid madness (been using IAD and DCA lately but they have the same thing) and it was pretty bad. Like I mentioned, one guy told me he got into it with a supervisor today over a dangerous 4.2 oz item that she triumphantly waved. It was my first time thru the C gates. Usually I fly UA out and head out thru the D gates. Aside from the liquid lunacy, the demeanor appeared to be the same.

I generally agree. While I definitely enjoy the more pleasant operations, I don't feel anymore safe just because they're nice. If the fundamental philosophies behind the screening are ridiculous, it only make the Kabuki show more tolerable.

Super

Timfid

This is almost a definition of unprofessionalism.

gj83

Maybe i've been lucky, but I haven't had an issue with TSA at BWI (Concourse D). FLL on the other hand, I think the xray people sit there an memorize the contents of the bags so they can recall it 20 seconds later or something. I don't like having to stand there for 5 minutes without my shoes on while the guy looks at my backpack back and forth 10 times.