spotnik

I was joking with a coworker today, which led us to question how passengers would react if they knew some of our inside jokes or various quirks of TSA. We also discussed what type of TSO personality passengers prefer to see in TSA work areas. As a result of this conversation, I would actually like to hear some responses to these questions from members of the public, if you all would so indulge me....
What sort of personalities would you like to see in TSA uniformed employees?
What minimum background or qualifications would you like to see in new hires?
What sort of environment would you like to see at checkpoints?

I am particularly interested in what you would do with the current setup, rather than the frequent rants about how some would fire everyone, disband TSA, and jail all TSA employees.

Good Guy

Firm but Fair. When I worked for the BOP that's how we treated thugs, so why not passengers?

jkhuggins

Let me skip the question about background & qualifications, as I'm not really sure what background/training is really appropriate.

As to personalities and environment, I think the answer to both is the same: customer service orientation. Rather than repeat the usual rants, let me try a different approach by drawing an analogy.

We have all been rather dramatically reminded by recent events that the primary job of flight attendants aboard an aircraft is to ensure passenger safety. But, to be honest, 99.99% of all flights don't have any passenger safety issues. Airlines understand this, and so flight attendants also have a secondary job to perform the rest of the time: to see to the needs of the passengers.

The two jobs aren't contradictory; in fact, they can complement one another nicely. When I haven't stowed my luggage properly, the flight attendant doesn't yell at me for not knowing the rules (even though they probably were just announced over the cabin loudspeaker), doesn't publicly embarrass me, and doesn't threaten to kick me off the flight. Instead, I'm simply asked to correct the error --- often with an incredibly simple, apologetic, pleasant, courteous tone of voice. If I'm unable to comply, and the bag has to be gate-checked, the flight attendant is usually extremely apologetic and courteous, even as the rules are enforced. Such a courteous and polite approach makes it much more likely that I will willingly comply with the flight attendant's instructions. And bringing me into compliance creates a safer environment for all concerned.

I tend to think that if TSA was hiring flight attendants, I'd be greeted at the aircraft door with sour (or, at best, bored) looks, the lead flight attendant would be continuously repeating the boarding instructions over and over again on the intercom, and passengers wouldn't get any help in trying to stow their luggage. And during the flight, there wouldn't be anything done to ease tensions aboard the aircraft ... meanwhile, the attendants would spend their entire time wandering up and down the aisle, looking for something amiss to seize upon.

TSA's first job is to help ensure that dangerous materials aren't brought aboard aircraft. But the number of times someone tries to bring contraband aboard an aircraft in a day is dwarfed by the number of perfectly innocent passengers who are just trying to get to their destination. It shouldn't be impossible to have TSA agents who actively help passengers to get through the screening process, without giving up the principle job of screening for dangerous items. Some of this is architectural; having space to re-compose after the screening process, and de-compose(?) prior to screening, would help immensely. But TSA's people can help, as well, by projecting an image of an employee wanting to help, not a government agent looking for enemies.

Scubatooth

How about professional, ethical, use common sense/logic and customer service oriented to start.

As for background well raise the bar considerbly to include college education(similar to many other fields, heck make it a associates at min) requirement and LE background. Also include a pysch eval as that would get rid of alot ofthe power tripping LEO wannabe rifraf.

Spiff

I'd only choose my worst enemies to work for TSA. I'd certainly never wish such a job on people I liked and respected.

RadioGirl

The complaints about TSA at the checkpoint (as opposed to complaints about TSA HQ and policy) come down to a lack of understanding of the needs of airline pax. Over at the TSA blog, comments by people claiming to represent the TSA suggest that they haven't done much (or any!) air travel themselves. The bozo who wants to forbid all carry-ons, for example, has never been on a business trip, travelled with a young child, or taken a flight longer than 45 minutes. TSA screeners who haven't been on a three-segment transcon don't understand why someone would want a (specialized) battery unit for their DVD or gel-packs for breast milk. Comments like "it's only a short flight; you can survive without it" suggest that they don't understand DEN-LAX might connect to LAX-SYD. The so-called alternatives to confiscation assume that I just parked my car at this airport, rather than flying in from a completely different country. And so on.

But I don't like your chances of getting a workforce of ex-road-warriors... And with TSA's current rationale, management and ethos, I agree with Spiff - I wouldn't encourage anyone I respected to work for such an organisation.

ButIsItArt

I am not sure I really notice or care too much about personalities, as it takes all sorts to make a group of persons with varying duties work. I tend to regard TSO's as like sports officials -- mostly unperceived until a foul is committed, then keen to keep the game in order. Firm but fair, like GoodGuy said so well. But I do think conscientiousness is very important, along with an inclination to learn from experience. I like RadioGirl's comment about TSO's trying understand the conditions which frequent business flyers travel. Also, lots of folks take it personally when an LEO pulls them over on a normal Terry stop or writes them up for a traffic infraction. In the same vein, lots of businesspersons have a lot of authority in their enviroments, and are not used to being told what to do. They also have very little tolerance for what they feel is BS. So a good personality for TSO's might be similar to that of cool-headed Citizen Joes: not to take the seemingly aggressive behaviors of businesspersons personally. And yes, lots of successful businesspersons are jackaxxes, and unfortunately their enviroment and success often reinforces their jackaxxitude. They are like that with everyone. And they like to argue and show off how smart or funny they are. I don't know if there is a personality for not taking things personally, but their might be a personality trait where such is more trainable.

Other good personalities might be inclination to be a team player, good judgment in one's abilities and performance, and not needing affirmation of one's work from everyone, but just a few trusted people.

I'd also want someone who doesn't know it all...TSA and DHS are young organizations, and need a lot of good students to mature the orgs, rather than a lot of know-it-alls and their "one step solutions" or sophomoric "10 plus years of experience"

OK, maybe I do notice and care about personalities

Some worldliness and evidence of aptitude for operational performance would be useful. Two year degree, honorable discharge or both. Maybe even minimum scores on one or two of the modules of the ASVAB, or something like it

Efficient, consistent, and professional seem most important to me. Joking around and kidding with each other by TSO's at the checkpoint is not something I like to see. My biggest pet peeve is queue management at or near the WTMD: bags accumulating right at the entrance and exit of the X-ray, trays blocking the exit chutes (though this is often due to clueless pax), lack of coordination between the X-ray screener and the WTMD screener. Just my two cents, but I've often thought TSO's should take charge right at the perimeter, assisting passengers who need it to load up their trays, moving IFF's aside to load up their trays if they are slowing down the line, keeping the exit chute clear of trays and bags, moving stuck bags onto the conveyor belt. Yes, I know it is more housekeeping than security, but it is an important part of keeping the checkpoint well-ordered, efficient, and consistent. If you are serious about the details of order, then pax are more likely to perceive you are serious about mission.

Savage25

But this is the state of most north american airlines, is it not?

Batmanuel

I see too many people that fall under one of two catgories....

Young kids who are just after a paycheck and have no concept of professionalism.

Old people who are just after retirement perks and have no idea how to retain information.

TSA should raise their pay and standards, and make their hiring much more selective.

Spiff

No way, the people who participate in the Shoe Carnival, Liquid Idiocy, ID/BP harassment are already grossly overpaid for destroying others' civil liberties.

whirledtraveler

I don't think the TSA has done enough to hire people with disabilities. In particular, I'd like to see them hire more people who are mute. If they have hired anyone who is mute, I have not seen so in the past eight years.

jkhuggins

Not in my experience. Usually, the flight staff greets me with a smile and a "Good morning/afternoon/evening". While boarding instructions are read on the intercom, it's hardly continuous; it's usually once or twice during the entire boarding process. And attendants are often quite helpful with stowage: helping passengers lift large bags into the overhead bins, looking in surrounding bins for extra space if the closest bin is full, and so on.

And none of those courtesies affect the ability of the flight attendants to ensure my safety in case an emergency arises. In fact, they may actually contribute to my safety.

doober

It's my belief that at a minimum, TSA employees should have an Associate's Degree, at the very least, as well as customer service experience. Further, they should be able to speak English clearly and use proper grammar.

At bit OT, the OP wrote:

Didn't the blog several months ago tout the installation of "recomposure" areas at the end of the checkpoint line? Has anyone seen any of those.

RadioGirl, your comment about the "bozo" who wants to forbid any carry one was right on target. Talk about someone who can't see beyond the nose on his face!

IslandBased

No one at TSA has ever provided the kind of inspiration, leadership, or heroism of Chesley Sullenberger. That is why we are unlikely to see a change in the way TSO's interact with the public...

LoganTSO

I was hoping that this would be about picking FTers to be TSOs..

My choice... would be Spiff, for the hilarity. Working for the organization he despises most.

Anywho, I'd say anyone who's ever worked for an airline or as a security guard would make a good TSO.

Though anyone whosed work in call center would also work since they have to try and make 1,000s of callers daily happy.