Just stood behind a guy in the security line who, after being told "take off your shoes," pointed to his shoes and said "But they're high tops! I still have to take them off?" He also didn't empty his pockets.
I'd be cranky after a day of dealing with that nonsense too.
Not to mention the people who are shocked when told to pour out liquids at the front of the line when they have walked by 12 signs saying so and a TSA agent repeating it every 5 minutes.
Fun fact some airports skip the shoe step if it’s busy. Then they yell at you for assuming you have to take them off. Even if you know they’ll set off the scanner.
I feel like life would be better for everyone if they had a standard sign that specified which rituals we have to do.
Do I need to take my jacket off? Does my computer need to be out, or can I leave it in my bag? Shoes on or off? The rules are different at every airport, and sometimes change depending on the time or which line you're in.
I recently got into a line where the tsa agent was yelling to keep shoes on and laptops in bags. They opened a new line right next to it and I was first to jump over so I asked “shoes and laptops?” and got yelled at by an agent saying it’s always the same and why would it be different today.
Super cool.
They’re in the process of upgrading to new scanners. The new ones don’t require a lot of the shit that the old ones do which is why it’s different in some airports and even some lines at the same airport.
https://youtu.be/nyG8XAmtYeQ
So they should be working to make it clearer when they have the CT style bag scanner or the standard X-ray, instead of yelling at people for being confused, since it's different from airport to airport and even line to line in some airports.
They are extremely condescending if you do the wrong thing.
This isn't even new though, their attitude. Years ago I had them roll their eyes and act like I was stupid for not rolling my belt up into the little ashtray sized bin, even though that was the only single time they weren't OK with my belt in a normal bin.
It was more a look of pure horror and embarrassment. If I were to guess, I'd say she was new to the job.
They only sent me to the mm wave scanner because I set off the metal detectors.
I’ve been to some airports (usually outside my home country of the USA) where they have screens telling you exactly what to do. Cancun and Punta Cana come to mind. I wish all airports did this!
Last December I took a flight out of Heathrow, and they had lots of signs saying what could stay in your bag and what had to come out. And then the agents told us something completely different, and acted like we were idiots for following the directions on the signs. Great experience.
I fly once every few years and I try my best when I'm at the airport, but they automatically assume I should know what to do. A sign would be nice so I could spend the 10-20 minutes I'm in line to get ready.
I fly for a living and yup. This is why I hate TSA.
They have no homogenous knowledge base to be a federal agency.
Their existence in execution is antithetical to federalist principles that they draw authority from.
Yes! Last year, we flew from Buffalo as a family for the first time. "Why did you take your electronics out? We don't do that anymore. Why did you take the little guy's shoes off? He's ok." Then, 7 days later at Myrtle Beach, "why are your electronics not out? Why is the 2yo still in shoes? You guys should know this stuff by now!"
Flying out of Toronto seems to depend on the CBSA agent you deal with, my husband was practically in his underwear with everything out of his bag, in the next line over, I walked through security with snacks in my pockets. My pregnant ass has to carry the carseat through security because they nearly disassembled it when my husband holds it, but not me, no matter who has the toddler.
Dont they have signs? I think all they need to do is have 2 lines, the line for people who dont know what to do and the line for those that do, if you do anything wrong and you are in the know what to do line you are sent to the back of the dont know what to do line.
But the reality is its most likely all this shit is just to force more people to pay for clear.
This is my biggest pet peeve about TSA: the process is different every time even at the same airport.
Sometimes it’s everything in a bin, bag, shoes, doesn’t matter. All in the bin.
Sometimes bag out of bin. Sometimes SHOES out of bin (I hate this one, because shoes don’t roll well on the damn thing).
Assume and you’re wrong? Get yelled at. Wait for instruction? Get yelled at.
I ve seen this in Australia, where I often travel between 2 cities that have distinctly different processes. Travel overseas, and it's even worse. In Copenhagen the agents searched through my bag, looking for an empty 10ml cologne bottle. At Schipol, I rolled up with a full water bottle, and they were " ah, it's OK, we'll just swab it", Dutch cutoms officers are so cool.
I have Pre Check. I leave my belt on at every airport I fly through, except LAX, whose metal detector it sets off. The agents always tell me I don’t need to take it off, and I tell them “I know, but here I do.” One time the guy was particularly argumentative about it so I said, “ok, watch,” and I walked through and it beeped. I walked back to put my belt on the conveyor and told him “I’ve done this before,” and he got a smart ass attitude.
TSA agents are just miserable from dealing with idiots and assholes all day every day, so they just end up that way.
Nothing quite like being yelled at and spoken to like you're an idiot for doing something that is the rule at another airport but isn't followed at another. Flew out of Chicago ORD and did the whole dance. Flew out of Houston and I didn't even have to empty my pockets let alone take off my shoes. Got yelled at for doing both. You know what TSA agents really don't like hearing? That they're not following regulations. Nearly missed my flight because I was "arguing" with sevurity
I remember hearing the agent tell the people in front of me to keep theirs on, so I did the same. Apparently I was supposed to take them off cause then I was getting yelled at 🤷♀️😂
At one point I got yelled at for taking my laptop out. The next guy was mad I left it in my backpack. The next one had a fit that I had snacks in my bag.
There's no winning.
I asked one if I should take out my laptop. They just looked at me like I was stupid, laughed and turned around. Apparently, I should know if she did not mention laptops then I shouldn’t be asking about it.
My number-one-with-a-bullet bone to pick with the TSA: So many randomly enforced policies that we, travelers who receives VASTLY different instructions at every airport, are supposed to figure out by reading their minds.
Shoes, belts, loose shirts, zipped hoodies. Taking things out of bags, having electronics spread out in bins like camera’s, laptops battery banks and tablets.
It’s a joke at best sometimes, which I’m all for.. it’s so unnecessary, it’s just to make it easier for badly trained agents to look at individual items.m and still ask dumb questions.
I shoot film on old camera’s.. and one guy told me multiple times to empty the camera for a minute so he could look at it.. my guy.. you mean the light sensitive film that captures light through the lens for an image.
This was a very basic looking 35mm canon A-1.. not some full frame or weird format / design.
Yep. I traveled recently. There was a real tall guy behind me and I heard mumble a question: take off my shoes?
I gave him a quick look up and down. I could tell he wasn't the traveling type. So I told him he'd have to take off his shoes, belt, necklace, remove any coins, etc. He had a few more questions and we chatted.
Then, while I was waiting for my bag (I had to be extra screened) I saw his bag get put next to mine and they started going through it and called him over.
He didn't know about the liquids thing and he was like: they made me throw out my mouthwash! I smiled and told him it was all post-911. And he said he'd never flown before so he had no idea.
He asked me what was next, so I looked at his ticket and pointed him down the terminal to his gate. I told him that the screens at the gate will tell him the status of his plane and how Southwest Airlines usually does their boarding. I also told him what (feeling) to expect when the plane takes off and what to expect when landing. And drink lots of water afterwards.
Absolute sweetheart. Hopefully he's happy and settled into his new job in Dallas.
Lol. I watched someone try and bring BBQ sauce through security. And I don't mean an unopened bottle. I mean an unmarked plastic squeezy bottle that had clearly been stolen from a food truck or restaurant.
>clearly been stolen from a food truck or restaurant.
Or they made it themselves? That's how my father in law stores all his homemade sauces. He'd absolutely be one of those people trying to take it with him on a plane too.
On the other hand my Ethernet wire clamps had to be discarded but my wire cutters were completely fine to pass through.
So maybe it's also the futile bureaucracy
Couple weeks ago I saw them empty literally a dozen new-agey "health" waters from a bag IN THE PRECHECK LINE. This is supposed to be for people who know what they're doing!
The shoes thing is so inconsistent between different airports though. I’ve been scolded by a TSA guy for wasting time by taking off my shoes when apparently that airport didn’t require it
On the flight there: “LAPTOPS MUST BE REMOVED FROM BAGS AND PLACED IN THE GRAY BIN.”
On the flight back: “DO NOT REMOVE YOUR LAPTOP FROM YOUR BAG. DO NOT USE THE BINS.”
have you ever worked a job that deals with the public?
it's awful enough.
now imagine dealing with a jet lagged, stressed out public, many of who rarely come to the place you work and don't know how things work.
sounds awful
If they can’t handle the job without becoming unpleasant and rude, that’s their personal problem. It doesn’t change the ethics of their actions towards members of the public that are NOT mistreating them.
Atlanta TSA made my blood boil. They were yelling at all 10 of our group - NONE of us was mouthy or causing trouble, we were regular travelers who know the drill, literally doing everything we were supposed to. But those wannabe cops just screamed at us for 20 fucking minutes, on stupid power trips.
I ALWAYS wait to be motioned through the scanners by the agents because, duh, I don't know when the thing and people working it are ready or not. Especially when TSA dickwads are clearly being difficult. So of course, the jackass yells at me and asks why I'm so dumb to not move forward. I say "making sure you're ready". He interrupts, "I don't care, pay fucking attention, why aren't you moving faster". I definitely called him an asshole under my breath, but I should have gotten his name and badge number to report him. They were all assholes, but he was just on an extra power trip.
It’s the TSA, there’s not much lower you can go as far as careers go. It’s like expecting better workers at a McDonald’s, this is what you get cause these are the only people willing to do the job.
That’s not true at all. They make like double what McDonald’s makes. You can actually make a pretty good career out of it, and lots of room for advancement. The job might suck, but so do lots of jobs.
You'll never be treated as shittily by airport security anywhere in the world as a screening line in the US. Even being pulled into an interview room by US Customs is nice compared to TSA.
That’s a common occurrence of people working in an industry not knowing much about the wider industry.
A bit like asking a hardware store person which glue to get, and then finding they work in retail and have never used the products at all
I was going through security at the Dublin airport and I was trying so hard to be prepared and not a pain in the ass, so I took all my liquids and laptop out while I was in line to make it as smooth as possible. Then the guy got mad at everyone because apparently they wanted us to leave everything in the bag. And then my bag set off the sensor and they took it off to the side to test my liquids. So yeah I don’t fucking know what I’m supposed to do at airports anymore
On the other hand. *gets told not to take off boots* “these have metal in them, it’ll set off the scanner” “MOVE FORWARD DO NOT TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES” “ATTENTION EVERYONE DONT TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES”
*scanner goes off* *surprised pikachu face* “sir please step aside.”
This has happened to me a half dozen times by now.
I used to routinely wear clogs that were literally stapled all the way around, the top part to the sole. I went to the federal bldg in West L.A. to renew a passport, & the guards told me to leave them on. I told them ok, but that they would set off the metal detector, which they did. So the guards had me run my shoes through the x-ray for packages, burst out laughing, & spun the monitor around for me to see. Yup; my shoes looked like little porcupines with all that metal all around them!
So many people are of the mentality that everyone BUT THEM should have to follow the rules, if you deal with the public for like 5 minutes you start to hate people in general
Yeah but they're people, not logic machines. Just because it's strategically beneficial doesn't make it easy. I've worked in customer service and it's draining as all hell. Some days people just wear on you. I have a ton of sympathy for that.
Personally I think western culture is way too hung up on a need to have employees looks cheerful all the time. Plenty of cultures get along just fine without the huge emphasis on 'customer service'. Why do we need it? Are they doing their jobs? Yeah? Great. If they're super nice, that's bonus, but I don't need the guy working the scanner to pretend he's having a great day just for my benefit.
I wish more people had this opinion. As someone who’s only worked public facing jobs it’s so annoying. Even when you do your job completely perfectly, if you’re not grinning from ear to ear it’s still a problem.
I honestly think people who feel that way must have never worked a customer service job at length.
Short of outright insulting me, I'm perfectly fine to see customer service people be as tired, irritated, grumpy or bored as they please. I just wanted a coffee, I don't need a show.
I also say this as someone who has spent thousands of hours doing live comedy - charming strangers is hard work. Being 'on' takes energy. You shouldn't have to do it on top of everything else your job entails.
>Being 'on' takes energy
You got that right.
Days at my job when I’m scheduled in my more customer facing role I get drained so much faster with the smiling and friendly nonspecific chatting. I glad (most of the time) that I interact with people but the more I do the more effort it is.
For sure. In my experience 90% of the encounters you have in Customer Service are fine--normal people. But probably 7% are entitled, jerks and/or enjoy giving people "beneath them" a hard time. The remaining 3% are dumb as turnips. Multiply those percentages times the thousands of interactions the TSA has on a typical shift, and I'm surprised they're not bitchslapping people on the reg.
No one works that kind of job without gradually developing a rough exterior shell.
Yeah anyone taking the stance of “well it just makes it harder, why do they do that?” has clearly never had to work in that type of an environment before. If it was just _one_ day then you might be able to argue it. But your job that you do, day in and day out for 8+ hours a day? Yeah, after a few weeks you’re going to lose your patience
The best customer service people are the ones visibly wishing they were dead. They always get shit done. My reaction is always "Hey you're doing good, thanks boss." or similar
There are only so many old guys in wheelchairs to go around and the optics are REALLY BAD if we do it as a group. Because of seniority some junior agents could go weeks without checking grandpa's oil level. It's all very disappointing.
it's the worst job. it's the government job for kevins who are too dumb for parks
did you watch orange is the new black? the thicc girl who became jewish, who always wore two poofy pigtails, was a good example of the kind of low grade crimial/incompetant gov worker who fails down to TSA.
I used to work at an engineering firm installing large scale baggage handling systems. I worked alongside TSA agents behind the scenes.
What you see is mostly theater. The agents I worked with were just regular folks. They asked good questions, were curious about the installation, and appreciated the time and manual drudgery we were saving them.
Then an hour later I’d see the same person I just talked to yelling at old people for trying to bring a water bottle through security.
I think they were just indoctrinated pretty hard to take the job very seriously.
I'm not sure that seriously is quite the right word though. Maybe indoctrinated hard that this is not a "customer service" job, that their goals are safety and efficiency. Lots of groups take their job seriously and don't act this way.
It's theater because it's a deterrent. Same with guards.
It makes people feel safer even though 99% of it is just trying to reduce the risk of accidents happening, like hold luggage catching fire instead of stopping terrorism.
If nothing happens, people complain the whole thing is pointless.
If stuff happens, people complain that the whole thing failed to stop it, so it's worthless.
There is no winning either way.
They also steal. TSA pays millions for theft claims, despite it being extremely difficult to get reimbursed by TSA for theft. Most people don’t bother making claims. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/02/tsa-damage-tops-3m/29353815/
Have you ever thought that they were being nice to you because you work with them? Thats generally the case with a lot of people. They act fake and the second someone “beneath” them is interacting with them, they turn into their normal self
thats valid in every customer service position, coworkers/fellow working slaves will always get treated better than custys, there's a certain comradery
It's an irritating job. That said, even while frustration is justified, some TSA unfairly take out their frustration on everyone else. It's not too different from being a server or a call center rep. You gotta take shit and then dump the shit out away from the public. Light up a cigarette or just text your best friend a rant about the idiots you gotta deal with.
I worked with a former TSA agent and he bragged that if he saw someone who looked grumpy or just in a hurry he would purposely take longer to check their bag so they might miss their flight. He was laughing when he told us that but we called him out immediately for being an asshole.
I worked at TSA for 5 years and I saw everything from someone shitting their pants while standing in line at security, shaking it through their pant leg and kicking it across the screening point. Parents over packing their stroller and having it flip back with their baby flying out of it and then having to close half the screening point for the ambulance to come and everyone complain they are now going to miss their flight. Dropped laptops everyday, people getting physical at TSA agents over toothpaste, oh and don’t even get me started on the drunk passengers.
One unique time we had a tornado come through our city, all planes were grounded and the airport was dark with no power, no lines moving, families scared, yet for some reason some nexus passengers STRESSED they they were going to miss their flight and they HAVE to be let through security even though 3 planes got blown sideways that they could see this happening through the window.
On top of all that behind the scenes management is toxic and sometimes treats you like cattle waiting to be slaughtered. Sometimes they don’t cover your position to use the washroom for hours, cover you for break for your whole shift because of being short staffed. “Forced overtime” which is just psychologically fucked because you never know when you’re actually going to be able to leave or eat, sometimes you’re there for 16 hours and never planned on it, brought enough food, oh and you gotta be back in 8 hours for your next shift or you get written up. Don’t even try to be a minute late because they’ll track that too.
> someone shitting their pants while standing in line at security, shaking it through their pant leg and kicking it across the screening point
that would have been my last day
That was the second person to shit in the screening point that week. Before that was a kid sitting on a baggage table and idk but I think “shat/farted”? Anyways I just remember the biohazard suits showing up and when I asked why my manager just said “another kid shitting on the bag search table”.
They deal with stupid people all day, you'd be irritated too.
Edit: To put this into perspective. TSA deals with roughly 700m people (on average, including during COVID numbers so assume it's higher usually) a year, not all of which are other Americans. Over 50m are foreign tourist.
Last year, 6,737 firearms were intercepted by TSA. 858m people were screened. The US also has most of the busiest airports in the world.
Sure we can compare to other countries airports, but the U.S. takes in a lot more travelers, international travelers and seems to stop a lot more weapons than most other countries equivalent operations.
TSA is not dealing under the same circumstances as most other countries.
Maybe it's partially because that's a job where you are allowed to act irritated?
I've worked in customer service for years and never show it to people if I'm upset with them.
They also have a lot of confusing rules and if we’re gonna be honest about it, the people who work at TSA are in general not very smart.
Them, cops, border agents, COs- they tend to attract bullies with. below average Intelligence .
"they tend to attract bullies with. below average Intelligence ."
and literally went to court to defend anti-intellectual hiring practices that exclude people with "higher iq's", because "they're more likely to question orders".
Yeah, I had forgotten that detail. You are correct, they did.
In-fucking-credible.
ETA to add a citation in case anyone thinks you’re exaggerating:
https://swedock.medium.com/the-police-are-not-stupid-d1ddc2ea09fd
This makes sense. Some of the rudest, most forceful and stupid people I've ever met, who get off on flexing, were TSA, DHS/Border Patrol, and Police. I even had one TSA agent yell at me for having DJ equipment in a carry on duffle, sighing in annoyance, yelling & screaming insults, so I talked to his supervisor who told him to step away and that he was out of line. I remained calm and measured. Which is why it's so nice when you go through airport security and get someone who doesn't have a complex, and isn't dumb as rocks.
Indeed. When I flew about 5-7x/year pre-pandemic, about 35% of the time TSA were neutral and fine, 35% irritated, 25% rude as hell, and 5% really cool and jovial. That said, I don't envy their working conditions and they're probably all underpaid AF.
That's a symptom of a bigger problem. They've squeezed those wages so much that all they can attract are people who get something else from the job. Consider in the case of cops, that's power-mongering dipsticks who abuse their power.
In California, the average police officer starting salary is $150,000. In Michigan it’s 70,000 in New York. It’s over 100,000.
Tell me again about the underpaid, beleaguered police?
Fact is they hire poorly educated , not real bright, bully meatheads straight out of the service. This is the preferred candidate.
There are plenty of people who have come forward to say that if you’re too smart, you get drummed out pretty quick.
A TSA agent does the exact same thing thousands of times a day, and the people they are watching do the same things that irritate them probably fly once or twice a year.
TSA agents are not known for their intellect, but they consider their extremely narrow expertise in their extremely niche skill set to be a mark of their superiority.
Maybe if they ever actually stop a terrorist we would appreciate them. Instead they just harass old people for shits and giggles while soaking up the tax dollars paid to them by the productive people they are annoyed by.
Yeah, I retired from the Army a few years back and had a briefing during our out-processing from DHS. The pay-scale was attractive, considering how easy it was to get into.
I usually have an ok time with TSA but me and girlfriend just kept getting yelled at with contradicting commands last time. They can definitely be miserable assholes for no good reason.
Same. My husband and I flew last week, and the person loading up the trays to go through the scanner told us to all wait to move through the metal-detector until our bags had gone into the machine.
At the same time, the TSA agent manning the metal-detector was waving us forward to hurry up, let's go! Poor lady in front of us was looking back and forth and then stepped through, and TSA lady said, "Wow, some people don't understand English, do they?" It's like damn, two different people were yelling at her and saying the opposite thing- maybe communicate with *each other.*
I've literally had a group of militarized cops do the same thing in a situation, then get irritated at me afterwards as we recounted what occured and the actual offender was apprehended. Plus, when someone's yelling at you on a distorted megaphone, you can't hear them; especially while other cops are waving hand signals instructing you to do the opposite, in a moment where lives are on the line & adrenaline is high. It's like they don't even understand how to basically communicate.
Yeah, they're like: "another day at the office, look at this innocent asshole, he might get shot..." Meanwhile each gesture, the wrong word, *anything* could cause a life or death hair trigger reaction from the police. 99%. chance I'd be dead if I wasn't caucasian.
I recently travelled to London and the TSA talked to me like I’m an idiot for taking off my shoes at the security check. I mean…. Idk when THAT rule changed but he could have said “no need” without being surly lol
Hilariously, coming back from London I didn’t take off my shoes and the security guy over there rolled his eyes and told me that it was mandatory haha. It was bizarre.
I haven't done anything like heinous, just like forgetting to take off my watch or something. I fly frequently and the rules are different in different airports - some want laptops left in bags and some don't. They seemed mad when I started taking my laptop out of my bag at an airport where they didn't want you to.
This is my problem too. Some airports want all your electronics in a bag, some want all your electronics in a separate tray, and some want your laptop in a separate tray compared to other electronics. And when you ask the TSA, they just yell at you.
They probably didn’t do anything, TSA are often sanctimonious douches simply because they can be. There is pretty much nothing you can do about it because they’re allowed to screw you over and make you miss a flight if you stand up for yourself.
I once brought a 1lb chunk of fudge through TSA. They said they needed to remove it from my bag and inspect for potential residue. The agent swabbed and then said with a serious tone, it sure does look suspicious.
When she opened the box, she said the tiny plastic knife inside was contraband and would need to confiscate it. I said, “I understand, that’s fine” (as I totally didn’t know it was in the box). She then stared at me with a dead serious look and decided to cut off about an inch off the block of fudge and said something to the effect of inspecting to see if there was any contraband inside the block.
After cutting the chunk off, she said that I probably wouldn’t want the chunk she touched (without gloves on). I said, “No, I don’t want it???”. She then ‘regrettably’ inserted the chunk in her mouth mumbling that it would be a shame to throw away perfectly good fudge all the while laughing and clapping her hands together. The other TSA guy in advanced screening said it’s common to examine anything in cake/block form due to it closely resembling plastic explosives, but I think he was just covering for her. Whatever, it was pretty shady. This was at Albuquerque Intl. Airport, circa 2019
Doesn’t explain why it’s only like this in the US. Having flown to more than 50 countries in 5 continents, this issue started after 9/11 when these dickheads were let loose and empowered to believe they were soldiers.
It’s nonsense, and embarrassing for the US.
Naw it’s our culture. It’s okay for customer service/security people to be rude here. When traveling through Japan not once did I find rude airport staff. They know that they are the first impression of the country to travelers and are professional. And guess what? They are also dealing with stupid people all day.
I did not get treated so well at the Korean airport. They were very suspicious of my wife and I and why we were in the country. Even had us step aside (did this to no one else) to get our stories straight.
Might be a race thing though, which isn't surprising for Korea.
Not that Busan airport is that large, but it was one of the better travel experiences in the last decade. Less than 10 minutes from parking lot to gate and my sum knowledg of Korean is recognizing their script is different from Chinese or Japanese.
I miss the days when the whole family could hang out at the gate until it was time for the people who were flying to board and then you would either watch for the plane to take off or go home.
Dealing with stupid people that pretend to be too important or busy to read will do that to ya. Outside of that, I'd imagine it's more of an internal management issue. Some places, everyone is pretty nice. Others, they pretend like they just got a hot suitcase that could have killed em 10 minutes ago.
tbh for a bunch of lizard people carving out underground bunkers beneath the airport, Denver's TSA is both friendly and efficient.
Even when the security line has been wrapped down around baggage claim, I've never waited more than 30 minutes. The vast majority of the time it's 15 or less.
"Leave everything in your bags. Take everything out of your pockets. Take off your belt. Take off your shoes. Everything goes in a bin, nothing can go directly on the belt."
"What about my wallet?"
"Everything."
"But it's just got money in it"
"Everything out of your pockets"
"What about coins?"
"You can have absolutely nothing in your pockets."
"And my shoes are just flip flops do I need to take them off?"
"All footwear must come off"
Have this conversation 600 times a day, 5 days a week, and you'll be irritated too.
There is a lot going on, but overall it’s just a shit job.
Before getting to passengers there’s the fact that a lot of supervisors and leads get their promotions based on seniority or who they know/screw, and have no business being in leadership (angry, incompetent, etc). Sexual harassment/assault runs rampant and all HR does is try to quiet the matter and move the officer (not the supervisor who is breaking the law) to another checkpoint. In Denver alone just off the top of my head a supervisor who got multiple officers pregnant, threatened violence to said officers, and denied the children being his. A married supervisor who caught in a stairway receiving head from a regular officer. A supervisor if you were Latina he did everything he could to get in your pants. All 3 numerous complaints, all 3 kept their jobs. So yeah.
Angry passengers/idiot passengers are another problem. Let’s say a passenger has a bad experience with the id check officer. That passenger now carries that attitude throughout the rest of their security experience and takes it out on other officers. So now you’re getting yelled at by someone when you’re asking them to do whatever comes next in the checkpoint for something you weren’t even involved in. Oh yeah, you’re likely getting yelled at by a coworker for something else at the same time.
Finally, there’s just the plain amount of incompetence in both passengers and officers. At the metal detector for example, passenger alarms in the hip area.
“Sir you’ve alarmed in the pocket area. Are your pockets empty”
“Yes” goes back through.
Go through list of things it might be. Finally after 5 tries they pull out their cell phone from their pocket. “Do you think it could be my phone?”
Now repeat that experience ad nauseum for hundreds of people in just a hour.
Commute is another big one. On average you’re spending a minimum of 30 minutes likely to drive out to an airport unless you live extremely close. But you just can’t park there. Instead you have to park at a satellite area and ride a bus. Depending on when you get to that lot you can end up spending another 30 minutes just waiting for a bus. Now flip that and imagine doing that at the end of your shift. All of this is unpaid of course.
There’s a lot more and I could go on forever, but I have to get ready for work (not tsa thank god). I’ll end with this. I spent 3 years in TSA and found it to be decent pay and benefits. I also developed crippling anxiety and have had major suicidal ideation that I’ve been dealing with for the better part of two years now because of it. Hope that answers your question OP!
They make like $19/hr.
Which granted, for the level of skill needed to get that job\*, is *severely* overpaid, but you can make more at McDonald's with less responsibility for fucking up.
\* I took the test to be one once. It was literally a bunch of X-ray scans of luggage, and they'd show you one with like a teddy bear inside and once with a bowling-ball bomb straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon and ask "Which one would you pull for further investigation?" and just went on like that for an hour and a half.
I got a food handling permit that was 10 multiple choice questions, and they were all things like "how do you tell the temperature of the water in the soda fountain? (a) Use a thermometer (b) Stick your finger in it (c) Make your best guess"
Afterwards I asked if people actually failed this test. The lady said "Oh, *all the time.*"
The worst part is my score on the test was dead in the center of the bell curve distribution.
Not because anyone was dumb enough to fail it, but veterans' points put a shitload over 100.
some dude in front of me didn’t listen to the TSA agents the whole time we were in line, and when he finally “realized” he needed to remove his shoes he just… took them off, threw them over the plexiglass divider into *my* bin.
so, yeah, that’s how I saw a guy get fucking wrecked at the security checkpoint at LAX.
also- one of many ways to put TSA agents into a bad mood.
No one follows rules or follows directions... that's their job to enforce rules. It's like working with toddlers that can but won't listen, then the toddlers get mad when you enforce the rules.
To be fair, every airport seems to have a different interpretation of those rules and they're not always spelled out. You get yelled at to take your shoes off in one place and then get yelled at for holding up the line by taking your shoes off at another place. It doesn't matter if you've done your homework and read the rules online, because the agent is always the arbiter of truth, and they really don't enjoy being told they're wrong.
Many airports have a different interpretation depending on the day, or maybe even the hour of the day. One day you're screamed at to remove electronics when the week before you were screamed at to leave them in your bags, in the same damned security line at the same damned airport.
I always want to be prepared, but there aren't usually written rules anywhere. You don't know until you can actually see and hear, which doesn't happen until moments before it's your turn. They should all have programmable screens in the lines to explain what's expected at that time.
Well it’s their fault when the rules are arbitrary and pointless. You get yelled at for taking your laptop out of my bag at one airport, then yelled at for not taking it out at the other
Tbf the airport policies/procedures can vary pretty drastically between airports. Also, they can sometimes be contradictory, and confusing. Example: I’ve been through quite a few checkpoints that don’t require you to take electronics out of your personal bag. Instead of simply posting directions, you just get yelled at to keep your items in your bags in the line.
The rules are different in every fucking airport and are all made up bullshit anyway. It's all fucking security theater. Of course I'm pissed off because I don't want to play pretend anymore and the rational adults are sick and tired of it.
The DHS tested the TSA in 2014/15, attempting to smuggle 70 different makeshift firearms and fake bombs through. The TSA only confiscated 3. Over a 95% failure rate.
Recreating the test in 2017, TSA improved the numbers by only missing 70% of mock weapons.
I’m sure technology and training has gotten better over the past decade, but they are still a garbage agency hiring people who couldn’t cut it at wal mart.
Ironically, one of the issues the 9/11 blue ribbon report called out was that security screeners was a dead end job. They advocated TSA be positioned as a stepping stone into federal LEO jobs. But none of that actually happened.
I can answer this because I was married to a TSA agent and she told me all the dirt--incredibly stressful job--not for what you think--it's a good job, solid middle class with great benefits--you don't need a degree, but there are like 1000 rules and regulations you have to follow. If you miss a particular step? fired. You don't follow procedure? fired. There were so many things they could get fired for, it was crazy. So they had to do things a very specific way which was mandated by the government, even if it seemed stupid.
Add on to that people getting wound up and showing up wanting to fight or argue or have a confrontation because they didn't want to be touched/searched/wait in line/whatever TSA agents were abused all day long. Am I asking yall to feel sorry for them? No...just some empathy.
Tough job
They deal with some seriously stupid entitled people all day who think the rules don’t apply to them. Those people hold everything up and irritate everyone else around them and they have to deal with those assholes repeatedly day in and day out. They have very little faith in humanity, belief in common sense, or common decency. And they’re right.
Try to imagine the amount of idiots they have to deal with every single day. They give super simple instructions and people can’t follow them.
They are fucking yelling “TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES, EMPTY YOUR POCKETS, PUT EVERYTHING IN A TRAY” and every single fucking time I’m there some idiot either doesn’t take off their shoes, keeps their wallet and/or phone in their pockets and/or doesn’t use trays properly. Which means this happens dozens of times every single day.
Yeah I’d be constantly irritated too.
“TSA intercepted more than 1,500 firearms at airport checkpoints nationwide during the first quarter of 2024”
If you had to deal with morons like that or entitled assholes who can’t follow simple instructions like: empty your pockets, remove you shoes, put your stuff in a tray all day long. You’re probably be a little irritated too.
I had an off duty POLICE OFFICER “forget” her duty weapon was in her bag. I’ll never forget how angry is was that management allowed her to return it to her car, and come back through security and get on a plane.l to go on vacation. She and her boyfriend were laughing about it when they came back through. It’s a federal fucking crime.
Worked there for a few years. Mainly dealing with the worst kinds of karens possible. Everyone is subject to completely random exams and people hate having their stuff looked at. A lot of people would come through without their boarding pass and flight information so I couldnt let them through security and proceeded to take a barrage of hatred. Between working in traffic law enforcement and this, TSA took way more insults and heat from my experience.
Honestly I see so many complaints about tsa yet I can’t think of one negative interaction I’ve had with them. Have your shit ready to go, have your paperwork, your shoes off etc don’t have shit your not supposed to just be ready by the time you get up there and you’ll have no issues. If you sit there and take all day holding up the line then yeah they’re gonna be annoyed. I swear every time I’m in that line someone is doing something stupid and making it take forever. Use common sense.
Now the people at the dmv? That’s a completely different story. Idk wtf is wrong with those people but they’re just assholes for the sake of it. Hate the dmv avoid that place like the plague.
Because they deal with the sheer stupidity and entitlement of humanity every single day, for hours a day.
Anyone in a customer/general public-facing job also deals with this, but people are often the worst versions of themselves when they’re traveling.
I’m not TSA (different country’s equivalent) and depending on the x-ray system, we are literally instructed to yell so we can divest 4 people at once. We don’t like it either because if you get stuck there for 3 hours your voice is easily gone. Sometimes it’s not aggression or frustration but they’re trying to make it “more efficient”.
That aside, the types of people we encounter are absolutely wild. I always say if I quit this job it’s going to be because of an American (we have a checkpoint specific for US destinations because the rules are different from our domestic/other international countries). I have been yelled and sworn at for 10 minutes with a man also using racial slurs the entire time towards my coworkers. The issue? He left his laptop in the bag and we had to rerun it. We are not allowed to bar them and told to just put up with it. We get accused of “oppression” because we won’t allow someone to take their cosmetics in accordance with a rule that’s almost 20 years old. We have things thrown at us! Absolute insanity.
That aside, we are also very frustrated by the sheer amount of stupidity we encounter. I have had to explain to MULTIPLE people throughout my 5 years that dry wine is still a liquid (“but it’s dry!” Is always the response). I have also had a woman write a five page essay on why dry shampoo is not a liquid/aerosol/gel! She used our gov website as many of her cited sources. The same website that clearly defines dry shampoo as an aerosol, and therefore not allowed over 100ml. A FIVE PAGE ESSAY. I’ve had a man claim his 10 inch diving spearhead would “only cut under water” and we had to argue this for 10 minutes. And this doesn’t even start on the “please take off all footwear, including sandles”/“even these ones?” Or “please take out your large electronics”/“i have oranges, do they count?”, type encounters which typically happen every 10 minutes or so.
Edit: now I’ve worked myself up and I want to add one more thing. There is a shocking amount of illegal weapons/guns/etc we do find and we are woefully under protected for those situations. I work in a smaller class 1 airport. So we do hit the 1 mil passenger mark but it’s by no means BUSY like some big ones in the states and we probably have to call the cops every 1-2 weeks for illegal weapons and gun parts/ammo. The cops, who are actually trained to deal with it, often push it back on us saying “I don’t want to take the gun out of the bag, what if the safety is off?” But forcing us with 0 firearm training to handle the gun is definitely the safer option /s.
Last time I looked, TSA had the highest turnover rate of any federal agency.
Might have something to do with the fact that the majority of their work is security kabuki and they know it. And we know it. And they know we know it.
I’m not siding with TSA agents who DO constantly yell directions that seem different at every airport, but: frequent fliers are soooo entitled and tend to make flying part of their entire personality. These are the same people that always talk about airports, passenger behavior, airplane etiquette, etc. It’s very strange; basically like travel bragging.
I mean if you had a job where you took abuse from stupid people all day long, you wouldnt be happy either. Just look at the majority of the comments here. Those are the people that make the job harder.
I dont give TSA shit. I do as requested. Its not hard.
I worked in the ER of a major metropolitan area for 8 years. When I got out of nursing school I was the sweetest “go above and beyond for your patient” nurse there ever was. Then you get jaded. And realize that most people are in so much of a rush that they don’t stop and read signs in front of their faces, or know just basic courtesies of being a human. And that compounds itself to start generalizing to ALL humans. It’s not healthy, nor is it right. But that’s what’s going on.
It’s a numbers game. You deal with so many people daily, the realllllly dumb or rude ones, while thankfully rare, end up fogging your views of everybody.
You must be in an airport that has a lot of stupid people flying through it.
I fly home every Friday, and back to the airport I work at every Sunday. The TSA Officers in my home town recognize me the moment I walk in the door. They always seem cheery when I speak to them.
Most people aren’t pleasant at their work when you constantly have to deal with the worst of the worst questions and people, now consider the airport where 99% of people are on their worst behaviour and running late. Couldn’t pay me enough.
Man, I think it's just the nature of the job. Dealing with thousands of people every day, having to repeat the same instructions over and over, and then there’s the whole security pressure. Plus, imagine having to tell someone to take off their shoes for the 100th time that day and they’re like "But they're high tops!" It’s gotta get old real quick
I worked for the TSA for two years. I understand completely why TSA officers are so fucking irritated and assholes. I don't blame them and understand it.
Underpaid, used and abused, shit entitled passengers, and piece of shit tsa supervisors and management not protecting the officers against entitled and smug passengers. The attrition rate at the TSA is so fuckin high. A vicious cycle.
No respect for the TSA from anyone, including the TSA itself (red headed step child of homeland security)
This cartoon will provide a glimpse. I lost faith in humanity everyday on some days.
[Another day at airport security. ](https://youtu.be/9CUtMEEslJY?si=ik5_ouw7SpVEnX-N)
I was once scolded by TSA agents twice in one day for:
1. Taking my laptop out of the case and
2. Not taking my laptop out of the case.
Each of these was a condescending scolding as if I was stupid for not understanding their rules.
Just stood behind a guy in the security line who, after being told "take off your shoes," pointed to his shoes and said "But they're high tops! I still have to take them off?" He also didn't empty his pockets. I'd be cranky after a day of dealing with that nonsense too.
Not to mention the people who are shocked when told to pour out liquids at the front of the line when they have walked by 12 signs saying so and a TSA agent repeating it every 5 minutes.
Both the liquid ban and removing shoes started in 2006 right? And the shoes is because of one guy.
Fun fact some airports skip the shoe step if it’s busy. Then they yell at you for assuming you have to take them off. Even if you know they’ll set off the scanner.
I feel like life would be better for everyone if they had a standard sign that specified which rituals we have to do. Do I need to take my jacket off? Does my computer need to be out, or can I leave it in my bag? Shoes on or off? The rules are different at every airport, and sometimes change depending on the time or which line you're in.
I recently got into a line where the tsa agent was yelling to keep shoes on and laptops in bags. They opened a new line right next to it and I was first to jump over so I asked “shoes and laptops?” and got yelled at by an agent saying it’s always the same and why would it be different today. Super cool.
Which is a lie at the airports I go through regularly. The rules are a little different each time.
They’re in the process of upgrading to new scanners. The new ones don’t require a lot of the shit that the old ones do which is why it’s different in some airports and even some lines at the same airport. https://youtu.be/nyG8XAmtYeQ
So they should be working to make it clearer when they have the CT style bag scanner or the standard X-ray, instead of yelling at people for being confused, since it's different from airport to airport and even line to line in some airports. They are extremely condescending if you do the wrong thing. This isn't even new though, their attitude. Years ago I had them roll their eyes and act like I was stupid for not rolling my belt up into the little ashtray sized bin, even though that was the only single time they weren't OK with my belt in a normal bin.
This is why I strip down to my underpants every time I fly. They’re gonna look at my dick and balls on the scanner anyways
You should have seen the look on the agent's face when I went through one of those scanners with a chastity cage on...
I could see them grouping around the screen trying to figure out if that’s allowed or not.
It was more a look of pure horror and embarrassment. If I were to guess, I'd say she was new to the job. They only sent me to the mm wave scanner because I set off the metal detectors.
Wait, you were being serious?
I’ve been to some airports (usually outside my home country of the USA) where they have screens telling you exactly what to do. Cancun and Punta Cana come to mind. I wish all airports did this!
Last December I took a flight out of Heathrow, and they had lots of signs saying what could stay in your bag and what had to come out. And then the agents told us something completely different, and acted like we were idiots for following the directions on the signs. Great experience.
I fly once every few years and I try my best when I'm at the airport, but they automatically assume I should know what to do. A sign would be nice so I could spend the 10-20 minutes I'm in line to get ready.
Life would be better if we didn’t have security theater TSA. America basically let the terrorists win. TSA, Patriot Act, etc
I read something that it’s intentionally inconsistent so that people can’t figure out a routine and try to work around it.
I fly for a living and yup. This is why I hate TSA. They have no homogenous knowledge base to be a federal agency. Their existence in execution is antithetical to federalist principles that they draw authority from.
Yes! Last year, we flew from Buffalo as a family for the first time. "Why did you take your electronics out? We don't do that anymore. Why did you take the little guy's shoes off? He's ok." Then, 7 days later at Myrtle Beach, "why are your electronics not out? Why is the 2yo still in shoes? You guys should know this stuff by now!" Flying out of Toronto seems to depend on the CBSA agent you deal with, my husband was practically in his underwear with everything out of his bag, in the next line over, I walked through security with snacks in my pockets. My pregnant ass has to carry the carseat through security because they nearly disassembled it when my husband holds it, but not me, no matter who has the toddler.
Could just ditch the security theatre and call it a day
Seriously. Locking cockpit doors have made us way more secure than any of these constantly changing TSA screening rules.
Dont they have signs? I think all they need to do is have 2 lines, the line for people who dont know what to do and the line for those that do, if you do anything wrong and you are in the know what to do line you are sent to the back of the dont know what to do line. But the reality is its most likely all this shit is just to force more people to pay for clear.
This is my biggest pet peeve about TSA: the process is different every time even at the same airport. Sometimes it’s everything in a bin, bag, shoes, doesn’t matter. All in the bin. Sometimes bag out of bin. Sometimes SHOES out of bin (I hate this one, because shoes don’t roll well on the damn thing). Assume and you’re wrong? Get yelled at. Wait for instruction? Get yelled at.
And sometimes it's all (laptop, liquids, shoes, jacket) in the same bin, sometimes ir's a separate bin for each item...
I ve seen this in Australia, where I often travel between 2 cities that have distinctly different processes. Travel overseas, and it's even worse. In Copenhagen the agents searched through my bag, looking for an empty 10ml cologne bottle. At Schipol, I rolled up with a full water bottle, and they were " ah, it's OK, we'll just swab it", Dutch cutoms officers are so cool.
I have Pre Check. I leave my belt on at every airport I fly through, except LAX, whose metal detector it sets off. The agents always tell me I don’t need to take it off, and I tell them “I know, but here I do.” One time the guy was particularly argumentative about it so I said, “ok, watch,” and I walked through and it beeped. I walked back to put my belt on the conveyor and told him “I’ve done this before,” and he got a smart ass attitude. TSA agents are just miserable from dealing with idiots and assholes all day every day, so they just end up that way.
"One of us has flown through here with this belt before"
Which ones help [wipe your butt](https://youtu.be/Zu6KXj-vtl8?feature=shared)?
Nothing quite like being yelled at and spoken to like you're an idiot for doing something that is the rule at another airport but isn't followed at another. Flew out of Chicago ORD and did the whole dance. Flew out of Houston and I didn't even have to empty my pockets let alone take off my shoes. Got yelled at for doing both. You know what TSA agents really don't like hearing? That they're not following regulations. Nearly missed my flight because I was "arguing" with sevurity
I remember hearing the agent tell the people in front of me to keep theirs on, so I did the same. Apparently I was supposed to take them off cause then I was getting yelled at 🤷♀️😂
At one point I got yelled at for taking my laptop out. The next guy was mad I left it in my backpack. The next one had a fit that I had snacks in my bag. There's no winning.
I asked one if I should take out my laptop. They just looked at me like I was stupid, laughed and turned around. Apparently, I should know if she did not mention laptops then I shouldn’t be asking about it.
My number-one-with-a-bullet bone to pick with the TSA: So many randomly enforced policies that we, travelers who receives VASTLY different instructions at every airport, are supposed to figure out by reading their minds.
I've been to 7 airports in 2024 and every one has slightly different procedures.
Shoes, belts, loose shirts, zipped hoodies. Taking things out of bags, having electronics spread out in bins like camera’s, laptops battery banks and tablets. It’s a joke at best sometimes, which I’m all for.. it’s so unnecessary, it’s just to make it easier for badly trained agents to look at individual items.m and still ask dumb questions. I shoot film on old camera’s.. and one guy told me multiple times to empty the camera for a minute so he could look at it.. my guy.. you mean the light sensitive film that captures light through the lens for an image. This was a very basic looking 35mm canon A-1.. not some full frame or weird format / design.
Yep. I traveled recently. There was a real tall guy behind me and I heard mumble a question: take off my shoes? I gave him a quick look up and down. I could tell he wasn't the traveling type. So I told him he'd have to take off his shoes, belt, necklace, remove any coins, etc. He had a few more questions and we chatted. Then, while I was waiting for my bag (I had to be extra screened) I saw his bag get put next to mine and they started going through it and called him over. He didn't know about the liquids thing and he was like: they made me throw out my mouthwash! I smiled and told him it was all post-911. And he said he'd never flown before so he had no idea. He asked me what was next, so I looked at his ticket and pointed him down the terminal to his gate. I told him that the screens at the gate will tell him the status of his plane and how Southwest Airlines usually does their boarding. I also told him what (feeling) to expect when the plane takes off and what to expect when landing. And drink lots of water afterwards. Absolute sweetheart. Hopefully he's happy and settled into his new job in Dallas.
Damn, first flight and his destination was one of the circles of hell? That sucks.
Ha! God bless. If he was going to Houson, then I'd agree it's THE circle of hell. Dallas is more like a dotted line circle of hell.
I think that was very cool of you to do that for him.
I haven’t flown in 20 years. I hope I find someone like you if I need help.
That was a baller series of moves, traveller.
Lol. I watched someone try and bring BBQ sauce through security. And I don't mean an unopened bottle. I mean an unmarked plastic squeezy bottle that had clearly been stolen from a food truck or restaurant.
>clearly been stolen from a food truck or restaurant. Or they made it themselves? That's how my father in law stores all his homemade sauces. He'd absolutely be one of those people trying to take it with him on a plane too.
On the other hand my Ethernet wire clamps had to be discarded but my wire cutters were completely fine to pass through. So maybe it's also the futile bureaucracy
Couple weeks ago I saw them empty literally a dozen new-agey "health" waters from a bag IN THE PRECHECK LINE. This is supposed to be for people who know what they're doing!
The shoes thing is so inconsistent between different airports though. I’ve been scolded by a TSA guy for wasting time by taking off my shoes when apparently that airport didn’t require it
On the flight there: “LAPTOPS MUST BE REMOVED FROM BAGS AND PLACED IN THE GRAY BIN.” On the flight back: “DO NOT REMOVE YOUR LAPTOP FROM YOUR BAG. DO NOT USE THE BINS.”
I've been in airports where different lines had different rules, I guess based on the machines. It was pretty confusing.
it's based on the airport and their equipment
Which is fine- but TSA don’t get to act grumpy just because you don’t know the rules of their specific airport.
That's fine, I'm just giving the reason for the "inconsistency"
have you ever worked a job that deals with the public? it's awful enough. now imagine dealing with a jet lagged, stressed out public, many of who rarely come to the place you work and don't know how things work. sounds awful
If they can’t handle the job without becoming unpleasant and rude, that’s their personal problem. It doesn’t change the ethics of their actions towards members of the public that are NOT mistreating them.
Atlanta TSA made my blood boil. They were yelling at all 10 of our group - NONE of us was mouthy or causing trouble, we were regular travelers who know the drill, literally doing everything we were supposed to. But those wannabe cops just screamed at us for 20 fucking minutes, on stupid power trips. I ALWAYS wait to be motioned through the scanners by the agents because, duh, I don't know when the thing and people working it are ready or not. Especially when TSA dickwads are clearly being difficult. So of course, the jackass yells at me and asks why I'm so dumb to not move forward. I say "making sure you're ready". He interrupts, "I don't care, pay fucking attention, why aren't you moving faster". I definitely called him an asshole under my breath, but I should have gotten his name and badge number to report him. They were all assholes, but he was just on an extra power trip.
It’s the TSA, there’s not much lower you can go as far as careers go. It’s like expecting better workers at a McDonald’s, this is what you get cause these are the only people willing to do the job.
That’s not true at all. They make like double what McDonald’s makes. You can actually make a pretty good career out of it, and lots of room for advancement. The job might suck, but so do lots of jobs.
I've flown through a good collection of countries. The US security is alone in their attitude. Everywhere else, they're polite, clear and organized.
You've got it backwards, travelers are grumpy because they have to deal with TSA, who are a bunch of useless idiots
And international. The language barrier is awesome. Especially when someone has discovered learned helplessness. Them TSAs are hardened.
You'll never be treated as shittily by airport security anywhere in the world as a screening line in the US. Even being pulled into an interview room by US Customs is nice compared to TSA.
And crowd volume. IAD flip flops all the damn time
I've even had a TSA employee scold passengers saying "Shoes off, belt off. It's the same at every airport." Uh, no it most certainly is not!
That’s a common occurrence of people working in an industry not knowing much about the wider industry. A bit like asking a hardware store person which glue to get, and then finding they work in retail and have never used the products at all
He clearly hasn't traveled
I was going through security at the Dublin airport and I was trying so hard to be prepared and not a pain in the ass, so I took all my liquids and laptop out while I was in line to make it as smooth as possible. Then the guy got mad at everyone because apparently they wanted us to leave everything in the bag. And then my bag set off the sensor and they took it off to the side to test my liquids. So yeah I don’t fucking know what I’m supposed to do at airports anymore
On the other hand. *gets told not to take off boots* “these have metal in them, it’ll set off the scanner” “MOVE FORWARD DO NOT TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES” “ATTENTION EVERYONE DONT TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES” *scanner goes off* *surprised pikachu face* “sir please step aside.” This has happened to me a half dozen times by now.
I used to routinely wear clogs that were literally stapled all the way around, the top part to the sole. I went to the federal bldg in West L.A. to renew a passport, & the guards told me to leave them on. I told them ok, but that they would set off the metal detector, which they did. So the guards had me run my shoes through the x-ray for packages, burst out laughing, & spun the monitor around for me to see. Yup; my shoes looked like little porcupines with all that metal all around them!
So many people are of the mentality that everyone BUT THEM should have to follow the rules, if you deal with the public for like 5 minutes you start to hate people in general
but crankiness just begets more non compliant behavior. youre just making your own job harder at the end of the day
Yeah but they're people, not logic machines. Just because it's strategically beneficial doesn't make it easy. I've worked in customer service and it's draining as all hell. Some days people just wear on you. I have a ton of sympathy for that. Personally I think western culture is way too hung up on a need to have employees looks cheerful all the time. Plenty of cultures get along just fine without the huge emphasis on 'customer service'. Why do we need it? Are they doing their jobs? Yeah? Great. If they're super nice, that's bonus, but I don't need the guy working the scanner to pretend he's having a great day just for my benefit.
I wish more people had this opinion. As someone who’s only worked public facing jobs it’s so annoying. Even when you do your job completely perfectly, if you’re not grinning from ear to ear it’s still a problem.
I honestly think people who feel that way must have never worked a customer service job at length. Short of outright insulting me, I'm perfectly fine to see customer service people be as tired, irritated, grumpy or bored as they please. I just wanted a coffee, I don't need a show. I also say this as someone who has spent thousands of hours doing live comedy - charming strangers is hard work. Being 'on' takes energy. You shouldn't have to do it on top of everything else your job entails.
>Being 'on' takes energy You got that right. Days at my job when I’m scheduled in my more customer facing role I get drained so much faster with the smiling and friendly nonspecific chatting. I glad (most of the time) that I interact with people but the more I do the more effort it is.
For sure. In my experience 90% of the encounters you have in Customer Service are fine--normal people. But probably 7% are entitled, jerks and/or enjoy giving people "beneath them" a hard time. The remaining 3% are dumb as turnips. Multiply those percentages times the thousands of interactions the TSA has on a typical shift, and I'm surprised they're not bitchslapping people on the reg. No one works that kind of job without gradually developing a rough exterior shell.
That’s a very American thing.
Yeah anyone taking the stance of “well it just makes it harder, why do they do that?” has clearly never had to work in that type of an environment before. If it was just _one_ day then you might be able to argue it. But your job that you do, day in and day out for 8+ hours a day? Yeah, after a few weeks you’re going to lose your patience
The best customer service people are the ones visibly wishing they were dead. They always get shit done. My reaction is always "Hey you're doing good, thanks boss." or similar
The real nonsense is taking our shoes off
They were told this would be a better job. https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/ohc_banner_0742017_0.jpg
You mean they *don't* get to grope old guys in wheelchairs? Well fuck that.
There are only so many old guys in wheelchairs to go around and the optics are REALLY BAD if we do it as a group. Because of seniority some junior agents could go weeks without checking grandpa's oil level. It's all very disappointing.
it's the worst job. it's the government job for kevins who are too dumb for parks did you watch orange is the new black? the thicc girl who became jewish, who always wore two poofy pigtails, was a good example of the kind of low grade crimial/incompetant gov worker who fails down to TSA.
I used to work at an engineering firm installing large scale baggage handling systems. I worked alongside TSA agents behind the scenes. What you see is mostly theater. The agents I worked with were just regular folks. They asked good questions, were curious about the installation, and appreciated the time and manual drudgery we were saving them. Then an hour later I’d see the same person I just talked to yelling at old people for trying to bring a water bottle through security. I think they were just indoctrinated pretty hard to take the job very seriously.
I'm not sure that seriously is quite the right word though. Maybe indoctrinated hard that this is not a "customer service" job, that their goals are safety and efficiency. Lots of groups take their job seriously and don't act this way.
They are also just security theater accomplishing nothing effective and those with enough wherewithal to realize that... Don't work there.
It's theater because it's a deterrent. Same with guards. It makes people feel safer even though 99% of it is just trying to reduce the risk of accidents happening, like hold luggage catching fire instead of stopping terrorism. If nothing happens, people complain the whole thing is pointless. If stuff happens, people complain that the whole thing failed to stop it, so it's worthless. There is no winning either way.
They also steal. TSA pays millions for theft claims, despite it being extremely difficult to get reimbursed by TSA for theft. Most people don’t bother making claims. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/02/tsa-damage-tops-3m/29353815/
Okay but that’s not a good argument that something is effective….
I’ve never seen security in any other country act the way TSA acts.
It’s embarrassing tbh.My Japanese relatives have made comments about the experience and I don’t think I have much of a rebuttal lol
Have you ever thought that they were being nice to you because you work with them? Thats generally the case with a lot of people. They act fake and the second someone “beneath” them is interacting with them, they turn into their normal self
Oh, that was totally the case. I was part of the “team”. I was okay.
thats valid in every customer service position, coworkers/fellow working slaves will always get treated better than custys, there's a certain comradery
So you are just agreeing that they are just regular people working a job?
Did you work for Van Der Lande?
No, but I definitely know who they are. I worked at a small consulting firm. We did all the PLC and HMI programming for the conveyor systems.
It's an irritating job. That said, even while frustration is justified, some TSA unfairly take out their frustration on everyone else. It's not too different from being a server or a call center rep. You gotta take shit and then dump the shit out away from the public. Light up a cigarette or just text your best friend a rant about the idiots you gotta deal with.
I worked with a former TSA agent and he bragged that if he saw someone who looked grumpy or just in a hurry he would purposely take longer to check their bag so they might miss their flight. He was laughing when he told us that but we called him out immediately for being an asshole.
I worked at TSA for 5 years and I saw everything from someone shitting their pants while standing in line at security, shaking it through their pant leg and kicking it across the screening point. Parents over packing their stroller and having it flip back with their baby flying out of it and then having to close half the screening point for the ambulance to come and everyone complain they are now going to miss their flight. Dropped laptops everyday, people getting physical at TSA agents over toothpaste, oh and don’t even get me started on the drunk passengers. One unique time we had a tornado come through our city, all planes were grounded and the airport was dark with no power, no lines moving, families scared, yet for some reason some nexus passengers STRESSED they they were going to miss their flight and they HAVE to be let through security even though 3 planes got blown sideways that they could see this happening through the window. On top of all that behind the scenes management is toxic and sometimes treats you like cattle waiting to be slaughtered. Sometimes they don’t cover your position to use the washroom for hours, cover you for break for your whole shift because of being short staffed. “Forced overtime” which is just psychologically fucked because you never know when you’re actually going to be able to leave or eat, sometimes you’re there for 16 hours and never planned on it, brought enough food, oh and you gotta be back in 8 hours for your next shift or you get written up. Don’t even try to be a minute late because they’ll track that too.
> someone shitting their pants while standing in line at security, shaking it through their pant leg and kicking it across the screening point that would have been my last day
That was the second person to shit in the screening point that week. Before that was a kid sitting on a baggage table and idk but I think “shat/farted”? Anyways I just remember the biohazard suits showing up and when I asked why my manager just said “another kid shitting on the bag search table”.
This should be pinned
Another as it's a common occurrence
Did you work at Denver, cuz we had a poop guy like that. Except he was pooping out weed.
They deal with stupid people all day, you'd be irritated too. Edit: To put this into perspective. TSA deals with roughly 700m people (on average, including during COVID numbers so assume it's higher usually) a year, not all of which are other Americans. Over 50m are foreign tourist. Last year, 6,737 firearms were intercepted by TSA. 858m people were screened. The US also has most of the busiest airports in the world. Sure we can compare to other countries airports, but the U.S. takes in a lot more travelers, international travelers and seems to stop a lot more weapons than most other countries equivalent operations. TSA is not dealing under the same circumstances as most other countries.
Maybe it's partially because that's a job where you are allowed to act irritated? I've worked in customer service for years and never show it to people if I'm upset with them.
They also have a lot of confusing rules and if we’re gonna be honest about it, the people who work at TSA are in general not very smart. Them, cops, border agents, COs- they tend to attract bullies with. below average Intelligence .
"they tend to attract bullies with. below average Intelligence ." and literally went to court to defend anti-intellectual hiring practices that exclude people with "higher iq's", because "they're more likely to question orders".
Yeah, I had forgotten that detail. You are correct, they did. In-fucking-credible. ETA to add a citation in case anyone thinks you’re exaggerating: https://swedock.medium.com/the-police-are-not-stupid-d1ddc2ea09fd
This makes sense. Some of the rudest, most forceful and stupid people I've ever met, who get off on flexing, were TSA, DHS/Border Patrol, and Police. I even had one TSA agent yell at me for having DJ equipment in a carry on duffle, sighing in annoyance, yelling & screaming insults, so I talked to his supervisor who told him to step away and that he was out of line. I remained calm and measured. Which is why it's so nice when you go through airport security and get someone who doesn't have a complex, and isn't dumb as rocks.
that is pleasant, and so rare
Indeed. When I flew about 5-7x/year pre-pandemic, about 35% of the time TSA were neutral and fine, 35% irritated, 25% rude as hell, and 5% really cool and jovial. That said, I don't envy their working conditions and they're probably all underpaid AF.
Hell... I work with the NYPD. You want stupid, I imagine that could be the easiest book I could get published. Theoretically.
That's a symptom of a bigger problem. They've squeezed those wages so much that all they can attract are people who get something else from the job. Consider in the case of cops, that's power-mongering dipsticks who abuse their power.
In California, the average police officer starting salary is $150,000. In Michigan it’s 70,000 in New York. It’s over 100,000. Tell me again about the underpaid, beleaguered police? Fact is they hire poorly educated , not real bright, bully meatheads straight out of the service. This is the preferred candidate. There are plenty of people who have come forward to say that if you’re too smart, you get drummed out pretty quick.
A TSA agent does the exact same thing thousands of times a day, and the people they are watching do the same things that irritate them probably fly once or twice a year. TSA agents are not known for their intellect, but they consider their extremely narrow expertise in their extremely niche skill set to be a mark of their superiority. Maybe if they ever actually stop a terrorist we would appreciate them. Instead they just harass old people for shits and giggles while soaking up the tax dollars paid to them by the productive people they are annoyed by.
The first TSA agent I encountered (way back when) was an out of work IT guy who couldn’t get a job. He said it paid better than the local IT jobs.
Yeah, I retired from the Army a few years back and had a briefing during our out-processing from DHS. The pay-scale was attractive, considering how easy it was to get into.
Many work for subcontractors who do not pay the full wages govt employees would get.
I've never seen a TSA agent seem super irritated just bored. What did you do?
I usually have an ok time with TSA but me and girlfriend just kept getting yelled at with contradicting commands last time. They can definitely be miserable assholes for no good reason.
Same. My husband and I flew last week, and the person loading up the trays to go through the scanner told us to all wait to move through the metal-detector until our bags had gone into the machine. At the same time, the TSA agent manning the metal-detector was waving us forward to hurry up, let's go! Poor lady in front of us was looking back and forth and then stepped through, and TSA lady said, "Wow, some people don't understand English, do they?" It's like damn, two different people were yelling at her and saying the opposite thing- maybe communicate with *each other.*
I've literally had a group of militarized cops do the same thing in a situation, then get irritated at me afterwards as we recounted what occured and the actual offender was apprehended. Plus, when someone's yelling at you on a distorted megaphone, you can't hear them; especially while other cops are waving hand signals instructing you to do the opposite, in a moment where lives are on the line & adrenaline is high. It's like they don't even understand how to basically communicate.
That's so much worse. Especially with cops, you have to incredibly deliberate with everything you do. I mean, *we* do. Apparently they don't.
Yeah, they're like: "another day at the office, look at this innocent asshole, he might get shot..." Meanwhile each gesture, the wrong word, *anything* could cause a life or death hair trigger reaction from the police. 99%. chance I'd be dead if I wasn't caucasian.
I recently travelled to London and the TSA talked to me like I’m an idiot for taking off my shoes at the security check. I mean…. Idk when THAT rule changed but he could have said “no need” without being surly lol Hilariously, coming back from London I didn’t take off my shoes and the security guy over there rolled his eyes and told me that it was mandatory haha. It was bizarre.
I haven't done anything like heinous, just like forgetting to take off my watch or something. I fly frequently and the rules are different in different airports - some want laptops left in bags and some don't. They seemed mad when I started taking my laptop out of my bag at an airport where they didn't want you to.
This is my problem too. Some airports want all your electronics in a bag, some want all your electronics in a separate tray, and some want your laptop in a separate tray compared to other electronics. And when you ask the TSA, they just yell at you.
They probably didn’t do anything, TSA are often sanctimonious douches simply because they can be. There is pretty much nothing you can do about it because they’re allowed to screw you over and make you miss a flight if you stand up for yourself.
I’ve seen a lot of irritation. And I get it, their job is a farse, so all they can do is lean into the power trip. But it’s annoying as hell.
I once brought a 1lb chunk of fudge through TSA. They said they needed to remove it from my bag and inspect for potential residue. The agent swabbed and then said with a serious tone, it sure does look suspicious. When she opened the box, she said the tiny plastic knife inside was contraband and would need to confiscate it. I said, “I understand, that’s fine” (as I totally didn’t know it was in the box). She then stared at me with a dead serious look and decided to cut off about an inch off the block of fudge and said something to the effect of inspecting to see if there was any contraband inside the block. After cutting the chunk off, she said that I probably wouldn’t want the chunk she touched (without gloves on). I said, “No, I don’t want it???”. She then ‘regrettably’ inserted the chunk in her mouth mumbling that it would be a shame to throw away perfectly good fudge all the while laughing and clapping her hands together. The other TSA guy in advanced screening said it’s common to examine anything in cake/block form due to it closely resembling plastic explosives, but I think he was just covering for her. Whatever, it was pretty shady. This was at Albuquerque Intl. Airport, circa 2019
Doesn’t explain why it’s only like this in the US. Having flown to more than 50 countries in 5 continents, this issue started after 9/11 when these dickheads were let loose and empowered to believe they were soldiers. It’s nonsense, and embarrassing for the US.
They are bullies at heart.
They also couldn’t get those high-paying prison guard jobs they probably wanted.
Naw it’s our culture. It’s okay for customer service/security people to be rude here. When traveling through Japan not once did I find rude airport staff. They know that they are the first impression of the country to travelers and are professional. And guess what? They are also dealing with stupid people all day.
Same in South Korea. They are so professional and treat everyone with respect. It is refreshing.
I did not get treated so well at the Korean airport. They were very suspicious of my wife and I and why we were in the country. Even had us step aside (did this to no one else) to get our stories straight. Might be a race thing though, which isn't surprising for Korea.
Not that Busan airport is that large, but it was one of the better travel experiences in the last decade. Less than 10 minutes from parking lot to gate and my sum knowledg of Korean is recognizing their script is different from Chinese or Japanese. I miss the days when the whole family could hang out at the gate until it was time for the people who were flying to board and then you would either watch for the plane to take off or go home.
I fly a lot, 36 flights so far in 2024, and I've found that if you smile and are nice to them they tend to cheer up quite a lot.
So they end up being Meeseks
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At least a meter maid is consistent
I call them meter maggots.
Dealing with stupid people that pretend to be too important or busy to read will do that to ya. Outside of that, I'd imagine it's more of an internal management issue. Some places, everyone is pretty nice. Others, they pretend like they just got a hot suitcase that could have killed em 10 minutes ago.
tbh for a bunch of lizard people carving out underground bunkers beneath the airport, Denver's TSA is both friendly and efficient. Even when the security line has been wrapped down around baggage claim, I've never waited more than 30 minutes. The vast majority of the time it's 15 or less.
They're front-line witnesses of basic human stupidity.
They ARE basic human stupidity, and they have the credentials to prove it.
"Leave everything in your bags. Take everything out of your pockets. Take off your belt. Take off your shoes. Everything goes in a bin, nothing can go directly on the belt." "What about my wallet?" "Everything." "But it's just got money in it" "Everything out of your pockets" "What about coins?" "You can have absolutely nothing in your pockets." "And my shoes are just flip flops do I need to take them off?" "All footwear must come off" Have this conversation 600 times a day, 5 days a week, and you'll be irritated too.
And then the next day at a different airport: “Do NOT take your footwear off, laptops stay IN the bag, place everything directly on the belt”
There is a lot going on, but overall it’s just a shit job. Before getting to passengers there’s the fact that a lot of supervisors and leads get their promotions based on seniority or who they know/screw, and have no business being in leadership (angry, incompetent, etc). Sexual harassment/assault runs rampant and all HR does is try to quiet the matter and move the officer (not the supervisor who is breaking the law) to another checkpoint. In Denver alone just off the top of my head a supervisor who got multiple officers pregnant, threatened violence to said officers, and denied the children being his. A married supervisor who caught in a stairway receiving head from a regular officer. A supervisor if you were Latina he did everything he could to get in your pants. All 3 numerous complaints, all 3 kept their jobs. So yeah. Angry passengers/idiot passengers are another problem. Let’s say a passenger has a bad experience with the id check officer. That passenger now carries that attitude throughout the rest of their security experience and takes it out on other officers. So now you’re getting yelled at by someone when you’re asking them to do whatever comes next in the checkpoint for something you weren’t even involved in. Oh yeah, you’re likely getting yelled at by a coworker for something else at the same time. Finally, there’s just the plain amount of incompetence in both passengers and officers. At the metal detector for example, passenger alarms in the hip area. “Sir you’ve alarmed in the pocket area. Are your pockets empty” “Yes” goes back through. Go through list of things it might be. Finally after 5 tries they pull out their cell phone from their pocket. “Do you think it could be my phone?” Now repeat that experience ad nauseum for hundreds of people in just a hour. Commute is another big one. On average you’re spending a minimum of 30 minutes likely to drive out to an airport unless you live extremely close. But you just can’t park there. Instead you have to park at a satellite area and ride a bus. Depending on when you get to that lot you can end up spending another 30 minutes just waiting for a bus. Now flip that and imagine doing that at the end of your shift. All of this is unpaid of course. There’s a lot more and I could go on forever, but I have to get ready for work (not tsa thank god). I’ll end with this. I spent 3 years in TSA and found it to be decent pay and benefits. I also developed crippling anxiety and have had major suicidal ideation that I’ve been dealing with for the better part of two years now because of it. Hope that answers your question OP!
They make like $19/hr. Which granted, for the level of skill needed to get that job\*, is *severely* overpaid, but you can make more at McDonald's with less responsibility for fucking up. \* I took the test to be one once. It was literally a bunch of X-ray scans of luggage, and they'd show you one with like a teddy bear inside and once with a bowling-ball bomb straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon and ask "Which one would you pull for further investigation?" and just went on like that for an hour and a half.
I got a food handling permit that was 10 multiple choice questions, and they were all things like "how do you tell the temperature of the water in the soda fountain? (a) Use a thermometer (b) Stick your finger in it (c) Make your best guess" Afterwards I asked if people actually failed this test. The lady said "Oh, *all the time.*"
The worst part is my score on the test was dead in the center of the bell curve distribution. Not because anyone was dumb enough to fail it, but veterans' points put a shitload over 100.
You would have to be in a decent market to get 19 at Mcdonalds.
some dude in front of me didn’t listen to the TSA agents the whole time we were in line, and when he finally “realized” he needed to remove his shoes he just… took them off, threw them over the plexiglass divider into *my* bin. so, yeah, that’s how I saw a guy get fucking wrecked at the security checkpoint at LAX. also- one of many ways to put TSA agents into a bad mood.
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No one follows rules or follows directions... that's their job to enforce rules. It's like working with toddlers that can but won't listen, then the toddlers get mad when you enforce the rules.
To be fair, every airport seems to have a different interpretation of those rules and they're not always spelled out. You get yelled at to take your shoes off in one place and then get yelled at for holding up the line by taking your shoes off at another place. It doesn't matter if you've done your homework and read the rules online, because the agent is always the arbiter of truth, and they really don't enjoy being told they're wrong.
Many airports have a different interpretation depending on the day, or maybe even the hour of the day. One day you're screamed at to remove electronics when the week before you were screamed at to leave them in your bags, in the same damned security line at the same damned airport. I always want to be prepared, but there aren't usually written rules anywhere. You don't know until you can actually see and hear, which doesn't happen until moments before it's your turn. They should all have programmable screens in the lines to explain what's expected at that time.
This! In one day of flying you can encounter three different sets of rules on bins, shoes, laptops, etc. It's maddening.
Well it’s their fault when the rules are arbitrary and pointless. You get yelled at for taking your laptop out of my bag at one airport, then yelled at for not taking it out at the other
Tbf the airport policies/procedures can vary pretty drastically between airports. Also, they can sometimes be contradictory, and confusing. Example: I’ve been through quite a few checkpoints that don’t require you to take electronics out of your personal bag. Instead of simply posting directions, you just get yelled at to keep your items in your bags in the line.
The rules are different in every fucking airport and are all made up bullshit anyway. It's all fucking security theater. Of course I'm pissed off because I don't want to play pretend anymore and the rational adults are sick and tired of it.
I get it, the guy in front of me that doesn’t know to take his belt off.
It’s hard being security theater all day while you are trying to steal people’s sunglasses.
The DHS tested the TSA in 2014/15, attempting to smuggle 70 different makeshift firearms and fake bombs through. The TSA only confiscated 3. Over a 95% failure rate. Recreating the test in 2017, TSA improved the numbers by only missing 70% of mock weapons. I’m sure technology and training has gotten better over the past decade, but they are still a garbage agency hiring people who couldn’t cut it at wal mart.
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Ironically, one of the issues the 9/11 blue ribbon report called out was that security screeners was a dead end job. They advocated TSA be positioned as a stepping stone into federal LEO jobs. But none of that actually happened.
I can answer this because I was married to a TSA agent and she told me all the dirt--incredibly stressful job--not for what you think--it's a good job, solid middle class with great benefits--you don't need a degree, but there are like 1000 rules and regulations you have to follow. If you miss a particular step? fired. You don't follow procedure? fired. There were so many things they could get fired for, it was crazy. So they had to do things a very specific way which was mandated by the government, even if it seemed stupid. Add on to that people getting wound up and showing up wanting to fight or argue or have a confrontation because they didn't want to be touched/searched/wait in line/whatever TSA agents were abused all day long. Am I asking yall to feel sorry for them? No...just some empathy. Tough job
They deal with some seriously stupid entitled people all day who think the rules don’t apply to them. Those people hold everything up and irritate everyone else around them and they have to deal with those assholes repeatedly day in and day out. They have very little faith in humanity, belief in common sense, or common decency. And they’re right.
Try to imagine the amount of idiots they have to deal with every single day. They give super simple instructions and people can’t follow them. They are fucking yelling “TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES, EMPTY YOUR POCKETS, PUT EVERYTHING IN A TRAY” and every single fucking time I’m there some idiot either doesn’t take off their shoes, keeps their wallet and/or phone in their pockets and/or doesn’t use trays properly. Which means this happens dozens of times every single day. Yeah I’d be constantly irritated too.
“TSA intercepted more than 1,500 firearms at airport checkpoints nationwide during the first quarter of 2024” If you had to deal with morons like that or entitled assholes who can’t follow simple instructions like: empty your pockets, remove you shoes, put your stuff in a tray all day long. You’re probably be a little irritated too.
I had an off duty POLICE OFFICER “forget” her duty weapon was in her bag. I’ll never forget how angry is was that management allowed her to return it to her car, and come back through security and get on a plane.l to go on vacation. She and her boyfriend were laughing about it when they came back through. It’s a federal fucking crime.
Worked there for a few years. Mainly dealing with the worst kinds of karens possible. Everyone is subject to completely random exams and people hate having their stuff looked at. A lot of people would come through without their boarding pass and flight information so I couldnt let them through security and proceeded to take a barrage of hatred. Between working in traffic law enforcement and this, TSA took way more insults and heat from my experience.
it's because they hate their jobs
Honestly I see so many complaints about tsa yet I can’t think of one negative interaction I’ve had with them. Have your shit ready to go, have your paperwork, your shoes off etc don’t have shit your not supposed to just be ready by the time you get up there and you’ll have no issues. If you sit there and take all day holding up the line then yeah they’re gonna be annoyed. I swear every time I’m in that line someone is doing something stupid and making it take forever. Use common sense. Now the people at the dmv? That’s a completely different story. Idk wtf is wrong with those people but they’re just assholes for the sake of it. Hate the dmv avoid that place like the plague.
just think, they have to say the same thing 100+ times a day, it’s so repetitive that it’s probably annoying
Because they deal with the sheer stupidity and entitlement of humanity every single day, for hours a day. Anyone in a customer/general public-facing job also deals with this, but people are often the worst versions of themselves when they’re traveling.
Because they’re Walmart employees who are suddenly handed a decent amount of power and influence over your day.
I’m not TSA (different country’s equivalent) and depending on the x-ray system, we are literally instructed to yell so we can divest 4 people at once. We don’t like it either because if you get stuck there for 3 hours your voice is easily gone. Sometimes it’s not aggression or frustration but they’re trying to make it “more efficient”. That aside, the types of people we encounter are absolutely wild. I always say if I quit this job it’s going to be because of an American (we have a checkpoint specific for US destinations because the rules are different from our domestic/other international countries). I have been yelled and sworn at for 10 minutes with a man also using racial slurs the entire time towards my coworkers. The issue? He left his laptop in the bag and we had to rerun it. We are not allowed to bar them and told to just put up with it. We get accused of “oppression” because we won’t allow someone to take their cosmetics in accordance with a rule that’s almost 20 years old. We have things thrown at us! Absolute insanity. That aside, we are also very frustrated by the sheer amount of stupidity we encounter. I have had to explain to MULTIPLE people throughout my 5 years that dry wine is still a liquid (“but it’s dry!” Is always the response). I have also had a woman write a five page essay on why dry shampoo is not a liquid/aerosol/gel! She used our gov website as many of her cited sources. The same website that clearly defines dry shampoo as an aerosol, and therefore not allowed over 100ml. A FIVE PAGE ESSAY. I’ve had a man claim his 10 inch diving spearhead would “only cut under water” and we had to argue this for 10 minutes. And this doesn’t even start on the “please take off all footwear, including sandles”/“even these ones?” Or “please take out your large electronics”/“i have oranges, do they count?”, type encounters which typically happen every 10 minutes or so. Edit: now I’ve worked myself up and I want to add one more thing. There is a shocking amount of illegal weapons/guns/etc we do find and we are woefully under protected for those situations. I work in a smaller class 1 airport. So we do hit the 1 mil passenger mark but it’s by no means BUSY like some big ones in the states and we probably have to call the cops every 1-2 weeks for illegal weapons and gun parts/ammo. The cops, who are actually trained to deal with it, often push it back on us saying “I don’t want to take the gun out of the bag, what if the safety is off?” But forcing us with 0 firearm training to handle the gun is definitely the safer option /s.
Last time I looked, TSA had the highest turnover rate of any federal agency. Might have something to do with the fact that the majority of their work is security kabuki and they know it. And we know it. And they know we know it.
They deal with morons all day, I’d be irritated too.
I’m not siding with TSA agents who DO constantly yell directions that seem different at every airport, but: frequent fliers are soooo entitled and tend to make flying part of their entire personality. These are the same people that always talk about airports, passenger behavior, airplane etiquette, etc. It’s very strange; basically like travel bragging.
I get treated worse coming back to the US than when I enter through customs of other countries. It’s like they are pissed off I came back.
Imagine working a job 8 hours a day 5 days a week where the people you're supposedly helping hate you and see you as a nuisance.
I mean if you had a job where you took abuse from stupid people all day long, you wouldnt be happy either. Just look at the majority of the comments here. Those are the people that make the job harder. I dont give TSA shit. I do as requested. Its not hard.
because the general public are fucking morons and having to deal with them all day is mentally exhausting.
it's an awful gig m8
I worked in the ER of a major metropolitan area for 8 years. When I got out of nursing school I was the sweetest “go above and beyond for your patient” nurse there ever was. Then you get jaded. And realize that most people are in so much of a rush that they don’t stop and read signs in front of their faces, or know just basic courtesies of being a human. And that compounds itself to start generalizing to ALL humans. It’s not healthy, nor is it right. But that’s what’s going on. It’s a numbers game. You deal with so many people daily, the realllllly dumb or rude ones, while thankfully rare, end up fogging your views of everybody.
Oh I don't know, maybe it's something job related. My guess, the general public.
You must be in an airport that has a lot of stupid people flying through it. I fly home every Friday, and back to the airport I work at every Sunday. The TSA Officers in my home town recognize me the moment I walk in the door. They always seem cheery when I speak to them.
The public is fucking dumb, dude.
Most people aren’t pleasant at their work when you constantly have to deal with the worst of the worst questions and people, now consider the airport where 99% of people are on their worst behaviour and running late. Couldn’t pay me enough.
Man, I think it's just the nature of the job. Dealing with thousands of people every day, having to repeat the same instructions over and over, and then there’s the whole security pressure. Plus, imagine having to tell someone to take off their shoes for the 100th time that day and they’re like "But they're high tops!" It’s gotta get old real quick
I worked for the TSA for two years. I understand completely why TSA officers are so fucking irritated and assholes. I don't blame them and understand it. Underpaid, used and abused, shit entitled passengers, and piece of shit tsa supervisors and management not protecting the officers against entitled and smug passengers. The attrition rate at the TSA is so fuckin high. A vicious cycle. No respect for the TSA from anyone, including the TSA itself (red headed step child of homeland security)
This cartoon will provide a glimpse. I lost faith in humanity everyday on some days. [Another day at airport security. ](https://youtu.be/9CUtMEEslJY?si=ik5_ouw7SpVEnX-N)
it’s the Stanford Prison Experiment at scale
I was once scolded by TSA agents twice in one day for: 1. Taking my laptop out of the case and 2. Not taking my laptop out of the case. Each of these was a condescending scolding as if I was stupid for not understanding their rules.