TSA are huge assholes. If you go into an airport expecting behavior a bit more tolerable, you will be disappointed. Prepare to be treated like shit while completely at their mercy. All you need to know about TSA is that they have badges embroidered onto their uniforms. Their authority is just thread, the airport equivalent of the person checking your receipt as you leave Sam’s Club. Nothing like a government job that pays retail slave wages!
After having worked nearly a year at the airport, I am unsurprised when I such stories as the one where TSA thinks a MacBook Air is suspicious or when they force a 14-year-old kid to open up his sterile, back-up feeding tube. Meanwhile, for 4 days straight I was able to go through security when I had accidentally left my pocketknife, a lighter (back when they were banned), and lotion in my purse. There is also the dreaded, rousing cry of “Bag check!” It is promptly canceled upon discovering it is a pilot’s or flight attendant’s luggage. You’d think there would be some concern about NWA employees getting disgruntled and turning to the dark side.
TSA sees fit to pull me aside and swab my purse after seeing my iPod, camera, cell phone, or even a roll of laundry quarters, “just to be sure.” I can keep my shoes on, but as an employee I still have a cloud of suspicion hanging over my head. What the hell was the point of the background check and the drug testing? I gave you my fingerprints for this? I don’t understand.
