Are they actually given training in sucking this much, or does it just come naturally to their employees:
Monica Emmerson was traveling with her 19 month old toddler when she was detained at Reagan International Airport and threatened with arrest because her toddler had a sippy cup with tap water in it,.. The sippy cup was seized as my son was pointing and crying for his cup. I asked if I could drink the water to get the cup back.. I unscrewed the cup to drink the water, which accidentally spilled because I was so upset with the situation. At this point, I was detained against my will by the police officer and threatened to be arrested... I was ordered to clean the water, so I got on my hands and knees while my son sat in his stroller with no shoes on since they were also screened and I had no time to put them back on his feet... I missed my flight, needless to say after being detained for over 40 minutes. After the officer was done humiliating me.
First of all, the TSA officer obviously had no authority to order this woman to do anything other than sit still. Monica should have refused to clean up anything despite threats of arrest (of which they were multiple, almost as if the TSA official was enjoying it) - that's why people pay airport fees. This isn't gradeschool. Maybe TSA workers should be given training distinguishing between being a public servant and being schoolyard supervisors. While they're in that training, maybe they can be taught not to ignore abandoned bags in known terrorist targets:
Waiting for a shuttlebus at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) a few days ago, I noticed an abandoned bag. It was an odd place to leave a bag for a few minutes. When I alerted the nearest airport employee – a baggage handler – his reaction was indifference... there were plenty of reasons not to regard the bag suspiciously. But I don’t think that the airport employees I alerted had applied an analytical framework and made this determination. It did not appear that they had any particular awareness of what to do or who to contact. The employee's indifference was surprising. LAX has been the target of at least two terror attacks.
These people wield de facto absolute control over passengers: people are stressed out, they have flights to catch, and no one wants to tangle with a potential federal crime. And they're just idiots. Useless, petulant idiots.
References:
* TSA Detains Mother, Threatens Arrest Over Sippy Cup Full of Tap Water [Consumerist]
* Lax @ LAX [CT Blog]
Previously:
* TSA Web Site Hacked and Hijacked. Of Course It Was.
* Q: Could Airport Security Suck Worse?
* It's Time For Another Rant About the TSA - Hardline On 1oz Pepsi, Not So Much On Boxcutters [Video]
