Tim’s Ramblings

Yup.

2 tickes to see the Police when they come to Cleveland in July. They’re loge tickets at the Q. Woooo.

Some issues in getting them…but in the end, I got them. Won’t go into details here since…well…I got them (^_^)

…now…the trick is to make sure I don’t have to be in Japan at the time! There’s a possibility but…well…we’ll see.

Now…who to take.. (^_^)

While reading through some various business travel blogs (in this case Upgrade: Travel Better) I ran across a link to an article about a peek behind the scenes as a screener at the airport.

Inside Job: My Life as an Airport Screener by Barbara Peterson is long but fascinating. It really does a great job giving you a glimpse from the other side of the counter.

For me, it’s even more interesting as I get to see these people all the time under various conditions. I’ve seen how they are when there’s a huge rush of travellers during peak vacation season and I’ve seen what they are like when I’m the only one walking through the metal detectors. I try to put myself into their shoes and try to be understanding. But sometimes I have to admit, it’s hard.

I’ve been “randomly” selected for a search (look on the bottom of your boarding pass…if you see 5 or so “S”‘s printed down there, you just got picked). I’ve been patted down. I’ve had them rifle through my stuff. And each time I try to be upbeat. Let them know that I understand that they are only trying to do their jobs under extremely stressful conditions. Manytimes that works. I’ve been told that I was the first person to give them a break and not hassle them all day. Othertimes, they don’t care and they go through the motions and wave me on my way.

The only time I get angry is when I see them take out their frustrations on either children or obvious foreign visitors. If you have to yell at the smug businessman who thinks he’s more important than others and starts shoving people around or giving the workers a hard time just because he has to take his overcoat off, please…go right on ahead. But when the person obviously can’t understand you, don’t start yelling at them and making demeaning comments. You might be the very first impression these people get of “Americans”. It’s bad enough that we fingerprint and take pictures and have immigration workers (not necessarily the officers but the people directing you to the line) who visibly show annoyance at anyone who can’t speak English (..um..you’re WORKING AT IMMIGRATION JACKASS)…let’s not make us look even worse at security…

But anyway, enough of my ranting. I can go on for pages. I really recommend this article. It reads quick and it’s written well and it really shows what these workers are up against. If I worked in those conditions I would be pretty annoyed too.

It’s also a bit frightening just how little we have truly improved in terms of security in the airports. Alas…other than our Congress actually putting up the money to fund all of this as opposed to using it as a campaign tool and forgetting about it once in office, I don’t really know if there really IS much we can do.

If nothing else it was eye opening.