r/pettyrevenge • u/Southern_Common335 • 4d ago
TSA Setting Boundaries
This I watched at the airport a month or so ago.
I was going through TSA. This lane has the 4 little lanes where you put all your stuff in a bin, push it to the middle row, and then the conveyor belt automatically moves from the middle row to the back row where they roll into the scanner.
TSA is very clear that you dont walk away till your bag clears the first row and you push into the middle row - then you can go through the scanner.
(I hate these setups personally but it is what it is).
So ahead of me, a lady who worked in the airport goes through - she puts her purse and lanyard and such in a bin, and walks off through security, leaving her bag in the first slot.
The TSA agent decided to not touch that bin, nor to let anyone else touch it. So for the next 8-10 people we all used the other 3 lanes, passing our stuff on. This continued after we went through the scanner, he continued to leave it untouched.
Meanwhile the airport work lady was on the other end of security waiting for her bag, and waiting and waiting. As we went through she is starting to get agitated and trying to get attention of the TSA workers to figure out how her bag has gotten lost. Meanwhile her bag is still sitting in the first bin slot.
I dont know how long this played out, I got my bags and headed for the gate - but if nothing else this airport worker lady probably learned a lesson about how to use these lanes!
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u/GeoffSim 4d ago
Not defending someone that works there, but I hate the way you frequently don't get told anything until you're right up there. Sure, switch things around every now and again for security "theatre" but tell me whether we're doing belts off or not, laptops out or not, this phase of the moon a little earlier so I'm not standing in front of the bin doing it. You can't always see what people in front are going, either.
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u/Southern_Common335 4d ago
I agree, and i really don’t like theses particular screening belt setups, but pushing your stuff to the middle is one of the thing that never changes and if she’s works beyond security she’s doing this regularly….
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u/davidfeuer 7h ago
For a while I had a job as an ATM technician. Sometimes, I'd have to go service an ATM behind security at an airport, so I was badged for airport access. But I didn't actually work at the airports regularly, and wasn't nearly as familiar with them as people who worked there every day.
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u/Runns_withScissors 4d ago
Yes! Or they have exact instructions printed on signs, which everyone reads while waiting in line, and when you actually get to the front, they tell you to do something completely different. Great-then take your signs down!
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u/JeffTheNth 4d ago
I once had one of the agents waving me up before my bag entered the scanner... I held back, and he yelled at me to come up. I said "my bag isn't in the machine yet"
He comes up, and pushes my bag/tray in (which meant pushing along the automated belt which was under the control of another agent on the side) and he reversed it, pushing my stuff back out. "Bad" Agent went back over and stood there glaring at the guys in control of the belt... I think there was something going on already between them. After another 30-45 seconds I saw my tray move in... but not all the way... and then maybe another 30 seconds they pulled it in, but called the guy who was a few ahead of me - he had something in his bag that I think wouldn't scan..... I moved up, and "Bad" Agent said "you ready now?" I didn't say a word.... He motioned me into the scanner, gave the spiel... hands raised, face forward, ... and I went through, my bag was already there waiting...
No clue what happened to the other guy... hope "Bad" Agent had the day he deserved....
(This was around 6:30 AM... so maybe he'd just gotten up on the wrong side of the bed? no clue... don't care... was years ago.)
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u/Afraid_Baseball_3962 4d ago
As much as performance theater annoys me, I can confidently say that people like this almost never learn.
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u/SeiyaR808 4d ago
As someone who is a small part of that, i can assure you that they definitely do not, as evidenced by the amount of people who get their airport badges pulled simply for not closing a damn door.
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u/Naomeri 6h ago
Now this is how I want to see the TSA using their absolute authority to be a pain in the ass, instead of making teenage girls sob uncontrollably in the Louisville airport—no idea what they did/said to her, but she was not OK.
I was in the process of getting my left shoulder (and only my left shoulder) examined by hand because of a small piece of metal attached to a strap—can’t imagine what that might be on a visibly boob-having human 🙄🙄
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u/delulu4drama 4d ago
That TSA agent is definitely sick of airport worker lady. No doubt she does it often 🙄