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I always found the cold, hard manner of border agents in the US quite off putting in general. Last year I was fortunate enough to attend AWS Re:Invent, standin

I always found the cold, hard manner of border agents in the US quite off putting in general. Last year I was fortunate enough to attend AWS Re:Invent, standing in the queue at McCarran airport, I saw the guard laughing and joking with the people in front of me so I thought ah, maybe they're all not like this! As soon as it came to me the guy completely changed, he went cold, he spent the most amount of time asking why I'd ticked "business" on my customs form, as I didn't know what to tick, then proceeded to ask me what conference I was going to and what it was about and why I was attending. I know that's his job and he's just making sure everything lines up, but it just felt unwelcoming.

stoolpigeon 10y ago
I've had the same experience for the most part with a few exceptions. It's unfortunate and I'm not sure about the root cause but you are right. Of course I've met a lot of immigration/customs officials from around the world who are also pretty intimidating. I wonder if the job attracts people who enjoy having this kind of power over people. Or if maybe after getting the job, they are changed by knowing that they can very easily, on a whim, make life very hard for someone. What bothers me more than the US immigration and customs people are the security employees - TSA. I've seen many more of them be well past cold. They are often rude. I've seen them yelling at visitors to the US who are just trying to get through security and obviously don't speak English well. The kicker is when the TSA person doesn't speak proper English themselves and are obviously not very well educated.
- Kephael 10y ago
  TSA agents are on par with retail store employees in terms of hiring standards. The Customs and Border Patrol agents are armed law enforcement officers and are held to far greater hiring standards.
taway_1212 10y ago
I've read somewhere that, if border controls were abolished, about a billion people from all across the world would move to the US. I'm guessing that, since people already want to come to US pretty badly, being welcoming is not a high priority for border personnel.
- user5994461 10y ago
  Same thing they said in Soviet Russia /s
- passivepinetree 10y ago
  What possible source do you have for 1/7th of the world wanting to abruptly uproot their lives and move to the U.S.?
bootloop 10y ago
I guess they do that to not get a "connection" with the person in question. On the opposite, a technique to win someone over fast is to be nice and open about yourself from the beginning although you don't know him at all. If you like someone you might let slip something through (without even realizing it). I base this opinion on my experience with grading students. Some people can get really good at it. I do it aswell so I know what to look for and try to avoid being "too nice".

stoolpigeon 10y ago

I've had the same experience for the most part with a few exceptions. It's unfortunate and I'm not sure about the root cause but you are right. Of course I've met a lot of immigration/customs officials from around the world who are also pretty intimidating. I wonder if the job attracts people who enjoy having this kind of power over people. Or if maybe after getting the job, they are changed by knowing that they can very easily, on a whim, make life very hard for someone. What bothers me more than the US immigration and customs people are the security employees - TSA. I've seen many more of them be well past cold. They are often rude. I've seen them yelling at visitors to the US who are just trying to get through security and obviously don't speak English well. The kicker is when the TSA person doesn't speak proper English themselves and are obviously not very well educated.

Kephael 10y ago
TSA agents are on par with retail store employees in terms of hiring standards. The Customs and Border Patrol agents are armed law enforcement officers and are held to far greater hiring standards.

taway_1212 10y ago

I've read somewhere that, if border controls were abolished, about a billion people from all across the world would move to the US. I'm guessing that, since people already want to come to US pretty badly, being welcoming is not a high priority for border personnel.

user5994461 10y ago
Same thing they said in Soviet Russia /s
passivepinetree 10y ago
What possible source do you have for 1/7th of the world wanting to abruptly uproot their lives and move to the U.S.?

bootloop 10y ago

I guess they do that to not get a "connection" with the person in question. On the opposite, a technique to win someone over fast is to be nice and open about yourself from the beginning although you don't know him at all. If you like someone you might let slip something through (without even realizing it). I base this opinion on my experience with grading students. Some people can get really good at it. I do it aswell so I know what to look for and try to avoid being "too nice".