4 ms·

A few years ago when I was about to board a flight to London from Boston, I was grabbed by the arm by a plains-clothed security type immediately before the airl

A few years ago when I was about to board a flight to London from Boston, I was grabbed by the arm by a plains-clothed security type immediately before the airline scanned my boarding pass at the jetway. He flashed his badge and I was pulled to one side, and he asked if his partner could look through my carry on. As she did this, he asked me about where I had been eating in Boston. He asked many, many questions about Santarpio's, saying he'd never heard of it, asking what they sold, etc. Given that Santarpio's is immediately next to the airport and sells amazing pizza, it's extremely unlikely that someone who worked at Logan was unfamiliar with it. At this point, the lady looking at my bag said "he's clean" or similar, the first guy lost all interest in Santarpio's, and they put me back in to the front of the queue.

lanstein 16y ago
That's that joint in Eastie, right?
- goatforce5 16y ago
  It's basically the last non-airport thing you see before you get to the airport (erm, depending on which of the 4 or so approaches you use to get to the airport, I suppose). EDIT: it's really good and worth a visit. Get there early and/or be prepared to queue.
  - lanstein 16y ago
    Cool, thanks! Will do :) When I'm in Boston, I stay in Southie, so I'll have to get over there.
jcnnghm 16y ago
That's a technique used to gauge your alertness/nervousness and truthfullness. He probably does know a lot about it.
- bootload 16y ago
  "... a technique used to gauge your alertness/nervousness and truthfullness ..." Baseline response.
  - goatforce5 16y ago
    ...yeah, I figured out that's what they were trying to do, as he kept asking the same inane questions repeatedly in rapid fire. Turns out my baseline for him was a quizzical "Are you serious?" look on my face. (I guess maybe that looks different to a "OMG THEY'RE ON TO ME!" reaction.) A very strange little encounter. And if it was just "security theatre", I can't imagine the passengers behind me were comforted by someone being snatched from the line, having their bag riffled through and then put back in line just before getting on a 7 hour flight.

lanstein 16y ago

That's that joint in Eastie, right?

goatforce5 16y ago
It's basically the last non-airport thing you see before you get to the airport (erm, depending on which of the 4 or so approaches you use to get to the airport, I suppose). EDIT: it's really good and worth a visit. Get there early and/or be prepared to queue.
- lanstein 16y ago
  Cool, thanks! Will do :) When I'm in Boston, I stay in Southie, so I'll have to get over there.

jcnnghm 16y ago

That's a technique used to gauge your alertness/nervousness and truthfullness. He probably does know a lot about it.

bootload 16y ago
"... a technique used to gauge your alertness/nervousness and truthfullness ..." Baseline response.
- goatforce5 16y ago
  ...yeah, I figured out that's what they were trying to do, as he kept asking the same inane questions repeatedly in rapid fire. Turns out my baseline for him was a quizzical "Are you serious?" look on my face. (I guess maybe that looks different to a "OMG THEY'RE ON TO ME!" reaction.) A very strange little encounter. And if it was just "security theatre", I can't imagine the passengers behind me were comforted by someone being snatched from the line, having their bag riffled through and then put back in line just before getting on a 7 hour flight.