As you point out > The distinction between "I resent this process and need my laptop for work" and "If they take my laptop I'm going to be in trouble" is proba

As you point out > The distinction between "I resent this process and need my laptop for work" and "If they take my laptop I'm going to be in trouble" is probably below the threshold of their training. And I agree with you. But 1000s of people must resent the process and need their laptops! If they picked up on that, they would have to confiscate laptops approaching 100% of the time they asked people questions about it.