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Like Uncle Ben said, "With great power comes great responsibility," the TSA employees are exactly in that position -- they have the a great deal of power at the

by thex86 13y ago

Like Uncle Ben said, "With great power comes great responsibility," the TSA employees are exactly in that position -- they have the a great deal of power at their disposal and they are not trained to control it. One can also argue that they are just doing their job, but it's probably not as simple as that. On multiple occasions when I had to deal with them (I forgot to take out a water bottle of my bag), I have found them to be unnecessarily rude. It almost seemed as if the TSA agent was enjoying it thoroughly. And I know this first hand, having worked in a customer service position for many years, I can probably smell it.

Terretta 13y ago
Aside from the standard "customer service" jadedness, there's a class stratification at play: people who have to take a TSA screener job to pay the bills, versus people with enough income to fly. When you put an underclass in control of the overclass, don't be surprised when they try to wield whatever power they can, regardless of how disproportionate. It would be an interesting experiment to staff a TSA gate with frequent fliers selected "jury pool" style (say, one day of service for every 100k miles flown annually), and see if both passenger and agent job ratings are any different.
- mrtonykittens 13y ago
  I would be great at a job I knew I only had to perform for one day (or even one week). I also wouldn't be terribly concerned with upholding rules and laws, and just do it how I would want it to be done. Plus it would be fun and different, almost like a game. I can't believe we have juries.
dmead 13y ago
you know, guards at Auschwitz were just doing their jobs.
aestra 13y ago
I didn't take out my water bottle from my bag once, because I wasn't aware I was going to have to go through security a second time when arriving in the US from an international flight. It had one sip of water in it. I told them I would just drink the sip of water, unacceptable. The TSA employee told me that if I dumped it or drank it, that was fine, but I'd have to get in back of the line again. Why? I don't know. He sat there holding my water bottle saying "I'll only give it to you if you'll get in back of the line." I finally said fine, keep it. I still don't understand why I could drink it and get in back of the line, but I couldn't drink it and stay in front of the line. It seemed to me like he was just power tripping.

by thex86 13y ago

Terretta 13y ago

Aside from the standard "customer service" jadedness, there's a class stratification at play: people who have to take a TSA screener job to pay the bills, versus people with enough income to fly. When you put an underclass in control of the overclass, don't be surprised when they try to wield whatever power they can, regardless of how disproportionate. It would be an interesting experiment to staff a TSA gate with frequent fliers selected "jury pool" style (say, one day of service for every 100k miles flown annually), and see if both passenger and agent job ratings are any different.

mrtonykittens 13y ago
I would be great at a job I knew I only had to perform for one day (or even one week). I also wouldn't be terribly concerned with upholding rules and laws, and just do it how I would want it to be done. Plus it would be fun and different, almost like a game. I can't believe we have juries.

dmead 13y ago

you know, guards at Auschwitz were just doing their jobs.

aestra 13y ago

I didn't take out my water bottle from my bag once, because I wasn't aware I was going to have to go through security a second time when arriving in the US from an international flight. It had one sip of water in it. I told them I would just drink the sip of water, unacceptable. The TSA employee told me that if I dumped it or drank it, that was fine, but I'd have to get in back of the line again. Why? I don't know. He sat there holding my water bottle saying "I'll only give it to you if you'll get in back of the line." I finally said fine, keep it. I still don't understand why I could drink it and get in back of the line, but I couldn't drink it and stay in front of the line. It seemed to me like he was just power tripping.