I travel a lot.
I'm CONSTANTLY amazed at the thuggery and unprofessionalism of the TSA (Thousands Standing Around). Most recently, on our trip to Israel, we were astounded at the difference between the way we (senior citizens) were treated by TSA and Israeli Security.
My wife, who has Titanium knees, always gets singled out for special attention. In NYC, the woman who "handled" her was rude, loud, and seemed much too aggressive in the "pat down". That was after we waited for over 30 minutes because, at first, there was not a woman available for the screening, and a "supervisor" had to be called. I had already breezed through security, as I usually do, and was waiting patiently as my wife was confined to the examination area.
The woman groped my wife's breasts more than a few times, and talked to her like it was some cheap "women in prison" movie. At one point, I walked over to protest, and the lady pointed at me and yelled, "back up", at which point I demanded a supervisor. She yelled, "I AM a supervisor", so I walked over to one of the men and, pulling out my iphone, said, "OK, I'm recording this, and I want somebody here NOW". The woman started moving toward me, PROBABLY to confiscate my camera, when one of the male TSA guys stepped over to intervene, and told me "we already called another supervisor, sir, I'm sorry you're having trouble".
Apparently, some of the male TSA people were disgusted by her performance, and had, indeed, called another supervisor. The woman abruptly ended her "examination" of my wife, and told her she could leave. I wanted so bad to stay and battle this out, but we were in danger of missing our connection by airport shuttle to El Al's terminal. We knew that Israeli security was pretty tight, so we didn't want to waste any time.
Arriving at the Israeli checkpoint, we were quite impressed with the PLEASANT "security agents", who were polite and friendly, and never touched us, but politely asked numerous questions, obviously watching our facial expression, body language, etc. They (a man and a woman) apologized several times for the inconvenience, but I can't stress how downright pleasant they were.
When we went through Customs in Israel - same thing -- lots of questions, but always very polite and professional.
After our visit in Israel, we were coming back to the airport in Tel Aviv. Walking up to the airport, some Israeli soldiers were standing just outside the doors. There were a couple of "young military aged middle eastern" men behind us, and the soldiers barely glanced at us, stepping in front of the other men, and politely engaging them in conversation. Again, we went through Israeli security, with our "agents" appearing far more concerned that we enjoyed our visit than that we might be there to destroy the terminal.
Then back to the United States thuggish behavior of our own "security" people. What a contrast!
I'm CONSTANTLY amazed at the thuggery and unprofessionalism of the TSA (Thousands Standing Around). Most recently, on our trip to Israel, we were astounded at the difference between the way we (senior citizens) were treated by TSA and Israeli Security.
My wife, who has Titanium knees, always gets singled out for special attention. In NYC, the woman who "handled" her was rude, loud, and seemed much too aggressive in the "pat down". That was after we waited for over 30 minutes because, at first, there was not a woman available for the screening, and a "supervisor" had to be called. I had already breezed through security, as I usually do, and was waiting patiently as my wife was confined to the examination area.
The woman groped my wife's breasts more than a few times, and talked to her like it was some cheap "women in prison" movie. At one point, I walked over to protest, and the lady pointed at me and yelled, "back up", at which point I demanded a supervisor. She yelled, "I AM a supervisor", so I walked over to one of the men and, pulling out my iphone, said, "OK, I'm recording this, and I want somebody here NOW". The woman started moving toward me, PROBABLY to confiscate my camera, when one of the male TSA guys stepped over to intervene, and told me "we already called another supervisor, sir, I'm sorry you're having trouble".
Apparently, some of the male TSA people were disgusted by her performance, and had, indeed, called another supervisor. The woman abruptly ended her "examination" of my wife, and told her she could leave. I wanted so bad to stay and battle this out, but we were in danger of missing our connection by airport shuttle to El Al's terminal. We knew that Israeli security was pretty tight, so we didn't want to waste any time.
Arriving at the Israeli checkpoint, we were quite impressed with the PLEASANT "security agents", who were polite and friendly, and never touched us, but politely asked numerous questions, obviously watching our facial expression, body language, etc. They (a man and a woman) apologized several times for the inconvenience, but I can't stress how downright pleasant they were.
When we went through Customs in Israel - same thing -- lots of questions, but always very polite and professional.
After our visit in Israel, we were coming back to the airport in Tel Aviv. Walking up to the airport, some Israeli soldiers were standing just outside the doors. There were a couple of "young military aged middle eastern" men behind us, and the soldiers barely glanced at us, stepping in front of the other men, and politely engaging them in conversation. Again, we went through Israeli security, with our "agents" appearing far more concerned that we enjoyed our visit than that we might be there to destroy the terminal.
Then back to the United States thuggish behavior of our own "security" people. What a contrast!
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