Flying on Sunday out of MHT, I had the worst experience I've ever had with the TSA. I know others on this board have experienced much worse levels of harrassment and other badness, but generally, I haven't. I just try to be respectful and compliant, and get through the line as fast and efficiently as possible, and no one seems to pay me much mind.

On Sunday, I got in line at the MHT secondary security checkpoint (the one on the end for gates 1-7, if you're familiar). There's only one lane there, so the line was backing up a little bit. The ID checker was being unnecessarily thorough, I thought, but he pleasantly said "hello" and bid me good day when he was finished.

I stepped up to the belt and put my shoes and liquids in the bin, and set my backpack behind them. Prior to getting in line, I had already stuffed my fleece in my pack, so I was wearing jeans, a long sleeve T-shirt, and socks (running shoes, as I said, were in the bin). The attendant shoving bags into the xray yelled at the lady in front of me, who had forgotten to remove her toothpaste from her bag ("It's been this way for over a year now," she snapped). Then she turned to me. I am a woman, for reference.

"Do you have anything on under that?" she said, pointing at my shirt.

"No," I said simply.

She turned her head away from me (while shoving toothpaste-lady's bag into the machine) and said something that I couldn't quite make out. I could only assume it was going to be something like "Then we won't make you take it off" or some similar lighthearted mea culpa, but I wasn't sure, so I smiled and said, "Pardon me?"

Her head snapped up, and in a nasty tone she said, "You *will* be patted down. That's *bulky*."

Taken aback, I said, "okay." Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will say that the tshirt was a little big on me, due to me having lost some weight (yay). However, bulky is an overstatement -- it's still a T-shirt. But as I said, I'm generally inclined to be respectful and compliant, and figure that's the fastest way to get through the process.

So I put my bags through the x-ray and headed over to the metal detector, meanwhile the dragon lady is walking up and down behind the belt, pointing at me and yelling that I need to be patted down (to who, I don't know, but know the whole line knows about my attempted subversion, that's for sure). I walk through the metal detector and hand my BP to the guy there, who quite politely indicates that I should step to his right, my left. As soon as I do this, dragon lady comes running over and bellows, "NO!"

She points an index finger in my face. "You *will* be patted down," she repeats. She grabs the fabric of my sleeve. "*This* is bulky. Get in there!" And she points emphatically to the glass box. She briefly chews out the metal detector guy for telling me to step around instead of sending me to the box. Then she steps inside and does my rub down herself. She didn't say anything else to me. I got my shoes and bag and got the heck out of Dodge as soon as possible.

I didn't get her name or badge number -- it just didn't occur to me. I don't like confrontation, so it didn't occur to me to say anything. I wish I had had the presence of mind to ask for a supervisor or at least note her name, but I was relatively mortified. I guess even keeping your head down and shutting up fails sometimes. I know people have seen worse than this, but I'm left feeling oddly violated.

...how could this be?...impossible....why, just read this from the TSA website:

....yeah, trained and professional my butt...what a joke they are.

That's terrible. I use MHT occasionally and have never had any TSA trouble -- on the contrary they've always seemed reasonable -- but I use the main / central checkpoint at the top of the escalators.

I'm so sorry about this. It just goes to show that even full politeness and passivity is no defense against the minority of mentally ill TSA personnel.

You should have filed a complaint.

Yep, even those quietly compliant (never myself BTW ) eventually come to recognize the TSA beast for what it really is; Tyranny of the Clerks, 2008, 9, 10... ad nauseum until the American people finally get PO'd enough to do something about it.

My initial thoughts; one TSO says go one way, one says go the other, follow the direction of the one you prefer, straight out of check-point Charlie. If Dame Bellows follows you outside the check-point (big, unlikely if) she's out of her tiny, pathetic jurisdiction and looks like a breying fool to all, including screening managers and LEO's as you simply followed the direction of a different TSO. Would her betters allow an "abundance of caution" to trigger a terminal dump? Never, they've always got a weather eye on the "optics" of the situation and can sense a PR loser with surprising accuracy. If escape didn't work out before being locked into the plexiglass box, I'd have had supervisors and managers on scene before I finally let a different TSO pat me down. You might want to read Honeytoe's recent thread to see how to deal with worse behavior than this effectively.
I'm also truly sorry for what you had to go through but to learn from it: I think more of us need to recognize this agency for what it really is. Head down, avoid confrontation, IMO, will not last you through more than a few dozen screenings before you have a painful experience with a bottom feeder like this. This TSO's coworkers' inability to rein in displays like this via peer pressure are further indications that the culture at too many stations is rotten, at all levels, the agency is structurally flawed in concept, design and execution.

And BTW, IANAL, but grab my sleeve to try and force me in any direction or prove a point, that's battery.

I would have simply removed my t-shirt and pointed to my man boobs and asked if she was jealous.

This incident requires a letter to the FSD for MHT with a copy to the Airport Director.

I would never let anyone grab me without my slapping their hand away - they are not law enforcement, they have no right to grab you and you DO have the right to protect yourself by using physical force to push them away. Grabbing you is assault and battery.

Describe her, including the day and time in your letter so they can figure out who she is. You might want to inform the FSD that you're considering filing charges against the screener for assault and battery - and if you're really thinking of doing that, have a lawyer get a copy of the surveillance tape before they destroy or erase it, which they will do once they get a hint you plan on escalating.

yup and insist on viewing the surveillance tape (and do not, repeat do not take "no", "ssi" or "national security" as an answer as that's simply b/s cuz you were involved-not some alleged terrorist.) again, insist and if push comes to shove, a letter from a friendly attorney or a call to the media won't hurt either

Please do everyone a favor and write a letter to the FSD and cc the local paper. As you did here, be sure to mention the terms "battery" and "surveillance tapes." If you don't get a reply, CALL!

We've heard all of the arguments about how it's a stressful job, but this woman was completely out of line.

Considering that a previous poster had quite a bit of success by contacting the FSD's office in Philadelphia, let's hope that you also get the message across.

It's nice to see so many people sticking up for themselves. Nobody needs to be treated like this.

That's MHT in "action". The screeners there suffer from a huge case of Barney Fife syndrome.

Welcome to USA 21th century where if you're wearing a tin badge you can sexually harass anyone as long as you do it in the interest of safety. If you give the screener the benefit of the doubt she was just being a tinpot dictator. If not, she was coping a feel and should be fired and sued.

FILE A COMPLAINT and do it quickly. Get a hold of the FSD for that airport. If you are unable to find the FSD or if you get a bad number (like I did), then call other FSD numbers to try to ask another FSD for the contact information. I had to do that and found a very helpful gentleman at PIT who pointed me in the right direction.

If you are not able to give the TSO's name and badge number, it will be more difficult to trace, so be descriptive regarding the TSO's appearance.

DO NOT LET THIS GO!!! File your complaint as soon as possible, too, because they DO look at the tapes.

Don't let them win this.

TSA

Yep. Listen to Honeytoes...she knows what she's talking about!^

Hey now, TSO's don't have tin badges yet.

This might help:

Robert Krekorian is the FSD.
[email protected]
Office Phone - 603-666-7442
Cell Phone - 603-438-6729

Good luck.

If something like this even looks like it would happen, I would say in the same tone and volume, "YOU will NOT touch me. Call your supervisor. and DO IT NOW."

That said, I agree with the others here: follow up. Our liberties are being trampled and we all need to keep in line those who are "just following orders" while they do the trampling.

Best of luck.