91100 100 set
to the book
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
- Posts
- 694
I used to carry a little keyshaped multi-tool on my keychain. One of those little things that folds into a key shape, but unfolds to reveal a few handy little tools (yes, including a blade, so I guess it was contraband). I carried it before 9-11 and continued to carry it for a few months after until a TSA screener noticed it going through the belt in MHT. Alright, I'm busted, take the stupid thing. I didn't put up a fight, but the screener made a scene out of it, telling me in a loud voice (loud enough for everybody in a 20 foot radius) "shame on you, YOU of all people should know better than this...". I wasn't having any of that, so I replied, "Shame on you! It took the TSA over 5 months to even find this thing, and I go through security 6 or 7 times a week", in the same loud voice. She took the item, but didn't say anything after that, and I went on my way with a satisfied grin.
Then, a few months later, I started carrying a small Sears Craftsman screwdriver doo-hicky on my key chain. About the size of a $.50 piece, with 4 little flat bladed screwdrivers around the edges. You can find them at the checkout counter at a Sears Hardware Store for less than a buck, very handy for all kinds of things at work, the car, or at home. No blades on it. My pen or the keys on my keychain pose more of a threat. Again, I carried it for several months, until the goons at MHT found that! She said it was a "tool" which is contraband. Feeling lucky, I asked her "What could I do with that, dissassemble the plane one screw at a time?". No comment from her, but the USAirways GSC got into the action by this point. The GSC said that she would take it and if I met her down in ops, she would take my address to mail it back to me at home. Which I took to mean "come downstairs and I'll just give it back to you (wink, wink)". And wouldn't you know it, she actually would not give it back to me, and sure enough it was mailed back to me. As I was leaving the checkpoint, I told the screener that I would just but another one when I got home and carry that for another 6 months (I was pretty pissed) until she found the next one. Again, no comment. But I now carry that same tool on my keychain, and it's never been a problem again.
And don't get me started on the hit-or-miss, on-again-off-again policy of not allowing un-uniformed crew members with valid ID badges through the checkpoint unless they have a boarding pass...
Hopefully when Bush and his goons go back to Texas this January, some of this stupidity will stop.
Then, a few months later, I started carrying a small Sears Craftsman screwdriver doo-hicky on my key chain. About the size of a $.50 piece, with 4 little flat bladed screwdrivers around the edges. You can find them at the checkout counter at a Sears Hardware Store for less than a buck, very handy for all kinds of things at work, the car, or at home. No blades on it. My pen or the keys on my keychain pose more of a threat. Again, I carried it for several months, until the goons at MHT found that! She said it was a "tool" which is contraband. Feeling lucky, I asked her "What could I do with that, dissassemble the plane one screw at a time?". No comment from her, but the USAirways GSC got into the action by this point. The GSC said that she would take it and if I met her down in ops, she would take my address to mail it back to me at home. Which I took to mean "come downstairs and I'll just give it back to you (wink, wink)". And wouldn't you know it, she actually would not give it back to me, and sure enough it was mailed back to me. As I was leaving the checkpoint, I told the screener that I would just but another one when I got home and carry that for another 6 months (I was pretty pissed) until she found the next one. Again, no comment. But I now carry that same tool on my keychain, and it's never been a problem again.
And don't get me started on the hit-or-miss, on-again-off-again policy of not allowing un-uniformed crew members with valid ID badges through the checkpoint unless they have a boarding pass...
Hopefully when Bush and his goons go back to Texas this January, some of this stupidity will stop.