A TSA officer pranked a traveler by asking him to perform “the robot” at an airport security checkpoint in Maui. Appropriate?
TSA Pranks Travelers On Request: Asks Him To Do “The Robot”
I’ve been rather muted lately in my criticism of the TSA because after two decades I’ve just gotten used to the routine. I use Clear and Pre-Check and my interactions with these employees are limited, though my shoes tend to set off the metal detector (I’m about 50-50).
My concerns centered on full body scanners (nude-o-scopes) because they literally undressed you before the eyes of the agents. Those concerns have been mitigated through privacy software that shields your body. Now agents just see a rough outline of your body and if any item is detected, a yellow square around the approximate area. I can live with that.
The TSA fail rate is still shockingly high and I remain convinced that anyone who truly wants to get something past the TSA can do so. I’ve managed, accidentally in my case, to take many liquids containers greater than 3.5 ounces which were not caught by the TSA (it’s time to eliminate the insidious liquid restrictions anyway and dismantle the airport bottled water cartel…).
On the whole, I find TSA agents to be generally curmudgeon (though some are nice) and simply try to get past security checkpoints as quickly as possible. Agents usually bark orders, even in the PreCheck lane, which gets so tedious, but I’ve never seen anything like the subject of our story today.
First, check out this video:
“While passing through a TSA security check in Maui, my friend asked a TSA official to have me do the Robot. He totally got me as I wondered ‘why they would need me to do this? What did this have to do with security?’ Great laugh.”
I’m glad this was initiated by a friend and not by the TSA officer himself, but I find it tremendously illustrative of our lemming-like tendency to obey authority, as most poignantly illustrated by our reaction to the pandemic. Liberty is often slowly curtailed rather than abruptly taken, but humans have a tendency to blindly obey.
My favorite radio host is a man named Phil Hendrie who used prank callers by throwing his own voice to create “guests” who would outrage callers with outlandish points of view. One of Hendrie’s favorite shticks was to ask callers to perform actions, like jumping jacks or rubbing their stomachs and heads at the same time, which they would always do.
I’d like to think that if is TSA officer asked me to do the robot, I’d decline…but who knows. What a world we live in!
This is just from my experience the past few months, but a lot of TSA officers I’ve run into so far post-covid have been more chill. Some even crack jokes or ask how my day is. Again, this is just my experience and ymmv.
I should not be surprised but why no standards on TSA? I have the perfect set of clothes, belt and shoes to travel and at my home airport it is just perfect. Zero interaction with TSA. Now, in Denver, the belt triggers the alarm at the x-ray machine. Some other places is my Apple Watch. Others my shoes? It is so annoying that you ate flying within the US and never know how TSA will play.
Agreed 100%, but I think the point is TSA turns the metal detector up or down as part of their “layered approach” to security.
The only time they “turn them up or down” is when K9’s are present. Unlike what you think, it’s not the metal sensitivity they turn up, it’s the frequency of random additional screening. There’s nothing anyone can do to prevent or avoid being picked by the machine. the body scanner you’re referring to typically alarms on bigger thicker shoes/boots and the material they are made from. You can Google search those devices and find out more about how the work. I recommend that, before posting ignorant assumptions.
Spare me your self-righteous lecture. I go through the same machine hundreds of times per year at LAX. Same metal detector. Sometimes my watch sets off, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes my shoes set off, sometimes they don’t. I wear the same shoes and watch every time I fly. There are no dogs around.
Thank you, Jeff.
Thank him for being foolish?
This is funny.
Also, think about how many more “flight attendants bad” posts than “TSA bad” posts we’ve had the past few years, and this one isn’t even bad. The landscape of assholery in air traffic has shifted substantially.
You must have nice shoes; my Alden’s always set it off. I tend to travel in Carmina or Crockett & Jones.
I would love to have a TSA officer show some humor.
“I’ve managed, accidentally in my case”
Yes…”accidentally”.
As for this story…it was silly and funny. Nothing more.
If anyone is a curmudgeon here is you Mr. Klint. Based on your article, it seems you can’t accept joy in any form, even if happens to be from a TSA agent.
As others have said, more and more lately, I’ve actually had pleasant experiences with TSA agents.
Hope you one day find joy again, instead of forcing the negative angle. If you don’t, maybe you should look into politics.
Lol. I’ll consider it.
“The TSA fail rate is shockingly high”…you’re making an assumption based on ridiculous social media claims. You in fact have no credible knowledge or data to back up your fallacious comment. Their success rate is information that you would never be privy to. That’s shoddy and irresponsible “journalism”.
No, I am not. Be informed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-us-airports-allowed-weapons-through-n367851
https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2017/11/09/tsa-misses-70-of-fake-weapons-but-thats-an-improvement/?sh=3dbd27ba2a38
Or did the DHS just make it up?
Anything more recent than 6 years ago?
New to me…
For someone who apparently travels a lot, he doesn’t know much the machines or the process. The body scanners, don’t “undress” anyone. The earliest versions did, but that was over a decade ago. On top of that, he’s only a passenger so doesn’t know what the supposed TSA “fail rate” is or how easy it is to get things past them. The fail rate he’s talking about is from over 6 years ago and even then, the article EVERYBODY refers to only refers to 3 airports, not all 440.
If you bothered to read what I wrote, you would have seen that I specifically said the body scanners historically undressed passengers, not today.
Don’t be so smug, TSO. I’m sure you’ve heard of basic statistical sampling.