Don't be a jackass when dealing with people who have jobs requiring them to deal with the public

[struggle4progress]

Waiters and waitresses put up with jackasses all the time'

So do store clerks and the low wage workers who handle returns and customer complaints

Same for the police who stops you for a traffic violation. Yeah, we all hear about the authoritarian mofos, but mostly they're folk doing a stressful job -- and everyone of them knows that a traffic stop is one of the situations in which they're most likely to get shot

Bank tellers. Cashiers at universities. Anybody, who deals with the public all the time, deals with a lot of jerks. Yeah, some of them are jerks themselves; most of them have a bad day now and then, just like the rest of us. And treating them with ordinary human courtesy almost always works

And the same for the TSA folk. It's fine with me if you don't like the TSA airport screening procedures. Lots of us have been bad-mouthing procedures for years. But lots of folk are also ready to breathe political fire the next time Shoes-With-Fuses or Explosive-Panties gets on a plane. The problem won't go away if we switch to private security firms. The problem won't go away if we interview everybody four or five times on the way to the plane. The problem won't go away if we set up gigantic databases to triple-check fliers. It's actually an unsolvable problem: it'll be a problem no matter what we do. Mosrt of us wouldn't want a job doing airport security screening: the jobs are boring, and you meet lots of people who hate you. Being a jackass when dealing with TSA doesn't make anything better. Sure, you should know your rights, and you can object to all kinds of stuff -- but be calm and polite, no matter what position you decide to take

[Slit Skirt]

1. I disagree, raise hell

I too work with the public and have for 40+ yrs.

This situation with TSA should not be tolerated on any level. If we put TSA people in an uncomfortable space, they just might join the band wagon of protests. There shouldn't be one ounce of acceptance of this program. We can not let the TSA get comfortable groping us...never

[LaurenG]

2. This isn't even up for debate as far as I'm concerned

I won't fly until they've changed their tactics and if TSA agents take off my child's clothes you better believe I'll say something fucking rude. Do not lay down about this, they have gone far enough.

[Abq_Sarah]

17. No kiddies at home anymore

So I won't be faced with making that decision. But seriously, if everyone now knows about the new requirements, why would they subject themselves to those procedures and then raise hell, expecting to suddenly become exempt? In most countries, refusing airport security is going to paint a big target on your back and it's no different here.

The only way this is going to be changed is if the administration backs off (unlikely) or the congress steps in, or the airlines/airports raise hell and file lawsuits.

[Me.]

3. People Objecting To Invasive Body Searches Are Not Jackasses

And it's pretty hard to be polite when someone's hands are down your pants.

[WinkyDink]

4. Sorry; too many reports of bully-like tactics, indifference to medical issues, etc.

[seabeyond]

5. when a man with ultmate authority walks into my space, gets in my face, with sole purpose

to intimidate me.... you can bet your ass i am going to call bullshit.

[sally cat]

6. Not to mention TSA can have you arrested for that, whereas waiters and waitresses can only spit in

your food before serving it.

[Poboy]

7. Force the fascism to show itself. No retreat.

Compilation of news videos of TSA search abuses-

The TSA is out of control-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhkQoiaf7Uc

[PeaceNikki]

8. I agree.

His job sucks, but it's the best one he could find. He just wants to do his job, go home, have some dinner, get drunk and fall asleep in front of the teevee.

There, but for the grace of god, go I.

[PSPS]

9. Yes, be obedient and compliant like a good sheep.

Just because someone's job "requires them to deal with the public" doesn't give them license to do something that is wrong. What next? "Be a good German American?"

[PeaceNikki]

Making a scene at the airport will not change it and will not help matters.

I certainly won't take my frustration out on some underpaid schlub who is probably less enthused about it than I am. If one of them is a total douchebag to me or someone else, I will file a complaint AFTER my trip through the proper means.

[PSPS]

18. Don't be silly. Of course it will.

I have no sympathy for anyone doing the wrong thing, regardless of whether "it's just their job" or not. You shouldn't let people push you around. Maybe you're being sarcastic, but your last sentence sounds like something Hank Hill would say, minus the part about filling out the proper forms and waiting six to eight weeks for a response!

[PeaceNikki]

19. I am not being sarcastic. The Petulant Libertarian Blogger “Johnny Edge” is no hero.

An immoveable asshole meets an unstoppable douchebag results in me really wishing somebody, anybody really, in that video would've taken a taser to the nuts.

[Slit Skirt]

16. ...or please be the best torturer you can be

we wouldn't want to offend the torturers just doing their jobs

[struggle4progress]

24. You don't seem to read very carefully or thoroughly

[hedgehog]

10. Agreed.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. OK. The next time a waitress feels me up I'll be ever so polite.

But, I draw the line with bank tellers fondling me.

[EternalOptimist01]

15. LOL!

:rofl:

I draw the line at the DMV.

[Odin2005]

12. They have a moral duty to refuse to do what they are doing.

If that means they lose their jobs, well too bad.

[Nye Bevan]

13. I have a rule. If they don't grope my genitals, I won't be a jackass. (nt)

[Rex]

14. You fail to realise the average person doesn't believe they are being

a 'jackass' when some govt stranger is cupping their balls and making jokes. I feel sorry for the workers, but they should be able to find a way to stop this insanity from the inside. Otherwise they are no better than their jackbooted masters at TSA.

[quinnox]

20. No, a line has to be drawn somewhere

Some people feel that they should always defer to authority because authority must always be right, but that leads to an Orwellian type scenario where all freedom is lost.

If authority is doing something that is wrong, if enough people raise hell about it, then it will get changed pronto. Believe me, if millions of people started refusing to let TSA grope them and their kids, and the airline industry was in danger of becoming bankrupt to mass protests, disruptions, and boycotting, then this policy would be changed so fast it would make your head spin!

[struggle4progress]

25. Actually, if you read carefully, you'll see I didn't say "always defer to authority"

[Caretha]

21. Funny that

a bank teller, a convenience store clerk, waitress or anyone else who deals with the public, has never asked me to let them take a picture of me nude or feel me up. Comparing apples to oranges is a lazy debate technique.

[blondeatlast]

22. It'll make me unpopular here, I know, but I have to agree.

I SERIOUSLY doubt whether they are enjoying this any more than the rest of us--and I'll put 8 years of loyal DU participation on the line to say so.

[Sherman A1]

23. Simple answer

Don't fly.

I have flown once since 9/11 on a family emergency, other than that it's all about driving for vacations and work.

I will not get on a commercial airliner.

If you choose to do so that is your choice. If you choose to protest the invasive searches, that is your choice, but I would be pleasant as possible to the folks just doing their job... I suspect they don't much like it either.

[noamnety]

26. How should people have treated the waiters

who refused to serve them because they were black? They were just following management orders.

LOL though at being lectured about treating a person with "ordinary human courtesy" while they are groping my genitals and squeezing my breasts with the implied threat that they'll have me arrested if I refuse.

I won't be stepping in an airport any time soon, but I appreciate the don't touch my junk people for escalating the tension; we need more of that, not less.

"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice ..."

If people go along peacefully with the new procedures and make it pleasant for the workers, the TSA will continue them. I propose that the better course of action is to make their jobs so miserable that the employees quit or protest, causing enough disruption from within that we force change.

[Fleshdancer]

27. If waiters and banktellers touched my genitals, my reaction would be the same.

On the other hand, if my boss told me part of my job description now includes touching the genitals of strangers against their will, I would quit on the spot. I need my job so quitting would really suck for me and my family, but there's absolutely NO way I could justify doing this.

This new policy puts TSA workers in a bad position, but that doesn't mean I'm going to feel any less violated and angry if I get groped. I'm allowed to be pissed off at the entire chain.