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Comment by idle_zealot | Hacker News Reader

There's no consistency in procedure from TSA agents. They're undertrained, unaccountable, and some combination of bored, disinterested, and high on petty authority. I don't think any amount of training or official guidance could improve the situation, though. The essential problem is the authority plus unaccountability or oversight. That will always go poorly for anyone subjected to that authority sooner or later.

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Perhaps once AI destroys all the livelihoods of educated and disciplined white collar workers, it'll be easier for the TSA to find people who can follow basic instructions and show a normal amount of empathy.

And then the job will drive that empathy right out of them.

I think it's the job, not the person. All sorts of people work at the TSA; clearly it's endemic to the TSA, not to the people who work there.

You have to deal with pissed people all day who don’t listen at all. And if you make the tiniest mistake you could be the person who failed to stop the next 9/11.

Doing the same three or four things screening people all day long has got to be mind numbingly boring. Unless you’re at an airport that isn’t constantly busy where instead you get to stand around doing nothing, which can be worse.

It honestly sounds like a terrible job to have. Aren’t they paid pretty bad too? I can see why a lot of people would want to move out of it, leaving only those who are stuck or like the power.

None of this is excuse what happened in the article.

There are people at airports all over the world doing very similar jobs to this. I have no experience with the TSA but noticed the attitude varies widely country to country and even airport to airport. I guess my point is it can be done with empathy and respect, even if the rules are strict.

Yep, just think of those people in front of you, that pass the same several large signs telling them to make sure that all their liquids are in a 1 litre ziplock bag and have that bag ready for inspection (this is in Europe) … and then doing a surprised Pikachu when the security personell asks them about why their perfume isn’t in said bag. Then starting to repack their hand luggage while the whole queue has to wait and watch.

And you only experience those few people in front of you. The security staff has them all day long.

It's always the leaders of an organisation that are responsible for the behavior. Always.

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