Six Things to Know Before Your TSA Pat-Down

Frequent fliers frustrated with the new regulations have threatened on Web forums to respond in kind to the TSA screeners required to perform the more thorough search.    
 
Run your fingers through their hair, moan with pleasure, offer your phone number.
 
This is a bad idea. Not only is it petty and mean-spirited, it could be traumatic for screeners. Catcalls, whispers, and aggressive posturing also won’t do much to change the policy: screeners aren't the ones calling the shots. While there are several reports of TSA screeners crossing the line, for the most part these employees are just people trying to do their jobs—jobs they’re not too crazy about right now, either. “Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment, creep. These are all words I have heard today at work describing me, said in my presence as I patted passengers down. These comments are painful and demoralizing,” writes one TSA employee. “One day is bad enough, but I have to come back tomorrow, the next day and the day after that to keep hearing these comments. If something doesn’t change in the next two weeks I don’t know how much longer I can withstand this taunting. I go home and I cry.” And while “just following orders” has never been a great excuse, and while there are some bad actors who may take advantage of their newfound responsibilities, many TSA workers are professionals. Those who act unprofessionally or aggressively should be reported, blogged about, and reprimanded. But even they don’t deserve to be demeaned—and neither, it should go without saying, does the polite, reserved guy at the end of his shift who has to run his hand up yet another angry stranger’s inner thigh.