Coffee, tea or glee?
This week TSA is contemplating changing the rules defining permissable items on aircraft. They're purportedly going to relax the restrictions on sharp objects in favor of monitoring for explosive devices. Small scissors, screwdrivers and tools with blades under 7 inches will be legal again.
Sounds like a great idea to me. TSA has to check 1 in 4 bags anyway because of screwdrivers or nailclippers. This frees them up to prioritize on real threats to the aircraft--explosives. Bombs are much more insidious because they don't necessarily set off metal detectors, can look like any normal device and don't require a lot of space.
The Association of Flight Attendants disagrees. According to the Washington Post, many flight attendants disagree. They quote the association's spokesperson, Corey Caldwell, as saying that:
When weapons are allowed back on board an aircraft, the pilots will be able to land the plane safety but the aisles will be running with blood.
So...Enough. Enough hype. Enough hyperbole. Enough scare tactics.
9/11 was a bully's wet dream and I'm sorry to say that the underpaid, overworked service people that work for the airlines have jumped on we frequent travelers' genitals with stilleto heels.
I have personally seen uncountable incidents of abusive behavior coming from flight attendants and baggage handlers, each time citing "security concerns" as the reasons for things like: asking for a pillow, complaining about a meal or asking for more ice in a bloody mary.
I'm going to say something slightly un-PC here; I liked it a lot better in the 70s when stewards and stewardesses were young and enthusiastic and saw their job as a kick. I hate to fly, really hate it and I was reassured by calm and pleasant people. Today, I get flight attendants who look and act like a hated family aunt. Mean demeanor, unwillingness to help unless pushed and mildly narcissistic tendencies as evidenced by the inter-attendant gabfests that seem to occupy much of the flight.
Sure, attendants get hurt on airlines. Sorry about that, but they're not firemen or emergency medical technicians, they're SERVICE PEOPLE who occasionally have to rise to the occasion and act nobly, just like a waitress that gives a choking restaurant patron CPR.
Stop the scare tactics. If being a flight attendant is that bad a job, find another one. If the airlines are (as I suspect) paying their employees badly and treating them miserably, don't take it out on us. Your personal job disssatisfaction is not a national security concern.
Posted on November 30, 2005
