I found this quite humorous. While flying back home I was standing in one of the useless “Hey we are doing something about security” lines at the airport. A few people ahead of me was a girl about 13 years old. She put her bag on the belt and as it went through she walked through the metal detector. The belt stopped and the woman running machine called her supervisor over. They ran the bag the rest of the way through. The supervisor then reached in to the girl’s bag and pulled out a 2 liter bottle of Sprite.
The supervisor walked over to the people waiting in line and said, “This is an example of what you can’t bring through”. She then took the bottle and threw it directly in the trash next to the security line. People started to chuckle a little bit then I heard a man say, “I am glad they caught that”. I turned to him and asked if he knew something that I didn’t know. He looked at me like I was crazy. I asked, “Is Sprite the next big threat to air travel?” He replied, “Well it could be something else”. To which I replied, “Well if it is your in trouble because she threw it in the trash can right next to you”.
My point was obviously lost. Everyone knew it was Sprite. It is what it is. At times I get frustrated about the differences between actual and perceived security. I was making a couple of points to the people in line. The most important point was that if it was something hazardous they just chucked it in the trash right next to them. I wish people would demand more from the people supposedly “securing” them. Unfortunately I think there is a perception that it will require more from them as well. I can’t say as I blame the people with the previously stated perception. Security implemented poorly is often a unnecessary drain on many resources.
