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Being accepted into the military is not a criminal trial. He is innocent until proven guilty in the upcoming criminal trial. It's not just the fact that he's muslim, it's that he's a muslim who empathizes with terrorist groups, and our government failed us. Fort Hood was a terrorist attack!
Maybe the TSA should leave us alone at the airport and descend upon military bases. They're really good at chasing the last attack (a.k.a. closing the barn door after the horse has left).
Maybe the military needs to keep a closer eye on people in general that might be a little off mentally, rather than kick out people that try to get help, as my friend did. She actually made the effort to get some psychiatric help and they kicked her out - only after keeping her locked in a room for a week.
Before I ran away to Kentucky I was a TSO at O'Hare. I only stayed there FOUR MONTHS.
About the application/hiring, YES it does seem that minorities are highly favored...Also almost no one had prior experience in government or security. And YES the application process is VERY time-consuming. They do a very extensive background check, asking everywhere you've lived in the last 10 years and everywhere you've travelled in the last 5 years. PLUS you have to try to remember a neighbor or friend who knew you at the time you lived/travelled in a particular place, and the gov. sent these people a form asking about your character and ability to do the job. Hahaha I would think with all of THIS that we would have had a better caliber of employee. No such luck.
But as a frequent traveller (or FORMALLY frequent traveller) I am much more understanding of all of the stuff the TSOs go through (yes, there ARE a FEW who deserve an understanding attitude). Sometimes I miss the job for one reason: out of all of the jobs I've had, I got to use my Spanish skills, and people actually sought me out and respected me for that skill (rather than ignore me and/or seek out a supposed native speaker). And I guess another reason was the vast variety of people I met, the employees and the passengers--not necessarily how they all behaved, but that I came in contact with them.
So why did you leave?...i'm really interested b/c i'm hoping to get this job soon, its been 2 months since i put my application in....i'm still waiting to hear back for my 'airport assessment'
OK, I was just being silly, but seriously there are a lot of black people at gov't jobs, and don't tell me there aren't some shady hiring practices going on.
There's also a lot of white, Hispanic, gay and Asian people in Government jobs. What's your point?
Of course! Many times it's minorities working for the TSA because quite simply the white guys want nothing to do with those jobs--they don't pay enough for the abuse that you'd have to put up with. I've seen a few idiot TSA workers, I've seen a LOT more idiot passengers.
I agree. A good friend of mine works for TSA, so I got to see the whole process from the outside. Getting hired is tough and takes a long time. After the computer exam there's an interview then a physical (I heard half fail the physical -- if your bp is over 140/90, you're done, although you can be on bp meds as long as it's controlled), the background check and can't have defaulted on loans, etc. Another significant group drops out during the extensive training or can't pass the certification exams.
You may think they're just like monkeys waving a wand around until it goes "beep", but that's not true. And it's NOTHING like it was pre-9/11, when it was just another job for security guards.
Now, they are the most extensively tested and certified of ANY fed employee, and they have to be recertified (battery of tests) every year. You say your words out of order? You fail. You can't get cert'd? You're fired. You fail the re-cert? You're fired. You call for a bag check and the other TSO grabs the wrong one? You lose your cert and have to be recertified or you're fired. Plus when you're hired you're on probation for 2 years (can fire you for any reason). You don't like how they seem to change the rules on what you can carry thru all the time as a passenger? Well, they're changing the rules on the TSO's, too, and if they don't know all those monthly rule changes -- they're fired. Thats not true of any other gov't job. If you don't like being tested, it's probably not the job for you.
All that plus you get to deal with thousands of idiot passengers each week treating you like dirt, and the bureaucratic fun of being a low-level fed employee. All for $13-15/hr and a free bus pass!! What a deal!
My first job out of college I made three times that, plus a nice private office and could pretty much show up when I wanted. Part of my job is customer service, but I can tell ya I'd never make it as a TSO - I'd have told off too many of those idiot passengers. LOL BTW, my friend was making over $20/hr as a technician before he was laid off, and that was an easy job with a lot less stress.
Turnover is very high the first year or so, then retention is actually pretty high. They wash out a lot of folks early on and a lot of folks decide they just can't hack it. Yes, there are some jerks working at TSA, but that's pretty much true everywhere (anyone here work in a 100% jerk-free workplace??). Most of them just quietly go about doing their jobs, and they do it quite well. So be kind to the good TSO's like my friend, or at least don't be a total idiot.
As for the anti-gov't privacy paranoia -- it's not the gov't you should be worried about, but large corporations. As long as you pay taxes and don't try to blow anything up, the gov't doesn't care about YOU, but corporations actively try to gather info to better sell you stuff, even starting to track where your cell phone goes. Even the teen working blockbuster video wants your SSN. One gov't agency can't give another your SSN, and my friend's medical insurance can't use his SSN either (don't even have it -- tough to explain to the Drs office, he says). Reassuring when the latest scandal about med records with SSN being thrown in a dumpster or SSNs being printed on the front of mailers.
As for the anti-gov't privacy paranoia -- it's not the gov't you should be worried about, but large corporations. As long as you pay taxes and don't try to blow anything up, the gov't doesn't care about YOU, but corporations actively try to gather info to better sell you stuff, even starting to track where your cell phone goes. Even the teen working blockbuster video wants your SSN. One gov't agency can't give another your SSN, and my friend's medical insurance can't use his SSN either (don't even have it -- tough to explain to the Drs office, he says). Reassuring when the latest scandal about med records with SSN being thrown in a dumpster or SSNs being printed on the front of mailers.
Oh please, Blockbuster is not going to demand my SSN, and if they did, I don't have to give it to them.
If I don't like the service of one business, I can go to another. I don't have that option with government. If I think the TSA rules are arbitrary, I can't go to another checkpoint or another airport. They're the same arbitrary and stupid rules nationwide. At least they're consistent. Arbitrarily random would be worse.
Oh please, Blockbuster is not going to demand my SSN, and if they did, I don't have to give it to them.
If I don't like the service of one business, I can go to another. I don't have that option with government. If I think the TSA rules are arbitrary, I can't go to another checkpoint or another airport. They're the same arbitrary and stupid rules nationwide. At least they're consistent. Arbitrarily random would be worse.
Maybe Blockbuster won't demand your SSN, but they will want your credit card number. They'll know your SSN before you're out the door.
So why did you leave?...i'm really interested b/c i'm hoping to get this job soon, its been 2 months since i put my application in....i'm still waiting to hear back for my 'airport assessment'
Sorry I didn't see your reply sooner! Well I left basically because of 1. high-stress, high-charged environment and 2. long, aggrevating commute from home to work (including spending $300/month on gas). I'll go into more detail if you would like, but you can PM me if you want that. You really have to have your mind and customer-service skills at their sharpest at all times. AND you can't neglect any of the responsibilities you have. May I add that your environment/coworkers are important too. Having supportive, dependable coworkers are the best--after that, it doesn't matter how the passengers and etc. treat you. You're not going to see those passengers at their best, let me tell you! Behavior that they would consider too embarrassing for other environments comes out at the TSA checkpoint; unfortunately some employees overreact and the whole thing gets worse.
OF COURSE it could depend on where you work. For example I worked at Chicago O'Hare, which is buzzing at all times, but when I went through Milwaukee I noticed a big--calming--difference in the TSOs, passengers, noise, etc.
I don't know what stage you're at now, but good luck Nate!!
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My old job...
