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Trisk · 08-06-2004, 09:03 PM

So today my friend flew out to Virginia (from New York). He got in a car to the airport around 4-4:30. From 1:30 until he got in that car, he was shopping with me for gifts to give to his little nephews in Virginia.
One of the things we ended up getting was a little box of "uncover the dinasour"...it was an archeology type thing. It cost no more than $5-10 but we thought it was very cute. At the store, the lady gift-wrapped it in nice paper and, being a tiny box, it could have been jewelry or an expensive watch...or anything. So my friend put that and some other gifts into one of the bags that he was planning on checking and off he went to Virginia.

So he arrives in Virginia, goes to the baggage claim and when his bag comes around, it's got this huge rip in it. Strike one. He's a little bit pissed but he shrugges it off and goes to his sister's.

When he gets to the house, he goes to open his bags and when he opens the bag, the first thing he notices is how dirty his clothes are. He made a point of doing the laundry before the trip so everything should ahve been clean - instead, it looked like half of his clothes had been dragged along the ground before being stuffed back into his bag. Strike two.

The next thing he realizes is that something's missing. The little "uncover the dinasour box". Remember how I said it could have resembled jewelry or a watch? Well....I guess someone else thought so too. It was not in my friend's bag. And that's strike three. Some guy is going to go home tonight hoping to find some piece of precious jewelry and he's going to get a $5-10 "uncover the dinasour".

Oh yeah...and in my friend's bag was a letter about random bag checks and his was one of the bags they checked. Big suprise.

I find this appalling. There was a time when we could put locks on our luggage and there was a reason people did it. I understand that with the threat of terrorism, things change and I support that. But in exchange, we should feel safe and protected. We should be able to put our trust in the system.

Instead, the people we are trusting to fight terrorism are stealing from our bags, throwing our personal belongings on the floor, and handling our bags in such a way that they come back useless. This is disgusting. How am I supposed to feel safe like this?

My friend wants to call up and scream at someone but since it's the government that does bag checks now, he'll probably just end up with some form he has to fill out that, knowing the reliability of government services, will likely never get read - and if it does, nothing will get done anyway.

What do you guys think about this?
I could go into other stories about the incompetent people that are supposedly protecting me but I'll leave that for later, if people reply to this.

Feel free to vent about your own experiences.

08-06-2004, 09:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trisk Insane	Airport "Security" So today my friend flew out to Virginia (from New York). He got in a car to the airport around 4-4:30. From 1:30 until he got in that car, he was shopping with me for gifts to give to his little nephews in Virginia. One of the things we ended up getting was a little box of "uncover the dinasour"...it was an archeology type thing. It cost no more than $5-10 but we thought it was very cute. At the store, the lady gift-wrapped it in nice paper and, being a tiny box, it could have been jewelry or an expensive watch...or anything. So my friend put that and some other gifts into one of the bags that he was planning on checking and off he went to Virginia. So he arrives in Virginia, goes to the baggage claim and when his bag comes around, it's got this huge rip in it. Strike one. He's a little bit pissed but he shrugges it off and goes to his sister's. When he gets to the house, he goes to open his bags and when he opens the bag, the first thing he notices is how dirty his clothes are. He made a point of doing the laundry before the trip so everything should ahve been clean - instead, it looked like half of his clothes had been dragged along the ground before being stuffed back into his bag. Strike two. The next thing he realizes is that something's missing. The little "uncover the dinasour box". Remember how I said it could have resembled jewelry or a watch? Well....I guess someone else thought so too. It was not in my friend's bag. And that's strike three. Some guy is going to go home tonight hoping to find some piece of precious jewelry and he's going to get a $5-10 "uncover the dinasour". Oh yeah...and in my friend's bag was a letter about random bag checks and his was one of the bags they checked. Big suprise. I find this appalling. There was a time when we could put locks on our luggage and there was a reason people did it. I understand that with the threat of terrorism, things change and I support that. But in exchange, we should feel safe and protected. We should be able to put our trust in the system. Instead, the people we are trusting to fight terrorism are stealing from our bags, throwing our personal belongings on the floor, and handling our bags in such a way that they come back useless. This is disgusting. How am I supposed to feel safe like this? My friend wants to call up and scream at someone but since it's the government that does bag checks now, he'll probably just end up with some form he has to fill out that, knowing the reliability of government services, will likely never get read - and if it does, nothing will get done anyway. What do you guys think about this? I could go into other stories about the incompetent people that are supposedly protecting me but I'll leave that for later, if people reply to this. Feel free to vent about your own experiences.