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Double Bass TSA Does It Again!
- Thread starter LouisF
- Start date
Even if they eventually admit they did it, there's simply no excuse for that. It had to be malicious.
Mind boggling. And to add to the incompetence . . .
"The statement said a baggage inspection notice from the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), written in Spanish"
A notice from a U.S. agency to a French resident, yet written in Spanish.
"The statement said a baggage inspection notice from the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), written in Spanish"
A notice from a U.S. agency to a French resident, yet written in Spanish.
C'mon, Steve, malicious? Stupid, ignorant... I can see, but these folks have a "job to do" and mostly try to do it as well as they can; certainly, there are exceptions but there aren't any perfect systems. Why would they single out this instrument for some sort of malicious, intentionally destructive act? Imagine your brother-in-law's tone-deaf 18 year-old from Alabama being confronted with this instrument. I think if you put yourself in their ignorant, tunnel-visioned mindset, you'll see this is not about the agents, but their lack of training, and that's on their superiors who have failed to manage "the edges" as well as they should have.
More of the same BS from your Barney Fife security theater administration- keeping grandmas safe from babies since October of 2001...
But, have you tried reality? and, you seem to have missed my larger point, advocating for advocacy to law enforcement to improve their procedures.
It wasn’t procedure. Procedure was screening it for explosives. Procedure was opening the case, and should have been properly closing the case. That didn’t happen. What did happen was a nasty little prank that will take the instrument weeks to settle in from after reassembly. Then they tried to lie it away.
I’ve known lots of people who would do that. We never got along all that well.
I’ve known lots of people who would do that. We never got along all that well.
I haven't missed the larger point. If I treated my gear the way they treat ours, I would be fired.
Here's the thing, they call themselves "officers" and expect to be treated as such.
I have flown F-18s loaded with ordnance both in combat zones and at home in training. Yet these guys pat me down because they see themselves st the line in the sand saving the American people...
I seriously think the TSA needs to be abolished.
I don't accept their explanation. They're saying that either someone else put a TSA notice in it, or it was left over from a previous trip. Not believable. (NPR covered this in All Things Considered tonight.)
Further, there is no possible need to dismantle an instrument to security check it. Someone did it on purpose. This is another black eye for TSA, and I hope they get raked over the coals for it.
I respect government workers, and yes, most are just trying to do a tough job. But some are ******** who get power hungry and do stupid stuff.
Further, there is no possible need to dismantle an instrument to security check it. Someone did it on purpose. This is another black eye for TSA, and I hope they get raked over the coals for it.
I respect government workers, and yes, most are just trying to do a tough job. But some are ******** who get power hungry and do stupid stuff.
This.
Some people are drawn to jobs that confer some amount of authority upon them, even if it's a tiny bit. They then exercise that authority capriciously and malevolently because, for some inexplicable reason, it makes them feel good and inflates their sense of self-worth.
Anyone who flies a lot, as I do, knows that the vast majority of TSA people are just average schmoes who will respond positively to a positive attitude on your part; but a definite small percentage are badge-heavy ******** who get their rocks off pretending to be the last thin line protecting all of us against that 90 year old grandma who forgot to take her nail file out of her purse. Given that there are also a certain percentage of people who take a positive delight in destroying things of beauty that they don't understand, and given the number of musicians who fly with instruments, I completely believe that everything seen here was done intentionally.
The thing that brasses me off is that there's essentially no recourse. Yeah, that one guy whose guitar got destroyed wrote a song and made a video and got a lot of attention and got restitution (that was United baggage handling, not TSA but the principle's the same), and this world-renowned musician from Mali will get a lot of attention especially because his instrument is so unusual, and he'll eventually get some kind of restitution, but Joe Blow wont' get his $3000 Taylor guitar replaced. It may not be a one of a kind irreplaceable instrument, but Joe Blow probably ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches to scrape up the money; and he'll just get the "sorry, not my fault, now go away and don't complain too much or we'll put you on the no-fly list".
The thing that brasses me off is that there's essentially no recourse. Yeah, that one guy whose guitar got destroyed wrote a song and made a video and got a lot of attention and got restitution (that was United baggage handling, not TSA but the principle's the same), and this world-renowned musician from Mali will get a lot of attention especially because his instrument is so unusual, and he'll eventually get some kind of restitution, but Joe Blow wont' get his $3000 Taylor guitar replaced. It may not be a one of a kind irreplaceable instrument, but Joe Blow probably ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches to scrape up the money; and he'll just get the "sorry, not my fault, now go away and don't complain too much or we'll put you on the no-fly list".
The best analogy to this was if they had done the same thing to a Stradavarius or a Torres would the a segment of public be coming to the defense of TSA?
Well, the dropped piano wasn't malicious, it doesn't even appear to be carelessness, just an unfortunate chance occurrence. I don't think a rare case of professional piano movers dropping a piano (and immediately admitting it) really compares with TSA goons intentionally destroying someone's instrument and then trying to pin it on some "mystery man".
