What the hell are you yelling at me for?

Ever been yelled at by a security officer? I have. Okay, maybe not “yelled at”, per se, but perhaps “spoken sternly to“? That’s likely a more fitting term. If you’ve found yourself in the same situation, chances are that we were both just in the wrong place at the wrong time, misunderstanding something that should have been clear. Not your fault? Not my fault? Maybe…and maybe it just as well was…

…The thing is, we’re all human, and when we get frustrated or upset, or sad or angry, or even nervous or afraid, we tend to blow up at other specimens of our own species. That’s natural, and just as we might say that someone in a position of authority should not be allowed to react to that kind of emotion, we should perhaps be expected to have some overbearing with it.

I once got yelled at in an airport. I was in airport security for quite some time, and I should have known what was going to happen the instant I made the mistake I did – it’s not really important what it was, the fact is that I managed to piss off one of the officers, and I was made to repent. I’m pretty fine with that, and even with my excessive temper, I managed to realize that if I didn’t just shut the hell up and take it, I was the one who would pay for it.

Thousands, literally thousands of passengers and contractors and workers and staff and crew members pass through security every day, and that’s just one checkpoint. These days, an airport security checkpoint is supposed to handle upwards of 250 passengers per hour, and that is counting everyone that has to be additionally screened, questioned, have their carry-on searched by hand and so on. I’d like to see you count the times you’ve had to deal with 5000 different people, from all walks of life in one day, and if you are in a position to actually list a few times, I’d like to see you count the days when you haven’t had your bloodpressure rise a few points over something someone did. Not that many, is it?

Okay, so you got spoken to like you were five years old. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to make a big fuss, write a letter, try to get someone in trouble over it, spend a whole lot of energy and time, maybe even some of your hard earned money trying for some sort of revenge? Let me tell you, the chances are that the officer in question told his or her supervisor about the incident merely seconds after you left – or while they were getting their supervisor to come talk to you – and the supervisor always knows about it before you tell them, one way or another. What does that mean? Means they have the upper hand no matter which way you toss and turn it.

So you shouldn’t complain if you’ve been treated wrongly? Of course you should. And another point is this; if you feel that a decision has been made before your complaint is thoroughly heard, that is probably true. That decision is this; the supervisor will ALWAYS back up the security officer’s decision while you’re there. (Unless it’s just horribly, horribly wrong). Then, when you’ve left, the officer gets his or her correction if something wrong has happened. It’s part of a setup called “security theatre”, and it means that whatever the security officer decides to do is right, until everyone but security staff has left the scene. Internal justice in security scenarios is important, and the face of security must be preserved, with the percieved correctness of almost every decision made in front of the passenger intact.

So…if you get yelled at by a security guard, just suck it up and do as you’re told. If you really did something wrong, then that’s your fault, buddy. If the security guard did something wrong, they’ll hear about it too, but don’t expect to be treated to a public slapping. It just won’t happen.

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SnällaBolaget

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