indigo_rose99

The ship docked in New York early this morning. So early that our friends S&L thought we would have a reasonable amount of time to at least see them. We caught a taxi from the dock and it was a quick 15 minutes to meet them. Yay! It was lovely to catch up. They fed us a hearty 2nd breakfast and a great deal of tea.

They sent us off at noon to catch our 3pm flight home. We entered the TSA Pre security line in plenty of time. And then I met the local TSA guys. I meekly asked after a tub in the security line to put my electronics-filled coat in and protect it from being crushed by my luggage. They either didn't hear me or ignored me. I repeated the request, a bit louder. No response. No eye contact. I repeated it again, louder. They told me that TSA Pre security line does not NEED tubs. "Well, may I have a tub?" and they went straight into "Ma'am, YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" I was speaking over the surrounding noise, but I didn't think I was yelling. I tried to be meek. They said they would bring me a tub. They tried to talk me out of using a tub, saying the conveyer belt is cleaner than the tubs, which are often used for shoes. I agreed that is true, but I still wanted a tub. I reached the front of the line and didn't push my luggage out of sight until I had the tub. They yelled and told me that I was holding up the line. I asked for the tub again. They yelled louder and told me how very rude I was being to all the surrounding passengers (who could hear every bit of their side of this conversation). Every time I spoke they told me to "Ma'am, WE ASKED YOU TO CALM DOWN!!!" It was super intimidating and freaky. There were three of them, all tall and loud and male in full uniform. I felt that by asking for a security tub to go through security I was going to be arrested for.... something. It was horrible.

At the end of the security conveyor belt was a huge pile of tubs on a hand cart. Inside security. Away from passengers like me who would want to use them for their coats or other small crushable items.

Walking away, I thought that perhaps this is normal behavior for New Yorkers? They are always this rude and aggressive? Perhaps they didn't want the work of dealing with the tubs played into it. The position of power they were in only made the experience more terrifying for me.