I Opt Out

It happened early this morning as I was going through security to catch the coffee run to Houston. The TSA agent motioned for me to go through the full body scanner. I immediately, and without thinking about it, said, "No, I'm opting out." This did not make the TSA agent happy as he hollered for a "male assist" and told me to stand to the side. Unfortunately, that placed me right in the path of folks coming through the magnetic detector. (There was no obvious out of the way place to stand and he seemed to be aggravated that I was moving around to try to get out of the way of other passengers) After standing there for a few minutes, I asked where his partner was. I was told they would get someone as soon as someone was free. I suggested that perhaps the TSA's plan was to make those who opt out wait in public view until we decided it was easier to go through their machine. This really upset him and he stated that he would no longer talk to me. That sounded good to me as he wasn't saying anything worth hearing anyway.

And shortly the pat down agent arrived. I must say he was very polite and professional, describing exactly what he was going to do and he did it quickly and professionally. But I noticed that after the pat down, he wiped his gloves with a patch and put it through the bomb sniffer.

Now, what do you think would have happened had I been at the shooting range before going to the airport?