23 JAN 2018:  My old buddy and our (now occasional) columnist, David Tait, sent me a note the other day, noting  that he has taken to saying, “Thank you for your service above and beyond the call of duty” to TSA and US immigration officers all of whom have all been working without pay for the duration of the outrageous political ego trip playing out south of the border.  He did go on a bit more but we’ll leave that part out.  However, David said that the grateful reaction of the agents seems to indicate that not many people are saying such a thing, and he thought it might be nice to pass on the word to readers.  Today however, he sent a different missive.

This time, David sent me a link to an article in ‘One Mile at a Time’ headed, “Should We Be Thanking TSA Employees For Working? Maybe Not…”

The author, writing under the name ‘Lucky’ said he has, “taken a couple of flights since the shutdown started, and overall I’ve been impressed by how friendly TSA agents have been, and have also appreciated how friendly most passengers seem to be towards TSA agents.”

However, on a recent flight while using the TSA Pre-Check line, when the, “lady two people in front of me thanked the ID checker for working during the shutdown. He said “mhm.”

“The person behind her also thanked him. The TSA agent responded “I hate when people say that.”

“So, of course I didn’t say anything, and just smiled and said “thank you” when he handed me my ID back. Then the person behind me (who clearly didn’t hear the previous conversation) also thanked the TSA agent for working, and he sort of let out a sigh.”

Lucky had two reactions – as I think we all would. The first was, how nice and friendly people are, the second, how rudely the TSA agent reacted.

But, he changed his mind and it’s worth viewing it from the perspective of the agents working without pay and likely under financial stress. It’s not thanks they’re looking for – it’s a paycheck without the insult to injury of $ 0.00 where their salary should be.

Under these trying circumstances, a series of ‘thanks’ regardless of how well meant they are, can probably get pretty annoying – the agents are there because they have to be there, they can be disciplined if they do not show up – paycheques or no paycheques.

They are there doing their jobs because people in Washington who never have to worry where their next meal, or mortgage, or rent, or car payment, or child care payment, is coming from – are not doing theirs.

This is happening in the USA and it is shameful.