TSA screening slowed to a crawl on Friday at the Las Vegas airport as agents took a break from their duties, and passengers and bags backed up, in order to break into song.
This wasn’t Steven Bochco’s short-lived Cop Rock where LA police officers would break into song and choreographed dance in between solving crimes around the city. This was a group of screeners just one audition away from America’s Got Pat-Down.
Bizarre scene Friday at Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas as carry-on bags are backed up waiting to be scanned with one TSA agent working each lane while the other agents are performing in the TSA choir
They say “you’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.” That’s often misattributed to Mark Twain. And I guess I encourage each and every one of these TSA screeners to do that, just not maybe when they’re on duty?
Also, singing in the shower is great for those of us who aren’t very good at it. Passengers aren’t free to listen or not. They’re required to go through checkpoint screening as a condition of air travel. That shouldn’t take longer so they can be a forced audience for this, right?
Although I guess the quality of their singing is an allegory for the broader need to reform the agency to provide better security at lower cost.
(HT: Ryan C.)
Say what you will of TSA, for a government agency, it innovates quickly. We have a path to self-service security screening that requires zero human interaction – just maybe one Officer sitting nearby to make sure people aren’t skipping the process entirely. Like retail self-checkouts.
The worst type of TSA Officers aren’t the ones breaking out in song, even if it slows down security. Security can slow down for all kinds of reasons. I once waited 30 min at MIA because the baggage screening equipment malfunctioned. Did I still make my flight? Why, yes (granted, final boarding). How come? Because I budget time for exigences just like this.
No, the worst TSA Officers are the curmudgeon screamers yelling at you as if you’re stupid. I don’t take kindly to any derision of my intellect. Let’s see the data: exactly how many TSOs have a Harvard or MIT degree?
“America’s Got Pat-Down” Heh, heh, heh….. Nice.
Singing when there’s no line is great: God bless ’em.
Singing when people have flights to catch — flights that may involve significant personal issues, important business meetings, or connections that may be lost negatively impacting expensive vacation plans: Good way to show your job is really not that important.
Hopefully what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Song? Anyone else remember Delta’s low-cost subsidiary in the 2000s?
It’s as if the Bob’s Burgers episode where there is a musical called “TSA The Musical” comes to life!
We can finally hear such hits as “If You See Something, Sing Something”!