Quote:
Originally posted by Melusine:
Er. That's not what Cloudy was saying, if I'm not mistaken.
Jim, DOH, I think we're actually in agreement. :D Nowhere have I said anything to the tune of airport security being wrong. In fact, read my posts, I have said several times I am all for it. Of course! Like I said, who isn't? No one here is saying security should slacken so that terrorists and other assorted lunatics can board planes. But sorry, I don't think that excuses rudeness on the part of the custom officials. Another thing, I KNOW the "innocent until proven" thing legally only applies to Americans when you're in America. Does that mean that if a Canadian or Brit visits, it's all right to treat them the other way round, i.e. guilty until proven innocent? If you think so, I wish you a pleasant time in the bunker together with Magik and hope you have enough pics of Cloudy with you there... ;) ;)
Seriously though, even though LEGALLY custom officials may be allowed to treat a Canadian such as Animal as rudely as they want, doesn't mean I don't find it UTTERLY despicable when they do! What if it was Harleyquinn or me with the same story? Would you excuse the same behaviour then? There is absolutely NO NEED for custom people to be rude or mean in order to perform their job, so if they are, I maintain that they're wrong. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Harleyquinn, just to put your mind at ease - I have been on this forum for over two years and that sort of thing is kept at an absolute minimum here. I sincerely doubt you'd ever get such a comment directed at you. Sure, I've seen well-meant compliments and stuff like that, but if someone were to send a female member of the board rude or obscene messages, have no doubt that measures will be taken immediately. [img]smile.gif[/img]
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You're basically right Mel. I *am* saying that custom's officials can and should use any means necessary to do their jobs, but I'm *also* saying that there's no reason to be so rude and inconsiderate about it. So yeah, I think we're basically on the same side.
However, I still maintain, as does Magik I believe, that there are two sides to this. Animal gave us his version. I cant say one way or the other how he acted/reacted to/with the agents, so I can only comment on what he wrote, and, I have to say, I am honestly appaled by the agents rudeness and bad behavior. However, I can also comment that, in my experience, and with my own eyes, I have seen the majority of people be rude and snippy with security/customs people, and, IMO rudeness is it's own reward.
As to the you and/or Harley question, well, that would depend. If you were being polite and patient, and if the agents were being anything but, then I would agree that you would have a legitimate issue. But if you were being pushy, rude, or acting outrageously, then the agents would have IMO just cause to treat you the same way. However, knowing your sweet and loverly disposition, I doubt that there's any need to worry about that. [img]smile.gif[/img]
One last note, directed to the thread at large. I think that too much is being made of Magik's 'if you dont like it, dont come' statement. I, personally read that to mean that, if you dont want to deal with tough, possibly rude security, then you shouldn't put yourself in a position to subject yourself to that behavior. If you choose to put yourself in a situation where you know that something like that is a real possibility, then you really have noone to complain to.
Anyway...back to (I think) the original point. I wish there were some way for the security to be more effectively trained, and that they would be required to take customer service training. Like I said earlier, respect and courtesy has to start somewhere, and, I think that it should probably start with the people who are *supposed* to be the professionals.
