My personal Rant thread

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No need to reply, but I just wanted to vent about yesterday and the idiocy I encountered. From 3:45 AM until about 9PM I was wound up so tight I could crap diamonds. This is the only lace that people will understand. To everybody else, it's "Buck up boy, it's life." sheesh.....of as they say where I come from Sheeeeeiiiit......
Actually started the night before because I called the car service to schedule a pickup the next day. Would be traveling and did not want to wait. They asked me to call the next day. Really confounded me because when I went to China, they wanted to schedule the pickup for when we returned 3 weeks later.

Started calling at 4:10AM. No pickups. The card says 24/7, but nobody is picking up. Called from then until I finally connected at 6:45 in the TSA line. That added to my anxiety levels because it was an important thing that could have been taken care of the night before......But, more on them later......

4:30 AM: Already late by my scheduling. Should have left 10 minutes before. Asked the wife to take on final look. She turned her nose up and told me to take a look. Well, guess who forgot her iPad and we had to turn around and get it. Dumbass.....literally, 100 yards down the road and it would have been "too late. It'll get mailed." Thank God we could get it because I didn't want to hear her whine about it for days. And that would have been arguments because I would have been a bit too pressed to point out her attitude and idiocy every time.

5:15 AM: waiting on bus service to get to airport. They are late. Showed up at 5:35. Now starting to get antsy because scheduling is off and worried about the arrival in time to get through TSA.

6:30AM: Get to airport and immediately get pumped by the curbside check-in woman for tips. She says she's our "porter" and they are 'tipped' employees. Well, dumbass, you're not my 'porter'. You didn't meet me at the curb, carry my bags and lead me to where I needed to be. You lifted my two bags all of two feet from the weigh station to the traveling belt that carries the bags to their special place for the airline. And, if I was allowed behind that weigh station, you never wouldhave touched my bags.. And, by the way, if you're a tipped employee, get your effin attitude together. Smile, be uber polite and don't effin scowl at me. And, if you ain't making enough with Delta, then take it up with me, but don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining.

6:45 AM: In line at TSA. Totally messed up in Hartsfield airport. I would have never thought LaGuardia airport would be superior to any airport but, they have Hartsfield airport beat all to hell and back. Lines are in disarray. Stand in one line, get the ticket checked and then sent to another line. Go through open areas. Get redirected by idiots who should have been either blocking the access or, how's this for an idea, boneheads, just extend those little ribbons from one post to the other and drop the attitude when people go in because you can't get your act together.

7:20AM: In line and feeling the crush of people and the noise levels. Can feel my anxiety levels rise. But, getting though the line. Then get to the screening area. Now this is where it really get's all FUBAR.
1)I did the pre-check in so I wouldn't have to remove my belt and shoes. Why the F$%k are you making me do this? I've lost 45pounds in a year and my clothes just fall off me. Forgot my underwear when packing to go visit, so, I'm going commando. Not a pretty sight if my pants fall. Naked Santa should be your visual there...ain't pretty is it? But, here is where it really got nuts. First off, the noise levels were bad. TSA agents are shouting crap all over the place and I can't make heads or tails of anything. And it points to where TSA needs to get their crap together.
2) shouting instructions is a fools errand in such a noisy, crowded space. It's an international airport and many people are not native English speakers. Or deaf people. Or, oh I don't know....normal looking people who have auditory processing issues...LIKE ME!! So, drop the effin' attitude when I don't immediately comply or understand. Don't talk to me like I'm 10 years old and I've been a bad little boy. Not only that, I fly. Been through 5 airports since October. Procedures are not the same everywhere you dumbasses. And, quite frankly, that is a problem.

This is part of what happened.
October, JFK. Do I take the laptop out? "Just pull it out and lay it on the carry bag."
Hong Kong (Not part of TSA, just keeping track of airports) and far better treatment of their customers.
Vancouver (again, just keeping track, but has TSA agents there) and they had a sense of humor. I asked the guy wanding me why we're being searched again since we haven't been anywhere other than the plane. I ask if they thought the mothership rendezvoused with us and delivered bad things. Just laughed.
LaGuardia: Do NOT take the laptop out.
Hartsield: Eventually found out, take the laptop out, put it in its own bin and everything else separate.

Well, all I could hear was Laptop and out. So, I did the JFK thing. Was talked to like I was an idiot and a bad child. But, it's TSA...don't 'f' with em.
Then, there was a family in line in front of me and they had all their stuff on the rails, we had our stuff on the rails And it was so packed that we even had to hold three of our bins. Really packed. So, I hear this woman behind me whining and begging people to let her ahead because she was "About to miss her flight". Heard her loud clear because she was actually being more obnoxiously loud than the TSA agents. She should have been shouting the instructions for them. One of those box cutter knife voices that just cut through me. Anyway, the stupidity of that is two fold.
1) ain't my problem if you can't get your sorry ass out of bed to get to the flight. Foul up on your part is not an emergency on my part. My flight was at 9AM. I started out at 4:30 to get only 45 miles. So, yeah, not really worried about your lack of planning.
2) As I said before, the trackway was packed and we're holding things because it's so packed. So, where the f$%k do you think you're going to 'cut in line' to?

I get through the screening, pants about to fall off and waiting to get my xrayed items and that f$*king b***h got right in front of me and started to sling my things down the rollers. I got in her face and told her to never touch my things again. I almost swung on her because one of the things she slung down the rollers was my Batmobile. But, again, to compound the stupidity, her crap wasn't even through the scanner. This came on the heels of TSA dressing me down for "No following directions".

Hey, TSA!! It's your f*^&ing job!!You are rested before you start and quite frankly all you do is stand in front of a scanner. Drop the attitude you overblown idiots with a power trip. And, if you want to know the truth, it's your own $(*ing fault!! Be consistent from airport to airport. If you want to switch things up to trip up the bad guys, then F$)(ING post signs and don't yell!! Next, people can make mistakes when traveling and they are usually tired. Airports are no fun for us, but, IT'S YOUR JOB. Get over you a$$wipes!! !

So, by this time, I'm overloaded. My baby (the Batmobile) could have been damaged (more on that later) because you thought your idiocy was more important than someone else's property. Two things kept you from being decked:
1) I have learned impulse control
2) It was the TSA area and I really don't want to be on the no-fly list for someone that f(#*king stupid.

Now, we finally get to the waiting area at the gate. My wife still has her attitude, not listening (her English can be very selective when she doesn't really want to be bothered) and that is really starting to bug me out. And don't F*&KING tell me to CALM DOWN when you're actually one of the reasons I'm pissed to being with.

Plane gets to NYC 15 Minutes early(! !! !) but we're stuck on the tarmac for 45 minutes. Grrrrr.....now comes where the other part of my personality takes over. I go into worry mode compounding the stress and compounded by the stress. Bad feedback loop there. For those not familiar with NYC car services, they will wait for 45 minutes (this car service will) because they know flights can be delayed or time lost waiting for baggage. But, I didn't want to pay or lose the service. The guys at the baggage area hawking taxi services are mostly ripoff artists. So, just as I was about to call and let them know what's happening, they called to see if I made it. (first YAY of the day) we talk, they understand and tell me to let them know when we are out. Cool...first thing that went right.

We get out. Now, it gets funny, but frustrating. This poor guy was sent to terminal D (the usual spot for pick up) but, we got re-routed to terminal C. So, here's me with poor vocal sound discrimination trying to talk to a guy with broken Russo-English trying to find each other in an extremely noisy environment. But, we finally made connection.

He was so sweet and put on the most soothing music. Sigh....Did get home. But, damn!! What a day!!

Now, the Batmobile. It was damaged. Did the woman cause it. I really don't know. But, her slingin the model down the rollers did not help. That's why it's in carry on. Nobody touches the Batmobile. Even told my wife to stop trying to pick it up because she did not want to be the one holding it if anything went wrong.

Sorry for all the 'language' but, I'm still working through this.....really overloaded me.

Such are the delights of air travel!

That's why I don't mind driving 10 hours somewhere, instead of taking a plane for two hours.

I have the same kind of sensory issues, and am easily confused by security people yelling and barking out orders. There's no excuse for it. I'm already on edge in these situations, and it's nearly impossible for me to tell if I'm the one being yelled at or not. I hate it. TSA agents only get away with this poor service because they've been unduly granted such power over travelers.

Years ago I used to enjoy flying. Then 9/11 happened, and security became a nightmare. I flew last January for the first time in over a decade (only because the distances involved made driving highly impractical). It actually went OK for the most part, but I do feel your pain.

Ditto. I'll drive up to about 18 hours (the time is takes from east Tennessee back home to New England), since I can pull it off in one, long day, before I'll consider buying a plane ticket. Anything further than that, and I'll only begrudgingly deal with airports.

Ya know, I will have to take up for the TSA here on one issue. I've only had trouble with TSA at Hartsfield. Twice due to idiocy. Actually got into an argument 6 years ago with one. My wife is from China. Came on a K1 visa (Fiance visa). Passport is stamped with a three month date. You must get married within that time. No worries there. We had to travel and I checked. Immigration said to take marriage license and passport while waited for proper ID.
TSA idiot there stopped me and told me her passport was out of date. I pulled out the marriage license and pointed out the difference and dates to validate for ID purposes. He argued back and then got condescending telling me he was trying to be helpful and I wasn't 'listening'. Well, that's where Aspieman comes out, cape all flowing behind me. I told him that I was listening and then repeated verbatim what he told me. Then told him HE wasn't listening. He got ticked and then called over his supervisor, I guess to try to put the screws to me. She looked at the passport, the marriage license, the dates and then to my great delight told him "Why are you bothering me with this? It's all correct." He got a sour look on his face as I gave him my best Cheshire grin as I disappeared into the masses.

But mostly no problems with TSA except Hartsfield.

Yep, that was a rant, all right.

wow, what a day you had! Credit to you for staying rational through most of it and being able to identify all the issues and emotions.

That was just great! I hope it made you feel better. It's quite an achievement to pack so much crap into one day - enough to last for a whole year. You can see why some people freak out and start shooting the sort of ***holes you had to deal with.

The last time I flew anywhere was in 2007, the whole experience is like a horror film. Nowadays I go by train.

Thanks for that, but you didn't see the meltdown at a hotel in Shekou after the same sort of day going to China, plus being on the airplane for 17 hours....

If that had happened in the HK Airport, I could have easily been on the no fly list. But, I will say this for HK Airport, their staff is MUCH superior to any Airport I've been at in America. I really am glad I didn't meltdown in the Airport there. Imagine being half a world away in a foreign country with no way to get home and limited resources.

Just to let you know how superior they are to American staffers:
Went to China in 2007 to be with my wife before she came to America. We went nuts (had money at that time) buying things for my family. My family lives in the country. Don't hunt, but like to target shoot. I picked up some really cool soft air pellet guns. Sniper rifle, AK47, Pistols, etc.

I'm wandering around the airport killing time and see the line is queuing up. So, I get in line. A very petite lady was going down the line checking boarding passes. When she came to me, she asked me, in the most polite way possible to follow her. When out of earshot, but not isolated, she said they noticed some 'gun shapes' in my checked luggage and would I mind going with her to open the boxes. I told her no problem and down we went to the tarmac next to the plane. My luggage was in a SWAT type of van and I went inside. Policemen with Automatics are there and they asked (again, in most polite way possible) if they would open it. I asked them to make sure the boxes were re-bound properly for transportation and gave permission. They opened it. They inspected. They asked about the small hole (still could have been a small bore weapon). I leaned over to point out the pellets I bought for ammo. When I did that they just motioned for me to not do that. It made sense, if I was dangerous, I could have grabbed something. But, there was NO aggression on their part. EVER.
When finished, I was thanked for my cooperation. I thanked them for being thorough and told them I appreciated their time and efforts to keep us safe. We parted comfortable and no trouble returning.

America needs to wake up to why it's declining.