gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Bosch)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2004-10-23 12:51 am

Shit.

I took the TSA computer test today.

I just got email telling me that I failed to meet their expectations.

WTF, over?

And so to bed.
kshandra: A cross-stitch sampler in a gilt frame, plainly stating "FUCK CANCER" (Default)

[personal profile] kshandra 2004-10-23 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
I'm willing to bet you and I both blew the psych profile. And of course, the really fucked thing about it is I'll be good and god damned if I could tell you what it is they want to hear, so we could go back and deliberately skew our answers....

[identity profile] angeleyes8410.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
What is the TSA computer test?

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
The initial test for the Transportation Security Agency.

[identity profile] dandelion-diva.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry hon. ***HUG***

Gessi

[identity profile] dandelion-diva.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Shit. I'm sorry. Forgot.

As Sammy would say, "Un-hug!"

(She's big into games that include putting Uff-uff places...sometimes I'll "tape"him to her head. She'll go "Untapeuntape...tape Uff-uff to your head!" and so on. For an invisible puppy, that dog gets around. *Grin*)

Gessi

[identity profile] hellloooonurse.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
That sucks. I have two friends who work for the TSA. They're security personnel. I've been told that the powers-that-be also do a deep background check.

[identity profile] dekarch.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
I guess you're not quite thuggish and robotic for them.

[identity profile] drewkitty.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
I have talked at length with a security manager who used to run a checkpoint at an international airport.

It sucks. The security is still the lowest-paid employee in the airport. The government, by making it a civil service position, has increased the stress level and the turnover rate without a corresponding increase in effectiveness.

Everything bad for security comes from the airlines. They want convenience for their passengers, minimum costs, and only the real and immediate threat of FAA (and now TSA) fines keeps them from opening the floodgates wide open.

The next time you fly, ask if the aircraft has an armored cockpit door. If it doesn't, REFUSE TO FLY THAT CARRIER. This is the only way that security is going to get better.

As for the psych profile for a screener, you want a specific type of personality. Meticulous but phlegmatic. The kind of person who wants a ham and cheese sandwich with three pieces of shaved ham and exactly two slices of cheese. But if they don't get it, they are calm instead of freaking out. (Basically, an accountant with improved social skills.) Anyone deviant enough to be into scifi is unlikely to match this profile.

As for the background, they shouldn't really care. As long as there are two or more checkers at each decision point, and persons are directed randomly into checkpoints, there's no way for just one dirty TSA employee to let a tango "friend" skate past.

This would be an ideal job for certain categories of probationer and paroled felon, actually. And if your mind boggles, consider that even violent criminals disapprove of asshats who blow up jetliners and buildings.

[identity profile] benkenobigal.livejournal.com 2004-10-23 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
I'm so sorry. :( That really sucks.