I am going to get my own work e-mail address soon! This is exciting news. I don't know when it will happen, but the process has begun.
I was thinking about my flights back home and have come to the conclusion that USA Homeland Security people don't need to be as mean, rude, and obnoxious to travelers as they are. I understand the job that they have to do and I understand the importance of it, and I'm glad they are taking things seriously. I appreciate the purpose that the immigration and customs people are serving. But there's a line that you cross from doing the job and protecting the border in a professional way, and just becoming an asshole. It's not hard: when people are coming through your customs or immigration line, ask your questions, look for anything odd or unusual, do your little security checks, and get the job done without resorting to yelling, disrespect, or intimidation. It's like the security people themselves have never traveled out of the country before and have no concept of the fact that when you land in a foreign country, no matter the time of day, you are tired and disoriented and you don't instinctively know what processes you have to go through at what point in the airport. You may not even speak the language very well. It's tiring and exhausting and nerve-wrecking without the additional fear that Rambo in a Homeland Security vest is going to get in your face over how you spent your family vacation. Homeland Security are the first folks many visitors to the US have to deal with. Is it too much to ask that upon arrival to the United States, the weary traveler gets a smile from an American? I say smile, because I assume a friendly 'Hello' is way too much to ask from these people. I would settle for even a less hostile 'Momma-said-knock-you-out' look on their face. Anything but what they do right now, which is grab the passport, give a mean look, bark out a question, yell if the person asks them to repeat the question, and then shove the passport back and shout at them and their family to go through some door that they barely indicated by a head tilt to get to the checked baggage claim. It doesn't just happen to those who are visiting the US, it also happens to Americans returning from abroad. It's rude all around. I've gone through customs in three different airports and only once have I ever been treated in a friendly and welcoming way. Miami this last time was the worst. I don't think I've ever seen a more rude group of Homeland Security staff, who just barked orders and got in the faces of tourists, and the poor young man in front of me in the customs line was actually shaking, the guy was yelling at him so much. Then he just shoved the kid's passport back to him and turned away and waved me forward like nothing happened. Meanwhile the kid practically just crapped himself as his first official action in the USA. Just do your job, Homeland Security; don't go all UFC on the travelers. You look like dumbasses. In going through other countries' immigration and customs areas, I've never been treated as poorly as when I am just trying to get back into my own country. In other countries, I've been asked the same questions as I've been asked in the USA, they've checked the same documentation, but they do it in a friendly, or at least non-hostile, way. It makes a big difference in the way a traveler views the entire country when the first citizen they come across yells at them or gets in their face. It's a big deal. There's really no excuse for yelling at tourists who don't speak your language and who are disoriented after getting off of a red-eye flight. But there you go. Welcome to the USA. We're bullies. Try not to soil yourself on the way through customs.
I was thinking about my flights back home and have come to the conclusion that USA Homeland Security people don't need to be as mean, rude, and obnoxious to travelers as they are. I understand the job that they have to do and I understand the importance of it, and I'm glad they are taking things seriously. I appreciate the purpose that the immigration and customs people are serving. But there's a line that you cross from doing the job and protecting the border in a professional way, and just becoming an asshole. It's not hard: when people are coming through your customs or immigration line, ask your questions, look for anything odd or unusual, do your little security checks, and get the job done without resorting to yelling, disrespect, or intimidation. It's like the security people themselves have never traveled out of the country before and have no concept of the fact that when you land in a foreign country, no matter the time of day, you are tired and disoriented and you don't instinctively know what processes you have to go through at what point in the airport. You may not even speak the language very well. It's tiring and exhausting and nerve-wrecking without the additional fear that Rambo in a Homeland Security vest is going to get in your face over how you spent your family vacation. Homeland Security are the first folks many visitors to the US have to deal with. Is it too much to ask that upon arrival to the United States, the weary traveler gets a smile from an American? I say smile, because I assume a friendly 'Hello' is way too much to ask from these people. I would settle for even a less hostile 'Momma-said-knock-you-out' look on their face. Anything but what they do right now, which is grab the passport, give a mean look, bark out a question, yell if the person asks them to repeat the question, and then shove the passport back and shout at them and their family to go through some door that they barely indicated by a head tilt to get to the checked baggage claim. It doesn't just happen to those who are visiting the US, it also happens to Americans returning from abroad. It's rude all around. I've gone through customs in three different airports and only once have I ever been treated in a friendly and welcoming way. Miami this last time was the worst. I don't think I've ever seen a more rude group of Homeland Security staff, who just barked orders and got in the faces of tourists, and the poor young man in front of me in the customs line was actually shaking, the guy was yelling at him so much. Then he just shoved the kid's passport back to him and turned away and waved me forward like nothing happened. Meanwhile the kid practically just crapped himself as his first official action in the USA. Just do your job, Homeland Security; don't go all UFC on the travelers. You look like dumbasses. In going through other countries' immigration and customs areas, I've never been treated as poorly as when I am just trying to get back into my own country. In other countries, I've been asked the same questions as I've been asked in the USA, they've checked the same documentation, but they do it in a friendly, or at least non-hostile, way. It makes a big difference in the way a traveler views the entire country when the first citizen they come across yells at them or gets in their face. It's a big deal. There's really no excuse for yelling at tourists who don't speak your language and who are disoriented after getting off of a red-eye flight. But there you go. Welcome to the USA. We're bullies. Try not to soil yourself on the way through customs.
Sigh. This is where medicine head usually gets me. I get on a tangent and can't get off. I might read this with a clear head and be like, 'hmm, that was kind of harsh and silly', but right now, medicine head is re-living being bullied by the Homeland Security fool and dammit, she's not going to take it anymore! Raar!
Okay, I just referred to someone on a public site as my home-skillet, so I think it's time to get off of the world wide web and say goodnight before medicine head gets any goonier.
Okay, I just referred to someone on a public site as my home-skillet, so I think it's time to get off of the world wide web and say goodnight before medicine head gets any goonier.
