It's all in the gloves....

On my recent trip to NY I had some “special” security concerns.  Now that I have the SICD implant I cannot go through the typical magnetic screener, then there was the battery powered oxygen

concentrator that I carried with me.  There are 3 other popular options.  #1 Go through the full body scanner,  #2 Have them “wand” me all over while avoiding the implant site and  #3 the full body pat down.  I might point out that both coming and going I was in the TSA pre-check line….I have yet to determine how or why I was chosen for that dubious honor or exactly what the difference was except I did not have to take off my shoes or sweater. 

Leaving Orlando I was walked through the full body scanner…no muss, no fuss, no magnetic screening!  The LaGuardia airport in NY was not so simple.  Even though I was again in the TSA pre-check list, I was chosen for the full body pat down.  My New York TSA screener was methodical, professional and she explained the entire procedure before she began.  It was over in a matter of 2 minutes, if that long.    I think the uncomfortable parts were that everyone was staring at me throughout the pat down, assuming I must be suspected of something horrible, and the other part, was when she snapped on those latex gloves.  Most of us have a limited experience with latex gloves, and those are typically in the doctor’s office.  As soon as the latex gloves are snapped on, we all brace for "what comes next" and it is never a good thing.  I bet if the TSA opted for happy colored knitted mittens, the fear and memories of the last unpleasant glove infiltration would reduce the ruckus about TSA pat downs being an invasion of privacy... 

TSA pat downs are truly quite benign…comparatively.  

It’s all in the gloves!

"Strip Me"  Natasha Bedenfield