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Assholes in Uniform

August 31st, 2016
Fiumicino Airport, Rome

I stopped asking to be hand-searched here in Europe. I've had enough experience. It was costing too much. Yes, it's simpler to just walk by their detectors instead of trying to enlighten them on EU directives.

But I always keep my non-labeled 125 ml water bottles with me and always have a 500 ml bottle even if half-full. Lately, my experience was nobody cared and I always got the water in. Usually, the bottle has been in my bag. But this time I had a backpack and the backpack had a side pocket. As I was carefree, I didn't bother to hide it. If they said anything, I'd be drinking it.

Well... The man in front of the x-ray signalled my backpack and his stooge took me to one corner. He just pulled out the water bottle. “Don't you know about the liquid ban?” he asked.
    “Yes, I do,” I replied. “I drink it.”
    He said “You cannot drink it here.”
    ?? “What do you mean?” I asked. “I'm going to drink it.”
    “If you want to drink it, you have to go over to that side,” he showed me the other side of the metal detector, “drink it and pass again.”
    I looked at him increduluosly.
    ?? “What???!” I asked.
    He repeated his order. “If you want to drink it, you have to go over to that side, drink it and pass again.”
    I just shrugged my shoulders and left.
                                                               ***

“Why did I leave?” I asked myself later on. I should have protested and demanded that I drink it where I was. Was I a puppet? “You cannot drink water on this spot. If you want to drink a sip of water, go over that side and go through the detector again.” What kind of a demented logic is this? And in the name of “security”! Yes, such things make us so sooo secure. I'm so indebted to them.

Then I realized why I left. It's so obvious, sorry to say but, that this man is an asshole... And there is no point in dealing with an asshole whether in uniform or not. Better to walk away from them as soon as possible. Get them out of your life. The faster the better.

The unfortunate fact is, most people have to deal with and suffer under the dictates of such assholes. And assholes in uniform are much worse than the civil assholes.