When I was returning with my family from Mexico, the customs agent said to me: "You are an asshole."
"What did you say?" I asked, flabbergasted.
He repeated it.
I waited quietly until my family and I had cleared customs. Then I asked to see the supervisor. I told him what had happened. He was polite and asked who the agent was. I couldn't find him. He said that he thought he knew who it was, and that that agent had left for the day.
"Is it your policy to speak to people like that?" I asked.
"No," he said. "You don't have to put up with that kind of treatment."
I said nothing more, but was thinking to myself: "Apparently I do."
I related this to a relative who was a flight attendant for many years. She said: "Yes, these people are terrible. I was with another flight attendant who brought back a large amount of coffee from South America. The customs agent slashed every bag and let all the coffee just pour onto the floor."
"Why did he do that?" I asked.
"Just because he could," she replied. "They don't have to answer to anyone."
The kind of protections that the Federal Government gives to Federal Employees encourages this kind of sadism. And astonishingly, millions of Americans actually want to increase the power and authority of people like this.
you just walked up and he cursed you out???