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"I mean, many of us run across a jerk, but some people just draw them like flies. Do they ever contemplate the possibilty that THEY are the jerk, the smart-ass, the passive-aggressive SOB? No, of course not! They're just... so darn unlucky!"

You have a point, for sure. I'm a big guy and look like a crazed biker, with my _large_ full beard and longish hair. But...when I'm dealing with others, I wear a big smile and say "thank you" a lot. It works wonders for clearing the way through things like security lines.

I try very hard to look around me and to follow the directions posted on signs, etc. If the sign says that laptops need to be screened separately, I don't just shove my carryon on the X-ray belt with the laptop inside. I read the sign, take the laptop out, and have it on already when I get to the screening area. Sheesh! How hard is that?

I can't believe how many people beep the metal detector, and _then_ they take all the junk out of their pockets, holding up the whole line for the rest of us who have done our best not to hold up the line. Have these folks never flown before? I see it every time I go through security. Beep, then out comes the change and the keys and the Zippo and all the other stuff. Go through again. Beep! Then they get wanded. Oh, you mean that big old belly cover rodeo belt buckle registers on the metal detector? You mean my steel-shank cowboy boots trigger it? Who'd have guessed.

Of course, then the person starts getting huffy, like it's the screener's fault that they're an idiot who can't think ahead when travelling.

It would be amusing if it didn't hold everyone else up so much.

Try this one on for size:
my 60-year mother-in-law wears a prosthetic leg, and they regularly require it to be removed and searched at airports.

They have no idea the pain and inconvenience this causes.
And it clearly serves no useful security purpose.
If you know of a single instance of 60-year-old females hijacking planes let us know.