Muppets with Power

I am once again annoyed with airport security.

But lets be specific, shall we?

Packed up last night, accidental left a pair of sewing scissors in my hand luggage. Now, just to be clear, the "blades" on these are about 2 inches long. They don't have a "point" to them - indeed, you'd be better off stabbing someone with a biro.

At the airport, I check in my bag, stroll over to the security point, and realise - yep, carrying the scissors. Opps.

Ok, no problem. Read the instruction posters around the place...blades and sharp objects forbidden, such as knives and pointy scissors.

Feeling much relieved, I double check with the security person at the end of the queue - and she says, after looking at them for a few seconds, that they're fine.

Stick them back in the bag, think nothing of it.

Wait in the line...5 minutes...10 minutes...15 minutes....

Bag goes through and it's pulled up on two things. Not that they told me that of course. Get to the end, put my shoes back on (yep, they did it again, those pesky English with their offensive footwear) and a muppet addresses me.

First, she pulls me over to one side.

Then she demands, in thickly accented english (ah, you've got to love those pakistani accents - just about understandable - add a touch of french...) that I remove the laptop from my bag. This wasn't a problem - I expected it.

Then she recoils from the laptop, with the green/yellow gunk coming out from several metal plates. Deciding that I'm clearly a risk, she interrogates me for five minutes about the laptop.

What is that stuff? Why the plates? (Its a cyanoacrylate based super glue, that with the prevents the laptop falling apart and has stopped the crack propagation.)

But superglue is clear. (Yes, it was a year ago. Its undergone some photochemical reaction, probably a chlorine based one.)

I offer to turn it on, to demonstrate that it's a harmless machine. That..didn't go so well.

She orders me to stay clear of it. She swabs the glue, keyboard and hinges with a scent thing that she takes away for a minute.

Then she demands I turn it on.

Finally, I think, its over, I can get on the damned plane. No...

Next she has to go through my entire bag, without saying what she's looking for. Can't find it. Then she GLARES at me, like I'm toasting babies (again - where do they get these ideas?) and says that if I don't tell her where the scissors are, I can't board the flight.

Open up the sewing bag, pull out the small, blunt, harmless scissors. She takes them as if they're a weapon of mass destruction and tosses them in the bin.

Then she spots - oh horror. Not a knife, or a pair of scissors, or a gun, bomb or bottle of offensive water.

No, she sees a sewing needle. A small thing. Tiny. Less use then a chocolate egg in a fight. She pulls it out and throws it away.

A bloody sewing needle.

Dismissively, as if it didn't matter that she's thrown away something belonging to me, she says "you can go".

My blood boiled.

The temptation to make a scene. To complain. To simply start shouting at the arrogant- no.

Calm.

Its not good for my blood pressure.

Besides, I had another 2 needles on me.

Sodding jobs-worth.