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Depending on who you ask, the TSA doesn’t have a great reputation. Sure, plenty of people think they’re doing an important job. But then you hear people complain about “security theater” or see headlines about TSA officers getting caught stealing, and…well…their reputation takes another hit.

Probably the complaint you hear most about the TSA is the behavior of TSA officers (TSAOs). You’ll hear—or maybe have used—adjectives such as “rude,” “mean” or “impatient.” Or maybe some adjectives that include more adult language. 😉

When TSAOs got vast pay increases in 2023, we all hoped that would lead to an era of a kinder, gentler TSA. But as anyone who works will tell you, more money can certainly make a job easier to stick with, but it doesn’t magically make difficult customers and situations disappear.

A quick search for “TSA rude” will tell you all you need to know—you still get plenty of hits from just the past few months. In other words, rude TSAOs are still an issue.

One of the most interesting of those hits came in the form of a question on Reddit a few years ago. The author, whose Reddit ID is now deleted, asked:

Why Are TSA Agents So Rude?

The interesting thing is that, along with “regular” people replying, several people who identified as TSAOs responded. Granted, a person can say they’re anyone on Reddit; it’s relatively anonymous. But based on their responses, they certainly sounded like they came from people who’ve worked the checkpoint.

Here were some of their replies. They’re from late 2023 and early 2024, so some things they discuss—such as removing shoes—may no longer be applicable:

• When I am on shift, I try to be nice and friendly, but when you are constantly berated and yelled at every day for doing your job and existing by passengers, it is really hard. — Bafflebum
• Me at DO at 23 after the hour: “Please take off your shoes and jackets, pull out your laptop and iPad, put your electronics in their own bin.”Me at PSO two minutes later: “Sir, I see you left your laptop in your backpack.”

  Passenger: “No one ever told me to take it out.”

  All day, every day. — ablazed24

• Probably because they spend the majority of their day being berated by entitled passengers for trying to do their job and trying to keep the airways secure and safe.I would explain the way we are trained to handle passenger interactions, but that information is SSI. — WindlessBoi
• Some can be nicer, but it’s from the customers who say it. I have been told that I am too funny and it’s disrespectful to be funny. Other times, it’s the people you work with that ruin your workday. — Oberusiberon
• I’m gonna give you an example of something that we deal with. This is an actual conversation from a few weeks ago, working the PreCheck lane. Please explain to me how we are gonna fix this?Me: “Sir, don’t take out your laptop. Just drop your bag and go.”

  Him: “I’m just doing what the sign says to do.”

  “What sign?”

  “The one over there,” as he points.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Show me.”

  He goes over and reads the sign that says no need to remove computer from bag, remove shoes, etc.

  “Oh, guess I haven’t had enough coffee yet.” — Catchyusername1234

• Just depends on how the day is and who the person is. I try my best to be professional and semi-funny, even though most people don’t laugh. But just like any job, one person can f**k up your whole day. You can try not to think about it and move on, but it just sticks with you.Then you get the people who don’t listen to anything you have to say when you’re telling them to take things off, then get mad because they left something in their bags. Like, I’m sorry, you legit have to pay attention.

  There are hundreds of thousands of people here. We have machines going, things beeping, alarms going off. So it’s gonna be noisy, which is why we have to “scream” so people in the back can hear the instructions. You may think I’m talking to YOU in front of me, but I’m actively talking to the other 10 people behind you. — Database_Square

• This last one is long, but I think it explains a lot:Short answer: Because of the passengers’ continued willful ignorance of basic life skills when at the airport, as well as a lack of support from management within.

  More details:

  * Passengers don’t listen and can’t read
  * Passengers don’t do any relevant research before coming through security
  * Passengers don’t know why TSA is here, even though it’s been over two decades and the majority of the rules have been around for over 17 years
  * They complain when we simplify things for them or tell them they don’t have to do something
  * They don’t know how to control their kids
  * Support from management doesn’t exist within TSA unless you’re friends and/or “more” with upper management
  * Officers are belittled and treated disrespectfully by passengers, even when being nice and trying our hardest to make the passengers’ lives easier
  * Officers have ZERO incentive to try harder or be nicer because the people who take initiative are ignored, and the ones who are lazy or never work are rewarded or they aren’t corrected. They often move up in the agency due to who they know or sleep with
  * TSA mandates officers to work on their assigned days off, regardless of circumstances
  * Per TSA, officers do not have a personal life

  I could go on for hours with this, but know that all of these examples apply to more than half the people going through security on a daily basis, not all. We do have some people who listen and try. More often than not, it’s elderly passengers and children. But we have way too many entitled, ignorant passengers.

  I won’t lie, I have seen numerous officers go from “Day 1”: excited, taking initiative, hopeful, smiling, nice, etc., to not caring anymore and doing the bare minimum to get by.

  Also, please know this: It’s very rare for an officer to just be a genuine @$$h0le. Yes, some exist, but most that I’ve worked with share the same respect that is given.

  When officers repeat themselves multiple times and a passenger asks them something they literally just told the passenger multiple times, don’t be surprised when the officer ignores them or raises their tone. Sometimes people don’t listen or get it until you raise your tone. You may not like it, but with who we deal with on a daily basis, it happens too often where people just don’t get it.

Of course, some of the responses from “regular” people offered some insight, too:

• I’ve found that 90% of the TSA agents I’ve talked to have been pretty nice. A few were ducks. But that’s people…some people are just tired, having a bad day or crappy. — bacon_bunny33
• Almost like any customer service job? — ihaveabigmouth
• It’s a customer-facing job, and it’s very taxing, I imagine. I’m not TSA, but I sympathize with them because I deal with thousands of tourists day in and day out, and I’ve had to coach and even reassign the nicest of employees because they couldn’t handle the nastiness thrown at them daily.People can be cruel, and you can’t expect people to keep a smile on their face when constantly being berated by the general public for doing their job. I’ve even had some tourists so nasty to me that I simply told them to vacate the premises. I’m sure if TSA could do that, they would, and you, OP, seem not to see TSA as actual people. — dazedmazed
• I’ve learned TSA agents match the energy of passengers. I would probably say 75% of passengers are rude, entitled or confused about the security process. Americans as a whole are just entitled and narcissistic.The majority of the security standards have been the same for over 20 years now, so it’s probably a little frustrating for a TSA agent to have to remind a passenger to remove their keys from their pocket.

  I’ve rarely, if ever, had issues with a TSA agent. A simple “hi,” “how are you,” “thank you” and some patience for the fact that they have to deal with stressed-out customers go a long way with them. — liaoming

• While it’s nice to have pleasant TSA agents, I prefer them to do their job!!! I prefer not to have some numb nuts bring a loaded firearm in their carry-on. Or any other crap that shouldn’t be there!!Plus, how hard is it not to bring liquids through the checkpoint??? Twenty years we have been doing this!! It’s not hard! If people would just do what is required, security lines wouldn’t be so hard. — Top_Text6864
• TSA has been reasonably chill in my experience. Maybe you’re the A-hole? — Rode06a
• I fly a lot, and TSA is only doing its job. Never, not once, had a bad experience. It’s loud in the area. Them barking is so everyone can hear what to do when they are next in line. They need to be loud so they can be heard.For the most part, I’d say it’s the jacka** passengers who act like they have never flown before—and maybe some haven’t—the passengers with the “rules don’t apply to me” attitude, and the passengers who want to argue because they want to argue. — Low-Impressionable3367
• I work at a sports bar. On a busy night, at the start of my shift, I’m very pleasant. At the end of the night, after I’ve been shoved, screamed at, threatened, had to throw out multiple drunks, been called a fascist, and then someone comes up to me and gets mad because I don’t have a smile on my face, I’m a little less pleasant. — Objective-throwaway

So…Why Do Some TSA Officers Seem So Rude?

Reading through all of the responses, one theme came up over and over again: dealing with the public is exhausting; there’s still a customer service component.

We’d all hope that many flyers know what to do when they get to the TSA checkpoint and do it. But TSAOs are also dealing with a certain number of people who don’t, won’t or can’t follow directions, for whatever their reasons. Yet they have to follow those directions in order to get past the security checkpoint.

Just like any other customer service position, there’s a chance that’s eventually going to cause conflict on either side, if not both.

On top of this, there’s the misconception that “being to the point” is the same as being “rude.” It’s not. And having to communicate to the next dozen people in line and yelling your instructions so they can all hear you doesn’t make you rude either.

Of course, there are some TSAOs who are A-holes. After all, there are A-holes all over, and some of them are going to grow up to become TSAOs.

But on the same hand, every action has a reaction. If you’re going to be an A-hole because you didn’t prepare, didn’t follow directions, etc., and then start copping an attitude with the TSAO who’s telling you what you need to do, you might not have an encounter that’s all sweetness and light. Especially toward the end of their shift, when they’ve been yelled at by A-holes all day.

There are some negative parts of being a TSAO that have nothing to do with the public. Cronyism, lack of support, being mandated to work, etc., will all affect someone’s outward demeanor. Passengers can’t help that.

But being an A-hole to a TSAO who’s already plagued by those behind-the-scenes pressures certainly won’t help make them any more pleasant. You reap what you sow, and courtesy is a two-way street.

Several people also pointed out that most of these complaints seem to happen in the regular security line instead of PreCheck. That actually makes sense. Frequent travelers tend to know the routine, which means fewer arguments, fewer surprises and fewer reminders to empty pockets or remove electronics.

If nothing else, the thread was a good reminder that courtesy really is a two-way street. TSA officers don’t have to be rude…but passengers don’t have to make their jobs harder, either.

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