Buddha, Bottled Water and the TSA



Buddha

 I picked up a bottle of water at the hearing site in Asheville, NC.  What kind?  Nestle of course ('cause they use the right amount hydrogen and oxygen making for a Pure Life).  In any event, I opened the plastic bottle, took a sip, and tossed the bottle into the front pocket of my camelback bag.  Later that evening I drove to the Asheville airport to catch a flight to Charlotte (heading back to DC).
 
I checked a bag and placed the camelback onto a security screening conveyor belt.  After going through the x-ray machine, my backpack was pulled for a hands-on inspection.  A TSA screener unzipped the center (main) pocket of the bag and pulled out papers relating to the hearings, a Buddah statue I bought from a Nepalese import store (Himalayas Import @: http://himalayasimport.tripod.com/id1.html) and a box of chocolates I bought for Linda (Chocolate Fetish @: http://www.chocolatefetish.com/index.php).  The TSA guy inspected the statue and looked at (didn't open) the box of chocolates.


As he picked up a wand and cotton wipes to test the statue and contents of the bag for chemicals/explosives, a co-worker announced that the chemical/explosive detection machine wasn't working...and hadn't worked...all day!

I don't know but I'm thinking that it would have been a pretty good idea if that nifty little tidbit wasn't announced to everyone in the airport?

The TSA dude apparently decided not to check anything else and simply placed the contents back into the pack.  As he handed the  bag back to me, he said that the box of chocolates made the statue "look wierd" (not really sure what that means).


I caught my flight and landed in Charlotte a short while later.  Because of a snowstorm in the Northern Virginia area, my flight was cancelled.  I spent the night at a nearby hotel.  The next day I drove back to the Charlotte airport, went through security without incident, and flew back to DC.


As I was unpacking my backpack, I found...the bottle of water...never checked.


 ...and the TSA: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1667.shtm