Well, I had quite an incident at the airport today. I was bringing my laptop computer as a carry-on on a flight to Chicago and it was pulled to be searched. Not terribly unusual but… They found a box cutter in my bag!! I thought I was going to be arrested on the spot. But, they were very professional about . “Sir, why do you have a box cutter in your computer bag?” Uh… uh… I didn’t make a big deal about it but I was dying inside. I was thinking, ‘I have no idea’ why it was there. I vaguely remember that I was taking it to work one day. I know I get frusteated when I receive boxes of equipment (geek toys) at work and only have scissors to open them. I obviously forgot it was in my bag. So I told them I take my bag back and forth to work and I must have put it in there to take to work. They seemed to accept that.
They took my driver’s license and my boarding pass and went to an office for a time. I’m sure they were checking me out in whatever systems they use. A supervisor came out. He asked me again, Sir, why do you have a box cutter in your bag? I gave him the same answer about why I thought it was there even though I still wasn’t really sure how it got there. I knew it was mine. But how it got there? Who knows. He then filled out a form – a mandatory procedure he said. I must be in some Homeland Security system now. It will be interesting to see if I have issues checking in at airports in the future. I wasn’t detained very long and was soon on my way. It is just a good thing I was in Syracuse, NY. If it were some other larger city I fear I may not have been so fortunate.
I was completely embarrassed over this incident. Can’t believe that I had a box cutter in by computer bag.
