The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Sheryl Nantus:

I feel I should say something here, having worked in private security for over 15 years before "retiring" in 2000 to get married.

The majority of security officers, whether in the TSA or not, are underpaid and undertrained and probably grandfathered into the job from the previous contractor. Due to many union agreements (in my experience) when a contract shifts from one security agency to another (even to the government) the same personnel are guaranteed the chance to change jobs and keep their seniority - whether you agree or disagree it's the usual way things are done. You just switch the patch from the old company to the new company and go onwards - the same people who were at the monitors before 9/11 are probably still there, just with a TSA patch on their shirt.

Unfortunately most security contractors before 9/11 usually tried to underbid each other, so you ended up with the guards getting low wages from the start - and, to be frank, I doubt that their wages and training have suddenly moved up to the level that the public wants to believe they have. Remember, most of these people have been grandfathered into their job and know that it'd take a disaster for them to lose their job, so why knock yourself out?

Having said that, please remember when you do travel that these security guards *are* literally just following orders. It's not a personal thing, not for just above minimum wage. If they're told to pull every fifth person out of line, they do it. If they're told to dump every water bottle they do it and it's not going to be personal. So please remember that they're just working stiffs like the rest of us when you're upset and standing in line.

Thank you.

it just boggles the mind that the hosting company has NO regard for the legal implications here... if nothing else, blowing off Jenna's lawyer for the THIRD time is going to not go well if this does go to trial in the future.

I hate to say it, but I agree with some previous posters when they suggested that the database may have just been deleted out of malice/ignorance. And they're afraid to offer their backup copies (if they have them) because it'll show that they did maliciously delete the entire database without warning and certainly without any thought to the legality involved.

as for the individuals involved, well... suffice it to say that they'll never "work in this town again" with their recent actions being documented across the Net.

AW will survive and be even better than before - and will keep tweaking those who seek to scam authors and warn people away from PublishAmerica and their ilk...

:)

Comment statistics for Sheryl Nantus on the Making Light blog

Total: 2 comments. View all these comments on a single page.