What A Boob

(CBS) A flight attendant and cancer survivor said she was forced to remove and show her prosthetic breast to a TSA agent during a security pat-down.

The link above takes you to the full article, I'm just going to skip to the horrific part.

"She put her full hand on my breast and said, 'What is this?' Bossi recalled. "And I said, 'It's my prosthesis because I've had breast cancer.' And she said, 'Well, you'll need to show me that.'"

Now, the security debate is a hot topic. You can Google a thousand sides that are all different. The one thing I hope that all sides keep in check is that there are people involved. Real, breathing, honest to goodness people. Not cattle. Hell, even cattle should be treated with more courtesy and sensitivity than this.

It's this stupidity that will force this issue to blow up. Not whether it's necessary, or the best solution, but how people are treated. You can do something that is necessary and still maintain your humanity. Airlines are still a business, and their customers are (at least mostly) voluntary.

I work in customer service. I have managed and trained in customer service. The one thing I never failed to repeat is that we should remember that ever person we deal with, no matter how aggravating or rude, how stubborn or difficult, is somebody's son or daughter. They are someone's lover, best friend, long lost uncle, and they matter. You do not earn the right to be treated with kindness and dignity, that should be offered freely.

Too bad they didn't get that memo. Never underestimate the power of the angry customer, not in the days of the Internet.