The International Toothpaste Incident

OK, now that I’ve got your interest. First an update on the entry ‘Pressure cooker’. My Junior 3, grade 9 friends tell me that they too, are under great pressure. They have to pass a cumulative test this spring to see if they will be able to continue at this school. If they are unlucky and don’t test well, they will have to apply at other, perhaps lower quality schools. This in turn reduces their chances at a top university. FYI.

Now on with the story. As I’ve mentioned before, we took a short trip to Beijing. The lines at the airport in Xi’an are dreadfully long. Patience is needed! Of course, do I have to mention to not step over the yellow line? After our wait, we are up to the bag scanner. From what I can see no one has been pulled out of line, they are scanned and on their merry way. Great, this should be quick!

Our collective turn arrives. Surprise!, we both have our bags searched. It happens that I had a small pair of moustache scissors in my shaving kit. These dangerous items were taken. OK, I understand security precautions, wouldn’t want me to go crazy and trim people’s facial hair at 30,000 feet. My bad. My traveling companion has no dangerous contraband, after his bags are also checked.

On to Beijing for tourist ‘stuff’. Now we head back. Same lines, a little smaller since Beijing Airport has added another terminal. We hit the security station and wait for our back packs to get scanned. Surprise, surprise! Guess who has the honor of having their bags selected for a search again! I really appreciate airport security but this was really ridiculous. Bags emptied again, the security person looking for anything to legitimize the search. Oh, bad boy! I had a small tube of toothpaste in my shaving kit (travel size). Must have been the wrong brand. I’ve got to say at this point, I was really mad. If others had received this level of service, I wouldn’t have griped, but….

So I said you’ve got to be kidding and went on a toothpaste rant. The person lost any interest in using English, pushed my bag aside, waving me into the airport, sans toothpaste. They rushed through my companion’s bag, pulling out his large bottle of cologne (man-stink as he calls it), shove it back in his bag and waive him on also.

Well, let me tell you, I really showed them! I bought another tube of toothpaste, same size, and same brand inside the terminal.

Go figure…
jeff