To be fair, a front line customer service agent is probably an unreliable source of corporate strategy, or really anything in general. In fact, I'm quite sure Comcast customer service can make Mother Theresa herself look like an evil megalomaniac.
That's the brilliance though. The TSA, customer service, and every other wish-they-could-be fascist organization operates by distancing enforcement from policy decisions.
Every try debating a TSA agent about how many explosive shoes they've seen in their careers? They just have a job to do. They aren't allowed to think -- they just follow their state diagram. "Shoes on? Yell until shoes come off. Why? Because that's what the chart says."
Those workers are not paid enough to pay attention. I wish we could remove the Rapiscan machines and use that money to train and pay TSA staff. Then we might get security instead of just the theater.
