Vanity, Shoes, and the Magic Wand

A curious sight on the way out of Atlanta yesterday on my way to Austin. While standing in line at the x-ray screen machines and bored, apathetic personnel, a uniformed security guard was walking down the line and addressing each person individually with a unique proposal.

"Ma'am, have you worn that pair of shoes on a flight before?"

"No," the woman replied.

"Well then you can do one of two things. You can either take them off here and send them through the scanner, or you can keep them on and walk through. However, if the machine sounds an alarm," he then turned and pointed to a line of angry looking travelers at least ten deep, "you will have to stand in that line over there and be searched personally. The delay could be as much as twenty minutes."

To my amazement, the lady replied, "I'll take my chances."

Was she really so vain or insecure about the sight of her foot inside a sock in public that she would rather wait in line for nearly half an hour and be personally searched by some uniformed goon and his electromagnetic wand? The answer, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be yes. And for the next four people ahead of me in line, the same applied.

As predicted, the lady walked through the humming archway, and the machine went bonkers. Off she went to the line of purgatory.

Now, you would think the others in front of me would see their potential fate, and start pulling their shoes off. But no. Each person walked through, and each set off the machine.

By the time the aforementioned guard got to me, I had already taken mine off and was holding them in my hand. He nodded his head in agreement. I sent them through and was on my way.