Border Control And Customs

[lupestripe]

Going through the passport palava on Sunday evening at Manchester Airport, I noticed that the lady who was directing us to the desks was chewing gum. Now, I'm as liberal as they come but is this really a good first impression to be giving to the numerous foreign nationals who are arriving in our country? It just makes us look uncouth and unprofessional in my opinion.

In addition, customs staff - particularly British ones - are tremendously unfriendly. Granted, their job is both serious and monotonous but a smile and a "Good Evening" wouldn't go amiss. It would be more welcoming for both nationals and visitors to our country and it must always be remembered that the vast majority of people who pass through our borders are doing so legitamately and are not breaking any laws. Sometimes there is an element of guilty until proven innocent when you cross international borders.

And whilst I am on the subject of customs - I have never had as much trouble at an airport than I have had at Copenhagen. My bag had to be scanned three times because I was chosen for a "random check". I think this had more to do with me being a male in his mid-20s than anything else but I was carrying two pairs of pink fluffy handcuffs, a pirate flag that could perhaps have been used as a weapon and my transvestite husky plush. Perhaps these aroused suspicion.

Comments

[salith.livejournal.com]

Damn those transvestite plushies!
Next thing you know, there'll be a terrorist attack on the houses of parliament which results in it getting splashed everywhere with pink paint and politicians forced to wear gingham dresses. :)

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Gordon Brown in a gingham dress *shudders*. Still, I do think the HoP need to be more pink and fluffy and I think my army of transvestite plushies is the way forward...

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Your plush and handcuffs probably drew attention to you. You need to become what is known as a "grey person." That helps in hostage situations as well. If you don't stand out, you don't get picked. I HATE travelling through customs. Being made to feel like a criminal is never a nice experience.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Alternatively, you could do the opposite and become a flamboyant eccentric. :) It probably wouldn't help in hostage situations, but let's be honest, how often have you been in those?

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I think I did the flamboyant eccentric act in Copenhagen but they weren't having any of it. I don't know, it could flummox the hostage takers and they wouldn't know what to do with you. It could provide a distraction - it may even work :)

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Possibly. :P

Mmm, I think what I mean by "flamboyant eccentric" is more than just show, though - you'd really have to be a certain way. Act/talk/dress a certain way and all that, but ultimately, it'd really have to be you. :)

And of course, I wouldn't expect airport security (theater) folks to just give you a free pass through the checkpoints - but I'd expect that if you sufficiently confused them, they'd just stick to the letter of their policies and orders, too.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Worth a shot I guess although the rubber glove with a bit of brown on it that was lying in the booth right next to the passport control office gave me second thoughts on playing up...

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I can't be a grey person at the moment because of my age and gender - I think that is sadly obvious in the current state of affairs. At Customs places I always feel like a criminal even though I have done nothing wrong. I guess part of it is related to the fact that I am no longer allowed to carry deodorant and other toiletries on to a plane.

[shep-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I never get any unwanted attention at customs. Perhaps it's because I come across as so outwardly normal in public? :)

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Potentially, I don't imagine people batting an eyelid at you as you walked past.

[dark-raven-wolf.livejournal.com]

LOL.... My suspicions would be on the husky…… they probably thought you where a drug runner

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*shakes head*..... yes.... that really does help.... I mean I have a chewing problem and even I don't do it in a situation like that
(yes I do it at work…. But as a security guard you can understand why I do it)

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" a smile and a good evening"
it would be nice.... but I'm finding that hard to come by in Civilians let alone people with personaility oriented jobs
it's sad.... but the idea of smiling is something that you need to remind people about

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

There is a microchip in the husky (which is probably now scrambled due to the X-rays) so if it ever gets lost then it can be delivered back to me. I can understand the suspicion but it really is sad when you think teddy bear = drugs mule (or in this case dog). It's a sad sad world.

It was a matter of presentation regarding the gum. It just gave the wrong impression and as this was the first impression that we all got of the UK, I think it is damaging to the reputation of the country.

Agree about people in general - as life gets more pressured, as economic circumstances worsen and as we all rush around (despite having gadgets that supposedly should save us time), I guess manners and politeness have gone out of the window. Coupled with this is an increasingly materialistic and selfish generation and I agree with you. However, these people are still in a service industry and they *should* be welcoming. I don't see why they can't be and still maintain an air of importance.

[dark-raven-wolf.livejournal.com]

getting there faster then is comfortable!.... they probably think they earned their pay check...;)

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isn't that what I said.... or am I making up my own words again? ^_^

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because it take effort and people yell at them alot
trust me I know how they might feel... but I still manage to smile...
but I'm also insane.... so I don't know if it's a good comparison

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Chewing gum as a security guard could enhance the appearance though - this was a 20 year old lady chewing gum when she should have been more presentable - that is my main gripe.

Yeah, there are a lot of jobsworths at these places. My poor husky was under suspicion :(

I know too hun, it must be quite a depressing and thankless job, albeit necessary. Still, that's not my fault so why shouldn't they grace me with a smile?

[fen-ra.livejournal.com]

Through an X-ray machine handcuffs would look suspicious, and they wouldn't be able to see the pink fluffy bits.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

You are indeed right and I hadn't thought about this until I was approaching the X-ray machine. I can understand why they look dodgy, that's true, but lacking no hold baggage, I had to bring them through because I am kinky and wanted them (plus they were a present). Perhaps they should invent a pink scanning machine to scan all the fluffy pinkness around. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we did that?

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Sometimes there is an element of guilty until proven innocent when you cross international borders.

Sometimes?

[salith.livejournal.com]

I'm just lucky I missed the increase in that since 9/11.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I completely missed it too - I was probably lucky because I would have said something out of turn, against my better judgement. Some of the regulations now are ludicrous and although I accept it is all in the interest of public safety and is necessary, I am wondering whether we are going a little too far with all the surveillance etc.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Agree - it is most of the time. However, the difference I find is that when entering the UK I get that sense but not when entering other countries. Leaving other countries (and indeed the UK), there is a definite air of that though.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* That's true. I think the fact that the UK isn't in the Schengen zone (it isn't, is it?) is part of the reason for that.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

No, the UK and Ireland isn't in the Schengen Zone. I think we should be but then that's because I believe that we should either be in the EU or we are not. We are pissing about too much with it in my opinion.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Certainly true. Not that the same isn't true for everyone else (especially some of the new members that apparently only joined in order to immediately veto everything until they got what they wanted, the same way that small children throw temper tantrums in supermarkets)...

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I guess it is true - I was surprised with the number of opt out clauses that Denmark have for a variety of EU treaties.

The new members are always going to club together for a multitude of reasons - shared heritage, newbie status and also they were screwed under Communism. It is also natural for new members to veto everything - hopefully common concord can be reached though.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I certainly hope so - in the long run, I think the EU really needs to be more than a bunch of egoists all just caring about their own gain. But I suppose that'll take time; there'll have to be some sort of overarching "European" culture first so that people feel it's more of a "we're in this together" thing rather than a "us vs. them" thing.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I think the EU has common culture of sorts but I think it is very hard to get the Latinate and the Germanic/Nordic cultures to empathise as they are so different. Also, the fact that Europe has, by and large, constantly been at war with each other up until 1945 means that the scars may take a while to heal.

I hope it works but knowing the type of people in the UK, I doubt the UK will ever become a part of it fully. Sadly, in my opinion but there you go.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Hard to say... we'll see.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Hope it works out - I do like the concept of the EU - how it is run though needs reform I feel.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

That certainly.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you and I could run it. I demand a march on Brussels!!

[hyperx.livejournal.com]

British customs sucks harder the US customs, and they are pretty bad. I HATE going thru british customs and passport control. They have permanent sicks in their anuses.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I haven't experienced US customs post 9/11 but I remember in 2000, the US customs were particularly officious and unpleasant. Dread to think how bad they are now. Probably not as bad as ours, mind.

[swampy.livejournal.com]

I've been 'chosen' whilst at an airport in the US. My luggage was swabbed, and the swabs analysed to detect traces of explosives. I didn't mind in the least, the security agent was friendly, and the process was interesting and made a change from the usual routine.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Why were you chosen though and isn't this an invasion of your civil liberties? I'm glad they were friendly but it seems a little over the top to me.

[swampy.livejournal.com]

I don't know why I was chosen...just a random sampling thing I suppose. Whereas I don't like the errosion of civil liberties that seems to be occuring in the UK at the moment, I am in favour of random checks at airports. If it makes travel safer, I cannot object.

[metamorphosys.livejournal.com]

I agree that Customs staff tend to be miserable. Here in Thailand they have security checkpoints but they are so laughable that it's a joke. Take care.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Why are the security checkpoints laughable in Thailand - how bad are they? And are they rude in Thailand?

[http://users.livejournal.com/fubuki_/]

i've yet to expirence the joys of customs and passort control as only ever been out of the country a few times and then only to france by car/boat and we had no problems at all.

however am flying to spain in june with some friends for my honeymoon, am not looking forward to all the customs stuff then.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

The Spanish ones will be fine but the UK ones will be a nightmare. It does depend where you fly from though - Liverpool is better than Manchester in my experience. Hope it all goes okay. The fact you are female will help, I think they target men of my age...

[http://users.livejournal.com/fubuki_/]

we flying from manchester and it will be a group of 7 of us. 5 of which are young guys (ray and some friends) then me and sue... so could get fun :/

will be an exprience either way