The one thing that I always wondered was why airport screeners are paid so little.
If an airport screener screws up, the potential loss of life and financial consequences are enormous.
If a ticket agent screws up...well the airline loses some money or you get an aggravated passengers. But everyone gets over it, sooner or later.
Looking at it like that, the difference between the responsibilities is enormous and yet, more often than not, CSRs are paid more than security personnel.
In the days before the TSA, airlines were consistently badgering the security companies to trim their prices (and I know this first hand). The contracts were consistently being put out to tender and the security companies were being played off against each other lower their prices. Consequently many security screeners were on little more than minimum wage.
So, what kind of people are we trying to attract here? People who have a solid education and who can think for themselves? Why on earth would they be doing a job like this for this kind of pay? The only thing I can think of is that they would do it as a stop gap between jobs in this era of relatively high unemployment and are off like a flash when a better opportunity occurs...and who could blame them.
The people who stay are students (working to finance their studies), single mums who have difficulty finding jobs elsewhere (and who generally are probably the best of the bunch, just in case anyone thinks I meant this in a disparaging way...definitely not), and people who can't get jobs elsewhere.
Pretty sad to think that that's what we put our faith in...
The fact is, security doesn't put bums on seats, and nobody is willing to pay for it.