I live some 120 miles away from this airport and use it up to a dozen times a year, with all sort of carriers and equipment at all times of the day, over many years now. It is admittedly very busy at the moment but I have never had to wait more than 20 minutes at either security or baggage over all those years, and have never found any employees to be surly or rude.
I have however witnessed rude and surely passengers who have no idea about the complexities behind their border and security rolls. On my last visit to MAN I had in front of me a passenger who created such a loud scene when she accused the scanner equipment/personnel of loosing her passport and boarding card, and when, after an exhaustive search of the ‘catch alls’ underneath the moving belts, nothing was found, she discovered the items in one of her inside pockets! A cursory nod to the officials ensued, then she picked up her belongings and disappeared….no apologies….nothing….unbelievable! That one was 20miutes!!
Interestingly when I raised my eyebrows and smiled at the guy who had taken all the shouting and flack dealing with this (calmly I might add) he told me this was such common occurrence. More interestingly he informed me that at least once a week a ‘mystery passenger’ with a banned item (sometimes as small a lipstick) deliberately passes through each terminal's security, and if the infringement is not spotted and challenged, the X-ray operator is immediately taken off duty and disciplined or usually sacked!
So, cut these guys some slack will you? :-))
I count myself as lucky having such a facility within a couple of hours of my home and without it would face the long trip to the London terminals.