A resurfaced video from 2019 is generating fresh buzz on Twitter. ArtfulKash posted a series of stills taken by security cameras at Rochester International Airport.
Her caption read, “I often think about that TSA officer who got fired for slipping a flyer a note that simply read ‘you ugly.’
Under that was news coverage of the incident, prompting many responses from Twitter users.
What Happened?
The traveler, identified as Neal Strassner, was passing through airport security, when an agent passed him a folded up bit of paper.
He didn’t open it right away.
“I got handed a note, I didn’t really think much of it,” he said in an interview. “I had about 10 minutes to get to my gate, that’s what I was focused on. The woman kind of called back to me ‘are you going to open that?'”
When he did, he saw the words “you ugly!!!” and the TSA agent laughed.
The Incident Raised A Question About Bullying
Strassner thought it was “strange” and very random.
But he was concerned how somebody else would have responded if they had been in his shoes.
“You really don’t know where somebody is in their head,” Strassner told News 8 WROC. “They could be in the worst spot ever.”
Strassner Reported The Incident To A Supervisor
At first, the supervisor didn’t believe him, until they were shown the surveillance footage.
This resulted in the TSA agent being fired following an internal investigation.
“I’m assuming it was meant to be a joke,” Strassner said. “I don’t think she was maliciously trying to insult people.”
He again stressed that you don’t know somebody’s mental state, so it’s better to be kind.
TSA Released A Statement
The statement said:
“TSA holds contractors to the highest ethical standards and has zero tolerance for this type of behavior. The employee has since been terminated by the contractor.”
Twitter Reactions Varied
Some thought the joke was harmless, others thought it was mean spirited.
ArtfulKash wrote, “imagine you on your way to vacay and somebody give u that on your way to Bora Bora. Fu*k yo whole trip up. Cuz how ugly u gotta be for a random to be like ‘find me some paper and pen hurry up!'”
Mau1019 wrote, “I mean, I don’t feel bad but I’m also not finding what’s funny about insulting random ppl unwarranted lol.”
Sidsince94 said, “the proper response is giving it back and writing ‘ya mama,’ come on now.”