While entering the ND game, I was asked to empty my entire clear bag. I understand the need for increased security and I applaud the clear bag policy; however, I was the only person asked to empty my bag. People in front of me, behind me, and to the right/left were not asked to do so. I had a poncho, extra t-shirts, wallet, sunglasses cases, extra phone battery, and tampons. I got the joy of spreading that everywhere and and causing a backup because it took a minute to get it all back in my clear bag. When I questioned the lady about why I was singled out, she did not have a reason. I briefly spoke to the security supervisor afterwards and shared that all gates and lines should be treated fairly. If one person has to empty their bag, then everyone should. It's already humiliating enough to use the clear bag when you're a female, but I was really pissed off by being singled out.
I know a lot of TKPers are dudes, so you might not be carrying a clear bag/purse, but has anyone else experienced this? I would like to write a letter/email/something to Whit, but I'm not sure it will do any good. Has anyone else had experience giving the Athletic Dept feedback?
TL;DR: Clear bag policy is good, but it should be enforced fairly. Is it worth my time to write a letter to Whit?
Thanks TKP!
Comments
As far as experience giving the Athletic Dept feedback goes, I emailed Whit about my experience yesterday and it was well received.
As to your issue, were you actually singled out or were they doing random bag searches and it just happened to be you that was searched? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if they were doing random bag searches, I don't think you really have a leg to stand on.
Shit man. Got singled out AND she's a double amputee? That's rough.
sorry, it's been a long week after a rough weekend and I'm cracking up at the stupidest things today.
Maybe they were just being nice and doing a thorough search to look for them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah, the whole point of the clear bag is so that you don't need to rummage through it before allowing someone to enter.
Yes! This is my point!
But if everything was wrapped in the poncho, it defeats the purpose of the clear bag.
It wasn't. It was folded nicely in the original pouch it was bought in.
Just theorizin'.
Agree that if there are truly random searches, your experience was annoying, maybe even embarrassing, but certainly not out of the realm of normal procedure. Also agree that the clear bag thing should make such searches unnecessary unless the contents were so packed and jumbled that the checker felt the need for even more clarity. That said, I empathize with you and think that if you really felt singled out, you should say something, however you can figure out to do so. G'luck.
I personally haven't run into any issues with the clear bag policy. I also try not to take much into the stadium with me: phone (which also holds my license and debit card), ticket, jacket, chapstick, cash. If I do need to carry much more than that, I have no shame in shoving it in other available pockets, even if they aren't mine. Sucks that you had a bad experience, especially since the whole point of the clear bag is to prevent you from needing to empty it.
One would hope that you know the owner of said pockets. ;^)
I do, lol.
The real follow up question here is, do you complain about grown men wearing cargo shorts?
No, because while they don't look that great, you can't deny that the pockets serve a purpose! My complaint is about how utterly useless pockets are in women's clothing. Unless it's pocket I personally sewed into my clothes, there is a 99% chance that it's too shallow to actually hold anything much bigger than a tube of chapstick.
There are few things cuter in the world than a woman showing you her dress/skirt has pockets.
Me: Hey I like your skirt
Her: Thanks! It has pockets! [puts hands in pockets to show them off, smiling delightedly]
I have never understood clear bags, they made us do that in highschool and I could have hollowed out a book and brought stuff easily, also the backpacks were small and crappy. It has always seemed like security theater.
As for VT, I dont think their random searches are random. My freshman year I got "randomly" searched every single game (except Miami but that was at the orange bowl). I would have a wallet, room key and ticket. I was never searched again after that.
*Whispers*
Almost all visible security is "security theater"
Two years ago my buddy and I carried the lunch pails that I keep my cornhole bags in just to see if they would allow it, check them and whatnot. We didn't get a second glance. Could've easily walked in with a fifth in each. I don't know if they've gotten more strict since, if lunch pails are just seen as harmless props, or if that's just white male privelege in action, but we definitely waltzed right in.
I found the best way I could bring in airplane bottles was to fill my pockets with them then walk in with an unopened bottle or two of water. They'd get all over me for the water and confiscate it, never once checking my pockets.
My trick has always been to hide the bottles in a large bag of cough drops. If security asks about the huge bulge in my pocket I just pull the Halls bag far enough out for them to see the label and say it's just cough medicine. Not entirely a lie.
This is brilliant. If you're taking your job as twelfth man seriously, you're going to need those cough drops AND the airplane bottles.
I wore boots to a game and tried to sneak some airplane bottles for friends, know what it feels like to dump 18 airplane bottles in the trash can?
Friend of mine used his kid to mule in the bottles for several years. Finally, the day came...
They patted down your boots?
I used this exact method last time I went in. Idk how you get caught doing this unless they ask me to take my boots off. Works like a charm. Though I don't know that I could walk like a normal human with 18 bottles in my boots like 2 per boot is the capacity.
No no no. You don't use the boots. You use boot socks. The long green Army socks and jeans were my jam for years. I could get a ton of airplane bottles in that way. Then I realized that I could just use a flask and save money.
yeah flask is really the less amateur way to go.
Other thing I did that worked for years for the cold games was I had a really bulky coat with a hole in the pocket. I would stuff the bottles into the pocket hole and snake them around to the back of the coat in the lining. I could take a dozen or so without any appreciable bulge. Hole in the pocket was indicative of the rattiness and hence the demise of the coat, but for a good while, it was perfect.
Why deal with airplane bottles? With a winter coat, you can easily fit a boda bag under your arm. Holds about a fifth.
Addison Caldwell called. He wants his flask back.
I thought it was Gus Chiggins'
JUST SELL SOME TKP BRANDED CLEAR REUSABLE BAGS FFS
I've brought fifths of whiskey into the stadium more times than I can count. Not sure why they try to get cute like that. As long as folks are clearing metal detectors, they should move along given current standards.
You obviously look sketchy AF /s
I would first try to get some clarity from whoever run security and find out if they perform random bag searches and if not what would trigger a gate worker to have you remove everything from a clear bag. If the answers to these questions do not apply to you, then email the AD. Could have been something visible in your bag that causes an agent to always have everything pulled out.
I don't think as a rule that anyone responsible for security is going to discuss their security procedures in very much detail.
They could simply say "any bag filled to the point of an obstructed view will be asked to be emptied" without risk of giving away a strategy.
If I had to guess, I would suspect that your bag was singled out for a search because it sounds like there was a lot of stuff in there. If the bag only had two or three items in it, it would be easier for the security folks to glance at it and quickly determine that there's no contraband in there.
I suppose it could also be your demeanor. I know that until the last couple years, it seems that my brother-in-law got patted down at the gate almost every time we showed up, and I almost never did, even though I was always the bourbon mule. I've always speculated that I just look gruff and unfriendly while he's always smiling and chatty (at least until the game starts), and the security folks would rather deal with people who don't look like they're going to put up much resistance. It just makes their jobs easier.
We had the opposite experience for this game. My wife usually brings a clear bag with a jacket, phone, wallet, etc, into each game. Sometimes they rummage through it, sometimes not. Sometimes they allow and empty water bottle - sometimes not.
For this game, we never even saw a bag search area. As we approached the ticket taker, I asked my wife if we had missed the security area, but it appeared that there was none.
Interesting about the "theater", when we went to Duke two weeks ago, everyone went through metal detectors, but clear bags were specifically prohibited .
I have commented as well to VT AD on the security policies and expressed that they are spot on. The last thing we want is for the inane airport security level searches that occur at most NFL stadiums. Do I really need to be wanded to find my 1 1/2" leatherman tool?
1 1/2" Leatherman? That's a toy, not a tool.
Best smuggling ever was a full handle of bourbon in doubled ziplock bags held inside the thigh level of my bike shorts worn under baggy pants. Lycra pressure made it conform nicely and double bags prevented leaks and made the ick factor a non issue. Got patted briefly and passed the student gate easily back in the very early 1990s. Still my personal best record!
The full handle is impressive, but I have never went with the ziploc method before because I have seen it end in disaster far too many times.
Meanwhile, last weekend at the ND game I saw two ND fans with regular bags walk right through security and they didn't even get a 2nd look. I think the clear bag policy is stupid, but if you're gonna enact it, you need to enforce it.