Security footage taken at Great Rochester International Airport is making a bit of a stir on social media.
It was obtained by a Rochester airline passenger after he encountered an incident he describes as unusual. Neal Strassner thinks a security agent crossed the line, when he says she slipped him a note with the words, "You Ugly."
"I’m in the airport quite often and this is the only time I’ve honestly had any issue whatsoever, normally stellar service every time I go in there,” said Strassner.
The footage shows Strassner at Greater Rochester International Airport’s security checkpoint. The contracted security agent is seen handing him a note.
Just receiving the note seemed odd to Strassner, then he says she turned and told him to read it.
The two words, "You Ugly,” caught him off guard, so on the return trip to Rochester, Strassner reported the incident to security management.
"Well, it’s kind of just a head scratcher, like what in the world is going on here?" said Strassner.
The TSA oversees the contracted security firm that hired this employee. The TSA has since issued a statement in response, saying, “TSA holds contractors to the highest ethical standards and has zero tolerance for this type of behavior. This instance, which involved a contract employee, was investigated immediately upon receiving the complaint by the traveler...The employee has since been terminated by the contractor."
That company is called VMD Corp. The contract is part of the Screening Partnership program with the TSA.
The agent’s motives are unclear.
"I’m not really too sure, I would imagine, nobody really seems like they’d go out of their way to get in trouble or fired at their job so I’m assuming somewhere in the back of her mind I’m assuming best intent, that she thought it was a joke," said Strassner.
Strassner felt compelled to obtain and post the video.
"I don’t know, if you’re at the airport you see something, you say something, that’s what they say," says Strassner.
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