I got flagged for a random TSA pat down once and the agent asked me if I had any metal in my body. I replied “I have an IUD”. The agent freaks out and starts flagging other agents over. She musters all her calm and says “Please repeat that you have an IED on you” to which I had to say “no, an IUD, a copper intrauterine device, for birth control”. She didn’t know what an IUD was and I had to explain it to her. I bet she’ll remember now!
I would think even without general education of contraceptives, that this would be like... specifically pertinent to the training of metal detector & body scan operators of TSA.
9/11 kinda changed that outlook. Not saying its always logical but niether are bomb threats so they are going to take that very seriously and i would imagine (to some degree of misfortune) bomb threat analysis and recognition is higher up in training than human anatomy and sexual health
Friends actually changed an episode scheduled to come out after 9/11 where Chandler joked about having a bomb. People still casually joke about these things
I didn’t know what it was but I was able to guess correctly anyway due to context and it just sounding like a birth control device name. I get that most people know different things but I feel like the TSA should’ve been able to guess correctly like I did.
Why do you think the two options are “freak out and assume she has an actual IED without clarifying” or “just assume it’s probably fine and let her go on her merry way”? Maybe try asking “could you repeat?” or “what is that?” instead of confidently assuming she has a bomb?
After initially freaking out, making a big enough deal of it that OP even remarked on the anecdote, and calling all the other agents over. Even if they are required to call a dozen people over when they think they’ve heard a synonym for bomb, surely you can double check “repeat please?” without 1) revealing that you’re a moron who doesn’t know what an IUD is and 2) accusing someone in front of other people of having a bomb.
Because when you hear someone, who you're currently patting down, literally say that they have a scrap bomb on then, you might panic at the though of getting ripped into pieces
Right lol, like the correct follow-up question is still "Could you repeat that?" but the worst option is just assuming you misheard and they meant IUD.
Same way I didn't know until the commenter explained it: I know what an intrauterine device is, but I've never heard of IUD because it's not exactly something that comes up in my regular conversations.
It's the fact that she's a woman though. I get that if you're a guy, this isn't necessarily part of any "growing up" talk (although it REALLY should be) but in particular for a woman, this is like not having heard of the pill.
It honestly seems she just misheard what was said as IUD and IED are similar enough to mix up, especially in a noisy airport. The security guard probably had a panic attack and thought this was the start of a hostage situation
it is a shame when women do not know about basic, common birth control. why are you confused?? honestly it’s a shame that things like this aren’t taught more throughly to everyone
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u/mariahmce 29d ago
I got flagged for a random TSA pat down once and the agent asked me if I had any metal in my body. I replied “I have an IUD”. The agent freaks out and starts flagging other agents over. She musters all her calm and says “Please repeat that you have an IED on you” to which I had to say “no, an IUD, a copper intrauterine device, for birth control”. She didn’t know what an IUD was and I had to explain it to her. I bet she’ll remember now!