As a faculty representative of a youth organization in my community, I get to go on field trips once a month to various businesses within Blount County. Today, we went to the Knoxville McGhee Tyson Airport. The presentation was very interesting and I feel that I learned almost as much as the students. The brief tour of the airport was also a learning experience.
Security was our first stop on the tour. I, of course, removed my shoes and belt and walked through the security gate. The alarm went off. No surprise there, I usually set off the alarm with my hair pins. I was asked to step aside so that an officer could “wand” me. The security officers told me it wouldn’t take long when I explained that I was with a waiting tour group (I even wore a bright orange visitor badge that the airport’s director of public relations had given me). The wand beeped. I was then asked to stand in the glass cubicle between the two security check points where an officer again used the wand and then frisked me.
Yes, I was frisked at the airport while my tour group stood by waiting for me. Not only did my bobby pins set off the wand, but my bra did as well. The airport security officer had to hand check the back and straps of my bra while I stood spread-eagle in a glass cubicle in the middle of the airport. I also had to roll out the waistband of my pants so that could be checked as well (I don’t recall that area of my body beeping as the wand waved over me). Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed.
After the ordeal, the security officer said to me, “Now you know what not to do.”
I was a little dumbfounded by that remark. Excuse me? Are you telling me I shouldn’t wear undergarments? By the time I joined my group, we had a few minutes to spend looking at the gallery (a neat idea for an airport) and take a group picture. We then left. I spent more time in security than anywhere else.
I learned a lesson today: I should wear my hair down and go bra-less the next time I take a tour of the airport. Thank you, McGhee Tyson Airport for that little gem. 
-Tiff