jtate
Member
This pen set off a crisis with TSA people at O'Hare airport. I posted the photo last week of this pen which I made for a friend. She runs a compnay that makes mops and brooms, so she had a bunch of handles made from tropical woods, which she couldn't use. Their slight flaws made them inappropriate for their products. They were destined for the scrap heap so some of them came to me instead.
I made this as a Thank You gift.
She was very pleased with the pen and took it to visit clients in Chicago. Returning home, the TSA people pulled her out of line after her backpack was scanned.
"You have a weapon." they stated vehemently.
"I - what?"
"You have a weapon in your bag - we're opening your bag." and so they did. They retrieved her pen from the backpack.
"Oh, that's a ball-point pen, here, I'll show -"
"DON'T TOUCH IT!" they commanded her.
Although she's a fiery woman she's not foolish so she backed off.
"Tell me how it shoots." the TSA representative demanded.
"It doesn't shoot, it's a pen."
"We can't let you on the plane with this."
"Well, you can't keep my pen, it was a gift!" She was getting fired up.
"No m'am, you don't understand. We can't let you on the plane, come this way." She was sputtering but followed them to another room where she convinced them to let her touch the apparently lethal writing implement. Despite her explanation and disassembling the pen, they remained convninced of its deadliness. They peered through the lower barrel and into the upper barrel. They X-rayed the pen parts and examined the image carefully.
Finally, after the pen had been strip searched, my friend was cleared to board the plane with the pen parts in her pocket to be reassembled at her leisure.
Her business partner is calling her "007." Does that make me "Q?"
I made this as a Thank You gift.
She was very pleased with the pen and took it to visit clients in Chicago. Returning home, the TSA people pulled her out of line after her backpack was scanned.
"You have a weapon." they stated vehemently.
"I - what?"
"You have a weapon in your bag - we're opening your bag." and so they did. They retrieved her pen from the backpack.
"Oh, that's a ball-point pen, here, I'll show -"
"DON'T TOUCH IT!" they commanded her.
Although she's a fiery woman she's not foolish so she backed off.
"Tell me how it shoots." the TSA representative demanded.
"It doesn't shoot, it's a pen."
"We can't let you on the plane with this."
"Well, you can't keep my pen, it was a gift!" She was getting fired up.
"No m'am, you don't understand. We can't let you on the plane, come this way." She was sputtering but followed them to another room where she convinced them to let her touch the apparently lethal writing implement. Despite her explanation and disassembling the pen, they remained convninced of its deadliness. They peered through the lower barrel and into the upper barrel. They X-rayed the pen parts and examined the image carefully.
Finally, after the pen had been strip searched, my friend was cleared to board the plane with the pen parts in her pocket to be reassembled at her leisure.
Her business partner is calling her "007." Does that make me "Q?"
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