oh, the irony. or the crystally.

 

bag check.  (discussion of weirdness in the bag)

kate:  sir, i need to have a look inside your bag.  i may need to remove a couple of things and then put them back through the xray again for a second look.

pax:  okay, that's fine.

kate: (not finding the weirdness that caused the bag check.  hm.  travel scrabble case and blue box.)  ok, these two items are going to be separated from the bag and then all of it placed through the xray again.  that way my xray operator can see better.  something in here is pretty dense and we can't see the whole bag.

pax: not the jewelry.

kate: excuse me?  i don't understand what you are telling me.

pax: you aren't putting the jewelry through again, are you? you can't just open the box and look inside and put the bag through the xray again? 

kate, figuring out that the blue box has jewelry in it:  no, sir.  all of it has to go through again.  do you want me to look inside?  do you want to move into a private screening room so other passengers can't see it? 

pax: no, just look at it.  i just don't want you carrying it over there.

kate (follows procedures with box in public):  ok, thank you.  now i am putting it all back through the xray again.

pax: why??  you just looked at it.

kate:  because that is my job.  i looked at the items, but i have to run it all through the xray again.  the xray will not damage these items (refraining from yelling out to the world that he has a jewelry box).  here.  for your privacy, i can place them flat in the bin like this and then place another bin on top so that other passengers can't see what is inside.  does this work for you?

pax: why are you taking the bag too??

kate, having an internal goosfrabah moment and realizing that this douchcanoe thinks i am going to steal his swarovski crystal pendant:  sir, when i first spoke to you, i advised you that there was something inside the bag that needed to be removed and placed through the xray a second time.  you agreed to this procedure.  you have two options at this point.  you can allow me to finish what i am doing and get you on your way or you can choose to leave the checkpoint and most likely go through this again when you decide you want to come back.  these items are going back through the xray a second time while you decide what you would like to do.

i placed the double-stacked bin and his bag back through the xray a second time, verifying that i had, indeed, found what the xray operator was looking at.  she cleared the bag and the bin.  when the bin exited the xray machine, i motioned to the passenger that he was all finished.  i asked him if he would like me to repack his bag.  right in front of a string of passengers he removed the top bin, waved the blue box for all to see, and told me he would re-pack himself.  i offered the table to him, since it was out of the public eye, but he chose to repack there on the xray belt. 

kate: sir, i would like to point out the irony of your position during our entire conversation about that blue box and how you didn't want it seen, so i tactfully hid it from public view.... and yet you are waving it around like it's a happy meal toy. (insert barbie smile)  have a good flight.