A security worker at a New York airport has been fired after video footage revealed her passing a rude note to a traveler walking through a security checkpoint.
Neal Strassner revealed to WROC how he was walking through a security checkpoint at the Greater Rochester International Aiport in New York when a security guard handed him a note.
As he walked away, allegedly, she yelled out to him, “You going to open the note?”
When Strassner opened the note, it read: “You ugly!!!”
The employee can be seen laughing in the footage from the airport security cameras.
The unnamed employee can be then seen ripping cardboard from what looks to be a box of nitrile gloves, the medical grade latex-free gloves often used by security personnel at airports, and writing down another note.
“UPDATE: The airport security employee has been fired, according to TSA. Here’s the video of the employee passing the mean note, laughing about it, and reaching for more paper to begin writing again.”
Strassner then revealed to the station that he obtained video of the interaction through a a Freedom of Information request. It took him over a month for him to receive the footage.
Through a Screening Partnership Program, The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) hires independent security companies throughout the country. The employee was not an official TSA or airport employee and was employed through a third party, VMD Corp., a security company based in Virginia.
A TSA representative then provided a statement to Yahoo regarding the incident.
“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,” the statement said.
In an email to WROC, Strassner wrote:
“I’m really curious what the other notes said. I travel a lot and the airport normally is spectacular. This was a totally weird event that they [VMD Corp.] seemed to handle properly. I travel a lot and just want to make sure they get some credit to their organization and don’t let one lady trash their whole reputation.”