US Customs and Border Patrol

[TBoneTX 45,267]

I have noticed for the past couple of years though that the inland checkpoints that I have to go through that the patrols are getting ruder and more intrusive.

Si, man -- and the poster-bastards for rude intrusivism all work at the inland checkpoint south of Alpine, Texas.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Si, man -- and the poster-bastards for rude intrusivism all work at the inland checkpoint south of Alpine, Texas.

Haven't been through that one in a long time but it is way in the middle of nowhere and huge drug transshipment point, or used to be. The one east of El Paso I have noticed to be getting real Aholes.

[Heracles 417]

You asked a question, I was making a point.

It does make a difference.

Actually Paul they owned you there.

You guys treat government workers like #######, loathe and detest them, and pay them peanuts but are then are shocked at the poor service or bad attitude. No wait, claim it's the unions. It's amazing how everyone else who has solved these problems abroad or does not have them, apparently has no idea, but you guys, always have the answer; well someone to blame and this time it's the unions.

[TBoneTX 45,267]

Haven't been through that one in a long time but it is way in the middle of nowhere and huge drug transshipment point, or used to be. The one east of El Paso I have noticed to be getting real Aholes.

Sadly, the Alpine checkpoint is on just about the only route back from Ojinaga (cool Mexican city) & Presidio. Why the CBP agents at the checkpoint north of Laredo are so much more professional than the ones at Alpine, and by your account near El Paso, is beyond me, si man.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

No competition, no requirement to make a profit, no incentive to do better.

Soon the same kind of employees will handle your health care

[TBoneTX 45,267]

No competition, no requirement to make a profit, no incentive to do better.

Soon the same kind of employees will handle your health care

Si, man (sigh, man).

[K and L 27]

That´s a very optimistic assumption that questions such as the below will actually get them some answers that would keep anyone safe. The only people with nefarious intentions they would catch would be of intelligence less than half that of the average person.

Here are the standard questions, almost always asked with a grudging annoyed tone, and sometimes accompanied by some ignorant remark about the answers:

- Where have you been?

- How long where you there?

- What did you do?

- What is your work?

- What line of ......?

- Who do you work for? (and you reply with the name of a obscure small company they´ll never have heard of anyway)

I´ve heard them grudge "what ya doing here", "why you go abroad so often", "why´d you leave the US" etc. Maybe it´s because I fly into a airport that only has 1 international flight and they´re less sophisticated than at other terminals...

FWIW, and I don't know if you're the USC or the spouse, but I get them every.single.time I enter in Miami (which is NOT a small airport, nor does it do a trivial amount of international flights). I also get

- Did you travel with anyone?

- Did you meet up with anyone?

- Who were you with?

- Why were you there?

- Where did you go while in <insert country>? <insert city>?

- What's the purpose of your trip to the US?

and more. And I'm the USC half! CBP *always* grills me, and the PF in Brasil are always so much nicer about checking my visa and paperwork. In all seriousness, as a USC, they can't deny me entry, and yet, if I give only the most general of responses, they get twitchy.

[pervez 4]

No competition, no requirement to make a profit, no incentive to do better.

Soon the same kind of employees will handle your health care

This is going into domestic politics, which would be good to keep out of here.

But I wouldn't like the doctor at the hospital thinking about me as his $3000 bonus check. I'd very welcome health care being open to all and to take the financial duress out of the picture. If I ever get cancer or something serious you can guess where I'm going, out of here ASAP. I'm not going to bankrupt myself for the glory of this countries health care system, which is twice as expensive and less effective than those government systems of other industrialized countries.