By now we’ve all seen the new Microsoft marketing campaign known as “I’m a PC” (aka Life Without Walls)... and as part of that shirts and other wares can be found quite easily, I am not only an owner of one, but an wearer of it as well:

Back in October I had the pleasure of attending PDC 2008 in LA and had a great time talking to existing users of Windows Home Server, educating and evangelizing Windows Home Server to users who know little/anything about it as well attending sessions... and being harassed a little by airport security.

On the Sunday beforehand when walking through airport security at the Seattle airport I had the TSA official at the metal detector read my shirt and say “You’re a PC eh?” and take a step towards me and pretend to kick me in the shins a few times and ask “You probably get that a lot don’t you?”

Me: “Nope, first time”

Him: “You know, I actually like my PC, I’ve had it since... 2002 and it still works great”

Me: “That’s great to hear...”

Him: “... only it is getting a little old and I’m thinking of replacing it with a Mac”

Me: “That’s OK, Mac’s run Windows pretty good”

We had a nice chat, but he had work he needed to do so it didn’t go much further.

Fast forward a few months... week before last my mother was traveling through Minneapolis airport, wearing a slightly different “I’m a PC” shirt I gave her for Christmas (sure I’m cheap, but at least it’s not cheap crap).

After making it through airport security she immediately called me to tell of the following exchange:

TSA Officer: “Um... what’s a PC? Are you a personal companion?”

My Mom: “You know... a personal computer?”

TSA Officer: “A what?”

My Mom: “Not a Mac”

TSA Officer: “Oh!”

So not only do have TSA officers pretending to commit acts of violence against passengers (and yet we can’t tell a bad joke involving knives, bombs, or pastries of mass destruction)... we have some who are apparently oblivious to major marketing campaigns from both Microsoft and Apple... this is not good.

Read the complete post at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IHateLinux/~3/540664961/accosted-by-airport-security-over-t.html