A passenger was shocked when a worker handed him in a note saying, ‘You ugly!!!’ as he passed through a an airport screening area in New York.
Neal Strassner, said a worker at Greater Rochester International Airport in Monroe County, New York, gave him the note as he was passing through the security checkpoint.
Footage of the incident obtained by Strassner which happened in late June shows the as yet unidentified worker handing him the note and she laughs as he passes by.
Strassner looks at her confused and then walks away, as she is seen laughing and speaking to a colleague in the footage obtained by another airport passenger.
As he walked towards his gate, he heard the worker shouting back at him, ‘You going to open the note?.’
A passenger was shocked when a worker handed him in a note saying, ‘You ugly!!!’, (pictured), as he passed through a an airport screening area in New York
Neal Strassner, (pictured), said a worker at Greater Rochester International Airport gave him the offensive note in the airport and he later reported her to a supervisor
The airport worker was later fired following an investigation by TSA. Strassner told WROC that he didn’t know what to make of the incident.
He explained: ‘I got handed a note, I didn’t really think too much of it. I just kept going. I had 10 minutes to get to my gate.
‘That’s what I was focused on and I kept going, the woman called back to me are you going to open that? Are you going to look or something like that?
He was then surprised to read the words, “You ugly!!!” on the piece of brown paper and reported the incident to a security supervisor in the airport.
Strassner said he was fine but worried others might be offended if they received the same note.
He added: ‘I’m assuming it was meant to be a joke I don’t think she was maliciously trying to insult people, but you really don’t know if somebody was in that mindset, and they received that piece of paper. It would throw them back to a dark mental place.
Strassner can be seen walking through metal detectors as the worker hands him a note
Strassner said he was focused on getting to his boarding gate on time and laughed in surprise as the worker reached out to give him something
‘You never don’t know where somebody is in their head,” he said. ‘They really could be in the worst spot ever and it’s like a smile would be great for that person, honestly you don’t have to throw insults like that.’
Strassner told WROC he made a Freedom of Information request the airport and it took more than a month for him to get access to the video in June.
The airport worker was not an official employee of TSA or the Rochester airport. However she is employed through VMD Corp, a Virginia-based security company.
In airports throughout the country, TSA hires independent security companies through a Virginia-based security company
The employee can then be seen on security footage laughing at what she has done
As he walked towards his gate, he heard the worker yell back at him, ‘You going to open the note?’
Strassner obtained footage of the incident after making a Freedom of Information request
TSA officials confirmed the employee was terminated after they investigated the incident.
In a statement to WROC they said: ‘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 airport is later seen beginning to write another note in the footage, and it remains unclear whether she handed out offensive notes to other passengers.
Srassner claimed he is curious if anyone else has had a similar experience coming through the Rochester airport.
He told WROC: ‘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.’