You’ve just had your privacy violated, and it could have turned into a nightmare. One time when an agent thanked me, I simply looked at him and walked off. He had the impertinence to call after me, saying “I said, thank you.” I looked back at him, and said “I heard you the first time.”
I’ve had many fascinating interchanges with these people over the years, and practice makes perfect. If everyone treated these bedbugs with the disdain they deserve, it would quickly cave in their fragile personas and they’d have to go out and find productive employment. The reason I suggest you deal with them as I’ve described, however, is for your own benefit, and that of society, not for that of the agent.
t’s part of a general process causing Americans to lose whatever self-respect and individuality they might still have-which was the main thing that’s always distinguished them from nationals of other countries, most of whom are inured to acting like sheep.
I suggest you study your body language, and that of others, when next you clear customs. Here are a few practical suggestions. Do these, and you’ll feel better about yourself:
Don’t cringe and supplicate. Stand tall, look the agent straight in the eye and, under no circumstances, smile. Your demeanor should not be, like most, that of a child, afraid to be scolded. It should be that of an objective scientist studying a familiar but unappealing insect. Answer questions curtly, with a single word. Don’t volunteer anything. Don’t make small talk. Don’t make pleasant conversation like all the whipped dogs around you.
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