Harassment while going through customs?

Question

Comming from Ny and going through British customs at manchester airport I encountered a dick who just flat out was harassing me. After giving him all the stuff he asked for he then proceeds to ask me, How long did I know my BF, Who paid for my ticket and when I said it was my Bf he said, "why couldnt u pay for your own ticket?" Then told me to take out my wallet to show him how much cash I had on me then told me it was small for the amount of time I was spending out there to which I replied, "I dont walk with alot of cash when I travel hence why I have my credit cards". He just was acting nuts! The whole 2 months I spent out there I hated it just because of what happened to me at the airport- That was my first time traveling alone, Did he have the right to go that far?

I'm 21 yrs old...I really feel like he was having a go at me for being American- while going through my stuff was saying how much stuff I have and how they have starbucks and what not- total weirdness. Help! How do I go about reporting this or something?

No matter how cocky this sounds, I'm from America (the great). I'm not going to leave my great country for a hole like friggin England to live with sheep. He was messing with me, I know it! You don't start looking through someone's cloths and saying "damn how much stuff do u have?" and btw "we have starbucks out here" I want to know how I can go about reporting it, for all those who want to explain to me why he did it- I dont care! There is a rule book for every job and he over stepped his boundaries hence why when the female custom lady came over to assist he changed his manners. This moron was close to finger screwing me ok?

Answer 1

You can always say: "I don't have to discuss my personal life with you".

And the Customs officer can then reply: "Sure, but we don't have to let you into our country either".

I know it sucks, but that's what it basically boils down to. He could certainly have been a little more polite about it, but these are just bored and frustrated government flunkees who have no sensitivity training in public relations or customer service like the employees of private companies do. It's just best not to confuse the two :-/

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EDIT

MAX POWER, if you think that legal procedures can't be tempered with a little simple humanity and courtesy, then you are dead wrong, I don't give a damn what kind of business experience you think you have. Very few people who are actually successful in the private sector bother going to work in a government job. Would it really kill those customs officials to simply first ask "Excuse me maam/sir, but I must ask you a series of personal questions, they really are necessary for the security of our country" or something to that effect so at least travelers can prepare for the anal probing they're about to receive? Hell, they can even just put up a sign on the window if they're too damn lazy to want to repeat that to every traveler. Intelligent and independent people naturally resent it when they're being intrusively poked, prodded, and processed like so much cattle instead of being seen as individuals, and believe it or not, it really doesn't have to be that way! "I'm just doing my job" is NOT an excuse for callously treating innocent people as if they're undergoing a criminal interrogation!! And by the way, travelers ARE your customers. Who do you think is bringing tourism money into your country??

LILLY B: It might be a bit late to complain to anyone about this particular incident, but next time simply demand to speak to the officer's supervisor and explain his derogatory and demeaning comments, and ask to file a written incident report if you can. They're not going to kick you out of the country simply for filing a complaint, as long as you're civil about it. I've met some customs inspectors in my travels who were quite friendly, and others who seemed robotic and officious but nevertheless professional. They did their jobs, and even though their questions were pretty personal and I got taken aback at first, I couldn't take offense because their demeanor wasn't offensive. There is simply no excuse for any of them acting like a creep in the name of enforcing the law. There is no reason for such behavior in the business world, nor is there any reason for it in the law enforcement world.

Answer 2

MAX POWER: Judging by your attitude, you ARE an @sshole. That's really a fact and you might as well get used to people telling you that.

TWINMOM: Maybe someday you will grow up a bit so you can pay attention to the topic at hand and actually have something to say, instead of just sanctimoniously harping on about somebody's strong language. Your Yahoo screenname implies you have twins. Congratulations. That certainly explains your empty-headed breeder cow mentality.

LILLY B: Hang in there! Don't let those kinds of people get you down. Remember, a customs inspector or a cop is nothing more than a civil servant, just like a garbageman.

Answer 3

All of those questions are routine and reasonable. There are several different lines of questions going on here. The most important is figuring out why you are in their country (pretty much their job).

Customs Officers worldwide don't look at the person, they look at the trend. A 21 year old female, traveling alone, with little money on a ticket bought by a third party certainly fits a trend. There is nothing personal in Customs. We have never met a person before and we will never talk to them again, we only care what their story is.

People lie to Customs all the time it is part of the game. Small lies we do not care about it. The big lies we want to get to the bottom of. The thing is, people are not good enough liars to maintain a story through a random line of questions. Here to visit friends huh? What are their names? When did you meet? What is their job etc....If the officer let you go with just a bag check he believed you, let it go, he did.

And for those other answers in this group....First of all I grew up in private industry, quite successfully actually. I know customer service, made a lot of money with customer service. I also know that we do not have customers in customs. We do not care if we get your repeat business, we do not care if you like our product. Our job is to prevent terrorists and their weapons from entering the country as well as stem the flow of illegal narcotics. That is what we care about.
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"Logic" 316- I know you are trying to blast me, but I just ended up laughing. I have had plenty of people thank me for my nice, courteous attitude. Basically I am as nice to people as they are to me. If you think I was an ****** then you need to look in the mirror. Let me guess, you are the guy who gets selected for an innocent random sample and you come back slamming your bags on the belt, throw your passport at my chest and tell me your're a citizen and I have no right to question you, and then you wonder why the exam went badly. Or are you the guy who wears the baseball hat with the Marijuana leaf symbol and then honestly wonder why you got sent to secondary- must be profiling right?

Answer 4

The last time i came back from Canada I went through Customs. There was a picture of the President and VP. I said who are those jackasses. They detained me. I said I had a right to free speech. They said I was right but they stated it is against the law to insult a jackass like that and got a ticket for animal cruelity.

Answer 5

All those questions that the customs officer asked you sound reasonable to me. Knowing what connections an intended non-immigrant has in one's country is good intelligence gathering. Knowing what one's economic solvency (ie, one's job and money in possession) is a good indicator of what behavior might be expected of the previously mentioned non-immigrant. Last time I checked, non-immigrants entering any country are not allowed to self dictate their own terms of entry or admissibility into said country.

Answer 6

Let me see,

-Go to hell
-thuggish
-sociopathic
-gestapo
-half-educated
-big fat @asshole
-blasted idiot
-moron
-Drink Clorox

All words used against Max by two posters, and even though he has hit back I see no name calling from him. Yet he is the one who is rude and insensitive. Hell, you basically told him to go kill himself because you don't like his opinion, or his job. I think he is right about one thing, it is time to go look in the mirror.
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Hyperion- You had all the time in the world to come up with an insult and all you could do was point out the fact that I am a mother? I actually feel kind of sorry for you. You want me to add something to the question, all right.

Lilly- I felt sorry until your last post. Now all I can say is get over it and get over yourself. It sounds like you have a lot more issues with England than your experience with their Customs. If you don't and you let that one encounter destroy your two months with your bf then you need to grow up.

Now you guys can write whatever you want, I am done with the immaturity in this question

Answer 7

find out who hired this person in the manchester airport. Write to them and ask them the procedure for making comments about their employees. Go from there. OR ... Just learn something from the experience and Move on.

Answer 8

Don't waste your time or money. 1) It's a foreign country...you'd have to sue in the UK and it would cost you a mint. 2) if it is a government employee, he/she and the Customs/Immigratin agency have immunity, so suing would be a waste of time. Traveling anymore is a nightmare...just get used to it.

Answer 9

You should report it, it is likley he has done this to some one else and if so enough complaints would have him in trouble , no one has the right to treat you like that. you or your bf paid good money for that ticket and would be spending good money as a tourist so just like within any buisness you deserve respect

Answer 10

He was determining whether you were a visitor or an intended immigrant. He was doing his job. You have nothing to complain about. US immigration would do the same thing to a young, single female.