Strange behaviour at spanish security

[Magssam]

Came back through alicante airport yesterday and was curious about something the security team did going through the scanners.

Context: myself (30f), husband (36m), DD1 (5) DD2 (6 months). My husband gets stressed doing the bags, so I sort the bags, electricals, liquids, etc, and he sorts the kids. Husband gets stopped everytime whether scanner goes off or not, sometimes a sweep over with hand held, sometimes a pat down. Never find anything, never been in trouble at an airport, no criminal record. I also should add it wasn't busy at all, so it wasn't due to a big queue.

We went to the scanners, I sorted the bags, and he went to the walk through scanner with our girls, DD1 went through on her own. There were cots at the side presumably to put the baby down. They called me over, sent me through then said "is this your husband" "Is this your baby" after I said yes to both the female officer said "go take care of your baby" in an aggressive tone and pushed me between my shoulders, quite forcefully back towards the scanners. I took baby, husband came through, green light, they still patted him down and then sent him to the bag scanner. The guy asked him to identify his bag. He pointed to our bag with phones, electrical and baby bottles, and the guy swabbed his phone and sent us on our way.

My question is, why the issue with the baby? They held him behind the scanners until I was done with the bags. Why not let him go through with baby and then scan again once I was ready to take the baby? Why the aggressiveness and the pushing?

I am not opposed to the security, and if anything, they make me feel safer, but I have never experienced this before. We have always done things this way. Even when DD1 was small, my husband would take her through. Is it a cultural thing? Are spanish Dads more traditional, so they thought it looked dodgy him taking the baby? Why not let him set her down in the cot? And if it was so it was more comfortable for baby, why the aggressive pushing?

I've also found Spanish airport security rather abrupt and less friendly than in the UK. I don't know if it's because its a 'serious' role that I think is aligned to the military in Spain, so a defence role, not 'customer service'

You also have to remember that they're speaking in their second language so not everyone will be fluent and confident, which may come across as agressive.

But sadly, 'the bad people' do use babies and young children and their paraphernalia to try and smuggle through contraband, so perhaps until proved otherwise, a possibly lone man with young children might look suspicious to them.

I don't know the answer but interestingly I had the opposite experience last week. Going out from East Midlands was anarchy. Staff yelling at everyone and very aggressive and rude. We came back through Palma and there were 10 times the number of passengers but all the staff were calm, polite and chilled.

We went through Bristol and Palma last week. Haven't flown for a couple of years before then.

In Palma it was just 'general' rudeness, nothing to write home about but certainly zero level of service. Meh.

Bristol was another level though. On the way out we went through fast track. It was absolutely dead. The guy who dealt with us was aggressive in an extreme way, particularly towards dh. He shouted at us to hurry up from a few metres away (we were the only people there and were already walking at speed!) then very roughly grabbed our things off us and lobbed them in a tray. Looked like he was ready to explode and barked SHOES OFF, MOVE OVER etc.

Then when bending down to pick something up he said something which dh obviously didn't hear. Dh said 'sorry?' and he stood up, leant forward suddenly so he was an inch from dh's face and said loudly 'Empty your POCKETS, did you catch it that time sir ?'.

The 'sir' especially was obviously code for 'wanker' in the way he said it. It was so explicitly, breathtakingly rude and aggressive that dh and I were like 😯 I've never experienced anything like it.

Honestly, it was so extreme and bizarre we wondered if it was purposeful, especially the way it was primarily aimed at dh who's a tall, broad guy. As in, trying to goad him to kick off to bring some excitement to a boring shift.

We were also treated rudely last time we flew out of Leeds Bradford.

To be fair it was difficult for the staff as they'd not long installed the new scanners, which weren't working properly and we'd queued well over half an hour, but I was sent to use a foot scanner that required a very precisely ordered and timed sequence of moves left foot on, hands on, right foot on, hold for three seconds, left foot off oh no too fast, start again and after I'd got it wrong twice the security guard just started bellowing at me.

Bit unclear, were you supposed to put the baby in the holder thing and then go through and your husband didn't, but carried the baby through?
So the baby was scanned unnecessarily?

Spanish Dads are less “traditional” than British ones in general, eg there is 16 weeks paid paternity leave (same as maternity etc) but this sounds like a specific security person issue rather than a cultural one.

My British babies were born in Spain and we flew in and out 6-8 times a year and never had anything like this, just carried the baby through with one of us all the time.

Surely they wanted you to take the baby so that your husband could go through the scanner alone? It sounds a non-event. They have a pressured job and are talking to you in a foreign language. You can't really judge them for tone.

Also what is it with this latest trend of including sex and age in posts? "30f", "36m", completely irrelevant, you're not writing a dating advert. People seem to be adding this in all the time lately.

The 30f and 36m-thing might be an inspiration from Reddit. In some of the Reddit-communities the poster has to write how old everyone involved in the situation is, and whether they are female or male.

@Bjorkdidit Spanish airport security personnel are not military, nor aligned with the military. They are low-paid subcontracted staff from a security company, like in most countries.

OP, my guess is that she was just having a bad day. It must be one of the most mind-numbing jobs in the world (I'm going to guess that not many kids mention it when asked what they're going to be when they grow up), with the added bonus that you might, just might, miss a blade on someone who goes on to attack the cabin crew. I would last about half an hour before I got fired for snapping at someone.

Not playing devil’s advocate, but I go through Spanish airports dozens of times a year and am fluent / native in the local languages + obviously English.

You would not believe the disparity of expressions / vocabulary spoken by staff at security when they’re supposedly translating the same words to English. Many times they end up giving two sets of instructions in two different languages, almost.

What I imagine they wanted to say with the “take care of your baby” is actually a polite, inoffensive expression in Spanish which is the equivalent of “can you hold the baby for a minute until he’s through”. Spanish security staff aren’t fluent in English - they’ll more likely be translating word for word and it often makes no sense.

Giving people a nudge (pushing) or physical contact in customer service situations is not also as frowned upon as in the UK.

I stated our age to give context e.g. we're not a particularly young couple.

Thank you for this reply.
This is actually helpful rather than condescending and what your saying does make complete sense.

I also speak pretty good Spanish and spend quite a bit of time there and I would echo what a PP said.
Take care of your baby in Spanish would not be especially harsh. Also its not unusual for English people to think Spanish people are shouting at them when they aren't. I remember DD being absolutely terrified when she got stuck in a toilet and a lovely non English speaking lady was trying to give her helpful instructions but DD thought she was really cross with her.
I appreciate that the staff were speaking English but their way of speaking it might just have been quite "Spanish" if that makes sense?

Is pushing people normal too?

Rough shove? No
Physically moving someone? pretty much, yes
Pat on shoulder/back to encourage someone to move? also yes