At the Providence Airport, after you check in and get your boarding pass, you have to take your own luggage to the x-ray machine and stand there as it’s scanned and inspected. Aaron and I only had one large bag for the two of us, so we both took it down to the x-ray machine and handed it to two TSA gentlemen, who fed it through. We walked to the end, where our bag emerged and was tagged, then we turned and went back the way we came, bidding adieu to our luggage.
As we passed the first two TSA agents on our way out — young men, probably in their mid to late 20’s — one of them called out to us.
“I was telling him,” one guard said, pointing to his partner, “that he needs to watch Serial Experiments Lain. He hasn’t seen it.”
After a moment, we realized that they had seen Aaron’s Serial Experiments Lain shoulder bag. We cordially agreed that, yes, this guy really needed to watch Lain. It’s a great show.
Then the guy who hadn’t yet watched Lain saw my Mr. Spork shirt. “Great shirt!” he called out, grinning. “Is that from Woot?” I answered that, yeah, I got it from Woot.
At that point, we excused ourselves with the normal pleasantries — “Have a good weekend!” — and made our way to Security. But we found it pleasantly strange to discover fellow geeks as TSA guys in an unfamiliar airport.