Off the Wall

I've done quite a bit of international travel lately, and probably for the last 4-5 trips I get the "special" treatment at US customs. This usually consists of the guy scanning my passport, leaning forward to look at his computer screen, followed by a frown, followed by a few mouse clicks, followed by more frowning, and finally some cryptic mark put on my entry paperwork. The cryptic mark translates to: search this guy's luggage later on in the process. They're all trained not to tell you anything, so no amount of nice guy kidding around will pry loose what they've seen. Still, it's been pretty obvious the last few times that they don't think there is an issue, since when I get to the luggage search, they just type a few more things and send me on.

Today in Ottawa I got a little more insight into it. When you leave Ottawa for the US, they have US customs in the airport in Ottawa. Very handy, because you can arrive at the domestic terminal in the US. Same customs people, though. Same routine, but this time I got pulled off to a side room to wait. Visions of strip searches were dancing through my head. After a bit, a customs guy comes out, takes my passport, goes into another room, and then comes out and says, "You're all set Mr. Harris." I ask, "Is this just common name syndrome, or what?" "Not really," he says. "Is there anything I can do to stop it from happening?" I ask. He says, "I put an override on it, so as long as you have this passport you shouldn't have any more problems. It was just too off the wall what was being reported."

I suppose I was perhaps tagged as the illegitimate son of Osama Bin Laden or something.