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Distasteful treatment by CANU employee at CJIA
DEAR EDITOR,
I use this opportunity to share with your readership a very distasteful experience I had with a CANU employee prior to my departure from Guyana on May 10, 2019.
While my luggage was being scanned, I had the displeasure of being attended to by a young lady who upon seeing the outlines of the various objects in one of my suitcases, enquired about something ‘round’ in my possession.
I told the young lady that I really couldn’t recall what I would have had that was round in the suitcase (I didn’t pay much heed to her request because I knew ‘round’ objects are not banned from flights, at least not that I knew of) and that she was free to open it and check if she so desired.
To my bewilderment and that of those around me, the woman apparently became irate and started to speak in a tone that was quite unbecoming, to say the least, of a person who is placed at such an important port of entry/exit, and a person who is tasked with the responsibility of interfacing with people of both local as well as foreign persuasions.
I then proceeded to turn my back away from the employee as I was unimpressed by her ranting, and frankly was not in the mood for that degree of drama, a move which apparently fueled her enragement, as she became even more vociferous and requested that I put the suitcase on the table.
She opened the suitcase and picked up a pack of incense (box labeled clearly) and asked what it was. I have never in my sixty-six years of life, met a Guyanese who didn’t know what was incense or a government employee, more-so, one working at CJIA, who couldn’t read.
Editor, since we as a nation purport to be, or rather would like to be an international tourist destination, we can ill afford to have persons such as these as ambassadors of our nation. A foreigner visiting our land for the first time would be forced to think that this is probably the disposition of most if not all Guyanese.
Who at the CJIA or CANU can justify having such a repugnant personality serving at such an imperative post? What has become of professionalism, work ethics and plain old manners in our land, a land I so winsomely call God’s country? Why was there not a more senior officer present observing the junior staff members and reprimanding them for such infringements?
I propose a camera with audio capabilities be placed at this particular checkpoint to ascertain whether these employees are executing their duties in the manner for which they are being paid. I am volunteering to assist financially in the procurement of this device.
I am appealing to the relevant authorities at both CJIA and CANU, as there must be a paradigm shift in the manner in which we interface with persons at such important ports, and much consideration must be given to the ramifications that such an inept personality can have not just on tourism but our nation in its entirety.
I suppose for the sake of the young lady’s enlightenment, I should mention that the ‘round’ objects were a set XM rum glasses taken for my siblings as memorabilia.
Reginald Matthews
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