Back in the day, I was a travel agent.  I worked for a busy and successful travel agency.  They built a call center in Boise, Idaho and I happened to live in Boise, Idaho with my (now ex-) husband.  I worked two jobs (even three at one point) to pay the bills.  This was after he'd rented a house beyond our budget without even going inside.  He simply signed the dotted line because it had a yard for our two dogs.  Imagine my surprise upon seeing the 1950's style kitchen with a shorter-than-I-fridge that was missing a freezer.  Then there was the creepy landlord who came by often and just hung out in the basement.   We never could figure out what she was doing down there.  But she had this little locked closet down there. 

So I worked nights at this travel agency because it was a 24/7 call center.  I had to leave the secure office to use the bathroom at night, which was in the hall of the other office buildings.  It was terrifying. 

So I got a heavy metal asp, a knife and a big can of mace.  Each time I needed to go to the bathroom, I ran with one of the three weapons in hand.  I raced back as fast as possible.  Safe!

Then, I purchased a ticket to fly home to see my mother.  Without thinking, I took the purse that carried the asp, knife and mace. 

I walked through the security scanner. 

The guards came up and secured me, taking me to a closed room. 

I was shocked.  I had no clue why they were taking me.  I thought maybe it was a random search or something. 

They emptied my purse in front of me and my face turned about 100 shades of red as they pulled out the asp, knife and mace.  I laughed because I can hardly ever keep a straight face about anything.  They did not think the situation was so funny.  I tried to stop smiling.  The thought did not even occur to me that I even had these in my bag or that they would be questioned!  Which I instantly realized was completely stupid of me for not realizing!  I was using them for my own protection, after all, so they were like my chapstick - something I carried with me all the time and didn't think twice about. 

After a lot of angry, barking questions on their part and embarrassed explaining on my part, they confiscated the weapons and let me get on the plane.    

It was embarrassing.  So was my five month stint as a massage therapist in Boise.  But that's another blog post.   ; )