Cheerful TSA Officer Makes San Antonio Experience Pleasant

A line forms in front of the security checkpoint at San Antonio International Airport.

Men in suits and ties clutch briefcases and check their watches. Moms push strollers and tote overstuffed diaper bags, nervously examining themselves for tickets and children.

Whether they like it or not, it is then that they hear a James Earl Jones-like voice rapping amid the chaotic noises of the terminal.

Hello everybody,

Everybody, hello.

I want to see you out of here

as bad as you want to go.

Meet Frozell Anderson, one of nearly 300 Transportation Security Administration officers at the airport. On duty, he's often the first face passengers see in the security process, standing at a table in front of the entrance to the metal detectors and X-ray machines.

While other TSA officers stoically dish out post-911 air travel policy, Anderson does it as he flirts with silver-haired ladies, jokes that he's "thirsty" when confiscating travelers' sodas and greets men in suits with an envious "Looks like that's just my size."

All with a smile hard to ignore.

A 58-year-old grandfather of five, Anderson believes he's lived long enough to understand the confusion and stress many travelers bring to the airport.

"I look them straight in the eye to give them a sense of relief that says, 'I'm here for you."'

Anderson swears he was a shy and introverted child. Born into poverty in Shreveport, La., he grew up without a father in the home. He didn't believe in himself until he joined the Air Force, where he encountered two mentors who taught him to read Thoreau and appreciate Bach and Beethoven. He discovered he had a talent for singing, using it in nightclubs at first and then in churches.

He later became a pastor and a motivational speaker, once addressing an audience of 20,000 youth in the Superdome in New Orleans.

In 2002, he joined the TSA. His way with people, his supervisors say, has served him well.

Kay Sapp, a retired teacher from Nashville, is one traveler who darted by his table Friday.

"May I see your bag?" Anderson says, meeting her eyes and then vowing, "You'll be my friend today."

She politely complies.

"You're so sweet. Thank you for your patience," he tells her, offering a quart-size bag she needs to follow TSA rules for on-board storage of liquids.

"Delightful," Sapp says about him later. "He stopped me -- pleasantly."

Next up is a fast-walking businessman in a suit and tie weaving in and out of slower-moving people. A cell phone is pressed to his ear.

"Sir, here I am," Anderson says, to no avail.

"See me now, or see me later," Anderson speaks in the direction of the man's backside, keeping his grin in tact.

Another line forms. Anderson turns to them:

Hello, everybody!

Everybody, hello!

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