this is a funny (and ridiculous) story. He told them what it was, they still overreacted. The Canadian customs guy sounds like a jerk too.
Wow. I am very glad that I have never dropped anything into the toilett in an airplane. In fact, I do my best to not have to use the airplane bathroom.
They do sort of sound like jerks, all of them. I would be upset. I mean, it's good to know that they're on top of stuff, but on the other hand, I had my inhaler in my bag when I went through security on my last trip. It set off the monitor, they had an intense and loud conversation about what it was. I offered, "Might it be my inhaler?" They went, "You have an inhaler?" I went, "Yeah, the website said that was OK? Is it not OK to have them?" with panic edging into my voice, and they went, "Oh, yeah yeah yeah, that's fine. Go ahead," and NEVER LOOKED IN MY BAG. I found that interesting.
Part of it is the aspect of he reported it after seeing them poking around in there. At that point there's the consideration of whether he actually lost anything, or just is wanting to not have to deal with the plane being delayed. Of course if it was at all visible in there (I guess a rather big assumption), they should have been able to verify the story rather easily...
Copyright ©2000-2008 Jeremy Mooney (jeremy-at-qux-dot-net)
oof... tough break...
though it sounds like he handled it well, props for him. :P