TIFU and learned an important lesson about word choice at airport security today

so i'm going through customs and my bag gets pulled aside for additional screening. totally normal, happens sometimes.

the thing is, i had really overpacked for this trip. we're talking stuffed to the absolute brim - clothes crammed in every corner, shoes wedged between folded shirts, the whole zipper straining under pressure.

tsa agent walks over and starts getting ready to open it up. seems like a nice enough guy, just doing his job.

i'm standing there watching him position himself in front of my suitcase when i notice how the fabric is bulging outward. the zipper looks like it's barely holding everything together.

being the helpful person i am, i decided to give him a friendly heads up about what he was about to deal with.

"careful with that one," i said cheerfully. "it's packed really tight."

he nods and starts working on the zipper. i can see it's going to be one of those situations where everything just spills out everywhere once he gets it open.

so naturally, i thought i'd be even more helpful and specific about the warning.

"seriously, watch out - it's going to explode when you open it."

the words left my mouth and immediately i realized what i had just said. at an airport. to a tsa agent. about my luggage.

his hand froze on the zipper and he looked up at me with the most "did this guy really just say that" expression i've ever seen.

cue the longest, most awkward pause of my life while we both processed what had just happened.

TL;DR: Today while going through customs at the airport, my bag was selected for screening. It was nearly overflowing because it was so full, so before the TSA agent searched it, I said, "Watch out - it's going to explode when you open it". Wrong choice of words.