I tell the TSA agent who runs the porn machine that I want to opt out. Sometimes there's a TSA agent directing traffic before that, so I'll tell them instead.
They usually make sure that they know which of my shoes and carry-ons is going through that separate scanner so I can pick it up after. I end up waiting at most a minute for a male (because I am male) TSA agent to come over and do the pat down. Before they do the patdown, they explain what they're going to do; I believe this explanation is standardized and memorized, though I haven't gone through word for word and checked that. Afterward they'll either swab my some area of my clothes, or (more often) swab the nitrile gloves they patted me down with, and put it in what I assume is a spectrometer to check for chemicals. Twice, the person doing the pat down was a trainee, so the pat down was observed by a trainer and the trainer asked me a few questions, like if I felt the trainee had used too much pressure during the patdown. At that point I'm free to pick up my bins of shoes and other carry-ons, and I'm free to go. Entire process takes 2-5 minutes, most often in the lower end of that range.
During the patdown, some agents will ask questions like where I'm flying to and why. This is pretty hit or miss and I don't get the impression that they're part of the security (though it could be). The impression I get is that it's just making small talk on the most obvious available topic.
They usually make sure that they know which of my shoes and carry-ons is going through that separate scanner so I can pick it up after. I end up waiting at most a minute for a male (because I am male) TSA agent to come over and do the pat down. Before they do the patdown, they explain what they're going to do; I believe this explanation is standardized and memorized, though I haven't gone through word for word and checked that. Afterward they'll either swab my some area of my clothes, or (more often) swab the nitrile gloves they patted me down with, and put it in what I assume is a spectrometer to check for chemicals. Twice, the person doing the pat down was a trainee, so the pat down was observed by a trainer and the trainer asked me a few questions, like if I felt the trainee had used too much pressure during the patdown. At that point I'm free to pick up my bins of shoes and other carry-ons, and I'm free to go. Entire process takes 2-5 minutes, most often in the lower end of that range.
During the patdown, some agents will ask questions like where I'm flying to and why. This is pretty hit or miss and I don't get the impression that they're part of the security (though it could be). The impression I get is that it's just making small talk on the most obvious available topic.