Quote:
Originally posted by Mister_Ruysbroeck
This actually might be a good poll: what's the rudest thing you've ever seen done or done yourself to an airline employee or, conversely, the rudest thing you've seen an airline employee do to a customer.
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I know this is generally considered an urban legend, but I saw this in the late '80s (at Stapleton, the old Denver airport):
Asshole is holding up the entire line trying to get an upgrade or whatever, and is basically making himself loud and obnoxious. The ticket agent is coping OK but clearly getting to the end of her rope. Finally, the guy pulls out the "Do you know who I am?" line (the only time I've seen that line work was for John Delorean at LAX, incidentally).
Ticket agent finally snaps, picks up the up the microphone and announces to the ticket area in general "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, we have a customer at the ticket counter who does not know who he is. If anyone knows who he is, please come and get him. Thank you." There was a round of applause.
I, too, have found that being nice to the ticket agent, particularly after they've just dealt with a jerk, results in some nice perks. That, in itself, is rather unprofessional (because they're clearly refusing to do their job properly for someone else if I'm getting an upgrade or flight change immediately after they've told someone else they can't have one), but nice if you're one of the nice ones. I have general sympathy for anyone who has to deal with large numbers of the general public for a paycheck - most people are pretty decent, but the number of totally rude assholes is shocking.
BR(incidentally, I understand that, for some in the travel and tourism industries, "New Yorker" is code for a rude customer because of the high correlation)C
