well, the key to being a gate agent(and i'm sure experimentalab can testify) is don't take anything personal. the pax are ****ed at XXX airline, not the gate agent personally. and keep in mind they have to get on you so a friendly reminder to the pax informing them they gotta get through you, the gate agent definitely helps on the your end, the gate agent. for the most part keep in mind as proskuneho said previously, gate agent puts up with the most bs. oh and it definitely helps if your lead/supervisor/manager stands behind you.