Ideas for better QOL
 

What a stressful job, who would want to be a gate agent? So many passengers are in a hurry and/or stressed about getting to their destination; and the gate agent bears the brunt of passenger wrath in the event of a delay or cancellation. By no means am I excusing the rude ones. They can often be unforgettable representatives of the airline - the face that disgruntled customers picture when the decide to not fly on a certain airline. Therefore, since the rude ones do more harm than good, it would be better to hold them accountable.

I thoroughly enjoyed being a Gate Agent, thank you very much :D If you enjoy the Airline industry but are too young to fly, or have no desire to fly, it's a fantastic job...

Wow, you must be made of Teflon because I'm sure you had to put up with a lot of foul people. Kudos to you.
I usually enjoyed the jobs (management) where I had large customer service responsibility. However, some extremely rude people really try hard to share their misery...

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.

Ayep...don't take it personally. Do everything you can to at the very least pretend to empathize with them, apologizing for things that aren't your fault, and you'll make friends for life of even the most miserable pax...

I didn't mention before, however, that I much prefererred the ramp ;)

Ok, was this supposed to say "wonderers" as in "one who wonders" (I wonder what 20 bucks will get me). Or was it supposed to say "wAnderers" as in "one who wanders" (I wandered around the brothel for hours)? If its the former, it doesn't make much sense (and according to Mirriam-Webster, its not a word) and if its the latter, its misspelled further down the page.

Sorry to flash the GN card but I keep seeing more and more people mixing up wander and wonder (saw it twice in the newspaper the other day!). It gets on my nerves because the meaning isn't even remotely similar.

ramp was cool. i liked having the variety. some days i preferred the gate(rainy, cold, sick, or just wanting to go out after work) and some days i preferred the ramp(didn't feel like dealing with b!tchy pax, hanging out, longer breaks between flights, etc). but i loved working ops the most. inside by myself with the tv and constant radio calls(in range, lav service, sick pax, disruptive pax, catering, timing out, etc) with the telephone ringing off the hook and weight and balance printing on the teletype machine. oh how i miss working with the airlines.(sarcasm)