Patience wearing thin

I used to be a fairly empathetic person. I'd still like to think I am but there are seriously days when this is tested to the utmost extreme. Customer service will do that to you. It's crazy. A few late passengers and you can actually feel your entire personality shifting.

It's becoming a trend for people to rock up to our international flights with barely a half hour to spare. I have no sympathy for late runners - even my own family nearly missed their flight home from Melbourne earlier this year thanks to Dad's genius idea of taking a shortcut, and I could only laugh. You should be at the airport eons before your flight and if you're not then sorry but cry me a river. Even before I got this job I would be camped out in the check-in at least an hour before a domestic flight. Nerdy? Maybe, but better than being that passenger everyone glares at as you shuffle down the aisle fully aware you've held 130 other people up.

Today I had the pleasure of dealing with a woman on a Singapore passport who wanted to convince me that she did not need a visa to get into Australia. "I travel lots, I never need visa." Oh right, sorry! My mistake - so because you travel heaps I'll totally bypass the Australian customs regulations and get my ass in trouble when the fines come through. Duh! Stupid me. She made the wise idea of turning up for this flight 45 minutes before departure. Feel the blood boiling already? Oh yes.

After arguing for five minutes that she didn't need a passport and that I was obviously wrong despite the fact I do this every day for a living, she finally trudged into the ticketing office to get a visa. The queue was a mile long. YET WE HELD THE FLIGHT FOR HER.

This pisses me off. People who are disorganised enough to turn up late to check-in and then have the gall to dispute an international law should be bumped so that the other 150 law-abiding, organised passengers can go on time. I don't understand why my supervisor didn't just tell her it was too late and that she'd have to go on the next flight. I swear if I were a supervisor or had the authority to take people off flights, a lot more people would be learning a harsh lesson in punctuality.

Alas, I'm not a supervisor. I don't particularly want to be one either. I deal with enough crap as it is, let alone having to have the buck passed on to me when the CSAs find it beyond their control. You'd think after two and a half years in this job I'd maybe want to "climb the ladder" a bit...but it's never really been a goal of mine. I know my parents would be thrilled to see me get promoted or put into a "stable" department in the company (e.g. boring droll "same-shit-different-day" locked in a box admin). They don't say it outright, just little hints here and there. And it's like, you know what? I have never had a more fun, diverse and interesting job. Never has a position riveted me so. So why don't they just accept that this is what I love?

A lot of our passengers look down on us but in the end we do have the power and the right to refuse to check them in. It's not like my job is completely thankless and menial. I get paid well, get plenty of perks, flexible shifts (although the 4ams still kill me) and the people I work with are awesome. Why would I want to give that up so I can wear a little badge that says "Team Manager" and exercise just a little more power? Flag that.

One more week until Christmas. The loads are full and will be swelling to oversold tomorrow with the end of the school year. Unaccompanied minors and families galore. Can't wait...hahaha.