Can't possibly be true!

[racing girl]

I never knew if this was true or not, probably not in hindsight, but I always thought it was really funny.

American Airlines had cancelled a flight out of Detroit and a harrassed female employee at the gate was trying to book people onto other flights. Every one was waiting somewhat patiently in line, except one rather large, over bearing, suited businessman who pushed to the front and demanded that he be put on another flight, NOW. The attendant explained that every one was in the same situation and if he would just step back in line she would get to him as soon as she could. Not satisified, the man began yelling at her that he had to get on another flight and again demanded that she help him first. Again she explained she was helping another customer and if he would wait in line she would help him as soon as she could. "Do you know who I am?" he bellowed at her. WIthout batting an eyelid, she picked up her microphone and paged the entire building... "There is a gentleman at gate A17 who doesn't appear to know who he is, if anyone can help him would they please stop by the podium at gate A17." Everyone else in line was now laughing openly at the businessman, who, ticked off and thouroughly embarrassed growled "F**k you." at the attendant, to which she sweetly replied "I'm sorry sir, but you'll have to wait in line for that too!"

Probably nothing more than urban legend, but I would have loved to have been one of the passengers waiting in line to hear that!!

RG

 

[Ed Wynne]

R.C.
My wife used to work for American Airlines and has multiple stories like that one.

e.g. Due to equipment change several passengers had to take a different flight and where lined up at the new gate getting seat assignments. A less than pleasant business traveler, before the gate agent could even open her mouth, insisted that he be given an exit row ailse seat. He kept interrupting her every time she tried to speak to him, until finally after printing out his boarding pass, for his "exit row ailse" seat, she said, " SIR, here is your requested seat, and the rest of you people waiting for seats, we had space so I was able to put you in First Class"

My wife worked in Beamus (sp) the group responsible for lost baggage. It was amazing the lattitude they had with regard to vouchers, and reimbusments. If people were pleasant to her, she made it worth it. If they were rude, she still tried her best to help, but they only got what was required by law.

Ed

 

[Trevor Triumph]

Yeah so much like the rest of life... Manners courtesy have their place. My son the cop tells me about the people who simple say "You got me" and usually there but one citation or maybe a warning. Once the person starts the insults- " Aren't you the guy in the Village People?" and such- the meter goes on overtime.
I read those travel agents comments earlier. They are funny. T.T.

 

[William]

RG-I've used similar tactics once with a customer at the store, right down to the angry person asking me if I knew who he was. When I was told to "fiddle around" with myself, I told him that wasn't a service we offered.

He still shops with us.
-Wm.

 

[Charles #677556]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Ed Wynne:
Yes, the DFW airport can be a nightmare if you have to change terminals, but I has a friend who flew into DFW ( Which is actually not in Dallas county but in Tarrent which is Ft. Worth). Ed<hr></blockquote>

Ed;
I hate to publically correct you

, but the eastern half of DFW Airport is in Dallas County (actually, the county line is just east of the main north/south road, International Parkway), the western half is in Tarrant County. The airport was built "on" the county line so both counties could receive property taxes on the place and neither city would "hold domain" over the airport by instigating various draconian city ordinances. A "joint" Airport board does that, instead.

Back when DFW was being built, in order for it to be "correctly" called "Dallas/Ft. Worth Regional Airport", both cities annexed "tongues" of land, thru existing cities, to reach the airport property.. until that time, the intended airport land was mostly in unincorporated portions of the counties.. except the very southern end which was in Grand Prairie.. where the defunct Southwest Airport was built and never used.. none of the "major" airlines wanted to leave Love Field.
Another interesting tid-bit.. A "battle" over "legal juristiction" was also fought over the revenues generated by those people arrested/fined, etc. on airport property.. While DFW has it's own police department, it has no jail or holding facilities.. so a "plan" was adopted.. Terminals "2W" and "2E" (the two northernmost terminals) were considered to be in Grapevine and Coppel respectively, "3E" and "4E" are in Dallas. Ft. Worth got the drunks from the hotel on the western half of the airport. (the original designers misconception called for ten terminals, five on each side of the main road, but a hotel, two remote parking areas and other buildings were constructed in the areas designated for the terminals that were to be "1W", "1E", "3W", "4W", "5W" and "5E".
DFW Airport has gotten to be the most "jammed-up" place I've ever seen, with no where near enough parking for the amount of travelers flying out locally.

Originally The Airport Board bought what they thought was enough land to prevent future developed housing owners from complaining about the noise from the jets.. Well, houses, apartments and businesses are now all but butted up against the perimeter fences and these people are complaining left and right.. I always ask, retorically.. "Didn't you know there was an airport there when you bought the place?"
"Progress" at it's finest

 

[MattP]

Rulle7,

To answer your question, yes they did know there was an airport. They just felt they were important enough that the jets would turn off their engines when they flew over thier house.

MattP

 

[Ed Wynne]

Charles, thanks for the clarification on the DFW airport. I was probably confusing the airport with the Texas Ranger baseball team, which in no way is affiliated with Dallas.

The one thing that DFW did right, for a long time, was not charge parking for pickup and drop off. If you got your parking ticket and left the airport between about 20 minutes to less than one hour it was free. The reason for the minimum time, was to keep people from driving in the one entrance and leaving out the other as a normal commute.

I think they recently did away with that fee scheme, so everyone pays no matter how little time you spend there.

What are the stats now, is DFW 3rd or 4th busiest airport now....

Ed

 

[Basil]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by aerog:
Just imagine them being in charge of the internet!<hr></blockquote>


Just imagine them being in charge of anything! Oh, don't get me started!

Basil

 

[RHWins]

but seriously, who elected those idiots? (I always seem to vote for the loosers!)

 

[Jim Weatherford]

It is constantly amazing to me how poorly educated and geographically challenged some of us are. I recently was filling out am application for a renewal of my California drivers licenses. The young bureaucrat behind the counter asked me where I was born, I responded… Johannesburg, South Africa. She looked at quizzically at me for a moment, she stuttered… "But you aren’t Black" and she actually asked where was that in California? I assured her that is correct that I was indeed white (a real African American) and born in South Africa, not Southern California anywhere.

She asked me if I had my green card (since when do they ask anyone for that in California?) I assured her that I was indeed an American Citizen (I don’t need no stinking Green Card) born of American citizens working in South Africa, she went to get a supervisor who was as lost as she was. She asked me if I had proof of citizenship? Again, when do they ask anyone that here in California? I finally produced my previous California drivers licenses (which I’ve had since 1964), birth certificate and DD214 and they still were confused, finally (20 minutes later) a kindly gent came over to see why there was a gathering at the counter, he looked at my papers, looked at the two ladies like they were worms and told them to process my request. He muttered something as he walked away… I don’t think it was very nice.

Another to the point of being embarrassed by incompetent ill-educated geographically challenged secretaries… I once had a client call for me when I was out of the country on business and my phones went to the division secretary (administrative assistant in the PC World), se told my contact that I was in Sao Paulo today and that I’d be in Brazil tomorrow. Needless to say, we had a little bit of a geography lesson when I was called by my client, fortunately he was laughing about it.

I am also amazed how many young graduates of high schools and even colleges who cannot fill out an employment application correctly, in fact even writing a cogent sentence is almost a miracle today.

 

[aerog]

I'm not defending the ignorance of some people when it comes to international names of places - but when you start talking about your own country, state, or even local town - that's what amazes me.

A good friend of mine's husband came from New Mexico but was based on the other side of the country (USAF). He wrote a check someplace, and showed the usual IDs they require. His check was refused. Why? Well because the store didn't accept foreign checks of course. "Foreign," he asked? The store managed explained they didn't accept foreign checks - and Mexico was a different country.

The very annoyed customer tried to explain New Mexico is a state, right next to Arizona and Texas, but the store just flat didn't believe him.

...and then there's the time in the 6th grade when I got in an argument with a teacher about the fact that Washington DC isn't a state - but that's another story.

 

[RHWins]

The explaination is obvious. Americans don't emigrate because they don't know where else to go!
Maybe we'll get it right next year!

Happy New Year(s)to all, and to all a good knight

 

[Steve]

I wasn't in the country for long when a woman commented that she was amazed at how quickly we had picked up the language, and how fluent we were already!

 

[Jim Weatherford]

Well Steve;

You just have to know that you were speaking the Queen's English and sometimes that is a foreign language! I lived in the UK for just over a year and noticed that almost everyone spoke with a slightly different meter and accents on words.

Then I remember "squeeks and bangers and..." Yes, I go back in a heart beat, but I don't speak Hindi, just my luck.

 

[Ed Wynne]

My wife's family is from L.A. (That's Lower Alabama), and to this day, I have to translate anything that is said in English, as opposed to Southern, to her. Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and most of The Lord of the Ring trilogy might as well be Greek to her. Thankfully, the Lord of the Ring DVDs come with subtitles (normally used for the hearing impaired)


It was only after working for several months in Reservations with American Airlines that she became fairly conversationally adept in Yankee..

as a side note, I have found that people from the North rather enjoy listening to "female southern", but the inverse is definately not true.


Ed

 

[Mickey Richaud]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by UltimateQuestion:
Speaking of LA, I once had a problem when I was trying to sell an Alfa while stationed in Bossier City Louisiana.<hr></blockquote>

Hey Tony -

Shreveport/Bossier's my home - when were you there?

 

[UltimateQuestion]

Mickey,

I was at Barksdale AFB from May 1989 to May 1991. I was active in the Red River Region SCCA Autocross scene with my GT6. Great Fun!

 

[Mickey Richaud]

That was just before we left Shreveport, and during my hiatus from sports cars. I do remember going out to South Park Mall and watching autocrosses in the late 70's. Very active SCCA group, as I remember.

 

[StevenA]

Reference to aerog and his New Mexico story... I have had it happen three times in my lifetime that people asked me for proof of citizenship or if I spoke english or comment on how well I do speak english... I have had them tell me "Well, wolcome to the United States".

I was born in Mescalero New Mexico and lived in New mexico until I was 22. I have since travelled through the U.S. and the World and have numerous times had people ask the questions. I just want to give them a map of the continental U.S. and say... "Hey, dummy, LOOK RIGHT HERE beside Willie Nelsons' home and you will see N.M." It exists and we speak American (not English... at least not the Queens English)

 

[UltimateQuestion]

Speaking of LA, I once had a problem when I was trying to sell an Alfa while stationed in Bossier City Louisiana. A guy called about the car and asked me what part of Los Angeles I was in!

[ 12-30-2003: Message edited by: UltimateQuestion ]</p>