I'm safely arrived in my hotel in NM for another happy week of TDY. Joy oh Joy. My day got off to a rough start after tangling with a boorish desk agent (BDA) in Baltimordor. My organization has this computerized booking system for official travel and it usually works just fine. But not this morning. Oh no. Seems the payment didn't catch up with the reservation so I was standing at the self-serve kiosk completely bewildered when the BDA told me I had to go stand in the "other" line to buy my tickets. The "other" line was the "International Flights" line and it was a mob of non-English speakers who all seemed to be having a crisis with their passports.
I asked the BDA why I had to go stand in the other line when I stood in the correct line in the first place having no foreknowledge that the tickets weren't paid for. The couple of other times this has happened to me a non-boorish desk agent was able to swipe the credit card and make things hunkey-dorey. He just shrugged and left me standing there slack-jawed. I was honestly too sleepy to get very upity. But I wasn't sleepy enough to not have a panic attack, fercryinoutloud. Not a bad one. I just started shaking. It's still irksome.
Well, an angel of a desk agent saw the BDA in action and came over and took over. She got my ticket squared away and my bags checked. When she handed me my boarding passes she put one hand over mine, looked me square in the eye and said, "Everything is OK. You're going to have a good day. I promise, things *will* get better!" (She'd make a purty good nurse with that kind of manner.) I thanked her and went on my way.
My usual routine is to walk the terminal to stretch my legs and get a yogurt for breakfast. So I did. As I made it back to my gate, the gate agent called my name to come up to my counter. There I find my angel of a desk agent. She asked me for my boarding pass and switched it for a SEAT IN FIRST CLASS. Then she said, "See? I told you things would get better!"
*sniff*
It's turned out to be a fine day. Sometimes people are just *good*.
Awww, that's a nice ending to the story.
I stayed home sick today. I don't get any sick days or vacation days of course, being a temp, but blargh, some things are worth more than money. Sitting around vegging, taking a long nap, and watching the puppies while nursing flu is so much better than sitting at work trying not to let the computer screen put you to sleep.
What a wonderful ending to the start of a horrid day!! I've occassionally run across an absolutely wonderful person sometimes when my day has turned to #r%p and it's incredible how infectious their attitude is. I wonder if they are like that all the time or have just been ~sent~.
You should find out who she is and put in a good word for her with her company.
Good service should be recognized and rewarded. Make is sound like what an asset she is to their organization and such...make it all about how lucky and smart they are to have her.
What a sweetheart! Glad that worked out for you!
DANG! Isn't that the truth!?