Baggage Service, Part 2

Well, it turns out that working in baggage service isn't so bad. I don't get yelled at nearly as much as I thought I would, by the passengers, now my coworkers, that's a different story.

I have talked to 2 other people I know that are in baggage service for the first time due to situations similar to mine. They have both been with the company for many years. It is unanimous, the people who have been working in baggage service for a long time are the reason people don't like baggage service. I'm not even joking, they are down right mean to new people. My first 3 days I worked with this guy who felt the need to tell me how wrong I was with everything I did. I would try to defend my decisions and it would turn into an arguement. After the 3rd day I laughed at him and that REALLY pissed him off (he told me I could do anything I wanted to help a passenger, just not what I had done. I couldn't help it. I was so frustrated with him that I started laughing at how rediculous he was being.) At that point I decided I should probably check and make sure he wasn't a supervisor (you can't always tell). It turns out he isn't but that the manager has regularly received complaints about him from new people and said she would talk to him. All this week, we have not been assigned to work in the same area at the same time. It has been kind of nice.

It is just weird though. I am so comfortable at the airport that I am myself whether I am working with people I know or not. It has always worked for me at the gates and the ticket counter. Well the people in baggage service just aren't the same. They don't get that when I come back into the room behind the counter I am just venting. They all seem to take it as a sign that I don't know what I'm doing. Granted, I still have a lot to learn, but just because I vent doesn't mean that I can't do my job.

Now onto the passenger aspect of the job.

How is it that people don't know what their bag looks like? I can't tell you how many time I have been told not to look for a bag that matches the description provided by passengers. This is one of the things my coworkers think I am an idiot for. I am continually not finding bags because I am looking for what the passengers said they lost, not the bag with their tag on it. Confused yet? I know I am! Last night I had a guy tell me that he left a hard sided rolling bag. When I found it, it was not a hard sided suitcase. How in the hell can you not tell the difference between a hard sided case and a soft sided case? Or how about the guy who told me his suitcase was grey only to find it and it is PURPLE. I am not kidding.

The other thing I don't get is why don't they just wait to get their bag. I promise it takes longer to stand in line to file a claim for your "lost" bag than it does to just wait for the carosel to stop. I'm not even kidding, I only file a lost bag claim for 1 out of every 10 people I talk to. I find most of their bags out on the floor. It is incredible! I am also tired of hearing them tell who ever it is on the other end of the cell phone how we "lost their bag" only to find it on the floor and them not say anything. Don't get me wrong, they are grateful, but I have never once hear them say "wow, I'm a dumbass and just didn't wait long enough for my bag to come up before I got pissed off."

While I'm thinking of it, what is up with people walking up to the counter to get your help and while you are in the MIDDLE of helping them, they pick up their phone and call someone. I am not done helping them and I still need info from them, but, no matter how big of a hurry they are in, they always have time to talk to someone and slow down the entire process. I think it is incredibly rude, especially to everyone in line behind them. I have tried interupting their conversations, but they just don't get the hint. Now I just watch them until they realize I have something to say. (I have learned that if you do anything else they think they can keep talking because they are waiting for you.) It is quite effective. Now I need to come up with a good course of action for those that are on the phone when they walk up to you. Right now I just watch them until they decide whatever they need from me is more important than the phone call. You would be surprised how long this can take! What I want to do is help the next person in line, but I just can't bring myself to do so. I think I would get in too much trouble, and my little rebelion would not change social curtesies.