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Ok, ya'll - hellish shift ended at 10pm Sunday night, and I'm just NOW calm enough to start talking about this.
I'm a travel agent in a 24/7 emergency call center. I work Friday-Sat-Sun, 12 hour shifts. Bonus: I answered SO many calls that I actually lost my voice. I sound like a frog. I should be able to file a workers comp claim!
Here are a list of things that happened:
1. Woman who (immediately upon hearing my greeting) said, "I've been holding for an HOUR!!!"
Three things about this:
a. The airlines were not answering their phones AT ALL for the most part, so even if you had held for an hour, at least we answered.
b. Even a smallish call center nowadays probably has the technology to see exactly how long you were holding, so don't fucking exaggerate. You were holding for exactly 14 mins, 37 secs.
c. If you do exaggerate, the agent on the other end of the line will see you as a drama-queen and a total shitbag and will do exactly the BARE MINIMUM required in order to keep his/her job.
Guess what kind of service this bitch got out of me?
2. I understand it's awful. I really, REALLY do. I get that you wanna come home. But if I say it's not possible, its NOT POSSIBLE!!!
I don't run Europe
I didn't make the volcano explode
I didn't make the decision to ground flights, (for YOUR FUCKING SAFETY)
3. If you're stranded in a city like Paris, Amsterdam or London, and you're on a cushy expense account for your company - you're not going to get much sympathy out of me, particularly if you're ranting your fool head off at me and/or behaving as if I am *personally* at fault for the situation. (See #2). Sorry, but I'm saving my sympathy for the people who are stranded and without means of affording a hotel or food, so STFU.
4. You aren't the only one with the brilliant idea of taking a train into a major city in the southern part of Europe and flying home from there. Sorry to disappoint, but you're not that clever. And again, if I say there's no flights - there's NO FLIGHTS (see #2).
5. You aren't the only person with the idea of taking a train into a major city in the southern part of Europe, and flying the OTHER WAY to get to the US. Through Asia/Middle East, etc. Again, you're not that clever. Those flights are sold out too. And if I say there's no flights, there's NO FLIGHTS (see #2).
6. I'm not going to debate the fact that the skies are clear in Paris. Do you really think you'll be able to SEE the ash? Idiot.
7. I don't care that you just witnessed a fat, balding guy walk out of a bar with an 'escort' in Paris. Although, thanks for the laugh. I sorta needed it.
And I'll close with this...
8. You aren't the ONLY PERSON who is affected by this. The world does not revolve around you. I have 20 calls sitting in queue with people with the same issue. Making me spend 30 minutes checking (literally) 5 cities in Southern Europe to (literally) 10 cities in the US is not only selfish, it's futile. I've been doing this for 20 years and if I tell you there's no flights, there's NO FLIGHTS (see #2)
Ok - I think I'm done for now. I might add more later. Thanks for listening.
I'm a travel agent in a 24/7 emergency call center. I work Friday-Sat-Sun, 12 hour shifts. Bonus: I answered SO many calls that I actually lost my voice. I sound like a frog. I should be able to file a workers comp claim!
Here are a list of things that happened:
1. Woman who (immediately upon hearing my greeting) said, "I've been holding for an HOUR!!!"
Three things about this:
a. The airlines were not answering their phones AT ALL for the most part, so even if you had held for an hour, at least we answered.
b. Even a smallish call center nowadays probably has the technology to see exactly how long you were holding, so don't fucking exaggerate. You were holding for exactly 14 mins, 37 secs.
c. If you do exaggerate, the agent on the other end of the line will see you as a drama-queen and a total shitbag and will do exactly the BARE MINIMUM required in order to keep his/her job.
Guess what kind of service this bitch got out of me?
2. I understand it's awful. I really, REALLY do. I get that you wanna come home. But if I say it's not possible, its NOT POSSIBLE!!!
I don't run Europe
I didn't make the volcano explode
I didn't make the decision to ground flights, (for YOUR FUCKING SAFETY)
3. If you're stranded in a city like Paris, Amsterdam or London, and you're on a cushy expense account for your company - you're not going to get much sympathy out of me, particularly if you're ranting your fool head off at me and/or behaving as if I am *personally* at fault for the situation. (See #2). Sorry, but I'm saving my sympathy for the people who are stranded and without means of affording a hotel or food, so STFU.
4. You aren't the only one with the brilliant idea of taking a train into a major city in the southern part of Europe and flying home from there. Sorry to disappoint, but you're not that clever. And again, if I say there's no flights - there's NO FLIGHTS (see #2).
5. You aren't the only person with the idea of taking a train into a major city in the southern part of Europe, and flying the OTHER WAY to get to the US. Through Asia/Middle East, etc. Again, you're not that clever. Those flights are sold out too. And if I say there's no flights, there's NO FLIGHTS (see #2).
6. I'm not going to debate the fact that the skies are clear in Paris. Do you really think you'll be able to SEE the ash? Idiot.
7. I don't care that you just witnessed a fat, balding guy walk out of a bar with an 'escort' in Paris. Although, thanks for the laugh. I sorta needed it.
And I'll close with this...
8. You aren't the ONLY PERSON who is affected by this. The world does not revolve around you. I have 20 calls sitting in queue with people with the same issue. Making me spend 30 minutes checking (literally) 5 cities in Southern Europe to (literally) 10 cities in the US is not only selfish, it's futile. I've been doing this for 20 years and if I tell you there's no flights, there's NO FLIGHTS (see #2)
Ok - I think I'm done for now. I might add more later. Thanks for listening.
I AM the evil bastard!
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