So, I push people in wheelchairs at the airport for a living. And boomers are at the age where they’re our most in need of wheelchairs due to being elderly.
So inside the jetbridge I have 9 wheelchairs lined up. First lady comes out. She gets into a chair, and one of the runners start pushing her down to the baggage area.
Second lady comes out, gets in a chair, second runner pushes her to the gate. For some reason the 3rd runner decides to leave the jetbridge. Not sure why, but this leaves me in charge of pushing 7 chairs.
I usually make family assists when we’re overloaded, but Ohio law states that at the very least I need to get them out of the jetbridge.
So a lady sits down, I turn her around to start pushing her out of the jet bridge, and the lady behind her says “Well I WAS going to have a wheelchair, but I guess not!”
So I say “Yeah, just have a seat, I’ll be right back.”
And she screams “BUT THERE’S NO PUSHER!!!”
I begin to repeat that I’d be right back before she grabs the sleeve of my shirt and starts shaking my arm saying “THERE’S NO PUSHER!!!”
Ok, you’re done. I push the lady in my wheelchair to the top, and she’s marching right behind me.
I set my passenger to the side, and as I begin to tell her “M’am, I’ll be right back, I need to assist other passengers”, I hear the lady from behind me now yelling at the united agent, who has nothing to do with anything, “THERE’S NO WHEELCHAIR PUSHER!!!”
To which the united agent says “There’s a whole row of wheelchairs back in the jet bridge.” And as the woman is trying to yell at the united agent that there are no pushers, she see’s me pushing another person out of the jet bridge to the area up top. Where I handed her off to her son, and made a family assist.
The problem is, the woman with an attitude wanted to go right that second, without any regard for other wheelchair bound passengers. She wanted me to just say “fuck them, lets go without them”. Not only is that illegal, it’s also morally wrong.
So she ends up getting on the cart. Which is like a golf cart type thing that seats 6 people. It drives you about 3/5ths the way there.
After I’ve taken care of the jet bridge, and cleared the passengers, we’re ready to go down to the baggage area. After I’ve dropped my passengers off, I see the same lady from before trying to get a luggage cart out of the dispenser. In some airports (most) those are free. In our airport they cost $8, which is a pure ripoff for something you’re going to use for 30 seconds.
Usually I would help those people find a free one that hasn’t been returned to the dispenser yet. They’re generally easy to find. In fact, I saw 3 of them without even looking while walking away from her. She was NOT understanding the concept of they need money. First she tried ripping it out from the front. Then she tried ripping the back one out. These carts are locked by steel bolt. You’re NOT going to just pull one out without paying…but there’s free ones all over if someone helps you.
As I walked away I saw her struggling to push 3 rolling luggages with her foot. It was entirely caused by her own actions. As the ONLY reason I didn’t point out how to get a free cart, was due to her treatment of other people. In this case me.
In general I enjoy helping others, but my enjoyment of providing assistance INSTANTLY dies when you show a lack of respect for others.
So yeah, not my job to help with her luggage, or the luggage dispenser, so I took pleasure in watching her body trash violently trying to rip a steel cart out of a steel bolt…and failing miserably.
I totally get that. It’s that entitlement that makes one not want to help in the first place even though you’d be capable of doing so - which you weren’t even considering there were other passengers that needed help first.
How did it end for her?
Last I saw her, she was struggling with those luggages.
Rumor has it that, late at night after the last passengers have departed the terminal, you can hear the sound of rolling suitcases being shuffled around and the groans of a grumpy woman trying to bend steel with her bare hands…
It’s not just helping, by giving her a cart, instead of returning it and making sure she pays, he’d be breaking a rule. You NEVER stick your neck out for entitled people, they’re the ones that throw you under the bus at the first opportunity. “Last time your employee over there gave me one for free, why should I have to pay this time” and now you have to have a conversation with your manager.
Moral of the story? Be nice to people
Sounds like she would have trouble spelling reciprocity
This is natural for a lot of us. And, for people in my region, it’s very normal. We have a reputation of being friendly and helpful, but that dies for people who aren’t friendly.
You want a deal at a clothing store? Don’t be a dick. Want a slice of the fresh pizza that’s coming out instead of the old one they’re about to toss? Dicks get the dying one for full price. Want some extra snacks in-flight? Be a person.
It’s not hard, but a taste for maple syrup helps.
Be a person.
This reminds me of what I do with passengers who don’t tip. Unrelated to this story, when I push passengers who don’t tip I say “Have a day”. With passengers who do tip, I say “Have a nice day!”
The lack of the exclaimation point, and the lack of the word “day” go a long way. It means they can’t POSSIBLY complain to anyone, because they’d sound crazy.
“YOUR EMPLOYEE TOLD ME TO HAVE A DAY!!!”
“Are you sure he didn’t say have a nice day?”
“NO! HE TOLD ME TO HAVE A DAY!!!”
Imagine having to explain that.
I’m the same way. I really like to be helpful but my heart will turn cold as ice when I detect an asshole. You’ll get no sympathy from me and I’ll stare at you blankly as you gesticulate like a shit head that you deserve more than you do. I’ve got time for nice people. I have none for entitled people.
I enjoyed this mini story. That lady can keep bringing herself frustration and fuck right off. Cheers.
When I was in customer service, I was always trying to help people beat the system, until they demanded it. Then you got nothing.
