Bing,
I’ve witnessed this kind of rude behavior way too many times. It’s always amazed me how people with even the smallest amount of authority can find ways to abuse it. But then, not all Crazy Bosses start out as CEOs. Many of them, like Patrick, begin as flight attendants and claw their way to the top of JetBlue. Baggage be damned!

Miserable Patrick! Awful specimen of humanity! Can you imagine being as unhappy as he is? One thing we know: Being incredibly rude won’t make him feel any better. Time for a new job, Patrick.

Patrick must feel very secure in his position with JetBlue. His incompetent customer service skills shouldn’t be tolerated in any service business. Southwest has provided me consistently good service.

Glad you didn’t try to smash Patrick’s face into the overhead compartment and slam the door down on his neck. At least you intended on having a relaxing weekend…

I’m confused. Was Patrick a flight attendant or a gate agent? They’re not the same thing, are they? Or are they?

Not to be picky, but flight attendants do receive a ton of training, and in general are not abusive louts. Gate agents, dunno. From what I’ve seen, I wonder if they’re not the flunk-outs from flight attendant school.

Mr.Bing, would you mind provide your date of traveling? We will try to get bottom of this issue, and ask management to follow up with this ‘Patrick’? on your flight.

Bing, Not to worry, Gawd has already taken care of Patrick,firstly he gave him the name Patrick, then he destined him to shoving other peoples bags into compartments for a living.

Patience and pity for those that “Gawd” has laid his hand upon.

Have the wife send a note to Jet Blue extolling his dedication to his job…That aught to keep him shoving bags in compartments for years to come…a fate I’m sure he has earned in one way or another.

There is a bright side to all most anything, if you look hard enough you will see it.

I don’t think getting Patrick fired so he can find a better job is the answer to your problem.

I’m about to call JetBlue about Patrick. Sounds like a snide little man.

Him asking about the boarding pass was just his way at getting back at you and your wife because you were right.

Call up JetBlue, get him reprimanded and into a classroom for manners on board and for them to issue you an apology.

I agree, Jack. I offer these things sometimes in the hopes that it will help train future generations of gate agents.

I don’t think so, JetBlue. It’s hard to get a job these days. Perhaps a word to gate agents everywhere will do the trick?

Patrick is a gate agent.

“Stop carrying on and give it a gentle pat” would probably only have confused him.

http://www.sawyerspeaks.wordpress.com

Well Bing, unfortunately saying ‘the other day’ and JFK to SFO and using the name ‘Patrick’ (unless that is a false name) pretty much make identifying the agent for any JetBlue personal pretty easy. Even if that’s not his name, it won’t be hard to ID a few male agents at JFK.

In regards to losing his job, look at it this way. Companies ‘want to know’ when their employees are not upholding the high service just as much as when they are. If he get fired for it, it only will most likely give someone else who wants the job and wants to give great customer service for JetBlue an opportunity.

Bing… I often run into these people in my travels pretty frequently as well. I have found that a cool head and writing down facts goes a long way. It is understandable that their jobs are difficult, however, that difficulty is a direct result of the complete breakdown in the flying experience overall. I blame the airlines, management and the government regulators for letting it all slide. Shame on you all!

You told this story beautifully. Many of us have had these things happen, however few of us could tell the story so well. Good work, Bing.

Loved it, and I also approve of your attitude of non-retribution. Why continue the nuttiness, right? Patrick will be rewarded in ways you won’t see, without you pushing the buttons.

For my part, I am making a concerted effort to cut down on flying. Fewer chances to be abused.

Butthead’s net disturbed otherwise clean air.

Patrick is clearly an imbecile but without Butthead an unknown one.

Dominos.

I would be more concerned with your wife’s memory if she couldn’t remember the name “Patrick” until you got to your destination.

Binger,

You’re a good sport for putting up with Patrick. Obviously I gave him a good tongue lashing when he tried to chastise me for arriving at the gate on my own time. That guy needs to check his facts before holding up someone like me who is clearly more important than the rest of you.

Back to work, Binger.

Talk about “officious people with a tiny bit of power” venting their frustrations on others. Look in the mirror, Bing.

Come on, Brooklyn. I do not have a tiny bit of power. I have a lot of power. Just not when I travel.

I wouldn’t have written this thing if he hadn’t asked us for the boarding pass. That’s when he went over the line from being a pain in the butt to being a scary bully.

The late arriving passager was from Royal Duestche Shell… did you read the journal’s front page about bribery… Patrick took a bribe and that is why he was such a d#$k. He had to fulfill the task he was paid for… maybe that’s why oil is going up… Whatever its all relative to some thing or one.

Interestingly I was also on this flight but had no idea that the young woman being chewed out by the Tabasco-tempered crew member was married to Bing of all people. From my non exit row vantage point, Mrs. B seemed composed and cooperative even though it looked like Tabasco might throw her into the bathroom for the entire flight if she didn’t produce that boarding pass while he stood there fuming with his hands on his hips. I assumed she had done something far more criminal than noting he-who-did-not-want-to-be-named-for-a-very- good-reason’s name. I agree with the guy who said it was a pissy power trip on Tabasco’s part. Once Mrs. B. produced the pass, T angrily jotted down her info and then audibly bad-mouthed her to the crew in front as he glared and gesticulated. I’m not sure what happened to him after that because I didn’t see him for the rest of the flight. Mrs. B. seemed pleasant and low-maintenance for the rest of the flight. I doubt most passengers would have taken it as well. I have no idea what Bing himself was doing because I didn’t know he was on the flight (who knew he flew Jet Blue???) until I read this blog. I’m with Bing, I don’t think Tabasco should be fired. He should be retrained. And then he should teach new Jet Bluers the importance of maintaining calm and respect, even when you’re having a really bad day, which I’m guessing is what the otherwise professional and impeccably groomed Tabasco was having.

There are few things more frustrating than a bad flight experience. Something happens to put you in a foul mood, and you are then trapped in a tiny seat for the next four and a half hours with nothing to do but stew about it.

Hope you soothed your nerves with a few mini-scotches while watching the in-flight entertainment and reading SkyMall.

patrick was an a-hole. i am not sure why the gate person was handling other peoples stuff. usually, i get up and take over if i dont like the way someone is doing things. like getting up and talking to the other people whose stuff is in the bins, saying, “hey wait, lets be smart about this and rearrange our stuff” I just jump up like a team member helping to solve the problem. the patricks fold like a lawn chair when other people get rallied and take over.

am i incorrect in thinking that suitcases must be small enough to stow under the seats? Dont they say to stow your bags up in the bins or below under the seat in front of you? the late comer should have had to stow his bag under the seat. thats what happens when your late, the bins are full.

you have to deal with the patricks just like you do with the retarded; gently take over. if you want the satisfaction of being right, you will never get it. remember, the patricks are not smart enough to figure our how to arrange bags.

Since when are stews allowed to read passengers private notebooks?

First of all, Earl, we don’t say “stews” anymore. Nor do we say Fireman, Policeman, Weatherman or Secretary, unless we’re discussing a piece of furniture. We say Fire Fighter, Police Officer, Weather Person and Assistant. And we certainly do not say Stewardess, we say, Flight Attendant, since that is what those who labor in the aisles and galleys like to be called, I think. Also, I will say once more, since I made the mistake of not being clear earlier, that the fellow in question is a Gate Agent, not a Flight Attendant. And no, they’re really not allowed to read our notebooks. I mean… they shouldn’t, right?

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
Sam Walton

I stand corrected, Stanley Bing. Flight Attendant. Gate Agent. Illegal Notebook Reader. Gotcha.

Bing, you graciously asked the other day, what sorts of topics I miss lately on BingBlog. Well, this one today was great, just like years’ back!

Now, if you could find similar tidbits in office politics, or executive life, from time to time, that’d be great.

Although, I’m a bit worried. I noticed in the last year or so, how much you started to worry about lowly matters like health insurance, you travel tourist-class, I dread the moment you bring up car insurance, or your long distance carrier…..

what happened?

Bing,

I am sure Patrick is a fine Agent for Jet Blue. Time and time again he has had to put up with crabby passengers that are the most important person flying. Unfortunately for you (and Wife), he has grouped every passenger in this frat. I can only give you this advice…Kill’em with kindness. I hate when I try to be an ahole and someone turns up the sweetness. Oh how that gets my goat, damn people being nice.

C’mon people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now

Easier sung than done…

Jesus would say PATRICK deserves love and a helping hand, but Machiavelli would say PATRICK deserves the back of a hand across his arrogant little face…Bing I would say you and your spouse delivered the appropriate YinYang mix to this individual…I’m sure PATRICK has been building his karmic equity for years, time for a payout…I believe in fate, and that someday these types do it to the wrong people, and they get what is coming to them…seen it many times…

You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t wanna know…until fate forces another. lesson…

Funny how one bad employee can produce a significant liability to a company’s goodwill…Jet Blue and the rest of us entities should never forget…

Put PATRICK below decks for awhile…that way no one can see him abuse other’s belongings…or fire him if he won’t learn…

Again, Robbie, I’m not for firing anybody. I also feel to a certain extent that when things happen to me, I have a small duty of sorts to write about it on behalf of all the others who can’t, don’t or won’t. How many of us are kicked around by people who should be sort of, you know, taking care of us instead? I used to have to deal with a token clerk on the subway who would always count her money at precisely the time when people had to buy a token to catch their train. As soon as the train left, she would stop counting her money and sell tokens. She got a certain malevolent pleasure in making people miss their train. Who knows why? Who CARES why? One day I leaned into the grate while she was getting her jollies and slowly counting bills and yelled, “CAN’T YOU SEE YOU’RE MAKING US ALL MISS THE TRAIN!? COME ON!” Her eyes practically exploded out of her head with shock. Nobody had ever confronted her before because her little bit of power, exercised in this way, kept people at bay. You know what? After that, she was unfailingly polite and friendly, and I never missed another train because of her. So what’s the lesson?

Bing, as you alluded, PATRICK’s coworkers well know he’s a butthead, and they’re quite tired of him too. He makes their jobs more difficult, lowers morale, and they’re undoubtedly delighted when such an embarrassing butthead gets his butthead in a sling…up to, and including, getting terminated.

His bad behavior is made worse because it often occurs under the guise of flight security and anti-terrorism….the kind of holy area that allows such creeps to generally operate with impunity.

You can bet that this story has made the executive rounds at JetBlue, and there is nothing scarier than an angry set of top-level executives with an apt target. They’ve been sh*tting razor blades over the state of their industry for years, and have now been handed an eminently floggable ingrate. They do, like you, have real power in their own particular neck of the corporate woods.

No tears for PATRICK.

Well Bing, the subway attendant learned…wonderful!

Fate brought you to her that day, you yelled, and she took the lesson and learned…maybe Patrick can as well in similar circumstance…my point is I can’t stand those who refuse lessons and truculently state through explicit or implied dialouge and subsequent behavior that they will not learn, and the “screw you this is how I am” attitudes that usually do nothing but enflame the situation…

Crazy Employees…

Bing, I think the lesson is that passive aggressive people can sometimes be defused by direct, pointed comments. Congrats!

An interesting scenario that comes to mind from this blog is “submitting to authority”.

Upon boarding the flight, regardless of status in real life, we’re subject to the rules of the terminal crew and the flight crew.

It’s a toss up as to how the flight will turn out for the passenger because he’s viewed as a potential kook, and if he makes trouble for the crew member, he may be very well be escorted from the flight in shackles and handcuffs.

Passengers realize this and accept the intimidation intended to control the cargo of “pandora’s box” sealed in flight to the receiving terminal.

Stan, the good samaritan, exemplified an excellent exit strategy for a rights deprived citizen traveler.

Stan 1, Patrick 0!

As we get a bit older, we must find our revenge in subtle ways.

I was in a checkout line at the local market and bought one bottle of wine. As I checked out, the buffed out young guy bagging groceries asked me if I wanted help to the car with my groceries (or, in this case, grocery?). There was nothing wrong with his question- probably store policy- but the smarmy way he asked and the smirk on his pimply face really ticked me off. So I replied, “Why yes, thank you!”
He was stunned as I led him to his deserved fate. He trailed me around the parking lot for twenty minutes, while I pretended I could not find my car.

It was delicious.

So,come on,Bing! Use your amazing imagination, and next the time you fly Jet Blue, bring an oxygen bottle or a cane and have some fun!

well, may be Patrick had a bad day that day besides some ppl don’t undersand and they take their sweet time putting their bags on the over head bin, even taking time to put a seat belt. On thing you should put on your mind Aircraft getting to the gate until out of the gate has a TIME LIMIT. Therefore all gate agent runs with the time, so that it won’t go LATE. I’m sure everyone doesn’t like to arrive their destination late.

As an unemployed person, it erks me to no end when someone in a customer service position acts unprofessional and down right mean for no reason. I don’t think it would be going to far to say that there are literally 3+ million people who would love a job and are insulted by those who take their jobs for granted. Not all of us like to sit at home on our butts doing nothing despite what some rich people on CNBC would tell you.

Hey Jet Blue – you are not alone.

Every carrier and well, just about every company has them – the Gestapo types that control one square inch of an acre of whatever they are tasked to do. Somehow they sell you on how efficient they are. They fail to mention the misery they inflcit on co-workers and customers with their self- centered petty control behaviors.

Sad thing for you…(and Us)despite complaints from customers and genuinely-good employees, they can’t be fired as the risk of litigation outweighs the damage they do day-in and day-out…and you know these Gestapo types are the kind to keep good records.

Bing, may you write next time about the heavenly gate agents, flight attendants, and overall great air travel adventure that we do sometimes have. Bon Voyage!

Can you imagine what life is going to be like when people like Patrick are running our National Rationed Health care system deciding weather a dying child gets to use one of the few MRI machines that will be available after all the union workers get their raises

I can understand not wanting to get someone fired, but think of it this way: you are keeping someone who would do a much better job as a gate agent unemployed! Meanwhile “Patrick” is stuck in a job he is neither competent to do nor, apparently, happy doing. Plus, leaving him in place will cost JetBlue customers, damaging their business. They want to do something about it as a means of survival. You should help them out.

I say tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may. Ultimately it will be best for everyone, truly.

Bing, thanks for reminding me once again how great it is to be retired. No more trips cross-country in a human mailing tube.

on the other hand, Patrick may have had a truly bad event happen to him. Gate attendants don’t strike me as powerful people who must be reprimanded in order to nip atrocities in the bud. he is just a powerless guy working for an airport.

i hope jet blue notices that the vote was to have patrick keep his job but to have a little training on customer service. there is enough stress going around to give people some benefit of the doubt as too their character.

i have been one of those butt heads who walked the aisle of shame after having my husband running up and down the terminal screaming my name so that, when i boarded, strangers were saying snarky things like, “there’s laurel.”

FYI. Gate Agent Job Description: Assists passengers and checks flight tickets at entrance gate or station when boarding or disembarking airplane of commercial airline: Examines passenger tickets to ensure that passengers have correct flight or seat, or directs passengers to correct boarding area, using passenger manifest, seating chart, and flight schedules. Verifies names on passenger manifest or separates portions of passenger’s ticket and stamps or marks ticket or issues boarding pass to authorize passenger to board airplane. Directs passengers to air-terminal facilities. Opens gate or allows passengers to board airplane. Assists elderly, disabled, or young passengers to board or depart from airplane, such as moving passengers in wheelchairs. May announce flight information, using public-address system. May post flight information on flight board.

A song for gate agents from a Daniel Powter fan:

You had a bad day
You’re taking one down
You cause a big stink while the plane’s on the ground
You say boarding pass
With your hands on your hips
You work at a smile but you look really pissed
You had a bad day
The Bingster don’t lie
He flew on JetBlue and you shook down his wife
You had a bad day.

Take a break and come back fresh.

Poor Butthead, being dragged into this after his three hour connecting flight on a four-seater prop job operated by Pukerama Airways limped in slower than the speed of smell against 40 mph headwinds. Not his fault that he was the last to board, and then Patrick had to humiliate him as well. The cross-country JetBlue leg was the best part of his otherwise shitty day.

Bing

I always pictured you as the Lenny Dykstra type, flying only private jets.

I agree that there should be something learned here from the incident. Not just for your friend Patrick, but for the flight crew. Someone on the crew should have come over and tried helping him, or told him they would take care of the luggage. Everyone has bad days and we don’t know what Mr. Late said or did before they entered the plane. This idea of helping a teammate when their down, might be the lesson here.

i’ve never flown jet blue before but now i will because i know it’s going to have the best customer service ever because it’s employees won’t want to risk showing up on a blog. i think it’s cool that the people commenting want the guy to get more training instead of getting fired. i think its a positive sign of the times. nobdy’s perfect and everyone deserves a second chance.

None of the airlines seem to enforce the carry on baggage rules, and many people go way beyond what is reasonable.

Having said that, U.S. Air did manage to lose my luggage on my last flight, although they recovered nicely. I understand why people do not want to check bags. However the flights were on time and everyone was courteous.

Bing, I never put my laptop in the overhead, that is asking for trouble. I would rather have less leg room but keep my laptop where only I can touch it.

Tom, you make an excellent point. People come on to even the smallest planes with these ginormous steamer trunks and then act all huffy if they can’t fit them in the bins! Darn those people! They make me want to inspect their boarding passes, just to scare ‘em a little!

I recently took two trips to Malaga, Spain. The first trip I was flying alone, so I booked a first/business ticket. The second trip I was flying with several customers so I booked coach tickets. (Stop the snide looks; I was paying for eighty tickets) It was amazing the difference in the attitudes of the attendants. On the first trip there were pleasantries of, “May I take you coat sir? Would you care for a wine sir? Here is your hot towel, sir. Are you finished with the glass sir, or do you care for a refill? Sir, the flight will be landing soon. Do you need any assistance gathering your belongings?” On the second flight I received grouch looks, meals were dropped in front of us, and you had to beg for drinks. It’s not the larger seat I like so much at the front of the plane, it’s the staff. They are professionals. They are pleasant. They are nice. No one grabs your bag, treats you rudely, and demands to see you boarding pass. If you have a problem, they provide you with their business card at the asking. I have had my bad experiences up front too, but not near as often as in coach. I don’t know if it is the stress of working so many guest or inexperience and lack of training.

So Bing…Did you ever hear back from Jet Blue about Patrick?

No, Barb. And that’s fine. You know what I mean?

Forgive me Bing, but you claimed that you didn’t hear back from Jetblue and that was fine. But I think you did and three days after you told Barb you didn’t. All you had to do was look in your comments section. They actually want to help you and you ignore them. That’s weird and unprofessional for FORTUNE.

So Bing…Did you ever hear back from Jet Blue about Patrick?
Posted By Barb in Hotlanta, GA : May 29, 2009 11:33 am

No, Barb. And that’s fine. You know what I mean?
Posted By Bing : May 29, 2009 12:33 pm

Mr.Bing, would you mind provide your date of traveling? We will try to get bottom of this issue, and ask management to follow up with this ‘Patrick’? on your flight.
Posted By Jetblue, Queens, NY : May 26, 2009 1:55 pm

Zack, do you have any idea how many wacky fictional people pop up in my comments? I’ve been visited by everybody from Napoleon to P. Diddy, and of course the ever-present Anonymous is never far away. I moderate the comments, take part when I think I have something to add, and enjoy them very much. But I don’t always believe people are who they say they are, unless they’re Mike or Bob or Jack or Laurel or even Yadgyu, which is not his real name but is of course his true persona. I have, since May 26th at 1:55 PM, been contacted by a very nice woman at JetBlue and had a good conversation with her. I hope no harm comes to anybody and believe the matter to be at an end. I can tell you that I have written columns for two years about the depravities on airplanes. Two of them have been about JetBlue and both times I have been called by concerned people who wanted to make things better. I have, contrariwise, written perhaps a dozen or more about American Airlines, one or two even in praise. Not once have I received a call from the guys who are doing what they do best.

“I have, since May 26th at 1:55 PM, been contacted by a very nice woman at JetBlue and had a good conversation with her.”
That’s what I was looking for! Great that you got that resolved. Did you get a voucher?

i was offered a voucher. But I did not accept it.

Bing,

Did you consider accepting the voucher and, rules permitting, donating it to charity?

no, Paul.

Assuming your facts are on the mark, which they sound like they are, this guy should be fired immediately. “Company policy that coats go on the floor”! Sadly, this type of vile creature is now all too common in the pathetic airline industry. I hope JetBlue compensates you for this.

It would be nice if you changed the title of this.As a FA for jetblue this is obviously about a gate agent.I am sorry you were treated this way.