Angry People

I recently was scheduled to fly to Montreal from Toronto.   My flight was scheduled to leave at 2:00 p.m. that day.  I received a text message before I left for the airport stating my flight was delayed due to the weather.  I then received a text en route to the airport at 11:00 a.m. stating my flight was cancelled. When I arrived at the airport I went to the airline check-in desk to see what could be done about my cancelled flight.  I was greeted by an unfriendly person at the desk who barked at me: “the flight is cancelled and all flights to Montreal are cancelled.  I’m scheduling you for the next available flight at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning – here’s your ticket.”     Of course, I was astonished but remained calm , courteous and polite and asked wasn’t there anything she could do for me.  She looked at her computer and then printed out another ticket with a flight scheduled to leave at 3:00 p.m. that day but I would be on standby.  Phew!! Gate D32.  Hahaha…guess what? there is no Gate D32 and no airline official knew of any such flight leaving for Montreal at 3:00 p.m.. I then was told to go to Customer Service.  I waited in line for 2 hours.  The Customer Service Rep that greeted me seemed nice but she was interrupted by another Customer service rep sitting beside her who screamed: “Didn’t you hear the announcement that you have to use the airline phones provided to change your ticket.  We aren’t here to change your ticket.  You are supposed to use the phones - do that.”  I didn’t say a word in response. The first agent looked at me, took my old ticket and re-issued me a new ticket for a 5:00 p.m. flight. I thanked her for her kindness.  The take away from this experience is that there are angry people in the world and nice people in the world. Who would you rather encounter?  Lawyers should always be courteous and respectful regardless of the circumstances.