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Dear Continental Employees and Officers, and especially Customer Service Agent Xxxx Xxxxxxx:
Having lived in New York City for five years with little respite, my week in Santa Fe was the best vacation of my life. My partner and I reluctantly set off for ABQ on the morning of Saturday, July 16th. True to character, we managed to run late and miss our return flights. When we arrived at the Continental Check-in area, we found a moderately long line. I searched for a separate "no checked baggage" kiosk, hoping to grab our boarding passes and gate-check our few bags. There was none, however. Having resigned ourselves to the fact that we would miss the plane, we settled in to watch the scene before us.
Continental's self check-in kiosks, although designed to expedite ticketing by allowing passengers to print their own boarding passes, simply don't work. Yes, they are mechanically sound, and I use them easily whenever I get a chance. However, what I saw was that a majority of the customers required full attention from a Continental employee to complete the process on-screen. Those of us willing and able to use the machines without guidance simply could not. We had to wait.
Since we actually needed someone to reschedule our flight, we stepped aside to let others use the available kiosks. Unfortunately, in each instance, the passenger(s) needed an agent to instruct them, so we stopped letting people ahead of us. When we got to the counter, we were greeted by a very harried and (as we'd seen) somewhat tortured agent named Xxxx Xxxxxxx. Stressed? You bet. We first assured Ms. Xxxxxxx that missing the plane was entirely our own fault, then asked what could be done about it. She began searching the computer, and it already looked like our options would be quite limited. We continued to apologize for our stupidity, our own jobs filled with impossible circumstances and people. The three of us started to laugh about the situation.
My partner was headed for CRW via IAH then DTW, and I was going back to LGA via the same IAH flight. After much typing, Ms. Xxxxxxx found a flight to EWR, warning me that I'd need to stay at the connecting airport for many hours. She found an early morning flight for my partner as well. I was slightly panicked. I'd never been to Newark before, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to navigate back to Brooklyn. Despite her assurances, I wasn't convinced. She searched hard for other options, but it seemed like that would be the only one we could get. I resigned myself to fate, and we accepted the flights. She went to check something and print our boarding passes.
I'll spare you further details, but we ended up enjoying another day in Albuquerque with little consequence thanks to Ms. Xxxxxxx's assistance. She was able to find me a flight to LGA, much to my relief. We came back early the next day for our departures where she was still at her post. The crowd was much lighter, and she waved us over immediately. After praising our newfound punctuality, she proceeded to check in our baggage. In just one more night, we had acquired about 70 extra pounds of books and breakables each, and she took care of our needs in that area too. With my vintage luggage securely taped and everything tagged, we thanked Ms. Xxxxxxx again. We spent the rest of our stay praising Continental's employees in general, and this CSA in particular. We hope that you will place a copy of this letter in her file and share it with your staff. We've seen first-hand that your employees are Continental's best resource. Employ them whenever you can.
On behalf of my fellow traveler Dr. X. Xxxxxxxx and myself, thank you.
Sincerely,
Jackson Gxxxxx
Digital Print Specialist
Xxxxx, NY
Frequent Flier HVXXXXXX
P.S. The newest member of our household, a gigantic black kitty named "Xx-Xxx", also thanks you for his gentle handling and safe flight from Philadelphia to New York a few months ago.
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July 21 2005, 20:10:23 UTC 6 years ago
July 22 2005, 12:38:59 UTC 6 years ago
(My boss is fine with this, so long as I stop gnawing through the leg chains connecting me to the printers.)
July 21 2005, 20:54:41 UTC 6 years ago
July 22 2005, 12:33:10 UTC 6 years ago
July 22 2005, 12:36:13 UTC 6 years ago
still not sleeping, huh?
I am shocked and impressed beyond belief that you have had time to write such a great letter in between your pigeon wrangling duties. I always say I am going to write these kinds of letters and then promptly forget the idea as soon as the situation passes. Good for you!July 22 2005, 12:40:51 UTC 6 years ago
Re: still not sleeping, huh?
*blushes* Just wait for the second letter. I will be including a companion letter talking about our bad experiences at the Bush airport, and again emphasizing that the main problem was lack of personnel. I'll mail them together and label one "the good news" and the other "the bad news". I wonder which they'll open first? ;-)July 23 2005, 01:35:04 UTC 6 years ago
Yay! for you for spending the time to give the kudos.
(Glad you had a nice trip, BTW. My mom lives in New Mexico and loves it there. She keeps trying to entice me down. Not a big fan of the guy she lives with, so I haven't yet been. And, congrats on the new kitty. I agree with you about not wanting to live through a camera lens. But, we could all use a little feline cuteness in our lives, you know?)
July 23 2005, 16:40:14 UTC 6 years ago
As for the customer service issue, yeah. I think it would be good for all people to work before college, first in a labor-intensive, customer-service oriented everyman job like K-Mart clerk or gas station attendant, then as an apprentice in the field(s) of their choice. The first instills a work ethic, and the second just makes sense from my experience. Despite 4 years of higher education, I didn't understand anything about color until I worked as a Photoshop jockey.
I can't tell you how many customers yelled at me because the fertilizer advertised in our circular was out of stock. I have news for you folks, courtesy of my friend and long-time crapjob worker Sam: See this smock/apron/hat I'm wearing? It's made of polyester. Here's the secret... chances are, if you see someone behind the counter who's wearing polyester and serving you a double-triple-latte-bukkake, well chances are he's not allowed to do the ordering or budgeting for the store. Mmkay?
/end crotchety old man rant
//can you get me a line on some fresh green chiles? serious dude, i need 'em baaaaaad.... *slaps inner arm*