The first crisis of faith is over, and I've decided I do like where I work. It's hard, it's still incredibly hard, but I feel comfortable there and I'm doing the best I can which is considerable. Everyone I work with is good, which helps, and fun to be around, which also helps. My bosses are really great. My days go fast, my weeks go fast, and I haven't had a work-related headache for quite a while now. It's still not where I want to be in a year but now I know I won't be there forever I feel much less pressured. Consequently, I'm enjoying myself more.

This was the first week my agency began charging service fees, and it's been pretty smooth. A couple of companies said they were dropping us, one or two clients seemed offended, but otherwise everyone's been quite understanding. We agents were kind of hoping our least favorite clients would bail out but no such luck. I don't have too many problems in that regard as I haven't been there long enough to build up a large, local, devoted client base but some of the others sure have, and they aren't always grateful for the devotion. One of these guys who made the most fuss over agency fees is already back and agreeing humbly that fees are a business necessity after he checked out every other agency nearby. No one else would put up with his nonsense, basically. He is a pain in the wazunga, and here is an example.

This guy (let's call him Al) is a pistol. Sales are his life. He is on a first-name basis with every company bigwig in his industry. He travels constantly all over the world. He never pays for his own travel (it's all billed to some other guy's credit card). He will not travel in coach class. He won't pay for first class but he must always fly first class, and he is adamant about this. Now, you may have noticed lately that frequent flyer mile programs are tied in to hotel stays and car rentals and credit card purchases. You can earn free travel or upgrades quite easily if you travel on a regular basis. First class and business class seats are relatively hard to get these days, especially on a smaller plane. Our client Al will say anything, and I mean anything, to get a first class seat. He'll wheel, he'll deal, he'll bitch, he'll threaten, he'll cajole, and in many cases he'll miss flight after flight until the airline accomodates him on a first class seat. It's really astonishing. But this week he topped it all.

Al told the agents at the airport ticket counter that he needed a liver transplant and one had been found for him, so he was trying to get to the hospital. This is after he tried all his other tricks. So they let him on. I doubt they believed him, but it was probably the sensible thing to do. My problem with him is he boasted of this technique to us when he did get back. He was very pleased with himself. I think he's a weasel, and not solely because of his willingness to lie in order to get his own way, but I won't go into that. Luckily, I rarely have to deal with him.

I think we ought to charge a special fee just to handle weasel customers. We already have fees for refunds, exchanges, tickets, et al. We need the $100 Aggravation Fee. It would cover the extra time we spend listening to these types rant, boast, and wheedle, plus offset the cost of our time spent calling suppliers to clarify every minor situation for which the weasels are ready to sue to get all their money back plus college tuition for each of their children. $100 isn't really enough but it'd go a long way towards amusing me at the expense of the weasels.

Though mocking him online is also very satisfying.