Sometimes shouting seems to help.

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Everything went well last Thursday on my flight out of Athens and I had nothing to complain about. There was one hiccup however, though it intruded not upon my enjoyment of the day. When the check in desk opened at 10.30 we were at the head of the queue, but it took a full half hour to be processed. There was a problem with the machine that dispenses the luggage tags which are essential for getting the right luggage onto the right plane. The man and woman staffing the desk started getting a bit testy with each other, and even though the curt exchanges were uttered in Greek the gist was clear. They began shouting at each other and at people on the other end of the phone, stopping every few minutes to smile at me and apologise for the delay. Then they took up the row where they had left off. Things were getting quite fraught and were made worse when gormless Gavin from tech support arrived. Much invective was directed at him, his mug of coffee and his cigarette. Staff from other desks joined in, still taking the time to smile and apologise to me. Gavin from tech fiddled about and “fixed” the problem then cleared off and check in started half an hour late. I was first to be dealt with and the machine spat out six half printed tags for my little bag and the shouting resumed. Then the machine settled down as did everyone else, the plane left on time and my bag arrived at the other end. The end.