Some people may be under a slight misapprehension here that easyjet staff occupy the check in desks. They don't. This task is, as are all the ground handling duties on the apron, undertaken by a ground handling agent. In the case of Newcastle, this is Servisair.
It is a personal bugbear of mine as a dispatcher, that on time departures are constantly threatened by late closing of the check in. For easyjet, this has recently been reduced to a 30 minute close out from 40 minutes. I can understand any passenger confusion, as this wasn't even communicated clearly to those of us who need to know.
I also have come to develop a moderate level of intolerance to the (usually) brain-dead morons who check in on time, but then find themselves incapable of making it to the departure gate for boarding in stark contrast to the 100+ other passengers who did. Why do people find this so difficult to do? If you don't think we'll send the aircraft off on time, think again. If you don't want to travel, don't turn up.