Having said all this, I agree that the sitiation is shoddy, and you shouldn't be treated this way - but then, as airline staff, it is also very unfair that we are put under this pressure as well!
******
I thought handling pressure was part of the job profile of an airline industry customer service staff? In this cases , someone was obviously in distress, was asking help for a genuine reason, and apparently still it does not qualify for "service" from people who were in "customer service".
Grouse against management policies may or may not be valid, but what has the poor passenger to do with it?