I have been reading all the posts with interest ..... having been both pax and CC I can appreciate both sides of the proverbial coin.
There are unfotunately bad apples in both groups. Some pax who are rude and obnoxious and equally some CC who are ignorant and impatient.
I do agree with some of the quotes dealing with verbal abuse though and stand by the notion that regardless of the pax's reasons there can be NO justification for personal abuse of any kind. That said sometimes (and I am speaking from experience of observing these things first hand) some CC have been asking for it by goading pax and not taking the time to simply listen and find out the problems/compalaints before assuming the worst and just categorizing the pax as difficult/obnoxious/rude etc etc.
Sometimes all it takes is for someone to stop and listen .... most pax just want to get things off their chest and then calm down and come to an amicable resolution.
My feeling (and its only a personal opinion) is no matter what anyone says I simply kill them with kindness. The more they rant and rave the more I compliment them and inform them I will do my best to resolve their complaints. IMHO this approach has never failed because as I said before once people have ranted and raved and seen that I am not going to "rise to their taunts" they soon calm down and appreciate my efforts. Of course should the confrontation become physical then boundaries have been overstepped and I have no hesitation in ensuring that the fullest force of the law is brought to bear.
As someone much wiser than me once said : "There would be no war if man refused to fight!"