I've worked with people like that and they CANNOT check in a 130 flight let alone a 189 without a 3rd person to assist. All good and well but in the peak period there are no spare staff and so the flight closes late. As you know, if check in closes late, the flight goes late, all for a bit of excess.
As somebody else has already mentioned, the reason these people are unable to check-in the flight on time, is because of the way in which Ryanair operate their check-in, not because there isn't enough time. With a manual check-in system, you are restricted to maybe 3 desks at most. With a common user DCS, pax can use any check-in desk: If one agent gets held up, then the queue can be spread out along the line.
The company that I work for (Not FR) have made it clear that the expiry date is only to be checked at the gate if the passenger has checked-in online. Our DCS shows when a passenger requires a full or partial document check. If the passenger has already had a full document check then we are only required to crosscheck the names, the photo, and then confirm the flight number, date and destination on the boarding card. However, for me, it's just as easy to check the expiry date, as it's a habit you pick up from check-in.
A full document check at the gate includes:
1) Name
2) DOB
3) Expiry Date
4) VISA requirements
And then all of the boarding card checks.
TotalBeginner:
I think this thread has shown, that while there are still people willing to cut corners for their company, then airlines like EZY and FR will happily continue with their current turn-arround times. I think that handling agents can be the worst for putting on the pressure, because their reward is normally performace related. I, on the other had will continue to do things as I believe to be correct. If that means a 5-10 min delay on my flight, then so be it. At least if something goes wrong, I won't be loosing any sleep.