Spanish ATS (Air Traffic Services) can be a pain, but rather than pointing to the individuals that provide the service, why don't you care to look a bit further up the chain-of-command?
I'm not here to defend anyone, and I have been at the receiving end many times and I don't wear their shirt, but I'm pretty sure if an ATCO makes a mess because for a moment he/she decided to think outside the box and give a guy a direct or whatever, the rainfall of defecal matter from management could be of astronomic proportions (any of the guys here correct me if I'm wrong).
I think the company culture and mostly management are to blame for the lack of efficiency of AENA, not the individuals.
Same goes for most public services, government, etc... although sometimes I think maybe we Spaniards are to blame for allowing it to be like that.
btw... I read in this thread somewhere that the average salary in Spain is 2300€/month, that may be the statistical average, but the "normal" salary for a normal worker is 800-1000€/month, and cost of life and taxes are not much lower than the rest of Europe.