Boss Gets A Citation Against Common Sense

I work part-time for parking services customer service at a mid-sized university. We get a huge number of customers who think if they yell loud enough, someone will take their ticket away and not make them pay. Because of this, our appeals are entirely online, with the appeals committee kept well away from direct customer contact. I dislike that there is no backup for construction workers without easy access to a computer, or the elderly visiting professors who aren’t comfortable with being online. 

After a particularly nasty week, I see a man walking in with a citation easily visible in his hand. I brace myself for more yelling. Instead, he politely asks if there is a way not to pay. I look at the ticket. He had a temporary pass that had fallen out of his window. Happy to get a polite customer for a change, I spend over ten minutes walking him through the appeal on his phone. I confirm the appeal has gone through, and let him know there should be a response in about a week. 

As he leaves, my senior coworker comes around the corner and scolds me for taking so long with one customer. Only then does she look around at the deserted lobby and quiet phones. Shaking her head, she returns to her other tasks. 

I get the whole goal of short wait times, but really we should be able to help when there is time.