I have yet to see a gate agent actually call another gate to check the status of a departing flight. I don't fly every airline out there, but have had enough short connections on UA, DL and B6 in addition to US to know that the most you will get from a GA is whether or not that other flight has actually left. As to "will they wait for me" or "do I have time to get there" you will usually get a generic answer that "the door is supposed to close in X minues" which really doesn't tell you if they're running a bit late, closing up early, or anything in between. The only exceptions I've seen are in the extreme cases--- connections being held at a hub or focus city, usually because it's the last flight of the night--- and my most recent experience with this on US is that they had an extra agent directing people and telling them to hurry, hurry.

While it sounds like the OP had some rough days traveling, to me it sounds like only that-- rough days traveling. It can happen in any airport, on any airline, and given the extreme weather in the Southeast and Northeast lately, my only surprise is that there aren't even more people having rough days. And I'll trust the pilot's weather information over that on my phone, every single time.