i agree with you all about aa phone reps. i find them quite courteous and polite. i have much better experience with them than the cp folks. partly i think that's because at least one call center for cp is based in TEXAS! i had a huge fight with a woman who proceeded to tell me that i did not have a reservation or even a ticket for a certain flight when i had the ticket in my hand!!! training on cp phone staff(as least, the us based staff) is horrendous.
but ground staff in general seems to be the most difficult. i guess phone people can be nicer, because they don't see you and don't necessarily feel the urge to strangle a surly customer (moi?) over the phone. ground staff are the only ones that have that option.