Had a Republic guy today come down and yell from the forward galley "I have a seat in the back"
I yelled back "who are you?"
He says "I have a seat in the back"
I said "is it a paid ticket?"
He says "no..."
I gestured for him to come up front. I introduced myself and finally got his name. I said "are you jumpseating?"
He says "no. I have a seat in the back"
I said "I get that the gate agent gave you a seat. Tell me how you GOT that seat. Are you on an ID90? or are you trying to hitch a ride?"
"I'm trying to hitch a ride"
(phew) "ok. Now that that's settled. When you jumpseat offline, proper etiquette is to introduce yourself and request a ride. Please go make yourself comfortable, but in the future just ask for a ride and you'll always be welcome"
I'm sure a lot of you think I was being a jerk. Fair enough. We have very few things that we own as pilots. The jumpseat is one of the last of those and I'll be darned if im going to give control of it away to the gate agents. It takes two seconds to ask for a ride. Do the right thing people.
PS - stop jacking around on guard.