I think that the 'poor' station staff work for an opressive, profit driven company with little regard for commuters needs. They know they work for such a company and should either say something to their bosses or deal with the concequences - i.e. commuters getting shirty with them.
Other examples of these type of workers are traffic wardens, hitting rediculous targets, police and so on - these people know what their signing upto and if they don't like the way their company behaves they should leave.