It would be nice if airline polices were "basic" and it would be very nice if the employees had proper training. The extent of training an AA employee gets is the bare minimum federal requirements of safety. It is not the employee's fault. They are pretty much thrown into the pool and told to swim. I strongly encourage you to write the department of transportation about this issue. If good people like yourself only complain to this site or an airline, then nothing gets done. Here is a link.
http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/problems.htm
good luck.