I was at Heathrow a couple of years back and watched a group of customs arseholes deliberately slow down a large group of foreigners, some of whom had arrived on my plane, and who were desperate to make their connecting flight. There were six to eight officials and instead of each lending a hand, they sat or stood whilst one slowly removed items from holdalls, etc, and examined them to see if they contained semtex or cocaine.
I had four hours until my connection and invited some to jump ahead of me in the queue, but was told that each would be (slowly) dealt with in order. One passenger lost his temper and squealed that he had waited for half an hour already and was just about to miss his connection. The large bald customs idiot snapped back "well you shouldna been late then, should ya?"
No, I reckon not nice and stupid are the prerequisites for the job - certainly for promotion.