speaking of philly, you made me remember this one from two winters ago. really nasty snow storm was going on, but flights were still able to get in and out, just at snail's pace. the taxiways and ramps were just beyond description, as far as the congestion goes. an hour or so after landing, we can finally see the top of the alley, and in fact, we can see our gate.. but, also see about 15 airplanes in the way. it's gotta be close to 11 pm by now. well, enough airplanes wiggled their way around, to where we could see a clear spot from where we were to ramp. nobody else was pushing out, everybody was already gone, we seemed to be the only one trying to get into that alley at that time. so at my capt's request, i called ramp and basically told him, if he would let us cut out of line, it looks like there's a clear spot for us to get to our gate. he came back with, "just don't hit anybody or get stuck in a ditch, and i'll pretend i never saw you leave the lineup!"
it worked out just fine, and we parked. now, our company has us repo the plane to a pad, for whatever reason, we can't leave it at the gate overnight. so, we're all really hoping, pleading, and politicking trying to get them to let us keep the plane at the gate. no luck. so, i call ramp again, and tell him we need to reposition to such-and-such pad. his response.... "You're serious? no, really.. cause, i don't have time for games."
after convincing him we were serious, he just said, "okay, again, don't hit anybody or anything, don't get stuck, and do what you need to do!"