Even if he saw I was a railfan, thats still not the thing to say, an attendant should usually assume that travelers are on for the first time, and don't know how to turn down the beds. What he should've done was not say anything, or say something along the lines, "Later on, if you let me know when you want the beds turned down, I'll be willing to do it." If I don't mind/need help, I'll do it on my own (which I did), but attendant's have to be careful, because, yes, first impressions are lasting ones. My concern was more so how he'd treat a non-railfan (ex. being my mother), that really made a bad impression on her, and if it were somebody else, they might not willingly return to rail travel.
As for the TV's, I did inform her before the trip, that chances are that the movies wouldn't be shown, as Amtrak was supposedly phasing them out. The problem here was that movies were being shown in both cars, and that was something that appeared to be overlooked (in her opinion). That is why we had the DVD Player along with us.
Things were very good overall, and don't worry, the return trip will be much more positive.