We all have heard the story of Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater. Apparently having “a bad day”, Slater slings a set of expletives at a passenger whose luggage hit him in the head and then proceeded to get on the loud speaker and curse everyone on the plane out. As a “dueces” to the people on the plane and his job, Slater grabs a beer and utilizes the plane’s emergency exit chute and makes his getaway to his car. I guess he thought he was going to ride off into the sunset?
WRONG.
Slater was later arrested at his home in Queens and was charged with criminal mischief, trespassing, and reckless endangerment. He has a rap sheet now, but as I read tweets last night from people who were discussing the matter, it seems that he is a sort of hero amongst many working people who love the fact that he gave his job “the finger” in the most flamboyant way. I get that a lot of people would love to tell off their bosses, clients, customers, and coworkers, but should we really be applauding Slater’s behavior?
Perhaps there were children on the plane who actually had to sit and listen to his unabridged tirade? Is that something to applaud? If he was so unhappy with his job, couldn’t he have just wrote his letter of resignation and be done with it?
Or perhaps he’s looking to be on a reality show…
Who knows. I get it. There are plenty of people who are disenfranchised with their jobs and abhor their cubicles. I for one, chucked a deuce to my cubicle several months ago and began working on my own. It’s been a very rewarding and therapeutic experience to say the least, but I never thought about leaving a job under some grandiose circumstances. From an HR perspective (which is my background), Slater’s act was abominable. I wasn’t feeling it at all.
And cheering about it does…what? If you hate your job, making Slater the hero doesn’t improve your situation. Maybe you should look for another one? Especially in this economy where the unemployment numbers are sky high—there are hundreds of thousands of people who would be happy to have Slater’s job.
This is just my two cents. Maybe because I am an HR stiff, makes it hard for me to separate the act from the employee negligence on his part.
What are your thoughts? Is Steven Slater a hero in your book?
Should he be applauded for his unlawful behavior? The short answer no. I will however say that his outburst was the reaction to an unruly onboard passenger that failed to abide by federal law when asked to take his seat while the plane was still moving. We all have bad days while some poeple deal with a lot more things in our personal lives that spill over into our work lives, we all do not deal with it in the same manner. This gentleman is dealing with a terminally ill parent and a VERY high stressed job where he has been trained to let the passengers say whatever and take it with a smile. How about we all take a lesson from this on how to speak & treat each other with respect and kindeness and we won't have people having emotional breakdowns on their jobs.
Dionne, you’ve raised some a good points. I am sure he just didn’t flip out due to the luggage hitting his head—it was probably a culmination of events that took place. BUT at the same time, this guy is making the rounds on CNN and morning news shows. We have to ask ourselves why you glorify such behavior and make them celebrities.
Counseling through the job is very important. Many jobs have counseling programs that employees do not utilize. This can help when you feel that you are about to “break”.
I just found the entire thing bizarre. Also, since they were on the ground – what if he flipped that thing out (the chute) and injured and/or killed a grounds person? And the security issues it raised! He did all that, got to his vehicle and drove away … no one called security…no one stopped him. He could have TOTALLY flipped out and killed someone.
I’ve never had a customer service oriented job, because I know I can’t deal with the public. If I’m unhappy in a job – I leave. He could have left long ago. Why have and keep a customer service job if you hate the public you serve?
I don’t think anyone really condones this behavior, but he’s getting a lot of attention because it is a funny story and speaks to a lot of frustrated and fed up workers that feel trapped in their jobs. Sometimes “just leaving” isn’t an option – especially in this job market and when you have a mortgage and kids depending on you. So many people are just enjoying the fantasy of walking out on a crummy job through this extreme example.