On Monday, on the tarmac at Kennedy International Airport, a JetBlue attendant named Steven Slater decided he had had enough, the authorities said.
After a dispute with a passenger who stood to fetch luggage too soon on a full flight just in from Pittsburgh, Mr. Slater, 38 and a career flight attendant, got on the public-address intercom and let loose a string of invective.
Then, the authorities said, he pulled the lever that activates the emergency-evacuation chute and slid down, making a dramatic exit not only from the plane but, one imagines, also from his airline career.
On his way out the door, he paused to grab a beer from the beverage cart. Then he ran to the employee parking lot and drove off, the authorities said.
Grabbing the beer on the way out was the kind of quality touch that only a good screenwriter could come up with…
norbizness
Marge: [weeping] My father was a stewardess!
Zweig: Marge, there’s nothing to be ashamed of here. Today, male flight attendants or “stewards” are common.
Marge: They are?
Zweig: Yes, thanks to trailblazers like your father. You might say he was a pioneer.
Marge: Yeah…you might even say he was an American hero.
Zweig: Let’s not go nuts.
horatius
Love the guy. He’s got style.
He may not have a job, but he’s got style.
Matt
If only he’d said, “screw you guys, I’m going home,” before jumping.
norbizness
It puts in mind of the time Jennifer Aniston quit Chotchkie’s.
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt: “Fuck this, I’m outta here.”
Dennis
I love the story, but I’m somewhat bothered that someone just got arrested for quitting his job.
James Hare
This is one of those stories where far more in-depth reporting needs to be done. I’m sure we all really want to know what the argument was about. I’d actually like to see a dramatic reconstruction of the whole event. If there’s anything that deserves that kind of treatment, it’s an event like this.
I’m glad the reporting got down to the beer grab — the first articles I saw didn’t report that. Maybe we have some real investigative journalism going on AS WE SPEAK.
cleek
@Dennis:
probably was arrested for deploying the emergency escape chute.
demo woman
Robert Gibbs should take lessons from this guy.
stuckinred
@Dennis: yea, that’s all he did was quit his job.
Mr. Poppinfresh
Read the full account of the altercation to get a sense of why this attendant’s behavior, while not justifiable, is pretty fucking understandable.
Part of the shittyness of flying nowadays is that assholes and yokels can’t seem to do any of it with the smallest degree of competence or dignity, whether it be fucking up in security lines or moving around the cabin before they are supposed to.
And do not even get me started on the giant melee of people pushing forward to board the plane well before their section is called.
Butch
I’m always amazed at how the flight attendants will announce that the captain has turned on the seat belt sign and half the plane seems to hear it as “please jump out of your seat for some trivial reason.” I don’t blame the guy a bit.
wmsheppa
All workplaces should have emergency evacuation slides with strategically positioned beer. How can we convince OSHA this is a good idea?
Bulworth
@norbizness: True dat.
El Cid
I think it would have been better if it had been one of those situations when the plane is left to sit for an hour or more waiting while no passengers can get on or off.
Because now 1 guy will get charged and will also be blamed — probably sued — for disabling that aircraft for at least 3 days for repair of the emergency chute and recertification. (At least so said one of the morning news shows.)
Dennis
@cleek: He was, and charged with a felony. Maybe I’m knee-jerking, but that sounds ridiculous to me (especially the felony part). Makes it look to me like he was arrested for quitting his job.
Violet
@Mr. Poppinfresh:
I love it when the gate agents look at their boarding passes, tell them they aren’t in the group being called, and don’t let them board. Heh.
Of course part of the problem is the crappy intercoms at the airports. It’s hard to tell what section is being called. Some airlines use boards above the gate indicating what group is allowed to board at what time. I prefer that to the intercom.
Cat Lady
Anyone who has ever worked servicing the public, or who takes care of sick parents is on Team Slater. I would pay to hear his rant, and as a Bostonian, I hope the asshole passenger was a deserving Yankees fan.
Zandar
1) Deploy chute, take beer
2) ???
3) Profit!
Betsy
My only complaint is that the news reports haven’t identified the belligerent passenger so that he can be appropriately shamed.
Joey Maloney
@cleek: The actual charges are criminal mischief (for deploying the emergency slide) and reckless endangerment (because someone could’ve been bonked on the head by the slide when it deployed) and trespassing (for being on the tarmac without authorization).
Reports are the passenger refused to follow his instructions, whapped him in the head with her carryon (whether accidentally or not) and called him a motherfucker. I only wish he’d given her a royal blue swirly before decamping.
SpotWeld
@Matt:
That’d be the classic retort, but I’m finding much funnier to imagine him shouting “Swan Dive”
J.
What @wmsheppa said.
p.a.
If he’s a Democrat and if he grabbed a Budweiser we can call him “Steve the Steward” and have him endorse
liberalprogressive candidates to prove they are “real ‘mur’kans”!What’s that? He took a Pilsner Urquell? (sigh…)
mistersnrub
OT:
Great article on the tubby fraud that is Newt Gingrich.
Omnes Omnibus
The other side of this, as anyone who flies must know, is that passengers are not exactly treated like welcome and paying guests by the airlines. This does not excuse anyone mistreating an attendant who is simply trying to do his job, but, Christ in high heels and a push-up bra, flying is not fun anymore.
scav
there was one of those usual stupid scrum on a flight I was on. Over the intercom came one of those voices that combine your mother and your first grade teacher: “Sit. Down.” Everyone dropped.
distinct pause, and then a giggle.
bookcat
I love this guy. He’s this generation’s “9-5” or “Network”. I’m mad as hell and I’m not taking it anymore!
demo woman
Laugh all you want but would you want this guy stealing your beer? I’m not sure what he was charged with but stealing is a crime.
Leave my beer alone, also,too
Captain Haddock
@Butch:
I think most people are fed up with the small seats and complete lack of leg room. People are miserable on planes because flying is a miserable experience.
scav
@demo woman: Nah, count-down until we see the first beer advertisements worked around this image.
ETA: Beerparty Express!!
FoxinSocks
I think at a time like this, it’s best to be guided by the wisdom of Chris Rock:
I’m not saying it’s right to curse out passengers over the intercom, deploy the emergency chute, grab a couple of beers and storm off, but I understand.
RSR
BorowitzReport–BREAKING: All US Workplaces to be Fitted with Inflatable Slides http://tinyurl.com/35ezkyt
…Starting on Monday, inflatable slides will be installed in such diverse workplaces as Home Depot, Starbucks, and the White House, said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
.
.
John Cole
Someone just emailed me this detail, which I missed and which makes this so much more awesome:
Too much.
serge
That’s pretty brilliant. Flying is so awful these days, that’s the kind of thing one can appreciate. I fly typically with nothing more than a small gladstone bag, checked, and a carry-on knapsack that fits under the seat in front of me. I put my seatback in the upright position and my tray table up, when so requested. I am not a rebel on an airplane (other situations, maybe a lot more).
When these fuckstick, opportunistic, self-serving, dickwad douchenozzles jump up early to grab their enormous luggage-on-wheels from the “overhead compartments,” I fear I might go postal. My wife always anticipates this and squelches any thoughts of mayhem on my part.
Keith G
A beer?
Must have been a straight flt attendant.
Otherwise, he would have went for the vodka.
Edit: A Pilsner Urquell? I may have to reconsider.
brent
Flying is such a tremendously unpleasant experience these days, it wouldn’t surprise me if more and more people, both passengers and attendants, have these little freakouts. I have been on a couple of flights over the last year or so where it seemed like the flight attendants had gotten pretty loopy and were pretty close to losing it. On one flight I remember, one particular flight attendant had clearly lost it and was shouting jokes, inside jokes that only the other attendants understood, over the intercom. Every single one of the attendants looked like they hadn’t slept in days. Sitting in those tiny chairs that would have seemed small to me when I was 14 and 50 pounds lighter, being served small bags of peanuts by people who, uniformly, resembled a mile long stretch of bad road, was dispiriting.
Thing is, it was only slightly worse than most flights. It doesn’t surprise me at all that both passengers and attendants are exhibiting less and less patience with the whole experience.
Its too bad. I am old enough to remember when flying was, if not fun, at least enjoyable. Nowadays, I do everything I can to avoid getting on planes unless it is absolutely necessary or just wildly inconvenient to do anything else.
Morbo
Couldn’t help but notice that this is the fifth installment of the “My New Personal Hero” title. Being the curious type I had to know who the other four were. So, in reverse chronological order (links excluded to avoid moderation):
4-4-08: Jeffrey Moran, ad exec at Absolut Vodka, for trolling anti-immigration zealots with an ad showing that Mexico had annexed the American Southwest.
9-22-05: Some guy in Omaha who mowed “Fuck you” (at least I assume that’s what it was) into (out of?) his lawn after neighbors complained that his grass was too long.
9-14-05: Ari Gold
12-16-03: Ready for this one? … Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, because he pissed on the UN.
Tractarian
I’m just glad I wasn’t on that flight. Can you imagine the delays while the (surely equally disgruntled) airport employees replace the slide? And if you think they’re letting people off the plane while they do that, think again.
And, not to go all Randian or anything, but who forced him into taking this job? Isn’t “dealing with surly frustrated passengers” a prominent part of the job description? Isn’t that obvious?
This guy’s no hero, he’s a criminal.
The sad thing is, he’ll almost surely get a reality TV gig out of this.
bemused
Treasure this rare moment. We are seeing a truly united america. I haven’t heard one person, even in msm, that is not empathizing with Slater.
Jon H
@Dennis: “He was, and charged with a felony. Maybe I’m knee-jerking, but that sounds ridiculous to me (especially the felony part). Makes it look to me like he was arrested for quitting his job.”
I would expect that resetting the emergency chute probably costs quite a lot of money.
You’d get arrested just the same if you decided to open the emergency chute, as a passenger.
Rosalita
@Mr. Poppinfresh:
Gotta be piggy and get in there to take up all the overhead bin space with your overstuffed bad and other paraphernalia…God forbid anyone else needs to stow something and wind up having to have their bag, gulp, *checked*
Jon H
@Keith G: “Must have been a straight flt attendant.”
From the pictures, I doubt it.
He resembles the character Johnny from “Airplane”… “This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl”
lou
As someone whose mother was a flight attendant, I’ve heard more than my share of asshole passenger stories (shoving a dirty diaper into her hands is one that springs to mind). And having to travel 4 to 6 times a year for work, I’ve also had those experiences. Flying is miserable and I won’t do it unless I absolutely must.
Jon H
@Captain Haddock: “People are miserable on planes because flying is a miserable experience.”
Well, yes. But imagine if you had to do it every day. And serve people at the same time, rather than just sitting in one place for a few hours.
maye
Anderson Cooper to Larry King to The View to a reality show on VH1. Yep, most profitable stunt so far this year.
The Moar You Know
@bemused: I’m glad to see it. I’m the son of a pilot – he retired only a couple of years ago – and I also have to do a lot of flying.
The behavior of passengers is unreal. The flight attendants aren’t telling you to sit down, shut up, and stop grabbing shit out of the bins to be Nazis, they’re doing it so that you don’t die as a consequence of your own stupidity.
A plane is a dangerous place at the best of times, even just sitting there on the ground.
BTW: he’s getting arrested for several good reasons. I actually have no problem with that at all. What he did was dangerous, will put an airworthy plane out of commission for weeks, and could have killed anyone underneath that slide when it deployed. That being said, I still sympathize with the guy, and wish passengers would stop being such total dickheads. The people who comprise your flight crews are people who are professional to an extent that most people can’t even imagine, and the behavior of the public really is driving them to the breaking point.
Jon H
This reminds me of the cartoons where a character draws a door or a tunnel on the wall, and then uses it to escape.
Everyone wishes they could do that, once in a while.
maya
All of this could have been avoided if Jet Blue and other airlines arranged boarding and debarking by political affiliation: First on, off, and general run of the airplane while in flight Teabaggers; Libertarians will be confined to no frills steerage; and all must wait for Republicans to show up for the flight, if at all. All classes have the right to stop the flight wherever and whenever they so desire to demand fare cuts. And free peanuts all around, except steerage.
Democrats are automatically designated to the no-fly list and must take Amtrak.
Svensker
You left out the part where police found him at home in bed with his boyfriend.
Is Slater the new Beale?
stuckinred
@Jon H: Man, when I was in the military 40+ years ago we loved the stews and they loved us. I always treat cabin crews with the utmost respect because of those experiences!
Hal
Damn, he just went all out that day.
Still, 7 years in prison is ridiculous. Jetblue should just drop the charges and call it a day.
bs23
don’t forget his neighbor Janet Bavasso (a former flight attendant), who the article quotes as saying:
“Enough is enough — good for him. If he would have called me, I would have picked him up.”
awesome.
Keith G
@Svensker: Now he is my hero too.
MattF
The platform of the GMTFOOH party: install chutes in every workplace. And don’t forget the mini-fridge.
Zandar
Awaiting the “How To Quit Your Job” zazzle shirt:
1) little square symbol with a intercom mic and &$*#*@ coming out of it,
2) Little square symbol with an inflatable slide leading out the door,
3) Little square symbol of a hand grabbing a can marked “beer’.
Let’s go, people.
Bulworth
You mean he’s teh gay? I can see President Gingrich’s response now: liberal activist judge tosses gay marriage ban, gays riot, etc.
Tone in DC
4-4-08: Jeffrey Moran, ad exec at Absolut Vodka, for trolling anti-immigration zealots with an ad showing that Mexico had annexed the American Southwest.
9-22-05: Some guy in Omaha who mowed “Fuck you” (at least I assume that’s what it was) into (out of?) his lawn after neighbors complained that his grass was too long.
9-14-05: Ari Gold
12-16-03: Ready for this one? … Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, because he pissed on the UN.
I give props to all on the hero list except the Hollywood agent. This guy can go jump in the Tar Pits.
As for the ramp jumping beerlifter… more power to him. Many people in the comments have said that someone could have gotten hurt when the slide deployed. I’ll be Result Oriented Guy and say that no one actually did get hurt.
Some folks say the jet will be out of action for weeks. I sincerely doubt it. It’s a Boeing airliner, not the Space Shuttle. Maybe someone can IM Captain Sulenberger and ask him about the down time.
cat48
Joey Maloney
“…he seemed to be in the midst having sexual relations”?? Exactly what was the cause of the officer’s uncertainty?
Tone in DC
@Jon H:
I work with lawyers all day. If we had this cartoon/magic drawing device around after one of our three hour meeting where nothing was resolved, we would have utilized the cartoon escape ploy!
Hell, if there were a ramp on the side of our office building, a few of us would have used that by now.
Rosalita
@Joey Maloney:
hmmm, so many places to go with this one
Tone in DC
“…he seemed to be in the midst having sexual relations”?? Exactly what was the cause of the officer’s uncertainty?
Made me chuckle, too.
…Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Nick
@Keith G: No, he was gay, when they showed up to arrest him, he was having sex with his boyfriend
ChrisS
I flew a shitload more a few years ago than I do now.
Most of the passengers I can’t deal with fall into two groups:
1) Never been a plane before or have been once or twice ten years ago. They can’t read a map (seat, terminal, etc.), the TSA regulations, or tell time. They plug up the ticketing counter, the TSA lines, the boarding area. They have all their worldly possessions shoved into carry-ons because they’ve heard horror stories of losing their luggage. Families, I offer a little leeway, unless they’re being rude. As an added bonus these people usually flip out when anything abnormal happens, as if United is personally punishing them.
2) The uber-savvy business traveler. This person flies often enough to know it all, but not often enough to get a status with the airline. They push the limits on everything. Waiting till the last minute to board, turn their phone off, put their seatbelt on, put their seat up, turn their laptop off, etc. They can’t bear the fact that this isn’t a personal jet.
Me, I pack lightly, put what I need in a carry-on, shove the rest into checked baggage. Every trip I’ve been on I ensure that I always have three things on me at a bare minimum: phone, credit card, ID. That all fits in my jacket pocket. Usually, I have a laptop with me and a book. I’m not freaking out because I couldn’t get an upgrade or my bags were re-routed because my second flight was canceled due to storms. I plan to leave a day early and return a day later (most times you can change your itinerary without incurring a charge)
I have a feeling that the passenger who pissed off the attendant was of the 2nd category.
me
“Cocaine is a hell of a drug.”
Jay in Oregon
@Joey Maloney:
Well, Slater probably wasn’t wearing a diaper or a pair of wetsuits, though that would have been the cherry on top of the cake of awesome.
Rosalita
has there been any news about why the passenger hasn’t been arrested? sounds like verbal and actual assault to me…
trueblood
@Tractarian: Surprisingly, criminals are people who commit crimes, and often people who are criminals are arrested for doing illegal things, as was Slater. So unbunch those panties. I’m sure you would’ve acted exactly according to workplace rules and regulations, as you always have and always will, because you are perfect.
Anyway, if I was on that flight? The first thing I’m doing after Slater jumps off is jumping on the slide myself.
Elizabelle
At least the beer is all he swiped.
From the NY Times story:
Does anyone know if this is happening on overseas airlines as well?
And just imagine if flight attendants had to deal with loud, selfish cell phone users as well.
I would prefer no cell phones on airplanes, but free wifi.
scav
I’m rather loving the ChiTrib’s title: “Passenger: Flight attendant relieved after cursing, making emergency slide getaway in NYC”
Well, yeah, otherwise why bother?
Ned R.
There might just be someone as awesome as Slater around:
http://thechive.com/2010/08/10/girl-quits-her-job-on-dry-erase-board-emails-entire-office-33-photos/
Jon H
@Tone in DC: “Some folks say the jet will be out of action for weeks. I sincerely doubt it. It’s a Boeing airliner, not the Space Shuttle.”
I don’t know about ‘weeks’, but I’d think the assumption with these chutes is that, being intended for use in an emergency, the plane is probably going to be out of commission for other reasons, so there’s no need for the chute to be something that can be quickly replaced after use.
JR
Still waiting on the Heifer, Julio.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@mistersnrub:
How the hell does Gingrich think he’s ever going to get through a primary without someone asking him why he’s such a lying hypocrite?
Gingrich has the ability to be more Nixon than Nixon.
Ben
How come I’m the only one that thinks this guy is a douche?
Is it because I’m a douche?
It’s because I’m a douche, isn’t it.
Angelos
@Ned R.: Damn, beat me to it by 9 minutes.
Yes, office girl beats slide guy, methinks.
bemused
@The Moar You Know:
Flight attendants and pilots have tough jobs and definitely not appreciated as much as they should be. It’s not hard to understand how frustrating their jobs are these days. Unfortunately Slater went too far. The asshole passenger must be praying his/her name will stay anonymous….
I’m just enjoying this pause in this everything is partisan warfare climate. Just about everyone, left to right, can relate to Slater’s flame-out. An added bonus is that Michele Obama’s vacation has been dumped for Slater’s story.
catclub
@The Moar You Know:
“The flight attendants aren’t telling you to sit down, shut up, and stop grabbing shit out of the bins to be Nazis, they’re doing it so that you don’t die as a consequence of your own stupidity.”
No they are doing it because those are the FAA regulations.
How many lives were saved due to not standing in aircraft while taxiing? Thousands? Millions? One?
I am perfectly willing to admit that people who stand up save themselves essentially no time, but given that the flight attendants ARE allowed to stand while taxiing, the only people who must be sitting while taxiing are the pilot and co-pilot, everbody else is just riding.
“A plane is a dangerous place at the best of times, even just sitting there on the ground.”
Well, I do know about dangerous taxiing on the runway at the Canary Islands – over 40 years ago. But how many lives would be saved if they had been sitting down?
Tell me again how many people died in a commercial airplane
accident the last two years in the US and how many people flew.
Then I will tell you that about 40,000 people died in the US
on the roads.
Southern Beale
Apparently this guy has become some kind of populist hero, the “Joe the Plumber” of overworked, overstressed, underpaid, underappreciated, unfulfilled American workers everywhere.
I think if we can tap into this frustration, not phony-baloney bullshit about “deficits” and “socialism,” which I don’t for a second believe anyone seriously gives a crap about, we wouldn’t be talking about Democrats losing the House of Representatives in November.
Just … a thought.
Dear Democrats: remember who brought you to power. WORKERS.
Stogoe
Yeah, I’m still not getting why the passenger isn’t in custody after committing assault with a deadly weapon against an airline employee. Throw the book at her.
The Dangerman
That’s it; I’m having a Steve Slater party this weekend.
Put out a tub of cold ones.
Place the old slip and slide.
Merriment!
bemused
@Ned R.:
I love this.
Cris
Not to defend the douchenozzle part (because heaven knows my fellow passengers are a bunch of impatient, self-important twats), but the overloading of the overhead compartment is a direct, forseeable result of the airlines’ decision to charge extra for all checked luggage. People are adapting exactly as should have been expected.
Cris
He’s the Sully Sullenberger of the passenger cabin!
JR
Girl quits her job with dry erase board, digital camera, and intimate knowledge of boss’ facebooking habits.
Poopyman
Speaking of planes being dangerous places, it appears that Alaska has lost an ex-Senator.
And an ex-NASA head, also. Too.
JD Rhoades
@Bulworth:
Aren’t all male flight attendants? I thought it was a requirement.
Stooleo
Hulk
smashcrash.(I know, questionable taste).
Cris
@Poopyman: omg, that’s horrible. Stevens deserved mockery, he deserved an indictment, but I’m sure none of us wished that on him.
Punchy
This guy would be hired by Southworst Airlines in a minute. They encourage this knee-jerk, eclectic behavior in their FAs.
Elizabelle
@Poopyman:
beat me to it.
Was going to say that someone might have had a tougher experience on a plane yesterday.
Ted Stevens and former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe possibly on plane that crashed yesterday evening in Alaska. Their fate unknown at present.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/us/11crash.html?hp
Although … NYT alert read “former senator is believed to be on crashed plane.”
Was just thinking, please don’t let it be John Danforth or John Warner or Bob Kerrey or someone good.
Ted Stevens? Meh.
JR
@JR: Link: http://thechive.com/2010/08/10/girl-quits-her-job-on-dry-erase-board-emails-entire-office-33-photos/
mr. whipple
If you are going to fly, things will be much more pleasant if you stay out of steerage.
JD Rhoades
@serge:
Perhaps they’re trying very hard to make connections that the airline has put in jeopardy because the goddamn plane sat on the tarmac for an hour and a fucking half before takeoff and their connecting flight leaves in ten minutes and the son of a bitch airline put that flight so far away they have to walk fifteen minutes then take a fucking TRAIN to get to it?
Why yes, I have flown through Atlanta recently, why do you ask?
GeorgeSalt
@brent:
It’s not fun to fly in the USA, or with a US-based flight crew. I’ve had some good experiences on foreign carriers.
Recently, I flew from Singapore to DC-Dulles on a US carrier. Out of Singapore we had a Singapore-based crew — they actually worked for Singapore Airlines but were staffing that flight under a contractual agreement with the US carrier. They provided great, courteous service. Then in Tokyo that crew was replaced by a US-based crew, and they were rude, obnoxious and drunk with their petty authority over the passengers. It’s just another example of what’s happened to our country and our society over the last 30 years.
Martin
Office girl definitely wins.
Frank
I have seen first-hand the type of garbage these flight-attendants have to do deal with. Rude passengers, drunks, bringing carry-on luggage on board that even my dog would know is not allowed on board, using cell phones on board when it clearly is not allowed, moving around in the cabin while the captain has clearly said it is not allowed.
Hell, I would be willing the help the poor guy with his legal fees. He shouldn’t be on trial. The idiotic passenger who disobeyed should be locked up instead.
JD Rhoades
@Punchy:
Huh. I’ve never had a problem with a SW flight crew.
Actually, despite my little rant above, I’ve never had a problem with ANY flight crew. I don’t blame them for stuff they have no control over.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Had a woman on the flight in the seat in front of me who put her seat all the way back and then sat there and bounced in it awake the whole time. When the pilot announced we were descending to the airport, she pulled out her phone and called someone. You should have seen how big the stewardess’s eyes got when she realized what was going on.
Remember November
Love the way they truncate the story- said passenger would not sit, and his luggage actually struck the FA in the head. Then said passenger let loose a stream of foul language, which THEN prompted the FA to get on the PA and fire back. What a way to end 20 yrs of suffering in-flight shenanigans.
Remember November
@Keith G:
Pilsner Urquell is drunk by straights too ya know, having good taste is no indication of homosexuality. Lots of gays drink Budweiser.
Nikki
This story makes my day.
Cris
Yeah but they’re all tops.
Nick
Actually, according to the WSJ, he grabbed two beers. Foresight.
cmorenc
I can understand why the FA may have experienced his personal breaking point while trying to deal with a recklessly inconsiderate, belligerent asshole of a passenger. I can empathize with his reaction and like many of you, see a certain humorous stylishness in the FA’s mode of quitting his airline career.
NONETHELESS I hope everyone also recognizes how much better off we are that this particular FA has rendered himself permanently ineligible for further work in the flight part of the airline industry. Modest-status and modest-paying and sometimes borderline menial as an FA job can be, nonetheless their competent, composed performance of their job is crucially important to the safety of airline travel, second only to airline pilots and air traffic controllers. An FA who cannot keep their composure when confronted with difficult passengers, even extremely difficult ones, is an FA who can quickly become a contributor toward a difficult situation spiraling out of control, rather than a leveling buffer toward keeping things safe and in control in the crowded cabin of an airliner.
So personally, while I sympathize with him, and the guy who provoked him is a jerk who should have been at least inconveniently detained and harshly questioned by TSA/airport officials, nonetheless the FA richly deserved to be fired, and I’m personally glad he’ll never work in the airline industry ever again.
Scott de B.
@Cris:
Which is why they should have started charging for carry-ons, not checked luggage. Gouge all the business travelers who don’t want to wait in baggage claim and everyone who slows boarding by bringing a lounge suite on the plane.
tim
The beer-grabbing denoument is the final BIG SPLASH that we gheys are awesome at coming up with.
What a great way to quit! Loving this guy.
KDP
I did notice in the video of Slater being taken into custody that he sported a rather nasty abrasion on the right side of his head. While his method of quitting was inventive and entertaining to those of us hearing about it after the fact, it was in violation of federal regulations so the charges against him are to be expected. He is, apparently, being held on 2500/bond.
I do hope that the passenger is charged with assault. I also hope that the head injury, and potential brain trauma, along with the other life stressors affecting Mr. Slater are taken into account when considering a case against him. Father’s recent death and mother’s cancer must have had an effect on his ability to handle the stress of his job.
Amanda in the South Bay
As someone who also works in customer service, I totally sympathize with him. I’m going to school, so I hope this gig isn’t permanent, but even an eight hour shift makes me exhausted to the bones. I can’t imagine doing a customer service gig for decades and not finally snapping.
RE the whole safety thing- I know safety I’d important on airlines, blah blah blah, but airline regulations have always seemed a bit draconian.
Cris
If his MySpace page has a PayPal link, I suspect bail is already covered.
Florida Cynic
@Cris: Except they were overloading the overheads long before the airlines started charging for checked luggage.
calling all toasters
If we would just let people carry firearms on planes this wouldn’t have happened.
Fleas correct the era
I’ve never had anything mysteriously vanish from my carry-on, and I’ve never had my carry-on mysteriously vanish from this time and dimension, never to be seen again.
Come to think of it, maybe that is worth paying extra for.
Joel
@Omnes Omnibus: Boy, I have to disagree. I think flight attendants do a great job, given the pay and the hassle.
Airlines fuck over passengers at any number of checkpoints, but it’s not the flight attendants or the pilots that are responsible.
9 out of 10 times that I’ve had a bad flight, its on account of other passengers.
A notable 1 of those 10 times was when an Air Portugal pilot bounced the plane on the runway. During takeoff.
twiffer
what i find deeply amusing about airlines is how they try to prevent people from bringing all their worldly possessions on as carry-on luggage, whilst simultaneously charging to check any bags.
LanceThruster
Unfortunately, thanks to the DHS (Vaterland Schutzstaffel) hysteria, he’s opened himself up to multiple federal offenses.
LanceThruster
@mistersnrub:
Ugh! That picture just made me throw up a little in my mouth.
Joey Maloney
$2500 is nothing (assuming that’s $2500 cash and not the 10% he’d have to give a bondsman on a $25K bond). That suggests that despite the felony charges, the court is not taking it all that seriously.
Joel
@calling all toasters: That just won my internets.
Joel
@calling all toasters: That just won my internets.
Emma
Catclub: insert obligatory anecdote/= data before starting. At least two people I know of. I was on a plane coming back to Miami from Dallas. Miserable weather, delays all over the place, asshole passengers, stressed out THIRD crew (don’t know the story behind that!).
Anyway. We land and two people get up and start rummaging through the overheads. Flight attendant pretty much bellows SIT DOWN! at the top of of her voice. They did, grumbling and bitching. About two minutes later, another, smaller plane, who had gotten the runway information screwed up, came close enough to nearly clip our nose. Our pilot had to do the equivalent of stomping on the brakes. If they had been standing, they would have flown head first right into the bulkhead. Or worse, into someone else.
No. It doesn’t happen often. But it does happen. ANd you can bet if they had been killed or if they had been permanently injured, there would have been hell to pay for those “careless” airlines.
Steeplejack
@Amanda in the South Bay:
Thank you for saying this. You have inadvertently brightened my day. I was having a crisis this weekend because it really hit me how tired I am all the time, and more and more I spend the whole weekend trying to recharge my batteries enough to start the grind all over again. But I never quite recharge enough, so over time there is net battery loss. And I was doing all the usual self-blaming things: I need to get better sleep, eat better, exercise more, plan my time better, have a better attitude, blah, blah, blah.
So to have someone suggest that, no, it’s just the nature of the crappy job is like a breath of fresh air.
My crappy job is 30-35 hours a week in retail. The only plus is health insurance, and I’m beginning to wonder if even that is worth it. It’s not even good health insurance.
Gozer
My dad worked for an airline for years (ground operations) and I’ve heard tons of bad passenger stories, from cheats who try to scam free miles and bitch when they get caught to passengers leaving in a rage and destroying parts of the jetway by punching it (and leaving bloody holes in the process), to spoiled business people throwing fits when they don’t get their way.
In the last category my dad told of a man who, angered that the in-flight crew refused to serve him more booze, proceeded to pull down the pants of his suit and take a shit on his tray.
Frankly, the person who hit the FA with a bag should be grateful they weren’t assaulted by the crew.
mawado
On the subject of going out with style
You go Jenny!
aimai
@Joey Maloney:
Damn, you beat me to it. I was loyally scrolling through all the comments before commenting and you got there first. Maybe the report was written by Ross Douthat, he seems like the kind of guy who might be uncertain about what is and is not sex.
aimai
terry chay
http://thechive.com/2010/08/10/girl-quits-her-job-on-dry-erase-board-emails-entire-office-33-photos/
drkrick
This one attracted quite a bit of news coverage at the time. His colleagues were quoted as saying his behavior wasn’t “like him” at all. I would hope not.
YellowJournalism
@mawado: The FA had style, but the office assistant was more creative. Plus, I love her facial expressions, although I’m sure Johnny from Airplane had a few choice expressions as he quit, too.
Uncle Clarence Thomas
I thought your new personal hero would be Robert Gibbs.
HyperIon
@norbizness wrote something:
hey dude! I just mentioned your name on the Really, Robert thread….because YOU were/are The Left! (And I also thought you were a pro.)
HyperIon
@RSR wrote:
Serious question: Do you ever laugh at Andy Borowitz?
I don’t. And yet he used to be syndicated in the fuckin’ Seattle Times? I stopped reading the rag some time ago so I don’t know if he is still.
Then I saw him as the speaker at some pol function on CSPAN and he bombed. It was embarrassing to watch.
lou
@emma. Glad you responded to the guy saying what’s wrong with standing up.
Also, if you’re in the middle of opening an overhead bin as this woman was, the consequences would be even worse.
Yutsano
Awww c’mon! Y’all are letting me down here! 132 comments and no one links to this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge_x1U2rYBo
Triassic Sands
I’m pretty sure it’s just one small step from stealing a beer and activating the slide to hijacking a plane and flying it into a skyscraper.
I hope law enforcement takes into account the mitigating circumstances and the likelihood that Slater isn’t a career criminal and lets him off with a slap on wrist. This is one of those cases where an overzealous prosecutor (up for re-election?) can file an endless list of charges (most or all carrying serious jail time) against someone and pretend that justice requires over-reaction.
He’s out of work in a serious recession, so he may come to deeply regret his rashness. However, although dramatic, his behavior was no more threatening than the things countless people do every day — with no mitigating circumstances and no penalties. Yes, the ramp could have injured or killed someone. So, could all the fools who talk on the phone while driving their cars. And their only excuse is they’re dumb.
A fine ought to cover it.
de stijl
Perhaps the saddest day of my life was the day I quite my IS job for a big ass “financial service provider” (aka a god-damned bank, just call yourselves a bank and stop sucking my balls with this “financial service provider” bullshit).
It wasn’t a sad day because I quit my job – it was a sad day because I quit so poorly.
To all you younglings out there, heed my advice – even if you like your boss on a personal level, don’t cry on your way out the door. Especially if you’re a boy.
God, I was a little twat that day. I wish there were a memory eraser for things like this. I fucking cried my way out the door. Christ almighty.