MichaelN
"A Lot Of People Are Calling Him a Hero But I Don't Think So"
Because it's too important not to talk about
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A flight attendant for JetBlue Airways best known for having made a unique exit from a plane.
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Rating:
If you've ever dreamt of giving upper management and your clients the ultimate f-you and causing a major stir as you quit, well then, one brazen man lived out many people's wildest fantasies earlier this week when he walked out on his job in the most dramatic, yet surprisingly seamless, fashion possible. If you didn't already hear, 38-year-old [now-former] JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater got into a spat with an uncooperative passenger upon landing, thus prompting him to activate the emergency inflatable slide, subsequently sliding down to freedom.
+5
The once proud flight attendant
When I first came across this Gawker article on Monday, my eyes just bugged opened as I kept reading. My first thought was, "This is The Onion mirrored to look like Gawker, right?".
For a second, let's just forget about the financial costs, legal ramifications, and potential hazard that this incident could have caused and let's just look at the facts of the event that gives this story a permanent spot in the history of awesome:
- After a commotion and getting hit in the head by an uncooperative passenger during landing, Steven Slater manages to keep his cool.
- He then goes on the intercom and delivers a parting speech with some very choice words
- Activates the inflatable slide
- Grabs two beers from the galley
- Slides down the inflatable slide
- Runs to his car parked not too far away
- Drives home just a few miles away
And I must add that the most amazing part is -- he did all this without incident. Nobody stopped him or got in his way, and he actually didn't get arrested till quite a bit later. It was the perfect escape.
Call it idiotic, egotistical, or what have you, but in the short time since this incident occurred, there has already been an overwhelming outpouring of support for him. At the time of writing, this Facebook fan page created in his honor is just 10k short of 200 thousand fans.
There's already an awesome spoof on the Chive, Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office
There's even a spoof of that spoof, Apple Exec. Papermaster quits job on iPad
Fan gear is already available.
There are several tribute songs on Youtube
Just a warning, this second video is NSFW since it has gratuitous use of the f-word, just like Steven Slater's farewell speech over the intercom on the plane
Even Nancy Grace supports him,
And just because, kittens on a slide,
Epicness and jokes aside, there are several lessons to be learnt from this incident, and one of them is a simple one: remember to be nice to your flight attendants. Sure, it can be fun to fly all over the place, but it's still a tough job and they're typically overworked, underpaid, and worse -- under appreciated. You can do your part to fix those things by being cooperative.
Seriously, peoples, listen to your flight attendants when they tell you not to take off your seat belt, stand up, and open up the overhead compartments to grab your things until the plane has come to a complete stop. There's a reason they have these rules in place. Plus, everyone's 100% guaranteed to get off the plane eventually, and most likely the same amount of time. If anyone should be in trouble, it should be the unruly passenger who started this whole thing.
Steven Slater, we love you and wish you the best. Something tells me that you're going to be just a-okay :)
Ever had an incident where you wish you had an inflatable slide in your back pocket? Please do share!
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Butterfly1961
September 07, 2010
Sounds like he got to the point where he just had enough! LOL Almost the same thing happened to me at my last job, except that instead of quitting, I got fired --witnessing my nursing Supervisor falsifying an inmate's medical records (I worked as a MA in a Correctional Facility) was the last straw for me, and instead of getting rid of HER, they fired me when I turned her in to her supervisor. I have not been able to find a job since, and yes I am poor at the moment, I miss working, I have bouts of depression because of it, but she committed an injustice that I could not tolerate. To this day, I know I would have still turned her in, however I would have done it in a different way. I figure if he got that disgusted and quit in that manner, this was not the first incident where he felt he didn't need to put up with another's crap anymore and he probably isn't caring that he will never work for an airline again! LOl Kudos to Slater.....
devora
September 08, 2010
Thanks for sharing, Brenda. I'm sorry to hear, but I bet you can probably sleep better at night knowing that you did the right thing. Chin up!
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Sharrie
August 15, 2010
I wouldn't have done it unless I'd like to kiss goodbye to the airline industry! He may have quit in style but he certainly has no more openings in this field, imho. Interesting review, nonetheless :-)
devora
August 18, 2010
It seems like he kissed goodbye to... most jobs actually, given the magnitude of this incident as well as all the publicity that surrounds it. The only industry I really see him having a shot in is the entertainment industry for making guest appearances and for reality TV. Either way, I hope he does well. Thanks for reading, Sharrie!
Sharrie
August 18, 2010
I agree. Entertainment and possibly to some extent, advertising industry ;-)
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woopak_the_thrill
August 15, 2010
wow. Quite an entertaining write up. You never cease to amaze me with this type of topics, Lady D. Nice going!
devora
August 18, 2010
Thanks, Woo! Glad you enjoyed it!
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TheJohn
August 15, 2010
I don't want to see a million copy cats like Slater but I do hope that since this story is damn near if not viral now, I hope customers and other uppity people drop that "I pay your salary so eat my sh**" attitude when dealing with service workers like Slater so that they don't end up being the catalist of a commotion. Nice review and collection of material.
devora
August 18, 2010
Thanks, John! I really hope there aren't a bunch of copy cats either. This was a pretty dumb thing to do, and it's really fortunate that it turned out more amusing than deadly. I also hope it will change the way that customers treat customer service people, too.
TheJohn
August 18, 2010
I hope so too. I doubt it, but I hope so. It's one of the reasons Randall in Clerks says: "This job wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the customers."
devora
August 18, 2010
LOL, man, I love that movie :)
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Fionnchu
August 13, 2010
Our generation's Howard Beale? Amazing testimony (and links) to a viral phenomenon!
devora
August 13, 2010
Hahaha, I just read an article the other day titled Howard Beale Without The Raincoat. Thanks for reading, John!
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Scotman
August 13, 2010
Yeah, I gotta call it idiotic and egotistical. Further news reading showed that he was b*tching and complaining before getting smacked as well. There's really no excuse to have the media praise such knuckleheadedness and unprofessionalism. I really hope people don't copycat this guy and tell their bosses off and leave. Not a good way to go on career advancement. As Sean Rhodes wrote me, we'll all forget this guy in a few months anyway. Great review, very helpful.
devora
August 13, 2010
I read about that on some tabloid site this morning. I hope it isn't true, and I also hope that people don't copy cat this as well. Even though I don't necessarily support what he did, I still get a major kick out of this story. And forgetting about him in a few months? A few months is quite a bit of time. I think we'll probably stop talking about him in a few days and he probably wouldn't be mentioned too much in the news unless something happens, but I don't think anyone could ever forget him and this incident. I feel like we're going to have inflatable slide jokes for a while :P
Scotman
August 13, 2010
Yes indeed!
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MichaelN
August 13, 2010
Thanks Debbie for your review. You really did a lot of research. Why don't you add it to my "Politics Your Way" Community and unlock the "Quit Your Job With Flair" badge?
devora
August 13, 2010
Thanks for reading, Michael! Surprisingly, I didn't do any research at all; all of these links were fed to me by my Facebook and twitter streams, including the actual story itself. Ah, the power of social media! I'm going to keep this review in the Awesomeness community, but I'll join Politics Your Way just in case I ever have anything political to share! :)
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MeowMeowMeow
August 13, 2010
I once had a melt down at my job at a car rental counter. I had been covering for my boss who was out of town for two days in a row, had a migraine and was dealing with a dude who had overloaded his truck and the box of the truck was dragging on the tires it was so heavy and it wouldnt move on the phone, and this woman came in to return a car. I told her just to leave the keys and i would close out the contract and mail her the receipt, but she gave me some pushback about that and i yelled at her. it was great. a letter went to the president of the company, and when the boss i was covering for came back, he showed me the letter, asked "did you see this"? i said yes, and he threw it in the trash.
devora
August 13, 2010
I think I've heard this before. Was the letter from the lady?
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jbeswick
August 12, 2010
Hilarious - I especially love the Hong Kong reenactment. It just makes it so much more personable. I hope that the stories emerging today about how he was rude and it wasn't the passenger aren't true - it takes the sheen off the whole thing. And for ending with Kittens on a Slide, I salute you. :-)
devora
August 12, 2010
Yeah, you know you've left your mark when Asian news outlets start making animated reenactments of your incident. Check out this Chinese one of the late night show wars. It's even more epic than this one, if you can believe it. And I haven't heard the stories about him being the rude one, but I hope they're not true! And I'm glad you enjoyed the kittens on a slide :)
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More Steven Slater reviews
I can't see why everyone is so enamored with this guy. Basically, he got tired of dealing with some of the annoying passengers on his flights and decided to quit in a colorful way. He did something quite dangerous, activating and going down the emergency slide. As the airport went into emergency mode to investigate, this was the equivilent of turning in a false fire alarm. Suppose a real emergency had occurred at the same time and those workers and equipment were not … more
Comments (7)
Compliments (40)
Steven Slater is a loser. As the story develops there are no passengers that can confirm his side of the story, that he was hit in the head by baggage in the overhead storage, or that a passenger was verbally abusive to him. Basically, he went "postal" without the gun! A reason for this behavior has not been given as of yet. What really "burns" me about his behavior is that he now has the unmitigated gall to ask the airline for … more
Comments (4)
Compliments (48)
NEW YORK TIMES 5 Sep 2010 – Sometimes there's no going back. JetBlue Airways says that there will be no second exits for famed flight attendant Steven Slater— who captured the nation's imagination with his profanity-laced loudspeaker tirade and jump down a plane's emergency chute, beer in hand. Spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said Saturday that Slater is no longer employed by the airline. She said the airline won't release further … more
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Compliments (12)
I am very happy to see that this loser is getting what he deserves!!! NEW YORK TIMES 5 Sep 2010 – Sometimes there's no going back. JetBlue Airways says that there will be no second exits for famed flight attendant Steven Slater— who captured the nation's imagination with his profanity-laced loudspeaker tirade and jump down a plane's emergency chute, beer in hand. Spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said Saturday … more
Comments (4)
Compliments (6)
Sounds like quite the moron to me. He should be reduced to flipping burgers at Johnny Rockets but he will probably wind up with his own cable TV show.
Comments (3)
Compliments (7)
"If anyone should be in trouble, it should be the unruly passenger who started this whole thing." I doubt it but, maybe he'll think twice before smacking around the next flight attendant.
Comments (1)
Compliments (3)
Quick Tip by TheJohn.
August 12, 2010
If you work in the service industry, and you've been bossed around by people who think they own you with some degree of entitlement and you stand up for yourself then you cannot be a bad guy. He was doing his job till one mouthy flyer and her giant bag attacked him. If he got stern with her she would have complained and he still would have gotten in trouble for doing his job of telling everyone to stay seated for their own safety, and probably knowing this is my guess why he went all out. Unless … more
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About the reviewer
devora (devora)
Ranked #1
Ranked #1
When I'm not Lunching, I'm a jeweler, and an all around, self-proclaimed web geek. My passions include social media, the interweb, technology, writing, yoga, fitness, photography, jewelry, fashion, … more
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About this person
Steven Slater, a flight attendant for JetBlue Airways, is known for having made a unique exit from a Pittsburgh to New York flight which had just landed.
As a JetBlue Flight 1052 taxied to a stop at JFK Airport on August 9, 2010, a passenger stood up to retrieve his bag from the overhead compartment. Wishing to instruct the passenger to remain seated, Slater approached him only to have the bag hit his head as it was removed. After Slater asked for an apology, the passenger responded by hurling obscenities at the flight attendant.
Slater returned the obscenities by announcing them over the public address system and then activated his own emergency exit onto the tarmac via the inflatable slide, but not before grabbing two beers from the galley. He slid down the chute, ran to his car parked nearby and drove home where he was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief, trespassing, and reckless endangerment. His bail was set at $2,500.00. Slater pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was held on at the Vernon C. Bain intake center after failing to meet bail.
The identity of the passenger who caused the bag to hit Slater's head and who cursed at him is currently unknown.
News reports did not indicate whether Slater received a concussion when hit on the head, nor whether head injuries might have led to Slater's briefly unpredictable behavior.
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As a JetBlue Flight 1052 taxied to a stop at JFK Airport on August 9, 2010, a passenger stood up to retrieve his bag from the overhead compartment. Wishing to instruct the passenger to remain seated, Slater approached him only to have the bag hit his head as it was removed. After Slater asked for an apology, the passenger responded by hurling obscenities at the flight attendant.
Slater returned the obscenities by announcing them over the public address system and then activated his own emergency exit onto the tarmac via the inflatable slide, but not before grabbing two beers from the galley. He slid down the chute, ran to his car parked nearby and drove home where he was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief, trespassing, and reckless endangerment. His bail was set at $2,500.00. Slater pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was held on at the Vernon C. Bain intake center after failing to meet bail.
The identity of the passenger who caused the bag to hit Slater's head and who cursed at him is currently unknown.
News reports did not indicate whether Slater received a concussion when hit on the head, nor whether head injuries might have led to Slater's briefly unpredictable behavior.
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