Steven Slater, a career flight attendant, came to the tipping point. A superb flight attendant for over 20 years, a traveler thought it was appropriate to mistreatment him for doing his job. The Jet Blue flight attendant stormed off, went on a tirade of his own over the intercom and then employed the emergency chute and took off on foot down the tarmac. He has been charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief among other things.
That he had enough abuse is plane to see
Jet Blue Flight 1052 was arriving at JFK International Airport from Pittsburgh according to CNN. As the plane taxied toward the terminal, a passenger stood up to retrieve his bag too early, and he was told by flight attendant Steven Slater he had to sit back down. Precisely what happened isn’t known, but it is clear that Slater was struck by either the bag falling from the overhead bin or the passenger struck him. The passenger swore at Slater after refusing to apologize. Slater took over the intercom, cursed the cretin, and announced he was quitting. He took beer from the galley and used the emergency chute to exit the plane. Hours later, he was arrested at home.
Cabin pressure
Slater barely had a moment’s rest at home when not working, MSN. Slater was often flying to Thousand Oaks to take care of his dying mother, according to his roommate, which Slater also did for his father. His mother was a career flight attendant also, according to the New York Times. His father, formerly a pilot, had perished from Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Customers are wrong more often than they think
Individuals in the service trades should be treated better than they’re. Anyone who has worked in retail, food service or related fields knows how rude some people can be. It costs nothing to be polite and cooperative, even if mistakes do sometimes get made.
Further reading
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com/id/38629517/ns/travel-news/
CNN
cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/08/10/new.york.escape.chute.opened/?hpt=C2
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/08/10/nyregion/10attendant.html?_r=1 and hp
