Mel Kleiman

Steven Slater: Lunatic or Working-Class Hero?

August 16, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
A dramatic meltdown by a JetBlue flight attendant has sparked a discussion around people's frustrations with their jobs in a time of seemingly endless cutbacks. What lessons did you take from Steven Slater's meltdown and the public's reaction to it?      [more...]

There are two separate issues here and they should be addressed separately.

1. Slater's behavior was wrong, period. Whatever the cause, he behaved in an inappropriate manner. Forget the customer service role and just think about the role of a flight attendant. Would you want to be on his plane?

2. Job stress and job burn out -- yes, they are real problem and in our fast paced pressure cooker world they are not going to go away. Is business doing anything about it? In most cases, NO.

Will they do anything about it? NO; unless it is shown that doing something about it will have a positive effect on the bottom line.