Joel Warady

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...]

Let's keep this in perspective. He became a hero on the Internet, and mostly on Facebook. The Facebook community loves to idolize people who make fools of themselves, and this person certainly did so.

Are we supposed to idolize an employee who takes matters into his own hands, and when he is unhappy with his job, he feels it is justified to vent in public? How is this any different than allowing the same employee to throw coffee on a passenger when the passenger becomes demanding? The fact is, when you choose to work in a service industry, your job is to provide service. And if you don't like it, you get to quit. But losing control of yourself is not acceptable.

Sorry, nothing about the actions of this individual are worth all of the attention that he received. And JetBlue would have been smart to fire him on the spot. What was their thinking? Now passengers will always wonder how much they need to withstand abuse from JetBlue's employees.