Not Gonna Take it Any More

By John Ballard

Steven Slater is my current favorite person in the news. He's the flight attendant who finally had enough of passengers.who have no business flying.

Joe Paduda, whose blog I have linked a few times, gives this first-person account.

Just a few minutes ago, a flight attendant, fed up with a &^@&*(?! of a passenger, ran to the exit door, pulled the emergency escape hatch, inflated the slide, and jumped out of the plane.

Yes, the plane was on time, and no, it hadn't been sitting on the tarmac broiling in the sun with backed up potties.

Fortunately, JetBlue 1052 was on the ground in New York... when Steven Slater, the flight attendant in question, pulled the cord.

Wait, this gets better...

Turns out Mr Slater was reacting to a passenger who had jumped up just after the plane had landed, started to get his bag out (you've undoubtedly been on a plane with one of these jerks), refused to stop when Slater asked him to. In fact, the passenger's bag fell out of the overhead and smacked Slater on his head.

Slater didn't go nuts then - he actually asked the passenger for an apology. Instead of doing the right thing, the guy (ok, it might have been a woman, but we all know it wasn't) cussed Slater out. Whereupon Slater got on the PA, screamed a few choice words (reportedly "To the passenger who called me a m---f--er, f--- you!...I've been in the business 28 years. I've had it. That's it") over the squawk box, and exited the craft.

I kid you not.

One of the rewards of working in retirement is the smug knowledge that if you get fed up with a job you can tell 'em to take the job and shove it. Paradoxically, that somehow helps me tolerate otherwise intolerable people who need caregiving.