Jet Blue Flight Attendant quits because of lousy consumers

Steven Slater, a career flight attendant, came to the tipping point. A passenger thought it acceptable to abuse a professional for doing his job, which he has excelled at for over 20 years. Slater, a Jet Blue flight attendant at the time, cursed the man over the intercom, opened the door of the plane and employed the emergency exit slide, leaving the tarmac on foot. He was later imprisoned for reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, among other charges.

A plane case of a man pushed too far

As outlined by CNN, Jet Blue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh landed at JFK International Airport. While the plane approached the terminal, a passenger stood to get his bag before it was safe, which Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater told him he could not do. The bag may have fallen from the overhead bin or the passenger struck him, but Slater was hit by something. The man refused to apologize and swore at him. Slater announced he was quitting over the intercom when losing a tirade at the passenger who maltreated him. He took beer from the galley and used the emergency chute to exit the plane. He was arrested at his home later.

Cabin pressure

According to MSN, Steven Slater was rarely at home, even when he wasn’t working. His roommate reported that Slater often flew to Thousand Oaks, Calif., to care for his ailing mother, as he had done for his father. His mother, as outlined by the New York Times, had also been a flight attendant. His father, who passed from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, had been a pilot.

Again a customer was wrong

The service trades are not as easy as one might think, and they should not be maltreated at all. Any person who has worked within the service trades for any length of time, be it in a restaurant or movie theater, knows just how awful the public could be at times. Mistakes happen, but it costs nothing to be polite and cooperative.

Find more information on this subject

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