On Aug. 9, disgruntled workers worldwide paused from their drudgery to hear the tale of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater. After his flight landed at JFK Airport in New York, Mr. Slater berated an allegedly abusive passenger, blew the inflatable emergency evacuation chute, and – in a flourish that made him a folk hero in the minds of many – helped himself to two beers from the fridge before jumping out the hatch.
While the incident may have reminded everyone that the life of a flight attendant isn't as glamorous as it used to be, Slater wasn't doing his fellow workers any favors. First, the chute deploys with enough force to kill a person, such as an unsuspecting ground operations crew member. Second, the chute had to be repacked, putting the plane out of commission for a few hours and causing delays all down the line.
As for Slater, who, needless to say, no longer works for JetBlue, he says that he regrets his actions. He appeared in a taped message at the Oct. 30 Jon Stewart/Steven Colbert "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" to apologize for his actions.
What we learned: Try taking deep breaths and counting to ten.
