You may or may have not heard about JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater losing his cool (to put it lightly) on a flight into JFK airport in New York from Pittsburgh, PA yesterday. As the plane was landing and the passengers were supposed to remain seated, Slater allegedly got into an argument with a passenger on the flight that was attempting to get a bag from an overhead compartment. At this point, Slater may have been struck in the head with either the passenger’s bag or the compartment door. This is the point in the story where things go a bit haywire for Slater, as he proceeded to curse out the passenger over the PA system, take off his tie and throw it at a group of passengers, grab a beer, and exit through the emergency shoot of the plane onto the runway. He then ran to his car and drove home. Police arrived at Slater’s home about a half hour later and arrested him for reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.
With the current state of the job market, one has to wonder what this man went through while working as a flight attendant to finally reach his boiling point. I believe most people would admit that we all have “those days” on the job, but is it worth reacting in such an extreme way? I say no, but that’s me.
Slater is currently facing charges in the court of law, but he is also facing a brand new life as a quasi celebrity via the worldwide web. You may remember my last post on this blog about marketing yourself on the internet. This is not the type of online marketing that I was referring to, although Slater just might find himself on a C list celebrity reality show soon. He is garnering a cult-like internet following, with a whole group of supporters claiming that he is their “hero,” and there have been a few Facebook support pages dedicated to Mr. Slater.
On the one hand, I can understand why people are happy Slater did what he did. Many people would like to do the same thing, but most people don’t go to such extremes. On the other hand, the media sensationalism of such unimportant things boggles my mind. Everyone has a bad day at work every now and then, but it is not on the front page of your local newspaper. Almost everyone will forget this story in a very short time and Steven Slater will most likely be left without a job for a while.
So in summary, since this is a blog about the job-search: JetBlue is probably accepting resumes and applications right now. Good luck and be happy.
Michael Denny
Interactive Resources
