By kelvin Wade
Am I the only one in America who wondered why this douchebag Steve Slater, the JetBlue sky waiter who cussed out folks over the PA aboard a jet, grabbed two beers and exited the plane via the emergency slide, has been considered a working class hero? Is it just because he made a dramatic exit from his job, (and ended up being arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief?).
I know. Apples and oranges, you say. Steve Slater basically said, “Take this job and shove it!” and it resonated with people. Everyone who has dreamed of telling their boss off and slamming the door on the way out and hitting the road in a convertible with a middle finger extended couldn’t help but smile when they read Slater’s story.
I didn’t. From day one when I read it I thought, “What a jerk!”
Anyone who has or have had a job working with the public gets it, I know. I worked at my dad’s convenience store back in the 80’s. Back then; we had to manually set the gas pumps when people came in to buy gas. It got busy one summer day and I forgot to set a guy’s gas purchase so when he went outside and tried to pump his gas, nothing happened. He came back in and asked me to set the gas. I apologized. Before he left out the door he added, “I already told you once but you just stood there with your thumb up your butt!”
I wanted so badly to drop an F bomb or two, grab a couple of beers and hit the emergency exit. No, wait. I did want to drop an F bomb or two but I didn’t, of course.
So I understand the desire to want to strike back. Dealing with the public, you have to bite your tongue.
But when I read the Slater story, it didn’t sound like the whole story. And after the Shirley Sherrod debacle, I waited for more.
Now, passengers are coming forward saying Mr. Working Class Hero was acting like a jerk before they even left on their flight. They’re saying that he dropped a curse word with a passenger before his tirade and snapped at another passenger. Maybe he’d had it up to here with some rude passengers on the flight before this one. But if that’s the case and he took it out on some different passengers, that doesn’t make him a hero. It just makes him a bad flight attendant.
And the way our twisted society works, he’ll be on several talk shows. He may even write a book. He might end up with a radio show.
When I choose my heroes, they’re still going to be the Chesley “Sully” Sullenbergers of the world: people who do their jobs exceptionally well.
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