August 11th, 2010
Workplace Frustration: Different Men — Steven Slater & Omar Thornton — Different Choices
On Aug. 3 Omar Thornton killed with handguns eight employees at Hartford Distributors (see related commentary). One week later. Steven Slater, a veteran flight attendant with 20 years experience working in a narrow aluminum tube of a workplace stuffed to the max with outrageously demanding, instruction-violating, petty passengers finally had had enough.
When a woman passenger rose, before she was permitted, to get her carry-on luggage ahead of everyone else, Slater went to her to stop her. She swore at him and swung her bag that hit Slater. The frustrated (but unarmed) Slater did two unthinkable things. He got on the intercom and sent a public F*** you to the woman who had sworn at him so all the passengers knew. [Read the apology by a contrite veteran passenger who doesn't blame Slater.] He grabbed some beers from the cart (a self-defeating act for the admitted alcoholic in recovery) and opened the exit door opposite the jetway and inflated the emergency chute and simply left. He made it all the way out of the airport and home where police arrested him. (What does that say about the TSA’s value?)
The dramatic exit was an inventive, and workplace-specific, way to simply leave the situation. It was a “take this job and shove it” move admired by many frustrated workers. Here is the animated version. Given his humble mumblings after release from jail the next day about how good most passengers are, he might have been more ashamed of what he had done and just needed to escape, to escape the only way possible before the jetway door was open.
I think we deserve to know the name of the belligerent, rule-breaking, and profane woman passenger from Pittsburgh. She’s the a**hole in this story.
Slater is a folk hero to the silent masses who suffer indignities from customers and bad bosses. Jet Blue, the employer, will probably can him. I hope his pension, if any has been earned from his quarter century of service in a tough customer service business, is intact. Deployment of the chute was the potentially illegal act that could bring 7 years of prison time. [Wow. Rapists don't serve an average of 7 years, murderers barely. For some reason, the experts say that chute deployment could have hurt workers on the ground.]
According to the NBC legal guy says in the Today Show segment below, Jet Blue might not want the difficulty of finding a jury to try workers’ hero Slater. He lost the job for now. Eager to see where he lands. Another airline picks him up to train attendants using his vast experience — of being in control and of losing his cool that one time. Just hope he doesn’t land his own reality show on the “d” list of cable channels.
The final point of mine is that this is a tale of two men frustrated at their jobs. Thornton had time to plan his aggression. His girlfriend believed he was lashing out a racist workforce that had mistreated him. A frustrated man with ready access to a private gun arsenal resulted in a protypical American massacre to redress his frustrations. The immediacy of Slater’s frustration could have led to an impulsive, unplanned violent episode. However, he had few options. The differences in personalities will never be adequately compared.
Different men, different outcomes. But one thing is certain — without guns present, no one got hurt. I support Slater and you can too.
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Tags: Jet Blue, Omar Thornton, Steven Slater
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 10:02 am and is filed under Employer Action/Inaction, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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I have a feeling Slater would not have used a gun even if one was available. The woman who was the immediate problem was right there. If he was prone to violence he most likely would have wacked her one, not that I don’t think he wanted to. I think he made the right choice. It is the choice I wish I would have made. I have told people it would be better to be homeless than remain in the situation that drove me mad. The abusiveness and the power of many employers allows them to have people arrested in situations where they should not be.
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