...And Now I'm REALLY Ticked Off!

By now everyone should have heard the story about the Jet Blue flight attendant who quit his job in a rather unconventional fashion. For those who don't know the story:

Two female passengers on the plane got into an argument over space in the overhead compartments and Steven Slater (the flight attendant) tried to intervene and was hit on the head as one of the passengers was removing her bag from the overhead compartment. Before the plane left Pittsburgh one of the passengers was asked to gate check her bag (I’m guessing because it was probably too big – SN: people like her make me sick trying to carry a huge bag on the plane that is obviously too big to fit into the overhead compartments! But I digress...). After the plane arrived at its destination (New York), the same female passenger who had to check her bag was causing problems again because it wasn’t immediately available. The woman began cussing Slater out calling him all kinds of mfers and whatnot – and argument between the two went on. I guess by that time Slater was probably thinking "the hell with this" because that's when he got on the intercom and said: "Those of you who have shown dignity and respect these last 20 years, thanks for a great ride." This guy then grabs a couple of beers and sends himself out through the emergency slide (I've always wanted to slide down one of those, of course without the emergency need to do so). The rest of the story is history as you know...

There are several shots I can take at this story, so here we go:

1. Take This Job & Shove It!

Johnny Paycheck said it best: "Take this job and shove it! I ain't working here no more!"

My favorite uncle works at a GP (Georgia Pacific) plant but he also runs his own small catering company. He's always told me that the day he reached the profit margin of $1 million with his catering business, he is going to go down to Atlanta in a money green suit, walk up to the executives office and tell each and every one of them to kiss his ass.

I'm sure we've all worked somewhere where the conditions were so stressful, deplorable, and incompatible with our personalities. You come in the office with a smile and leave with blood shot eyes ready to unleash your fury on the first person who says anything to you just to make them feel mad as hell like you (especially if they are in a good mood). The pay is terrible. They complain about all your work (but have you seen the finish product of theirs? Yuck!). After awhile you're just waiting for the day and right moment to say: "f all of ya'll -- I QUIT!"

2. Professional Expectations vs. Employee's Reality

The key to any successful professional environment is making sure that the expectations are consistent with the day-to-day reality that employees are faced with. If you want excellent employees, try to be an excellent manager/supervisor/boss. As many of you know, one of my many jobs is an on-call associate for Macy's. And one of my main issues is that the bar is set entirely too high in terms of what they want you to do but the reciprocity, in terms of what you get back from management (both in-store and corporate), ranks low (I'm sure this is the case for almost ALL retail/department stores). With the budget cuts and economy crawling at a snail pace, it's not hard to visualize the notion that Jet Blue had a list of expectations for their employees but offered little in return...overworked, underpaid, and disrespected, Slater had his "Johnny Paycheck" defining moment. And the very thing that led to the climax of the whole situation was a loud mouth distasteful passenger.

3. The Customer is NOT Always Right

Reflecting on my own employment background working in customer service centers, front desk at hospitals, and retail experience I've came across some very pleasant people from all walks of life. I've also had the unfortunate opportunity of meeting a jerk who wants you to treat them like the sun rises and sets on them. I have been on plenty of plane rides where I have seen people talk to the folks at the gate any kind of way. While understanding that having your flight delayed/canceled or baggage lost would get anyone upset, it's always better to kill them with kindness. MOST people are more open to helping you when you have a positive attitude and an attitude of gratitude. The woman on the flight knew that her bag was too big to fit into the overhead bin, but yet she wanted to make a scene as if somehow it was Slater's fault and to make matters worse Jet Blue probably gave the woman free round-trip tickets for her "troubles." Newsflash you idiotic executives...THE CUSTOMER IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT!

As I close this blog, because it is getting kindly lengthy, I would like to say that it is possible Slater could have handled the situation differently. I'm sure in the moment, he was on a euphoric high but now that he's fallen off his cloud nine and his 15 minutes of fame are drawing to an end, he wants his job back – and you know what Jet Blue had to say about that. Eh, Slater – maybe you can make money doing seminars about how to stick it to the man! (*cue* Jack Black's "School of Rock", lol)