Blog

The Big Slide To Freedom - What's Really Going On Here?

Steven Slater just quit his job as a flight attendant with JetBlue by losing his cool with a passenger, chewing everyone out over the intercom, grabbing a beer, and deploying the emergency slide.   I’ve had days when I felt like that, and if there had been a big slide to freedom available I might just have taken it.

To some, Steven is a hero and to others he’s a felon.  But whatever your position on what he did, the real issue here is what lead up to his actions.  I don’t mean just what happened on that particular flight where it appears he was dealing with a passenger who saw themselves as too important to wait for the plane to finishing taxiing to the gate, but what may have been the build up of continuous workplace stress.  Especially true for people working with the public.  We can be a seedy lot and if you want to see us at our worst just take a look at Steven’s page on Facebook where similar experiences of others working in customer service positions are chronicled.

In addition to the usual workplace frustrations, people working directly with the public are identified as one of the groups at highest risk of experiencing workplace violence.  Combine that with a work day that may include unusual work hours, generally lower pay rates, angry or antagonistic customers, a lack of authority to actually resolve a customer's problem, and you’ve got a recipe for increased stress.

So while I have to admit to smiling when I heard what Steven had done, upon reflection I think it would be irresponsible not to consider what may have been the root cause of his actions.

See upcoming blogs where I rant on some of the latest trends in workplace stress management and share a few of my own frustrating experiences in trying to get customer service.

Share this page: