2 Beers and a Safety Slide

It’s funny how quickly a working stiff from a pretty normal job can become a folk hero. The reason that Steven Slater was an overnight sensation was because he melted down just far enough to do what almost everyone who has ever had a job has wanted to do at one time or another. He had obviously had a pretty rough day and the rudeness of whoever the lady was that bopped him on the head with her carry-on bag was just about more than he could take. I can tell ya that there have been lots of times in my life that I know just how he feels. If you are honest with yourself, I bet you do too.

There is an old saying about smiling vs. frowning and it is something like this: “it takes half as many facial muscles to smile as it does to frown”. I think that is a pretty good analogy for what happened on that airplane. Madam X, whoever she was, may have had a hard day too but she chose that day to throw her weight around and forget the golden rule to exercise a little common courtesy. It just so happens that she applied a “pop knot” on the head of a guy who was probably in the same spot and he reacted the way most of us would like to, but never would. I have a theory, right or wrong, that we are going to see more of that kind of rudeness as the “me” generation matures. There are people out there who make careers out of service to others and every one of them are human. They make mistakes, sometimes beyond their control and sometimes not. As human beings and inhabitants of the same planet, I think we owe each other at least a little bit of common courtesy. If Madam X would have just said sorry, Steven Slater probably would have said “that’s okay” and gone about his job. But, the fact is, she didn’t. So, he grabbed a couple of beers, engaged the slide, gave her a good cussin’ (which she probably earned) and went tha’ the house. I think it ought to be a lesson to all of us that common courtesy is evermore important as our lives become faster and evermore hectic. It is quickly becoming a lost art, like opening a door for another or saying “yes ma’am” or anyone of dozens of examples of just plain being nice. I’m gonna tell ya, if there would have been an emergency chute out of the fourth floor of the State Capitol, I would have been tempted many times to pop that sucker and go tha’ house. I’ll promise ya in that toxic environment, there is no shortage of tension. There are a whole bunch of contentious issues and people fight for their deal, whatever it is. They don’t mind steppin’ on ya or whatever to get there. It would be real easy to do like many of us would love to do and “take this job and shove it” just like the ole’ Johnny Paycheck song.

It will be interesting to watch what happens with Steven Slaters saga. I am kinda thinking that if I am his airline, I would put my folk hero back to work and make it a big deal to be on the plane where he served. Kind of like a back door Sarah Palin. Poof..instant celebrity! Might sell a few airline tickets with that gig. I think the bottom line is that we need to be nice to each other. Common courtesy never goes out of style. Just plain politeness is a common ingredient to getting along with our neighbors. I had an old ag teaching colleague years ago who taught me a valuable lesson after I had problems with a kid in one of my classes. He said “Don, you don’t know what that young man has been through by the time he leaves your class on Wednesday and gets back on Thursday. So, don’t fly off the handle, just consider that he may have had a rough night”. If we all thought like that a little bit more, we would probably have less reason to pull the emergency lever and go tha’ house.