Former JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater has become a folk hero. He didn't save a life, or foil a robbery, instead he quit his job in the most spectacular manner possible. After an altercation with a passenger, he made a profanity laced tirade, grabbed some beer and leaped from the plane on the inflatable slide. This has captured the imagination of people throughout the world, and the former flight attendant has become as much of a symbol as a man.
The reason Slater has gotten so much attention is that his frustrations are universal. People can identify with having to deal with rude people or a stressful work situation. People often can also understand wanting to escape those stressful situations in the most spectacular manner possible, and grabbing beer and jumping down a slide is easily the most insane way of quitting ever. If someone has ever had a job they didn't like, they can identify with that desire to just quit and leave an impression, and Slater represents something they never were able to do.
That people can identify with Slater also shows certain problems within our own society. If people were contented, Slater's act would not be met with as much celebration as it has been. Deploying the inflatable slide causes damage and can be dangerous if done in the wrong spot. Taking a last couple of beers from the plane is stealing from the airline, as amusing as that detail is. If people were happy in their lives and careers, Slater would be seen as a fool rather than someone to look up to.
Clearly though, he's hitting a frustration in people which might be seen as one of the defining features of 2010. With the recession lingering in people's minds, most are unwilling to quit as it is, for fear of not being able to replace that frustrating job, since it is still an income. Even for people who are not wishing for a big inflatable slide out their office window, myself among them, he still is a figure we can identify with, as many have either worked retail in the past or had to sit in line behind an unruly and uncooperative customer.
Slater has managed to represent all of the frustrations people have in their world, and slid down a big bouncy slide to get away from them. He's become a larger than life character since he represents an escape from some aspect of life which with people are familiar. He's been elevated to hero status simply by nature of his being frustrated at the right time.
I do wonder how much sympathy he would have gotten had he been in a different situation. A bank manager who is sick of being a bank manager might not have gotten the adoration by quitting in the same manner - though there would be much respect for any bank that had emergency slides equipped in their building. Even a regular JetBlue customer, sick of dealing with another rude passenger, might not have gotten the same amount of sympathy. Slater has managed to capture people's imagination by appealing to both people who hate their job and people who hate rude people.
One wonders if Slater's adventures should be seen as something of a wake up call, a message that we should try to be less rude to each other. Slater would just be another flight attendant if the nameless passenger would have listened. Instead of being inspired by Slater, let's just try to avoid being like the person who caused the problem.
