So, yesterday I flew back from Pittsburgh to NYC and I happened to be on the flight heard 'round the world.
Everything seemed fine as I got on the airplane, but when I got to my seat, this flight attendant (Steven Slater) was standing in the exit row and his head had this cut on it that was bleeding. A man who was seated in the row asked him what happened and he replied "you wouldn't believe the day I had...".
While doing his little safety talk he was totally bored and tired. Then later he came around with sodas and was offering them to everyone. When he got to me, he said "Soda?" and I said "Water?" And he literally just stared at me. Then turned and walked away and continued to pass his sodas. About 5 minutes later, he walks up with water, glares at me (I am not exaggerating - he was an a**hole) and sets a water down on my tray table and walks away, ignoring the girl next to me who tries to ask for one too. So, my point being, the guy was a JERK and he is NOT some hero for "stickin' it to the man" as many blogs are saying.
Then we pull up to the gate, and one guy stands up and starts getting his bag out of the overhead bin. Steven walks up to him and starts talking to him. I was too far away to hear what was said between them, but what others told me was that he came up to tell the man to sit down because the seatbelt sign was on and we were just shy of the gate. Then the bag accidentally hit Steven in the head as the man continued to pull it out. Steven asked for an apology and the man said it was an accident. Steven then DEMANDED an apology and the man said "f*ck you".
So...then when the seatbelt sign goes off and the door opens, we are all standing and I'm waiting to walk down the aisle to the door and the PA system comes on and we hear the following:
"To the mother f*cker who said 'f*ck you' to me, f*ck you too." Then he goes on about how he has been doing this job for 28 years (which is impossible cause the man is not even 40 yet...but I'm not the only one who heard him say that...) and he's already going to quit and it's not worth it anymore and yadda yadda angry man stuff. He then starts to kick stuff out of the way and open the emergency door on the other side of the plane (up by the cockpit). The pilots come out and start trying to stop him, the other flight attendant is trying to stop him and he pushes them out of the way and falls over into his and the other flight attendant's bags. The whole time he's yelling things like "you know what?! I don't even care! Watch this! It doesn't matter at this point!" This is when I was able to get off the plane. But, I was not going to miss the rest of this altercation so I stood on the jetbridge right off the plane and watched as he pulled the cord for the emergency slide, grabbed his bag and was like "Screw this, I'm out of here!", jumped out of the plane, slid down the blow-up slide and walked away.
I walked out with some other passengers into the terminal and a pilot for the next flight asked me "Did someone blow up one of the emergency slides?" and I said "Yeah, your pilot did it" and he was like "What?" So an older couple and I told the pilot and other flight attendants what happened and they all looked SHOCKED. One even was like "I've got to see this!" and ran to the window to watch.
At this point I was just in a fit of giggles and sadly, I did not stick around to see what happened next, but apparently nobody caught him until later in the day anyway.
Nobody was in any danger and as far as I'm concerned, I still LOVE Jetblue and will continue to fly with them. I planned on writing them a letter to explain what happened, but since it got all this publicity, I don't feel the need. PLUS (and this is how great that airline is) I already received an email with an apology and a credit for $100. I got it this morning. Less than 24 hours later. They are awesome.
But like I said, this guy is not a hero. He's a jerk. And an idiot. I mean, c'mon, I know you're mad...but you work in the customer service industry, you're bound to run into rude people and you have to be able to deal with it. I think maybe that last guy was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
And I'm SO glad I was there to witness it. It was priceless. :)
35 comments:
wow, amazing! its great to hear a first hand account! Thanks!
priceless!!! I'm SO glad you were on that flight! I saw your status on facebook on my phone while i was getting a mani/pedi, and i turned to the girl next to me and said "i know we don't know each other, but you've got to read my friend's fb status, it's priceless" and then she and i talked about it for 10 minutes :) haha
haha i'm so glad you got to chat about it! it was pretty fabulous!
Hi - I'm a Daily News reporter and would love to talk to you about the flight! Please call:
212-210-2187. Thanks!
the guy is a moron and i hope he gets fired. he doesnt deserve the attention, our men and women who are servicing us in iraq and afganistan should have our attention not a moron
by the way lauren ur gorgeous
obviously you Lauren have never worked any type of customer service job. just because an employee may work with the public does not mean they have to take shit from a customer. there is such a thing as common courtousy for others and being civil. if somebody hit me in the head with luggage (accidently or not) you better believe something would be said to them. and that guy should have apologized for hitting Steve with the luggage. that guy is lucky Steve didnt hit him in the freaking face, and only got back a very small taste of his own medicine. im not impressed with your third person narrative here. perhaps you should walk a mile in Steve's shoes before you pass judgement on something you know nothing about.
@jpoet16 YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORK IN CUSTOMER SERVICE TO KNOW THIS IS NOT HOW YOU REACT BACK...SAYING OBSCENITIES OVER THE PA SYSTEM FOR EVERY PASSENGER (AND CHILD) TO HEAR...MY, MY, MY...FOR 30 YEARS I HAVE DEALT WITH THE PUBLIC AND ON THE RARE OCCASION I CAME IN CONTACT WITH A RUDE PERSON I WENT TO A SUPERIOR (OR SECURITY) TO GET IT RESOLVED...HE WAS LOOKING FOR SOME DRAMA!!
I was a flight attendant for five years. While most passengers were just fine/no problem, of COURSE you have angry/rude people to deal with. Most of the time it was justified (i.e, we lost their bags, we delayed them, the missed a connection, etc), and you cannot take it personally. Ever. This guy is clearly a jerk, completely unprofessional, no hero at all, a disgrace to all of us who did our jobs with dignity. I've flown on JetBlue many times, and this guy is definitely not representative of how this company operates. He clearly needs mental help.
Thanks LS for giving us the real story. I knew there was more to the story and I hope the other passengers speak up too. On several occasions I have noticed how unhappy and rude the flight attendants have become. I know they have a hard job but it gets a bit unnerving to ask for anything and set them off. It will be interesting to see if they find the other passenger and hear his story. Thanks for yours!
Hey! I don't how to reach you, but I work for In Touch Weekly and we'd love to get your account of what happened in the magazine! My email is Amikelberg@bauerpublishing.com. What do you think? Let me know either way, just hit me back. Thank you!
Amanda Mikelberg
In Touch Weekly
hi lauren, can you email me? i work for ABC News and we'd love to talk to you. My email is desiree.adib@abc.com
thanks!
Just saw your story on the local news in L.A. The man's mother is dying of cancer. Don't you have even an ounce of compassion for the number of idiots flight attendants have to deal with on a daily basis? I fly frequently and there are usually one or two asshole passengers on every flight. Hope you're enjoying your 15 minutes of fame. Steven's is going to last a little bit longer than that.
While your limited point of view is very interesting, you do admit that you neither saw or directly heard the direct customer interaction. There are always three sides to every story, the passenger, the flight attendant and the truth. While som aggree with Mr. Slater and others agree with the unknown passenger, there were several Federal laws that were broken that day, aside from that of Mr. Slater. If the aircraft was not at the gate, then the passenger was committing several Federal Felonies by being out of their seat, refusing to follow a crewmembers instruction and not having their bags properly stowed. The fines for these crimes greatly exceed the bail amount that Mr. Slater paid. Then, there is his verbal and physical assault, both of which can lead to jail time for the passenger....these actions have yet to be addressed.
While I do not fully agree with Mr. Slaters actions, I will say, after having been a flight attendant for 15 years, I have seen many coworkers injured badly by passengers threw temper tantrums and threw their luggage at flight attendants.
Calling someone rude and a jerk, with no specific action being stated to back it up, is just wrong. Their are also several discrepancies in your story, such as crewmember locations and actions that do not seem to match up with the offical version being put forth by JB (on that a/c, it would have been impossible for both of the flight attendants to be in the forward part of the a/c).
Let's let the offical investigation go forward and be concluded, before you try and look for you 15 mins of fame for something that you were not involved in.
I agree with Bitchard above and probably everyone else except for your close friends. You're one of the reasons why customer service is difficult. You come off like a little snot. You didn't see the injury happen so you have no clue. You've just earned yourself a little fanclub. And it ain't good either. Shoulda kept it to yourself.
awwwww i'm sad when people are mean to you--you're just blogging your story, hello!!! also, you're not a snot, you're niiiiiiiice :)
Janey -
To tell a story that you admit, in the original blog, that you did not witness, is not telling a story, it is telling a story made up of what you think happened, not what actually happened.
Let it be known, that the female passenger that helped to set this all into motion, is now being prosocuted over her actions and is facing well over $30,000 in fines as well as possible jail time.......but her house has not been stormed with a swat team and helicopters to arrest her.
BTW......those were the pilots bags in the fwd galley that you saw, as they were trying to commute home.
Bitchard... get a life dude. Or a job, if you have nothing else to do than pick fights on someone's personal blog.
@Bitchard: 1. What Stephen said.
2. Lauren never claimed this was the whole story. It's simply her personal account of the events she witnessed and her experience on the flight.
3. She actually does have reason to call him "rude" and "a jerk" -- he treated her and other passengers near her rudely on the flight. He may not be a jerk every day, but he was in the context of this story.
4. How hard is it to type out "aircraft"? Do you real need to abbreviate to "a/c"?
@Eric: Yes, I'm sure Steven's fame will last longer than 15 minutes. I hope to watch clips on "The Soup" of him on some quasi-celebrity rehab show.
@Joseph: Whoa. Proofread.
Lauren, thanks for sharing your story. I like how you wrote in such a conversational and anecdotal tone; it really conveys that this was YOUR experience.
Lauren, I saw you on Good Morning America today and you said that you really didn't know clearly what happened with Slater and the passenger who pulled the bag out of the overhead bin while the plane was still moving. Yet here you seem very detailed about that exchange and Slater and the passenger's words.
Which was it?
I can also tell that by your comments above of "At this point I was just in a fit of giggles and sadly, I did not stick around to see what happened next..." and "And I'm SO glad I was there to witness it. It was priceless. :)" that you are probably more interested in 15 minutes (seconds) of "fame." And come across a bit like a gawker at a car accident.
Lauren (and others),
I finally read all these posts. Hilarious. And damn strong proof that there are alot of people with too much free time on their hands. I would like to give a special shout out to "Joseph" for "WAKE UP PUBIC!!!". Sexual hormones everywhere are wiping their eyes and stretching thanks to you Sir.
Unfortunately the people that have time to search the Internet for your personal page of thoughts intended to share with friends are in fact the people that stop at the scene of an accident. They are the schmucks that read In Touch Weekly, US Weekly, etc. They are the people that sit at their desk jobs daily unfulfilled and look for something to excite their mundane existence. It just so happens that something funny happened to you, Lauren, and those people wanted/needed to hear about it. Therefore In Touch Weekly, The Early Show, etc. contacted YOU. And not vice versa. Now those people sitting at their desk this week (Sierra, Joseph, Bitchard, Eric, David), I'm sorry your daily existence of driving a Honda, shopping at a Super Target, and wearing lots of blue and white button up shirts to work each day sucks, but you might want to look into some actual hobbies before leaving your bitterness all over a stranger's personal blog.
The incident occurred. Lauren was there to witness it. I'm sorry you weren't. I'm sorry nobody from In Touch Weekly or The Early Show wants to talk to you. I'm sorry that Lauren too is a human who has been through tough things in her life and had to work in jobs that were unpleasant and even painful (anyone who has ever tried to build a life in NYC has). I'm sorry that Lauren told HER story and you don't have one of your own to tell.
I'm also sorry that if you knew what a bright, articulate, educated, and driven young woman Lauren is you would feel like an asshole for harassing her. Maybe we'll all find some extra time to locate your personal blog pages and comment about how relevant and profound your thoughts are on this weeks episode of "America's Got Talent".
My advice to you, commenters with no direct affiliation to Lauren, find a better use of your time. Go out and buy yourself something new. Might I suggest a shiny cell phone clip for your belt buckle to show people that you too are important and in demand.
Now Miss Lauren, I hope you are well Dear and I still think you should be my ballet class buddy when I get back.
Love,
Natalie
ahhhh....here we go. Another one seeking her 15 minutes of fame. Figures. Yes,yes, everyone knows that you have the "real story" and of course, should be on every t.v. station across the world just because you overheard something and witnessed two people talking. BREAKING NEWS!!!! I hate people who don't what they are talking about weigh in on something that didn't have anything to do with themselves. You really must think that you are something special. Sickening. I wonder how you are as a passenger or how you treat people in the customer service field. I can guess by your "fits of giggles" comments that you think it is funny when people are rude to others. Get off your high horse b**ch.
Miss Wood, your version of events sounds fishy. What is clear from your blog is that you have issues with men in general. In your profile under (About Me) you wrote: "Picking up the pieces and putting them back together. Forever evolving." Would that be picking up the pieces after a man left you? I don't want to open wounds but it sounds like perhaps a man got feed-up with you and split and now your a little hateful while trying to piece your life back together. You must have felt this was a grand opportunity to get in the lime light and maybe find an admirer. I hope you are able to pull your life together and over come your issues.
It's interesting to find the defenders of Lauren attacking anyone with an opposing view. She is the one that has chosen to put herself in the spot light by contacting the media. They found her blog and asked for her to contact them. She could have ignored the responce. This blog has been listed on every news media spot that she has chosen to speak with, so it is no longer a personal blog, but a public one. If you can not handle opposing views, then do not make it public.
This is an ever evolving story in life. Charges have already been reduced on Mr. Slater. Charges are now pending against the pax involved. To top everything off, a personal lawsuit is already pending against the NYPD and several media outlets, for violating Mr. Slater's right to privacy, by disclosing personal information about him. So far in the investigation, the only people to come forward are the ones that really did not see anything, only people stating personal opinions, not the facts of the case (according to NYPD and PANYNJ).
Ha,ha,ha. Case in point...Bradbranst and AussieAbel. Thank you Gentlemen for solidifying my argument.
Aussieabel, "You are" is spelled "You're" not "your" and overcome is one word not two. Also bradbranst omitting words changes the meaning of a sentence. "I hate people who don't what they are talking about..." Funny because I hate idiots who do not use the English language properly. You'd think that old version of Microsoft Works your cubicle desktop has would supply you with grammar and spellcheck...
Guys, stop being upset that a woman like Lauren is out of your league. Maybe if you tried being nicer to humans in general smart, beautiful women would give you the time of day...
Taking cheap shots at who you THINK this woman is or making assumptions about what you THINK happened in her past will not make you a better person or get you laid.
Good day Gentlemen.
P.S. Lauren, I'm sorry you have to deal with the harassment from all these crazy people. I'd turn off the comment option on your blog until they find someone else to feed on.
Wow! Lauren, I watched your interview on GMA and you're absolutely stunning; but, besides that, you interviewed well, and you made a good point. @AussieAbel, if anyone has issues with men, it seems to be Steve, not Lauren. Picking up the pieces and evolving is what smart, good people do. Great interview, Lauren!
Lauren, you did have a good interview on GMA....however, once again, your story has changed. What really happened on that plane?
I think a lot of people can identify with Steven, but rational and balanced people keep those thoughts and actions to themselves--their inside voice. Lauren offered a bit of reality to those whose unbridled imagination was championing the release of those inside voices, regardless of how wrong it really was. Steve was out of line and out of control. Lauren offered a "reality check" to America. The truth is anyone of us can go from hero to 0 in 60 seconds. Steve actually hit 0 a bit faster than that.
Lauren's account is based upon what she saw and she should not be chided for sharing it. The social tragedy here would have been if moron Steve had been idolized. Lauren saw an injustice and offered information so those who read her information could then make up their own mind. I commend her for making herself vulnerable at the risk of public criticism, which can be very cruel at times. Don't shoot the messenger.
Wow, what perfectly done head shots you just happened to have for the media to use. It seems like you and that other guy who's on the news, who both were not near the scene of the incident or heard it, are opportunists looking for your moment of fame. You might be looking for more since you seem to already have professional headshots at the ready. Ohh, so he was mean to you when you asked for water. Ahh Wheh! This little stupid story of one mand doing something crazy is dominating the news media while the real news about our young kids dying in iraq and afghanistan for people who hate us because they get to drink water from broken dirty sewer systems (if at all) while you get water served to you by a man who just happened to not be in a good mood. Probably because he has to deal with a hundred and twenty people like you on each flight, five or six times a day. So, next time you take a sip of your clean cool sanitized bottled water, think of the over 5000 US soldiers that died in Iraq, or even the over 30,000 wounded soldiers. Ask them if they really care that the man who served you water did with a smile or not.
@sultan, talk about being an opportunist?! Using this blog as your medium to denounce the wars...really, what does that have to do with Steve and blowing his cool? Sure, blame the victim; the one who excercised her free speech. Your blog doesn't make sense nor is it germane. You must have gotten it confused the blog for haters. Let me ask you, if you're that passionate about your topics, what are you doing besides throwing stones on blogs to improve things? P.S. Your guilt trip was a bit lame too.
Hey Gman, I was in the military for 8 years and I served my country fighting in the Persian Gulf War.
I'm not denouncing wars. I am denouncing stupid people who are upset because some guy was a "JERK" b/c he gave attitude when serving them a bottle of water. Look at the big picture. Look around you. Not your little life in OC, but around the world. On the cover of the paper today, there is a picture of a tent city in Pakistan, where they say 200,000 people are displaced due to floods. In the picture, there is a man holding a metal pot, trying to get water pouring out of a water truck. That's what I'm saying. Put things into perspective. So the guy was having a bad day, so he delivered water without smiling, so he blew his stack. So what. He didn't kill anyone did he? But to spend your time blogging and showing your headshots to gain publicity on something where half the story is hearsay, yes, that's upsetting. What am I doing about it you ask? First, I've done my service. And now, I point out idiocy, selfishness, and selfcenteredness of people who are grandstanding on a trivial event by feeding the news when we gloss over real tragedies in the world.
Maybe you're just too young to understand...
Sultan, I understand, and you are of the highest caliber of public servants. Thank you. The irony here is that you protected the nation so that people could complain freely, regardless of the topic. But, in this case, a lady is a lady and Steve's choice of behavior in front of ladies and children was not appropriate. I'm sure you understand quite well the importance of discipline. Steve was undisciplined, and perhaps had Steve taken a tour or two, he would have had self-control. Civility goes a long way toward building respect, and finding respect for Steve is difficult given his actions. I think Lauren's comments were on target and if left unspoken, people like Steve would think his behavior was suitable, and worse even appropriate. Thank you for your service.
Gman, I'm all for free speech, which, when people freely speak, then they must also listen to the counter opinion too. That was me. Trust me, I think the flight attendent is an idiot and certainly doesn't deserve to be regarded as a hero for the common person. He doesn't deserve any air time, nor, in my opinion, do any of the other passengers on the plane. Unfortunately, the news media is in the business of making money, and people are more interested in these inane stories rather than more real issues in the world.
Well, it's been a nice dialogue with you and now I'm off to some other location in cyber space to wage my campaign against triviality!
Remember, be careful when opening the overhead compartments as items may have shifted during the flight!
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