Of course, my immediate reflex is to applaud Mr Slater. My gut response is that this move was all sorts of awesome. But some story I read (or maybe that vid I embedded? I can't recall..) makes the point that deploying the emergency shute early could've potentially injured tarmac crew. That makes me think that maybe punishment for Slater is not such a ludicrous notion. Also, what was the tone of the rant? If it was a hollering, top-of-the-voice, spittle-spraying rant, then, even if it was directed at one rude bitch, I can see how it might upset the other passengers. This is going to make me sound like a bit of a wuss, but I get scared when there's somebody yelling at somebody else. Even if I have nothing to do with it. A real life example for ya-- last month I went to NYC with 2 friends, 1 of which had this teeensy little bladder that perpetually required emptying. I swear, in the gigantic metro, the only bathrooms we could find were in Starbucks. It would seem we weren't the only ones...HUGE lines for the loo!! So I was waiting with A in one of these lines, and on the other side of this divider screen (sitting at this little table in the front window, just to the left of the door/vestibule area) was this scruffy lookin' fellah/ probable vagrant. He was very much enjoying the AC I take it, because whenever anyone lingered with the door open for the slightest instant (holding the door for another of their party, perhaps) he would yell, top volume "SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR, MOTHERFUCKER!!" Now, typing about it now, a whole month later, it just seems kinda funny...maybe a little sad when you ponder the socioeconomic elements...but mostly funny. But at the moment I was...quite nervous.
See, my reasoning is this (and we're going to add a hearty dash of "paranoid" to my wuss rep here..) you really don't know when somebody's going to pull a Glock and render you collateral damage. So you should be on your guard. Seriously. No, I don't watch a lot of action movies. Really, I don't.
Well, I've digressed a bit. I'm just pointing out that if Steven Slater had the fury cranked up to the max, he might have spooked a number of perfectly polite passengers that didn't have it coming. But really, I have a feeling that this "tirade" was of the sassy, 4-snaps-in-a-Z-formation variety. And that's just good times ...even for skittish ol' me. And the "possible danger to tarmac crew" thingie? Well that's just me playing devil's advocate there. Coulda hurt someone...but it didn't. I'm not one of the mindless hoardes that's crowing "Oh, he should get off scot-free! He's a hero! He should get his job back! And a raise! And a ticker tape parade!!" I know that sounds dumb...but it is being said...and I think that about 1/3 of those remarks are utterly in earnest. OK, he is a bit of a folk hero... obviously rather low down on the heroism scale, certainly ranked 'neath them ones that heft overturned semis off of toddlers and whatnot. But you really can't pull a stunt like that and retain your job/ get your job back. Thems the breaks. And I don't think it would be unreasonable to hit him with a wee fine for possible coworker endangerment. But beyond that, I don't think this guy needs to be punished. One of these news stories (again, I can't recall which) said charges against him could result in up to 7 years imprisonment??? That's nucking futs. I know dropping the "7 years" in there was just good dramatic reporting, but really, any imprisonment is uncalled for, in my opinion.
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