Modern Vespa

The witness who saw him in the shuttle later said he had a 1.5" gash in his head. She does deserve it.

What she may not deserve is becoming the poster child for rudeness in America. Should her name become public, she'll likely be one of the most detested people on the planet for about a week or so until everyone moves on to something else. Though she should have thought a bit more about the consequences of her behavior, no one could have predicted it would lead to this debacle.

She's probably hiding out and laying low if she knows what's good for her. I think it's sad that the news media feel compelled to over-report and exhaustively cover relatively trivial human interest stories like this because people would stop watching/listening/reading if they didn't.

I certainly don't condone what he did or hold him up as any sort of role model, but I can fully understand his actions. It was a breakdown (meltdown, trip off the deep end, whatever) due to stress.

I know... I've been there.

I'm in no way proud of this story, but I'll tell it anyway because it's relevant. In my senior year in college, I had a similar meltdown. I was working 31 hours a week, carrying a maximum credit load in an engineering curriculum at Pitt, flat broke, engaged to be married in six weeks, in the process of being drafted (this was November 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War), and flunking one of my courses, so I was under a helluva lot of stress. I've always been the kind of guy who carries stress inside him and seems easy-going until something blows.

I was working an evening shift as grill cook at a rib joint (literally... the name of the place was The Rib Joint). It was one of those hole-in-the-wall places with a counter down one side of the dining room and an exposed kitchen in the back. Business had been very slow, so I had been cleaning up the kitchen even before the 11:00 pm closing time. The one other employee, the counter girl/cashier, took her sweet time getting to the front door to lock it at 11:05, by which time I was completely done cleaning up and ready to leave. As she was turning the key in the lock, a group of about a half-dozen young people appeared at the door (the movie up the street had just let out), and pleaded to be let in because they were hungry. And damn if she didn't let them in!

I went ballistic. I started ranting and throwing utensils around the kitchen, but that apparently didn't make enough of a statement for me at the time. I grabbed the heavy, 18"-long, 4"-wide commercial butcher knife that I used to cut ribs apart with and blindly hurled it across the dining room. Luckily it didn't hit anyone... just embedded itself in the opposite wall. Needless to say, it cleared the room immediately! The counter girl was in tears, and so was I in a few moments after I realized what I had done.

Amazingly, the cops never showed up. I talked the counter girl into keeping it all between us, and we were both out of there fifteen minutes later. I never went back there and never tried to collect my last paycheck. I was a wreck for weeks, but never sought professional help. My life worked out despite it all. Telling this story is therapeutic, even though I am ashamed of it.

So... don't hold this guy up as a hero. He probably had just as much problem with self-control under stress as I did. But there is nothing that incomprehensible about his actions... he just had a better-than-average flair for the dramatic.

Wow, Dave! That's a pretty amazing story! I'm not sure any of us could've handled it any better had we been faced with the exact same set of circumstances as you in that moment (college, engagement, draft, ribs, etc).

The one thing that keeps coming to mind, however, is how *proFOUNDLY* different your life might be today had that cleaver hit somebody... I know it's something you think about (or at least, have thought about) too, so in a sense, I'm pointing out the obvious here. However, we always talk about "close calls" when a car nearly pulls out in front of us or when we catch ourselves before falling down a flight of stairs.

-- You almost cleavered a guy! -- That's a close call, closer than any I've ever had, and so just as it's therapeutic for you, it's a good thing for me to keep in mind before the next time I almost blow a gasket. Much, much worse things could happen than that which I am actually planning for...

Typewriist,
Here ya. Lets get back to bikes.
Best
Miguel

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Don't worry about him. If he is smart, addresses his penalty and gets an agent quickly, he'll be on the speaker circuit and making five figures per appearance. He'll be alright.

I personally don't know how fight attendants these days don't lose their cool more often. Good for him and while the chute wasn't the smartest thing to do it definitely "made the story". Hell we've all done things in our life that we look back on and wonder WTF was i thinking. Personally i'd sue the lady who caused him to get a nice little gash in his head.He'll deal with the consequences and move on to a better probably higher paying job so i wouldn't worry about him. Some how i don't think he'd ever WANT to be a flight attendant again.

If Jet Blue was smart they would take care of his legal bills, offer him a new job and have him consult on how to make passangers behave themselves.

Uhhh...
I am picturing Judy in a '60's stewardess mini with go go boots schlepping coctails at 30,000 feet.

I am sorry. If I were at a convention or meeting and this guy was a speaker, I would wait until he got on stage and walk out on him. I know we all have outbursts in our life but the idea of paying him to have him "share his story" about this or anything else is offensive to me. What is he, the poster boy for BAD DECISIONS?

He had a nasty customer. BFD! I did customer service for decades and when the customer is an ass... suck it up, walk away, refuse service to them. Heck, call the cops and have her arrested because she assaulted you. Don't commit a federal crime, grab some beer and "jet" away from the situation. If he actually drank both beers and drove home, he was probably legally drunk.

He snapped and needs to work out his problems with a professional counselor. He also need to pay for his crime and maybe even reimburse the airline for the lost revenue and repair costs. The customer may need to be charged too but I don't know the circumstances, I wasn't there.

Just my two cents.

Except reports are coming out now that he was an unhelpful jerk throughout the flight - not the frustrated hero taken advantage of helper monkey that people initially made him out to be.

I'm not surprised. Having worked with people for years now I can vouch for the incredibly ridiculous behavior some people are capable of. So many people out there with an undeserved feeling of entitlement. YET, I am extremely skeptical that one annoying passenger could warrant his behavior. I'm not shocked that there may be information indicating he was being a turd and chose to make his exit in that way for the spectacle of it.

Hey for now he is a hero to me.

I think what it demonstrates is that proper manners and respectful behavior is on the decline. People no longer care what society or someone thinks of them, so they behave in that fashion. They have a "Me First" attitude and are not afraid to show it.

They have snit fits and argue and behave rudely in every venue. Movies, Stores, Restaurants, on the road, etc...

People post their every lurid and stupid escapade on the internet, bragging about their wrongs. From stunt bikers videoing illegal stunts on highways to my friends daughter reporting on Facebook about taking the morning-after pill. In the information age, TMI has been replaced with LOL.

And we are surprised with someone has enough and behaves in a like manner in return?

What ever happened to the Golden Rule?

BTW, my friends daughter also posted on Facebook about being stuck behind stupid slow drivers in Michigan...she posted this while driving!

Only one person commented. Guess who that was???