posted Aug 13, 2010 in Etiquette & Manners / Current Affairs / by Terry Pithers / 0 comments

Rage on the Runway - Fly the Unfriendly Skies

It was better than the in-flight movie - JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater made a James Bond style exit down an emergency ramp after he used the f word on the PA system to tune up a passenger who had used the same words on him. Click here to see videos and commentary.

Everybody's secret fantasy

It touched a nerve with everybody. (Who hasn’t wanted to tune up a rude person over a public address system.) I was contacted by CBC radio to be a guest on their call-in program about the etiquette of the incident.

Why does air travel turn us into Neanderthals?

The callers had lots of examples of things that drive us crazy with air travel - lost baggage, delays, the security screening, and then being cooped up for hours with a hundred other PO’d strangers in a cylindrical metal tube. It’s fight or flight time or in this case, fight AND flight time. Click here to listen to the CBC "Rage on the Runway" Blue Sky call-in show.

Celebrities are great role models

Even without air travel many of us are on a pretty short fuse these days and we don’t see many examples of tact and respect in the media. It’s full of celebrities who would sooner flip a middle finger than wave. When it comes to etiquette and class, celebrities make good role models, role models of what not to do. And Steven Slater, bless his heart, has become a celebrity and has shown us what not to do.

So what can you do?

Tip one; don't take rudeness personally, most people don't do it on purpose. They don't get up in the morning saying I'm going to be rude to you today. Tip 2, understand that everyone is human and they may have something going on in their life right now that is stressing them out. The flight attendant, like so many of us, is reported to have been over stressed by caring for ailing parents.

Some things you shouldn’t recycle

Finally don't recycle rudeness the way Steven Slater did at JetBlue. It only causes a ripple effect. You don't have to be a Pollyanna and get walked over, but finding the high road and ignoring the insult shows class. Taking your bad experience out on the next person that you meet or on a plane-load of customers or your family or your coworkers just multiplies the rudeness. It’s like a butterfly flapping it’s wings in California... causing a rudeness tornado in Kansas.

Posted by Terry Pithers