Greer McVay’s Web Log (BLOG)

Volume 1, Issue 13

August 14, 2010

“Pop the chute.” “Deploy the slide.” “Pulling a Jet Blue. “Turn steward.” “Getting all Slater.”  Whatever you call it, the result is the same: quitting your job while going out in a blaze of glory. But in reality, most of us dream of but would never actually follow through with it. In spite of the fact that you are fed up with your work, your boss, your low pay, and the work schedule that has you tirelessly doing the job of two, three, or maybe even four people, we are convinced that the alternative to having a crappy job in this economy is having no job at all. That perceived reality forces us to endure pain of untold proportions. Steven Slater, the Jet Blue flight attendant who “quit” his job at the conclusion of a flight, following some sort of altercation with a passenger, has become an international icon because he mustered up the moxy to imply through his actions, “Screw all of you and the horses you rode in on.” If only we could all have his courage…or his agent.

In the last year alone, practically every single segment of the American workforce has come under attack. Whether you are organized labor, migrant farm worker, hourly wage earner or government employee, you have found yourself at the center of one controversy or another. The problem is that instead of isolating those among us who are suffering the same injustices as each other, we should redirect our venom toward those who are genuinely our enemies.

When you are honest with yourself, who are you really more upset with, the Mexican who is willing to pick lettuce, which you know you will not do, or your employer who never bothered to replace your co-worker after she quit last year? Loyal employee that you are, you picked up the slack when “the team” was short-staffed, but the lesson your boss learned was that with one less employee, the work would still get done and his bonus would be larger at the end of the year.  In the meantime, instead of getting a bonus for your extra work or a promotion or some semblance of job security, you got a less-than-positive annual review because of the “balls you dropped” or your “bad attitude.” Who could have a good attitude when they are busting their ass for an ungrateful exploitative boss? But somehow we are still inclined to channel our energy toward protesting against Julio, who is in the exact same position as each of us. He’s just trying to earn a living and make a better life for his family.

What would happen if we all “popped the chute” on the same day at the same time? Would big business get the message that we are mad and not going to take it anymore? Would they lose money because their modes of production ceased to produce?  Gone are the days when we demonstrated in a show of solidarity to protest the unfairness and abuses to which we all fall prey. We seem to be so concerned that our hard labor is benefitting someone and, by gosh, we are not going to bust our butts so that some other guy will have an advantage.  First of all, that is simply wrong-headed, selfish and short-sighted thinking. Secondly, it presupposes that when a person needs or receives a helping hand that he is milking the system. Maybe he just needs a little lift up, as we all are prone to need at some point in our lives. Thirdly, and contrary to the rantings of Sharron Angle, the GOP Senatorial candidate from Nevada, no one gets “spoiled” by receiving kibbles and bits from Unemployment Insurance (UI).

Given a choice between earning a living and receiving a bi-weekly check that barely pays for gas and food, everyone I know, have ever known or will ever know, would much prefer a real paycheck—and benefits. The challenge is that the system is set up to discourage work. Why would you (or should you have to) give up having eight hours a day to look for a real job in order to take “any of these low paying jobs” as Ms. Angle suggests? The answer is because you cannot live on $10 per hour. No one can. Even children earn more than that. The going hourly rate for a babysitter in my neighborhood is $20. That means even 13 year old girls wouldn’t prefer an unemployment check to working for a living. Having the safety net of [at least] a couple of hundred dollars a month helps you and your family in the short term and contributes nearly $1.70 in economic activity for each dollar spent on unemployment benefits (and even more for food stamps). Comparatively, zero income or widespread underemployment perpetuates long term poverty and chronic societal economic decay.

And did I mention that unemployment insurance is just that? Insurance. We contribute to it so that we can have some economic stability during periods of unintended unemployment.  If you paid a premium every month for flood insurance and a hurricane hit, would you not feel, dare I say, entitled to compensation? Further, if there were long term and unforeseen damages caused by that hurricane (or anything else your insurance is designed to cover), would you feel it appropriate to ask for additional support, compensation, or distributions? Effectively, this is what we are currently experiencing in the United States. We keep getting hit from every direction because the economic policies were designed to protect the interests of big business not “Real Americans.” And with each of those hits come more stress and more need for financial assistance. But again, we continue blaming each other for each new hit we take on the chin. How about we shift our anger and direct it at the system and the propaganda that has us blaming each other?

When Steven Slater grabbed his beer and slid out of that Jet Blue plane, what each of us felt was a sense of envy that he risked it all to save his sanity and to stand up for himself. He didn’t say, “I am frustrated at my employer for not protecting me against abusive passengers and for making me work 15 hour shifts flying cross country, therefore I am going to deprive teachers of the pensions they were contractually guaranteed when they negotiated lower salaries and back-end benefits, in lieu of the higher wages of the private sector.” He vented his frustration in a way that clearly identified who had upset him, a particular passenger and an airline that didn’t give him the respect he felt he earned during more than 20 years of cumulative service.

I am not going to cry for Slater, because we all know he will land on his feet. Within 24 hours he was the toast of the internet. Over 100,000 Facebook fans will see to it that his legal fees are paid and that he emerges with a book deal, a movie of the week and speaking tour. In the long run, he will receive much more compensation than any Jet Blue pension would ever provide. Why? Because as a recent talk show caller posited, we are all looking forward to “making a killing” rather than “making a living.” I am not at all suggesting that Steven Slater planned his actions or intended this outcome, but this is what America has devolved into. When the four-decades-veteran Senator and three-time presidential hopeful, John McCain became involved in a lovefest with Snooki of Jersey Shore fame, and the term “Balloon Boy” triggers emotion for even passive social observers, you know that a strong work ethic and traditional values has been supplanted by Reality TV and the need to live out loud. At this point most of us want our story of woe to elicit empathy from someone who has a cool million to throw our way; and we feel a tinge of envy when we perceive someone is getting their 15 minutes at our expense.

Who knows what truly motivated the actions of the Jet Blue flight attendant. Maybe he snapped or maybe he orchestrated his next career move. In the coming days I am certain that all of his dirty laundry will be aired and pundits will debate his motivations. Regardless of what all that reveals, the facts are clear, his actions resonated with people because everyone is on edge, and no one has the luxury of doing what he did.  But we all wish we could “pop the chute;” or at least grab the beer on our way out the door, without “going postal.”