You know what? The next beer's on me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100810/bs_yblog_upshot/rogue-jetblue-flight-attendant-being-hailed-as-a-modern-american-working-class-hero

Has there been actual footage of this meltdown that’s come out yet? I think the passengers on that plane should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for being asleep on the job. People want to seeeeee this kind of shiz.

A lot of the focus I’ve seen has been about this being a air travel related meltdown. My take is that it’s a straight up customer service related job meltdown. I worked public facing service jobs in one way or another for 15 years. And I can tell you, there were many a Christmas that I wanted to cuss out the 25th customer who handed me 8 pairs of inside out, balled up pants with a smirk on their face, slap a Christmas tree topper on my head and run through the store screaming “Viva la revolucion!” while high fiving my fellow employees on my way out the door. I been there, my friend.

Not that every customer out there is a nasty customer, so to speak. But there are those people out there who were schoolyard bullies once upon a time, and never quite grew out of the need push other people around. And they head straight towards customer service workers who not only won’t fight back, really for the most part can’t fight back. Really, customer service is cleaning up other people’s messes. 8 hours a day. If there weren’t messes, then you wouldn’t be needed. You get paid for it. But usually barely enough to cover the wear and tear on your nerves that just the normal amount of crap. When you get one of those bullies, it’s pretty much above and beyond the call of duty. And some days, they all turn up at once.

And for some reason, discount situations, like Jet Blue or the Ross store I worked at in college, just seem to ratchet up the freak factor. If you’re paying Neiman Marcus prices, you can expect people to put up with your lousy attitude. But when Rhonda Rotten shows up at the discount store on a busy Saturday with her five kids that she turns loose in the purse department, tries on everything in the store, asks if she (and 3 of the kids; where are the other 2?) can use the employee water fountain, and can you call every store in town to see if they have this blue pair of size 6 pants in a purple size 8, and then asks for a 20% discount on white blouse that has make up stains that just happen to match her foundation, because, and I quote, “Isn’t the customer always right?” . . . there’s this sense of roiling, smoldering, electrifying customer service flameout. You only wish there was a drinks cart to grab a beer can that will match that Christmas tree ornament you are getting ready to slap on your head, because you feel that flameout victory lap coming on.

But really. You just swallow it. Try to calm down. Try not to take it personally. You only have to make it another 2 hours. You have this little light of customer service that you’re there to share with all those people needing help. You just have to hope that you’re able to make it through the day without that light burning into a complete flameout.