I'm back- with another dude award!

Occasionally, I have given out a "dude" award for going above and beyond their place in life. Previous award winners were "Sully" Sullenberger for landing a commercial airliner in the Hudson River without injuring a single person, and "Samurai Mike" Singletary for actually coaching an NFL team despite the egos of professional athletes.

My newest recipient of the Dude Award is JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater. I almost spit my Cheerios all over the table this morning when I read this story. A flight from Pittsburgh to New York was taxiing at JFK. As everyone knows who has been on a commercial flight, you need to stay seated and keep your seat belt buckled until the plane comes to a complete stop. Some idiot apparently got up to get her stuff out of the overhead compartment while the plane was still moving. Slater confronts the passenger. The passenger doesn't listen. Slater continues to tell the person to sit down, and the passenger still won't listen. Slater is then bonked in the head by the passenger's luggage. It is unclear if this happened by accident or on purpose. Slater demands an apology from the passenger. Instead, he gets an f-bomb. So, Slater then gets on the plane's intercom and delivers a profanity-laced tirade cursing out the passenger, waxing nostalgic about his 20 years as a flight attendant, and said a final farewell to the passengers. Finally, he grabs two beers (at this point, I was laughing so hard that milk was coming out of my nose), deploys the emergency escape slide, exits the plane, walks to his car and drives home. Shortly thereafter, the police arrest him on charges of reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and trespassing. He could face 7 years in prison if he is convicted.

Slater has already become a folk hero for working people, other flight attendants, and the millions of people who wanted to scream "take this job and shove it!"

I know this guy supposedly broke the law, but I am proud of him for several reasons. First of all, the passenger was acting like a complete d-bag, and he was completely justified by demanding an apology.

A friend of mine is a flight attendant. It is hard work, and it doesn't pay well. It requires a great deal of training, and you need to know the FAA regulations and safety procedures inside and out. Having to deal with jerks on a daily basis is yet another challenge on the job.

Secondly, he is human, and I can't blame the guy for losing it after 20 years of likely being abused and cussed at by passengers who are drunk, unruly or just being arseholes. Most importantly, when he flew off the handle, he did so with panache.

In the end, though, what should we take out of this?

1. The customer is NOT always right. People have no right to harass or act hostile towards a worker who is trying to do his job.

2. As we say in any industry in which you deal with the general public- When you deal with the masses, you deal with the asses. Don't get me wrong, 95 percent of people I have encountered are polite, decent people, but there is an arsehole born every minute, and, as a teacher, I can say it usually comes from upbringing.

3. Everyone has their breaking point. This person had a lot of stress outside of his job. His father recently passed away, his mother has cancer, and he is supposedly a recovering alcoholic. Unfortunately, he is not the only person whose work is affected by outside stressors.

I am not sure about the criminal charges. I am sure he looked to see if the tarmac is clear before deploying the slide. All he should be liable for is the approx. $2,000 it costs to inspect and repack the slide, and the $10 or so for the beer. If the police are charging him, law enforcement officials should also go after the passenger, because she was violating FAA regulations by disobeying a flight attendant.

Any comments? Should Steven Slater be regarded as a folk hero, or should the cops throw the book at him?