Job Exits Can Be Professional

Working-class hero or unemployed idiot? By now many people know of Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who dramatically quit his job after a confrontation with an unruly passenger at JFK International Airport in New York.

His story has gone viral, resonated with folks from across the spectrum, and touched a raw nerve in many. How could it not? Anyone who has spent any time on the job, dealing directly with the public, co-workers and bosses, can understand Slater’s frustration.

Most of us suffer in silence (or complain privately to our friends, family and co-workers), but we continue to do our jobs to the best of our abilities. At the end of the day, we all have to pay our bills and put food on our tables. In severe cases, we seek opportunities elsewhere and hope they come our way.

The bizarre chain of events in the Slater case began when a passenger, aboard a JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh to New York’s JFK, got out of her seat to retrieve her baggage from the overhead compartment.

“I lost patience after a female passenger had an argument with another passenger and then opened the bin door hitting me on the head without apologizing,’’ Slater said in a written statement to the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, according to ABC News. “I got on the microphone and said, ‘To those of you [who] have shown dignity and respect these last 20 years, thanks for a great ride.’ I accessed the porthole, pulled the door handle inflating the slide, took my baggage and slid down the slide and left.”

Slater, who apparently wants his JetBlue job back, skipped the fact that he cursed out the entire plane and grabbed two beers before sliding to unemployment, according to eyewitness accounts that contradict his version.

Slater’s grand exit, which gave him an unintended burst of fame among traditional news media and in cyberspace, in particular Facebook, raises some key issues for those of us who want to keep our jobs or find new work (after layoffs, buyouts).

Exactly what constitutes a graceful exit in a work-related situation? Certainly Slater’s departure would not be considered professional in any field. I can offer two contrasting instances from my 30-year newspaper career.

In the first case, a respected and talented editor left abruptly, just packed up his stuff in a box one day after publicly announcing he had enough “crap” from the corporate owner and, in particular, the executive in charge of our newsroom. I urged him to reconsider, or at least to think it over some more in terms of giving notice, all to no avail.

The problem was the exiting editor burned his bridges behind him: He did not give the customary two weeks’ notice, and his abrupt departure left his colleagues scrambling to manage things without any prior warning. In short, it was very messy for all concerned.

Like Slater, the editor probably felt justified and freed by his actions. But, in hindsight, he might have been better off with a more “professional” exit. The drama was certainly there, but it had unintended consequences, especially to his reputation.

In that same newsroom, I also had “issues” with the executive, but I chose to resolve them privately. Our disagreements, rather heated verbally when it became personal, were kept between the two of us in a closed-door meeting in his office.

The end result: A few months later, I left for another newspaper after giving proper notice and making sure all projects were completed or in good order beforehand. No surprises. I wasn’t out to “screw” anybody, just move on to something better professionally and personally.

The break I made with the paper and its corporate owner was a clean one that included an “exit interview” with the publisher, who was thorough, supportive and understanding of my seeking a new career opp. We parted on good terms.

It’s likely Steven Slater will find another job once the fame dies down a bit and after he makes the rounds on the talk and news show circuit. That’s just the way things work in America; the squeaky wheel usually gets the grease.

But the bigger lesson we should all take away from the Slater saga is to think before we act in any work-related situation, regardless of the field or the nature of the wrong we endured.

What feels good and right in the moment may be totally wrong for our future advancement. Slater aside, there is no real exit chute to success for most of us. It requires sound judgment, thorough work and careful planning to achieve our goals.

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com.