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Alaska Plane Crash Investigation; Relief Well Drilling On Hold; JetBlue Attendant Out on Bail
Aired August 11, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Lesson learned on board a Jetblue plane after a flight attendant decided he just wasn't going to take it anymore, unleashing a slew of profanities, grabbing a couple of cold brews and sliding down the emergency chute, Steven Slater went right to jail.
Slater has been bailed out but he is facing felony charges, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. Slater is certainly not the disgruntled worker - the first one to quit in rage. Listen to this radio deejay who decided enough was enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't take it. I'm not going to take it. I don't have to take it. I'm not a dummy. I know how to find another job. For the last six years I made $6 an hour. That isn't nothing! I just got a raise after six years! I know I'm qualified and after saying this, I don't care if I ever get another job in radio period.
So if you are confused about what I'm saying, listen very carefully. I quit this (bleep) job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So how about a co-worker who flies into a rage when another worker bumps his desk. Oh, yes, papers fly. Computer screens tumble. Curious co-workers pop their heads above the cubicles. The question is - why are people so on edge? And how about money woes, unemployment, a little job security. Or is it something more.
Debbie Mandel wrote "Addicted to Stress." She is joining us live via Skype from Lawrence, New York. Debbie, you are learning more about Steven Slater. What is your reaction to what you know, what we all know at this point and how he handled it?
DEBBIE MANDEL, AUTHOR "ADDICTED TO STRESS": Well, we all need an escape hatch, and we're all looking for that, but what we are realizing is that stress is cumulative. The small stresses add up and we should begin to manage them before we boil over.
PHILLIPS: So how do we do that, though? We heard so many different types of tips. You know, try and stop, walk and talk, try to meditate. Try to take three deep breaths, call somebody that you are close to before you go crazy, Write it out an a piece of paper before you send it. Think about it, sleep on it. We've heard so many pieces of advice but it's not that easy.
MANDEL: But do we do it? You have to start. We all have a negativity bias. That means we're drawn to what's wrong as opposed to what's right. When you become aware that you're getting out of balance, that you're getting agitated and irritated, this is the time to focus on the positive. What's right with your life? Don't focus on the stain on your outfit. Look at the whole context, and the more you do it, you get a reflex action and it will become a part of you to look for the positive.
PHILLIPS: Now, some stress can be good for us, right?
MANDEL: Yes. Acute stress is very good for you, making you perform better. If I'm too relaxed now, I'm not going to give you a good interview.
PHILLIPS: Oh, so you're a little stressed?
MANDEL: Always. A little stress is good. And you know what, when you do your work, when you're writing, when you got a deadline, sometimes we perform very well with that, that surge, a little more alert and alive.
PHILLIPS: And I have to agree with you. Sometimes it's hard to really balance all of it. Now, you wrote the book "Addicted to Stress." Why use the word "addicted"? Are we all somehow addicted to it and need a little drama in our life?
MANDEL: Yes, and we get a powerful surge of hormones like any addiction and we begin to feel hyper vigilant and very alive, and then we crash. So we surge and we crash and when you crash, you want to get the next surge, and keep in mind the more that I do and I can accomplish on so many fronts 24/7, thanks to technology, I get a lot of validation.
You are going to say, wow, Deb, you're great. Look at what you do. I feed off of that if I don't feel important enough. I think what happened to Slater was when the woman did not follow his order, he felt trivialized. He didn't feel important enough, and that really set him off.
PHILLIPS: Tell you what, I need a few sessions with you. Debbie Mandel, "Addicted to Stress." Thanks for the insight today.
MANDEL: You're very welcome.
PHILLIPS: Well, if you hate where you work, don't get too down, OK. There are jobs out there.
Stephanie Elam in New York. So Steph, you wouldn't know it from the unemployment numbers? That's for sure.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. I know you hear that the unemployment is 9.5 percent. We know that there's 15 million Americans that are out of work. So the assumption is is no one's hiring, right? But that's actually not the case. The Labor Department just released new numbers showing there are millions of job openings across the country. We are sifting through those report right now and we're going to bring you the details in about 15 minutes, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Before we go, though, the Dow right now looks like it's down 177 points, right now. What's the deal?
ELAM: Yes. This all follows what we heard the fed say yesterday, we heard those comments saying yes, we have a recovery but it is slower than we would like to see at this point. That led to the overseas market selling off overnight.
And then we have the Bank of England following suit and saying they've downgraded their recovery expectations for England. All of that factoring in and that's why we see the markets off today.
PHILLIPS: All right. Steph, welcome back and see you in about 14 minutes.
ELAM: Sounds good. Thanks.
PHILLIPS: The sun is just coming up in Alaska, and investigators have a long day of work ahead of them. They're combing through the wreckage of a plane that crashed into the side of a mountain, killing five people, including former Senator Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the history of the U.S. Senate.
As for the survivors, the crash site is so remote and so rugged it took rescuers 12 hours to reach them. One of those four survivors is former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe. He's in serious condition and his teenage son is in serious condition.
Now, one of the pilots who found the wreckage says that it first appeared that no one could have survived the impact.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC SHADE, FOUND CRASHED PLANE: It was pretty smashed. The wings were laying beside the fuselage, on each side. And I couldn't see the floats. The floats were underneath it. And there was - I couldn't see anything in the front of the airplane. From the window forward, the cowling and everything was gone. The main fuselage and the tail was in one place, but the wings were off, and I couldn't see the engine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think anybody could have survived that?
SHADE: I didn't think it was survivable. It looked pretty - from where he hit to where the airplane came to rest was probably just 100 feet, 150 feet, maybe. When you're flying down low in stuff like this, you're flying in the hills, in between the hills, and you have to know where they're at.
He flew into the side of the mountain and I have no idea how he got there. I mean, he wasn't - if he was flying from the end of Second Lake to Portage Creek, it would have went right down that valley, and he was going a different direction. I don't know how he got there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: They're looking at weather as being one possible factor in that crash. Pilots had said that there was almost no visibility around that time. The investigators have not yet been able to speak to the survivors.
Is a takeover underway and is voter rebellion taking a foot hold? We'll listen to these primary election results and decide for yourself. First up, Colorado. Senator Michael Bennet beat Andrew Romanoff, capturing the Democratic nomination for the Senate. The endorsements were definitely high profile. President Obama had Bennet's back. While former President Clinton pushed for Romanoff.
Connecticut, winning the Republican Senate primary, former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon. She will now battle state attorney general Dick Blumenthal for that seat.
Minnesota, former Senator Mark Dayton barely snags the Democratic nomination for governor and will now take on GOP nominee Tom Emmer, independent party candidate Tom Horner.
Then in Georgia, Sarah Palin might have backed Karen Handel, and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee might have stumped for Nathan Deal but the runoff for governor too close to call.
And defiant and apologetic, how about Democratic Representative Charlie Rangel on the House floor yesterday. He said he was sorry. He said he was embarrassed for what he has caused fellow lawmakers but he insisted he's not corrupt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: I'm 80 years old. All of my life has been from the beginning public service. That's all I've ever done. Been in the Army, been a state legislator, been a federal prosecutor, 40 years here. All I'm saying is that if it is the judgment of people here for whatever reason that I resign, then, heck, have the Ethics Committee expedite this. Don't leave me swinging in the wind until November.
If this is an emergency and I think it is to help our local and state governments out, what about me? I don't want anyone to feel embarrassed, awkward. Hey, if I was you, I might want me to go away, too. I am not going away. I am here, and I do recognize that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The House Ethics Committee last month charged Rangel with 13 violations of house rules including financial wrongdoing.
A desperate search for survivors in China after deadly landslides, joining forces to find people who may be buried alive.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And we're hoping that tropical depression number five doesn't turn into a deadly storm. It will have some heavy rain with it and may become our next tropical storm of the season. There it is right there. And there is New Orleans, it's already raining. Weather is coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, a new tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. Rob Marciano tracking that for us. Rob.
MARCIANO: Good morning again, Kyra. Here it is. Over the last couple of hours, it's perked up just a little bit. Winds at of 0 miles an hour. So that's not very impressive. As a matter of fact, it dropped intensity overnight. But the last couple of frames, as you see the convection now beginning to fire up a little bit around it.
It is about 250 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. It's heading in that direction, northwesterly at about 12 miles an hour or so. It has time to get itself together. And it's forecast to slow down just a little bit. Because of that, and it's forecast to become a tropical storm at some point here, tropical storm warnings have been posted (INAUDIBLE) all the way back to Destin, Florida. And this is the area that we're concerned about most.
All right. Here is your official track from the National Hurricane Center. Forecast to become a tropical storm, probably later on tonight or early tomorrow morning. Winds potentially as strong as 50 miles an hour sustained and then taking a track that would potentially bring it along the mouth of the Mississippi.
Notice the wide cone from Panama City all the way back to the (INAUDIBLE) basin. That's the area that could potentially see impact from this particular storm. We'll see if it strengthens to a tropical storm status. That probably would happen. The question is will it get to hurricane status? Probably not. We certainly hope that's not the case.
It's not very concentrated along the center. You see how wide the circulation is. So we kind of need it to tighten up to really start feeding off itself. The other big weather story we're talking about is the heat. Another day of probably record-breaking heat across this area, 105 to 115 degree heat indexes, meaning that's what it feels like.
This is the actual temperature yesterday in Georgetown, Delaware, D.C. got up to 98, Trenton, New Jersey, 96 degrees. You just kind of throw a little (INAUDIBLE) on that. Tampa, California 39 degrees and Woodland Hills, California, 50 degrees. So some record lows on the West Coast as well. This is all going to even out just a little bit over the weekend and next week as our pattern begins to shift. Kyra, back over to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Scanning the "Morning Passport" now. Devastating floods in Pakistan, rescues going on by land and air. The Pakistani military has launched dozens of helicopters and hundreds of boats. So far more than 350,000 people have been saved but things are critical, food is in short supply and tons of homes have been damaged or destroyed. The U.N. and the U.S. are providing aid.
A frantic search for survivors underway in China. People have been trapped for days under the mud after a massive landslide. CNN's Emily Chang has more on the rescue effort.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) village now lies beneath this sweeping mud plain. 300 homes swallowed by the landslide. (INAUDIBLE) Ming man was pulling up in his taxi when he saw the mud and rock race through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator): I was crying and I was so anxious, he says. He tried to call his family, but they were already gone.
(on camera): This is the bedroom.
(voice-over): They found his wife's body and are still looking for his two sons.
(on camera): He's drawing a map of his home for me and describing where he believes his family members were when the landslide happened.
(voice-over): Others don't know exactly where to start.
Mr. Shuy (ph) believes his brother's bedroom is here but hasn't found signs of a structure.
(on camera): Even days later, there are still flood wares cutting through the disaster zone, and the mud is still so soft that if you step in the wrong place and stand there too long, you could easily sink in, and that is really slowing down the rescue efforts here.
(voice-over): Even at the base of the mountain, heavy machinery is stranded, and the threat of more flooding looms. Debris has built up in the river, and the water level is dangerously high. It's a long uphill trek to bring in supplies like water and instant noodles, but the painstaking work goes on.
Family members sob over dead bodies, wrapping them in clean clothes. Villagers believe the death toll is much higher than government reports.
It's definitely too low, these men say. 2,000 people lived in this village alone. Thousands of government soldiers continue to heave stone by stone, but for most, it's too late. I don't have anywhere else to go, says Mr. Li. A few blankets and bowls are all he has left along with haunting memory of a life that was lost in seconds.
Emily Chang, CNN, (INAUDIBLE) county, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: It's game on for everybody, and that includes disabled players, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Disabled gamers getting an all-access pass to the world of gaming. CNN's Gary Tuchman tells us about one group providing adaptive gear and a place for social networking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve Spohn is an avid gamer. He's also disabled.
STEVE SPOHN, DISABLED GAMER: I have a form of muscular dystrophy called final muscular atrophy. Right now, I can move my hands and that's about it.
TUCHMAN: Using only a mouse and an on-screen keyboard sometimes limited his gaming experience. So he looked on-line for help and came across an organization founded by Mark Barlet .
MARK BARLET, THE ABLEGAMERS FOUNDATION: The AbleGamers Foundation is a non-profit that helps get disabled people into gaming.
TUCHMAN: The web sites forums encourage people to share game recommendations using tips.
BARLET: Able-bodied people see the wheelchair, able-bodied people see the crutches and they don't always see the person. Gaming allows you to shed all of that.
TUCHMAN: The foundation also works with developers to create modified equipment like this device that controls a game almost entirely by blowing in and out through a tube.
BARLET: I'm either - or depending on what I'm doing.
TUCHMAN: Or this controller built with larger buttons for easier access. As for Steve Spohn, he stays busy as associate editor of ablegamers.com.
SPOHN: I think the community will always exist at AbleGamers. For me, it was a place that I fit. I often say that I found the place in AbleGamers where I needed them and they needed me.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories. Investigators at the site of the Alaska plane crash that killed former Senator Ted Stevens and four others. Remarkably there are four survivors even after having to wait 12 hours for rescuers to reach that remote and rugged area.
Tropical depression pushes back the work on a permanent seal for the ruptured oil well in the gulf. BP hopes the relief well will be finished by next week.
A flipped out flight attendant is out of jail but still facing charges for his meltdown. Steven Slater has become famous for cussing out passengers, grabbing a few brews and launching the emergency slide. Slater says all of the on-line support just proves he's resonated with America. Resonating because Slater isn't the first person to ever freak out in the workplace. Right, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Kyra. Unfortunately, we see things like this all of the time. Like with this guy, another place of workplace rage, in this case, they call it cubicle rage. People get all excited about it.
Now we can't be absolutely sure that it is real, but I will tell you, I am showing you some other ones that do seem to be fake. He's at his computer. He doesn't like something and, boom, there it goes. That's not all of the abuse that computer is about to take.
Now, coming up later this hour, I got some more workplace rage for you. What happens when a different kind of workplace rage takes place live on national TV at a sporting event?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In china, there's a new scandal involving the safety of milk, and this one you won't believe. Officials there are investigating claims that powdered milk has caused some infant girls to begin premature sexual development. In other words, they're beginning puberty before they're out of diapers.
This New Zealand factory supplies the powdered milk to the Chinese company that is now caught up in the scandal. They say that their product is strictly regulated and perfectly safe. They said the Chinese company also buys other ingredients locally and from Europe.
Put down the paper face mask. The swine flu outbreak is over. That doesn't seem to be breaking news but the World Health Organization has actually made it official now. The experts say that the H1N1 pandemic has subsided to the point that only a few countries are still reporting a significant number of cases.
And here's a bizarre medical case to share around the water cooler. When this Massachusetts man developed breathing problems, he resigned himself to some terrible news. He expected the doctors were going to say that he had cancer but it wasn't a tumor that was growing in his lung. It was a plant. Apparently he inhaled a pea and it sprouted. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON SVEDEN, PLANT GROWING IN LUNG: Probably about a half an inch, and - which that's a pretty big thing. Whether this would have gone full term and I'd be working for the jolly green giant, I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: He's keeping a good attitude. By the time the doctor's found the problem, the lung had already collapsed, unfortunately, but one of the first hospital meals he was served after surgery, yes, it was peas.
An ex-firefighters performing a twisting gyrating victory dance during a game of horseshoes, but here's the problem, the same guy won a multi-million dollar judgment claiming that he was permanently disabled on the job. So should the city of Seattle still have to pay him millions of dollars?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So have you had just about enough of your job? Are you ready to pull the emergency chute yourself? Steven Slater's dramatic "I quit" moment, he said touched quite a chord in this country.
Stephanie Elam says don't worry. There are jobs out there. Stephanie, you got the numbers to prove it, right?
ELAM: Right. Exactly, Kyra. We want to give people some hope out there. Because we just found out that there are 2.9 million job openings as of June 30th. The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released these numbers. We just got them a few minutes ago, and we can say that job openings, they actually increased in manufacturing, leisure and hospitality and also at the government level.
Now, looking at it by region, they increased in the midwest and in the south as well but here's the thing. Hiring just doesn't seem to be catching up with all of these openings. If you take a look at this graphic from the "Wall Street Journal," if you take a look at the purple bar that is there, that represents job openings in different fields. The orange one that represents how many people have been hired.
So the good news, yes - there are jobs that are out there but the bad news is a lot of companies just aren't finding the right people to fill them, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So, what's the deal and why the disconnect?
ELAM: Yes, well, often times it's coming down to the skill set. Employers say they can't find qualified candidates. Now, CareerBuilder says nearly half of HR managers report a skill shortage, especially for jobs in IT, information technology, customer service and also in communications. And it's even more pronounced in health care. Sixty-three percent of HR managers at big health care companies say they're seeing a shortage of qualified workers, and a lot those jobs require specialized training. That's the issue.
The other issue is worker mobility. In the past, people have been able to pick up and move for a new job. But because of the housing meltdown, there are millions of people who owe more on their home than they can afford or that it is worth, so they can't sell their home. And they definitely can't afford another mortgage in a different city. So, they're stuck, and that really limits opportunities.
On top of all that, don't forget about corporate budges. People have been cutting them at that corporate level, so there's a bigger gap between how much a job seeker thinks the job should be worth and what they're worth, and what the company is willing to pay, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, our viewers may have been wondering where the heck you have been. And that's because you're working two full-time jobs now, working all the money news for us here at CNN and taking care of little Simone, who was born just a few months ago. There's the proud dad, the proud mom -
ELAM: There she is!
PHILLIPS: -- and what a cutie pie.
ELAM: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: So, are you getting any sleep?
ELAM: A lot less now, but funny how you adjust to the less sleep thing when you have to. You just wake up when you need to. It's good to be back, but it's also good to see Simone smiling every day when I leave. So, it's working out.
PHILLIPS: Congratulations, Stephanie.
ELAM: Thank you so much, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
The story now we've been talking about. An ex-Seattle firefighters is awarded nearly $13 million after taking a big fall on the job. He said he was permanently disabled, but after an investigator secretly taped this guy off the job, questions and outrage surfaced.
Here's KOMO's Ray Lin. (ph)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAY LIN (ph), KOMO-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mark Jones danced up a storm as this secret video was recorded. Surveillance images show the former firefighter dancing, chopping wood, playing a favorite hobby of horseshoes and bocce ball, making all sorts of moves. Attorneys working for the city says this a part of his deception.
JASON ANDERSON, ATTORNEY: Mr. Jones testified at trial that he was in constant pain, felt like he was 80 years old and unable to use his right arm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: I feel like I'm 80 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: That was Jones during a deposition before he won a huge settlement from the city back in October. A jury agreed that he was permanently disabled in 2003 at a fire station when he fell 15 feet through an opening near the fire pole in the middle of the night. He was awarded nearly $12.8 million, which included 2.5 million for lifetime medical care and assistance.
That judgment is now in jeopardy because of this video. Doctors who had previously ruled that Jones could not longer work have suddenly recanted. They have reversed their decisions, concluding that "Mr. Jones' behavior at the examination was a performance." It was Jones' frequent testimony about all of the pain he's in that convinced a jury and many others.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: That's what my day consists of. It's such a struggle from point a when I get up. And I'm trying to get going through it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Attorneys for the city says Jones' claims were greatly exaggerated and utterly at odds with reality. They are asking for the $12.8 million verdict to be thrown out, and a new trial to be set. Jones' attorney is outraged, saying "The city's motion is bunk. This particular (one) seems designed to generate false sympathy for the city and try to prejudice the appeals court judges before they know the facts of the case."
The court is expected to decide in the next month if the verdict and judgement will be dismissed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Now, we want to add that we did reach out to Mark Jones' attorney and he did reply in an e-mail to CNN. In that statement, attorney Dick Kilpatrick emphasizes that during the trial, his team did not claim that Mark could not perform ordinary things and, in fact, the jury knew he could participate in several everyday activities, including lifting as much as 50 pounds. He also went on to stress that it was Mark's brain injury that got the substantial award because of bleeding in the brain. Kilpatrick claims Mark has trouble planning, remembering and following through.
Demanding a terrorist's medical records. Four senators want to know why the Lockerbie bomber is alive nearly a year after he was sent home to die.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Four U.S. senators want to put their hands on the Lockerbie bomber's medical records, so they now are demanding that Scotland hand them over nearly one year after Abdel Besset al Megrahi was set free. He returned to Libya where was expected to die of prostate cancer within three months. But he's still alive, and the senators from New York and New Jersey want to know why he was even let go. Al Megrahi was convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet that killed 270 people, most of them Americans.
Checking top stories. Investigators at the site of the Alaska plane crash that killed former senator Ted Stevens and four others. Remarkably, there are still four survivors, even after having to wait 12 hours for rescuers to reach that remote and rugged area.
President Obama signs a bill that provides another $26 billion to states, and Democrats say it will mainly help prevent teacher layoffs. House gave final approval yesterday.
The flipped out flight attendant is out of jail but still facing charges for his meltdown. Steven Slater has become famous for cussing out passengers, grabbing a few beers and launching the emergency slide. Slater says that all his online support proves that he has resonated with America.
Who doesn't get fed up with work sometimes? But crossing into the realm of rage, that's a whole different matter. Maybe a Web site can help vent some of that anger, right, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, people do things in video games that they shouldn't do in real life, right? Take a look at this. Maybe this could help vent some of that pent-up anger. I will show you how to get your hands on this office space. Maybe you can work out some frustration yourself in a few clever clicks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
PHILLIPS: JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater is without a doubt America's most famous flight attendant right now. He's an instant rock star to frustrated workers worldwide after unleashing a string of profanities and making a grand exit down the emergency chute. 101,000 Facebook fans and counting. By the way, that's about 20,000 more than when we first checked this morning. A string of T- shirts are praising him now. You can go online and order one and also these words of wisdom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me what you think about the support you have gotten?
STEVEN SLATER, JETBLUE FLIGHT ATTENDANT: It's been very, very appreciated. It seems like something here resonated with a few people and that's kind of neat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to lose your job?
SLATER: More than likely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me about rude passengers. Talk about that for a second.
SLATER: There's a lot of wonderful people out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Resonate, that's putting it lightly. His story is so popular around the globe, this company is Taiwan has even animated Steven Slater from the confrontation to the PA cuss-out to the slide down the chute.
But what exactly, who exactly is this guy? We've been checking out his MySpace page, and he posted this picture with the caption, "My other home" and says his friends have, quote, "Given me new wings to fly. See you above the clouds."
Maybe that's why several JetBlue employees have reportedly told TMZ he was sipping the blue juice just days before the meltdown. What's the blue juice, you ask? Well, apparently, it's the company's equivalent to school spirit. Who knew Steven's infamous rant and run was lurking around the corner?
We wanted to know what really ticks you off at work. You can imagine a lot of you are responding. Jamie says, "I worked plenty of customer service jobs, and the attitude is generally that you can treat people like crap, but expect them to smile, bend over backwards and get everything for as little as possible. If everyone used a little kindness, we'd all have be able to have an easier day."
Steve says, "The person working with the public get no respect at all and are made to feel as if their own existence on the planet is solely dependent on them, the customer. The customer is not always right, and this is what needs to be changed. The employee having to take this abuse is being told by their company supervisors to take it because it's their job. That's wrong. It's their job to assist the customer with their needs, not be abused physically or verbally."
And D-1 writes, "I've learned that some manager don't hear tolerant, quiet employees, but they do hear loud, rude, selfish employees. It's a shame to feel so helpless that you act out as a juvenile. This behavior usually occurs last in a normal person after all their attempts to be heard have failed."
And Amber says, "I get frustrated at work when your co-workers treat you like they're superior to you, even though you're just as educated as they are."
Remember, we love hearing from you. Just log on to CNN.com/kyra and share your comments with us. This is hardly the first time that someone's workplace meltdown got people talking all over the world. It's one of the reasons for the success of YouTube, peeking at people's breakdowns. Josh has been looking through some of the more popular ones, shall we say.
LEVS: Yes, and look. We'll say that the top, you and I have both covered the horrible side, the worst kind of rage that can happen at the workplace. But what we're seeing here is the lighter kind where people don't get hurt and there are so many people that associate with that that maybe some people have forgotten.
In the early days of YouTube, this was one of the biggest reasons people were excited about YouTube. People get frustrated at work. They were seeing videos of other people getting frustrated at work, they were watching them at work, and it was making them feel better.
By far, the most popular one is this one, set to the music of "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve, where this guy flips out, starts throwing things. As far as we know, everyone is fine here. And I will tell you, people cannot watch that enough. They just keep moving and moving and to this day, this is on so many places online that it's had millions of views combined. And I'll tell you, you want to see a freak-out, that's the one to go to.
Now, sometimes there aren't that many other people around. Sometimes it just happens in a cubicle, and there is a term now, cubicle rage. Like this guy right here, who some people are calling Cubicle Rage man. I mentioned it earlier. Take a look at this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That computer must have done something to him. But who doesn't have a little bit of that feeling every once in a while? The computer goes on to take some real abuse.
So, we saw office freak-outs as workplace freak-outs, but keep in mind there are other kinds of workplace rage that we're all sitting there and watching. And to some extent maybe even enjoying when it happens at sporting events like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bo's crazy. David Sheldon with the call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's up there. He's getting a penalty. And Jim (INAUDIBLE) just broke a still over the ice! He has lost his mind! Jim -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Let's keep watching this. And I'm going to tell you what this was. This is Jim (INAUDIBLE) the coach of the (INAUDIBLE) Heat of the American Hockey League, who ended up being fined for this. Our partners at "Sports Illustrated" said, quote, "Add this to the list of great coaching meltdowns." He ended up splintering the stick. Our own Rick Sanchez enjoyed this video. He said, "No, this is not David Banter turning into the Hulk."
PHILLIPS: Bobby Knight was worse than that. C'mon. Bobby Knight threw chairs, choked players --
LEVS: Oh, yeah.
PHILLIPS: Yes, let's not forget that.
LEVS: This is just the latest. Just the latest one there.
And I mentioned this, Kyra. If you have your own frustrations out there, right, and you want to work it out, maybe the Web can help you. Look at this game from the folks at iGuess.com. They put this together. All you have to do is get on there and click. You click the coffee, he does that. You click the computer, he does that. His eyes go berserk. He flips out about everything.
At the end, you can hit your space bar and have him throw the computer out the window. So, there you go. Lots of fine online if you want to work it out without actually working it out in real life, people. C'mon.
PHILLIPS: There you go. That's a lot easier and a lot more safe. And you won't get fired for that.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: That's great. We could play that every morning. Love how his eyes pop out, too. Like our entire team when we see how much work we have ahead of us.
LEVS: Tell me about it.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Josh.
LEVS: See you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Lessons learned from Katrina. It's been almost five years since the hurricane devastated New Orleans. We'll tell you why these people are making plans before the next big storm hits.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's been almost five years since Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, exposing tragic failures in the city's preparation plans. Now, hundreds of volunteers want to make sure help will be available before the next storm hits. It's an example of tearing down obstacles and "Building Up America." Here's our Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of Katrina, tens of thousands of New Orleanians were stranded because they lacked transportation, information or the inclination to evacuate before the storm. Beverly Mitchell with a clunker of an old car was one of them.
BEVERLY MITCHELL, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I really didn't believe that Katrina was going to be so devastating.
FOREMAN (on camera): You found out otherwise?
MITCHELL: I sure did. Yes, I did.
FOREMAN (voice-over): She wound up in the Superdome's heat, squalor and darkness for days. Now in the shadow of that same building, a growing group is building up their plan to avoid a repeat of that calamity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need this to save lives.
FOREMAN: This is Evacuteer.org, volunteers from all over town who are training to help their fellow citizens get out when a big storm comes in.
Robert Fogarty is the founder.
ROBERT FOGARTY, DIRECTOR, EVACUTEER.ORG: If we're not preparing our vulnerable residents for a way to leave and have them feel safe in that process, you know, we're not doing the best that we can.
FOREMAN: About 30,000 residents lack reliable transportation, so when an evacuation is called, 700 evacuteers man collection points all over offering information, assistance with bags, help with paperwork, getting those people on to buses and on their way.
(on camera): What is their number one sort of mission for you?
LAINE FREY, VP OF OPERATIONS, EVACUTEER.ORG: For me personally it's to get every person in the city somewhere safe if there's a storm coming.
RAFAEL DELGADILLO, VP OF OPERATIONS, EVACUTEER.ORG: We're here to make sure that, you know, there's grease between the gears and that people are calm down.
SHAWN CHOLLETTE, SR. VP OF OPERATIONS, EVACUTEER.ORG: So evacuteer.org is about me taking care of my family, my extended family. And hopefully the rest of -- everybody feels like we're family.
FOREMAN: Hurricane Gustav tested their skills two years ago and they say it went well. But the evacuteers keep improving, always mindful of the chaos of Katrina.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think our organization exists to reduce and never have happen what happened 5 years ago. I mean that just can't happen.
FOREMAN: Beverly Mitchell is counting on that. (on camera): There are people here who don't have transportation. There are people who have medical problems. There are people who have financial problems, who have questions, who are afraid --
MITCHELL: Yes, yes -- you know. So evacuteer is a blessing for all of us.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And assurance that as long as the evacuteers can find a way in, they will have a way out.
Tom Foreman, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
PHILLIPS: It's time to lift up our men and women in uniform who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's called "Home and Away," and we'll tell you how to be part of a project in just a minute.
But first, we want to tell you about Lance Corporal Eric Anthony Palmisano from Florence, Wisconsin. He was killed in Iraq in April 2006. Eric's mom, Bobbi, wrote in about him saying he joined the Marines to follow in a proud family tradition. His grandfather, uncle, and nephew were all Marines before he was. Eric's family has set up a CARE package project in memory of him. And if you'd like to know more about it, go to www.palmisanocarepackageproject.com. The project has now shipped more than 1,200 Care packages since it was set up in May of 2006.
Now it's your turn. If you have a loved one would you like us to honor, here's what you can do. Go to CNN.com/homeandaway. Type in your service member's name in the upper right-hand search field and pull up a profile. Send us your thoughts and pictures, and we'll keep the memory of your hero and ours alive.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: For anybody who has ever wanted to say "take this job and shove it," America's most famous flight attendant might be your hero. Heck, even Steven Slater's ex-wife is singing his praises. Jeanne Moos takes a look at the foul-mouthed flight attendent's slide to celebrity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fasten your seatbelts, Steven Slater. Faster than a cross-country flight, he went from flight attendant to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steven Slater is an American hero.
MOOS: With his own ballad.
(SINGING)
MOOS: Reporters asked him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Slater, why are you smiling?
MOOS: But he made us smile when he went ballistic on the airplane intercom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the blanking blank-hole who told me to blank off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To the expletive, expletive that told me to expletive off.
MOOS: He's even swearing in Taiwanese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
MOOS: Already immortalized in an animation. His name flitted around Twitter, "my hero," "free Steven Slater," "If the slide don't glide, then give Steven Slater a free ride." It was at if "Network" met Jerry Maguire.
TOM CRUISE (acting as Jerry Maguire): I'm not going do what you all think I'm going to do which is -- just flip out!
MOOS: On a double bill playing aboard "Airplane 2."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're also out of coffee.
MOOS: But in Slater's case, it was grabbing beer on the way out that captivated everyone and had morning hosts fantasizing in song.
(SINGING)
MOOS: As "The Daily Beast" called Slater the new sally. "The Washington Post" coined a phrase poinous Slater saying we all dream of activating an escape slide. Talk about an exit.
MOOS (on-camera): When reporters asked his attorney why Slater took the slide, the answer -- because it was right there.
MOOS (on-camera): Even his ex-wife came to his defense.
VOICE OF CYNTHIA SUSANNE, SLATER'S EX-WIFE: He definitely has the Joan of Arc of the flight world right now.
MOOS: You sound like you like him a lot for an ex-wife.
SUSANNE: Oh, he's fantastic. He's wonderful.
MOOS: But even wonderful people snap like in the Nicoderm commercial.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The last time I tried to quit smoking --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only two carry-on items!
MOOS: Passengers seeking a moment of Zen from the indignities of flying mind appreciate this pillow fight aboard a Lufthansa flight. It's been a long time since flying felt light as a feather.
(SINGING)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, that does it for us. Thanks for joining us.
So, Tony, do you have an "I Quit" fantasy?
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I don't, but I'll tell you this. You know the scene that I would have loved to have seen? Maybe we can dig it up. (INAUDIBLE) "Justice For All." You remember the scene with Pacino in the courtroom -
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: "You're out of order! You're out of order! These whole proceedings are out of order. I'm out of here."
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Sounds like our little workpod.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: I kind of like that. Have a great day, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. You too.
