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File this as another symptom of our capitalistic society pushing someone to the edge. This particular edge is quite awesome, though:

On Monday, on the tarmac at Kennedy International Airport, a JetBlue attendant named Steven Slater decided he had had enough, the authorities said.

After a dispute with a passenger who stood to fetch luggage too soon on a full flight just in from Pittsburgh, Mr. Slater, 38 and a career flight attendant, got on the public-address intercom and let loose a string of invective.

Then, the authorities said, he pulled the lever that activates the emergency-evacuation chute and slid down, making a dramatic exit not only from the plane but, one imagines, also from his airline career.

On his way out the door, he paused to grab a beer from the beverage cart. Then he ran to the employee parking lot and drove off, the authorities said.

Now THAT takes balls, eh?

It seems like the authorities weren't too happy, though:

He was arrested at his home in Belle Harbor, Queens, a few miles from the airport, and charged with felony counts of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

"When they hit that emergency chute, it drops down quickly within seconds," a law enforcement official said. "If someone was on the ground and it came down without warning, someone could be injured or killed."

True enough...and yet...and yet...don't you have a little soft spot in your heart for this guy?

A former roommate, John Rochelle, said Mr. Slater was seldom home and used his house primarily as a crash pad. When Mr. Slater was not working, Mr. Rochelle said, he was usually in Thousand Oaks, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb, caring for his sick mother.

A neighbor there, Ron Franz, said Mr. Slater also cared for his father as he was dying from Lou Gehrig's disease. Mr. Franz, 72, was hard-pressed to explain Mr. Slater's actions on Monday. "It could be the pressure of his mother's illness, because that's not the type of behavior or conduct that Steve exhibits," he said. "He's a very conscientious, responsible individual."

And finally, kudos to the two journalists on this story, Andy Newman and Ray Rivera, who dug this beauty of a quote up from a neighbor (sort of like a cherry on top!):

But a former flight attendant, Janet Bavasso, who lives next door to Mr. Slater in Queens, found nothing mysterious at all.

"Enough is enough -- good for him," Ms. Bavasso said. "If he would have called me, I would have picked him up."

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