Earlier this year, a former employee of JetBlue became a modern-day icon to disgruntled workers by way of an infamous resignation.  Following a confrontation with a passenger, airline attendant Steve Slater announced via intercom, “To the f—–g a–hole who told me to f–k off, it’s been a good 28 years.” He slid down the plane’s emergency chute, and minstrels will no doubt sing of his tale for years to come.
An article written in thestar recently reviewed Slater’s story as well as several others that have since occurred.  These public and publicized resignations seem to have a lot of employees on the edge of their seat, wavering in their judgment to perform their own theatrical grand-stand.
hittheslide.read-this.org is a website that encourages employees to quit their job “in style”.  Browsers are encouraged to send in videos that showcase how they “hit the slide” – a colloquial reference to Slater’s slide down the emergency chute.  Sounds pretty exciting right?
Before you grab your camcorder and hatch a scheme, consider some thoughts employment lawyer Daniel Lublin raises in the article.  Firstly, “Employers read blogs and Facebook profiles and twitter postings.”  Having your grand moment scattered about the web is not likely going to impress recruiters.
Lublin also says that “It’s a giant misconception that resignations require two weeks’ notice,” – If you are in a senior position or leave in a manner of bad faith, you may not only be losing your severance, but it could end up costing you a lot more if your employer decides to sue.  One of the outcomes of Slater’s case was jail time and a $10,000 fine.
Consider the consequences before “hitting the slide” – although you may entertain some coworkers and strangers on the net, this is one scenario where the costs definitely outweigh the momentary benefits.