The story too good to check

For a couple of days, most of America fell in love with the story -- excuse me, "the story" -- of take-this-job-and-shove-it Jet Blue flight attendent Steven Slater. And why not? Most of us have too much at risk to grab a couple of cold ones and slide down the escape hatch to immortality, and thus we working schlubs got to take vicarious pleasure in the exploits of this workaday "Cool Hand Luke" who made it to the other side.

Too bad it's all baloney:

But as days passed, several passengers came forward to say Slater was nothing more than an angry flight attendant who had been mean to some passengers the entire trip and had perhaps even been hit in the head with the bag at the beginning of the trip.

"An internal memo from JetBlue reportedly states the company has so far been unable to confirm flight attendant Steven Slater's version of events on that flight from Pittsburgh to New York," AP reported. "The Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the memo, reports the airline has not found anyone who was on that flight who can corroborate Slater's story that he was involved in a nasty dispute with a passenger."

So now the narrative changes. Perhaps Slater is neither hero nor villain, just a worker who made a mistake and will likely pay for it. Also mistaken appears to be many of the media who are too quick to jump on a good story and believe it without checking the facts.

One good result perhaps for Slater: he has reportedly been given a reality TV show offer.

Reality? What's that?