I’m not sure what’s stranger about this: the fact that a guy was travelling with a camel suit, or the fact that a baggage handler chose to take it out of the guy’s luggage and wear it while driving across the tarmac.
The first link might require registration. You can also get the story here.
I suppose I can understand a marketing manager having the camel suit in his luggage…perhaps for some sort of client presentation? But the baggage handler is somewhat more mystifying. Looks like he’ll be sacked as a result.
Yes, I can see why someone would travel with a camel suit. Either for fun, or for business (e.g., for a sales promotion at a convention).
No, I can understand what the baggage handler was thinking. The suit would have little resale value, and was rather conspicuous. If you want to steal from baggage, why not steal valuable small things? He must have wanted to get cauht.
You mean you don’t travel with a camel suit in your luggage? What do you guys do - rent one when you get there? Buy a whole new one? I’ve always found it’s easier to just bring my own.
Oh, a real camel suit. I misunderstood it as camel-hair suit and didn’t understand the controversy until I clicked on the link.
Maybe the owner of the suit uses it to encourage kids to smoke Camel cigarettes?
I’m guessing that’s not a compliment.
Actually, it could be taken as one, depending on your point of view.
A “larrikin” in Australia is sort of a good-natured rule-breaker, someone who thumbs his or her nose at authority, in an irreverent but generally harmless way. Not sure if there’s an American equivalent—prankster, maybe? Anyway, plenty of people take pride in being thought of as a larrikin.
This was, i think, the very definition of a larrikin stunt.
Although, of course, the idea that baggage handlers treat our possessions in such an irresponsible fashion is something that most airline passengers would be understandably pretty upset about.
BTW, for people who don’t want to register for the first link, here’s a part of the story as told there:
I love how these articles blandly omit any mention of why he might be carrying a crocodile suit and a camel costume. I mean, okay, it probably had something to do with the fact that he is in marketing, but they don’t say so.
Today’s papers have some follow-up detail. It appears the camel suit was part of a promotion for the Northern Territory Tourism Commission. The reason why this otherwise relatively minor indiscretion is getting so much publicity is that an Australian woman is currently standing trial in Indonesia on drugs charges and her defence is that someone planted the drugs in her baggage. However, various Australian authorities (including the airline Qantas) maintain that security is too tight to allow such a thing to happen. The “camel” incident is therefore rather embarrassing for Qantas and may well be a lifeline to Ms Corby (the woman on trial in Indonesia).