Owen Lake lost his beloved stuffed animal Hobbes at the Tampa International Airport last week. The kid was a wreck, so his mom contacted the airport in hopes of finding the homemade stuffed companion.
Here’s mom’s plea:
“Hobbes is one of a kind. He was made by hand by his aunt who lives in Houston,” she explained. “When Owen asked for Hobbes on the plane, my husband and I looked at each other and our hearts sunk. We knew he was left behind,” Lake said.
Mom wanted to get Hobbes back desperately. Luckily, Hobbes was in the possession of airport personal. I’d like to report they dropped the stuffed friend in a box and overnighted him to Owen. Nope.
The airport had to be all “internet” about it.
Tony D’Aiuto, the airport operations center manager, took Hobbes on adventures all over the building. He photographed the stuffed animal at the air traffic control tower, indulging in some gelato, working out at the employee gym and hanging out with airport firefighters.
Hobbes even lounged at the Marriott pool and rode around on a luggage cart.
“I pitched this idea a couple of months ago after I saw a similar idea where someone took a stuffed lion around a museum,” D’Aiuto said in a statement put out by the airport on Monday. He noted that the photos were taken during his lunch hour. “This seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
He “pitched” this idea? Why is airport staff “pitching” ideas about what to do with lost stuffed animals? I could just see this guy like “Yeah, I pitched it, and they loved it. But no kid lost a stuffed animal fast enough so I fucking stole one. But for Internet purposes, so it’s cool!”
D’Aiuto had a hardbound book made, thanks to a coupon code he had for Walgreens, and crafted a short story that explained Hobbes’ airport adventure.
Thank god he didn’t have to pay full price. Those photo books could really set back the budget of a fucking airport. They cost almost as much as OVERNIGHTING THE BEAR TO THE KID.
As the father of a child who can’t breath unless his favorite stuff animal is within arm’s reach, just send him the damn tiger first. Present him with all this crap when he lands. Send the animal!
How about Tampa Airport concentrates on getting people to their destination on time and leave internet things to internet people?
[via Tampa Bay]