Vote for the worst airline employee ever

In all honesty, most airline employees are fine, sensible sorts–stellar even. They are the type that you can count on to get you from here to there with as little fuss and muss as possible. However, there are exceptions and in those cases, the mistakes can be doozies.

Rick Seaney has been keeping track of the airline employee stories that have created head shakes and eye-rolls. The “How stupid can a person be?” stories. These are the six stories he has come up with that are the worst of the bad. Read them and laugh. Or weep. And then vote for which airline employee you think is the worst of the worst. We’ll keep track of what you think.

  • Airline employee who escorts a child to the wrong airplane, thus sends the little darling to the wrong destination. Here’s the latest one of those stories we’ve posted about in the past
  • Baggage handler who falls asleep in the cargo hold and ends up taking off with the plane. The last guy who did this had an unusual ride to Boston from JFK.
  • Pilot who begins slurring his speech during the take-off announcement and scares the heck out of passengers so much that they demand that he return them to the terminal. We caught those details here.
  • Airline employee who helps a friend get a gun on board.
  • Truck driver who drives an airport vehicle across the tarmac in front of moving airplanes.
  • Baggage handler who steals loot from bags and sells bounty on EBay.

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Seany’s ABC News article, along with giving details about each of the mishaps, provides tips on how to avoid these airline employees if you can help it.

Cheshire’s weird No Kissing sign shows up on eBay

Remember when we told you how there were signs that prohibit kissing in the Warrington Railway Station in the county of Cheshire, England?

We also mentioned that their “freaky” sign (right) “looks like Mark Trail kissing a grown-up Lisa Simpson.”

Want one?? ‘Cause now they’re on eBay.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Now you, too, can declare a No Kissing Zone in your own home. Maybe just casually leave the sign in your parents’ bedroom. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

The best news is that your purchase will benefit the British charity Comic Relief. The signs come with an official letter of release from Virgin Trains. Bid here!

Celebrate the Francis Bacon centennial, starting in Madrid

Reclusive, crazy and not as prolific as most other artists, Francis Bacon produced only around 1,000 paintings before his death. Around the world, his pieces appear one or two at a time, but few have the resources or reason to assemble a large retrospective. This year, that changes.

One hundred years ago, Francis Bacon was born. For his centennial, exhibitions are rumored to be planned at London’s Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. But, I was surprised to see a large sign as I walked along the Paseo del Prado last week: Francis Bacon. Until April 19, 2009, you’ll be able to witness the progression of this genius’s work over four decades, with a collection of unusual breadth and depth (take a closer look here).

This is an interesting time for Francis Bacon. Last year, his work was among the hottest in the world, with Russian energy figure Roman Abramovich dropping $86.3 million on a triptych painted in 1976. Not even a full year later, the art market is in turmoil, and the auction houses are unable to move Bacon’s work, it seems, at any price. It feels like a sad undercurrent to what should be a year of celebration, but New York artist Nelson Diaz disagrees.
Diaz appears to be downright prophetic, having protested the art market’s ascent with a political statement via eBay last summer. At the time, he explained that Bacon would have been disgusted with the high prices that his work fetched. Nelson’s protest is over, but it does make rich background for what should be a year of Francis Bacon retrospectives around the world.

In the video below, Nelson explains last summer’s project and its connection to Francis Bacon. If you’re looking to the future, his latest project is “The Isolated Christ.”

Whether you stop by the Tate, Met or Museo del Prado to enjoy the Francis Bacon centennial, keep this back-story in mind. It changes everything you’ll see.

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Mystic Caverns for sale on eBay

Looking to invest in some real estate while interest rates are low? How about your own cave?

Steve Rush, owner of Mystic Caverns in northern Arkansas, is looking to unload this tourist attraction. He’s put the set of two caves, which draw approximately 15,000 visitors per year, up for sale on eBay. He’s asking just shy of $900,000 for what he calls a business investment.

Rush has been hosting visitors to Mystic Cave and Crystal Dome since 1992, but attendance has trailed off since a nearby amusement park closed in the late 90’s, and Rush wants to devote more of his own time to Christian ministry. He says the buyer of the caverns should have a flair for entertainment, as visitors want more than just information.

The caverns are tourist-ready, with rock walkways, lighting, and a gift shop all included in your purchase. So far, nearly 20,000 visitors have viewed the listing, but it’s still up for grabs as of this post. How many times do you get the opportunity to buy your own caverns? What would you do with Mystic Caverns if you could buy it?

Can’t get enough of that jetset lifestyle? Buy an airplane cabin!

I seriously thought this was a joke until I looked at the auction. Apparently, someone on Ebay Germany is selling an actual internal section of an Airbus aircraft, complete with seats, rails, overhead compartments and even OVENS.

What on earth would you do with something like that? I know I’m a bit of an airplane nerd and I like to stare out the window and fly around the country in circles, but I can think of very few uses for this. So I’ll put it to you guys: What would you do with a replica airplane interior? Here are my few (lame) ideas:

  • Set it up in my boss’ office while she’s out on assignment
  • Throw a pilots and flight attendants party and get drunk in it
  • Buy it (in Germany) and try to check it in on your flight home — “I brought my own overhead compartment”
  • Put it in my basement, drink whiskey out of four once bottles and bite my thumb at the TSA to my heart’s content

What would you do with an airplane cabin? I’m interested to see how much this auction goes for.

[Via Gizmodo]