Parting, as we all know, is such sweet sorrow. But if you’re departing from New Zealand’s Dunedin airport your sorrow had better be short and sweet. The international airport recently made global headlines for its new signs limiting hug times at drop-off zones to three minutes. “For fonder farewells please use the car park,” the signs advise. (You get 15 minutes of free parking for your fondling.)
The three-minute hug policy, which came about because too many people were spending far too long – and sometimes being inappropriate – in the drop-off zones, has not been embraced by everyone. Some critics have been whining on Facebook that it is “inhumane” and the “nanny state gone mad”. These are the same people, I imagine, who think it’s a violation of their human rights to have to keep quiet in the train’s quiet car and who generally can’t follow basic rules of social etiquette.
