Mum returning from business trip greeted with 'Welcome home from prison!' sign at airport

Her young son and husband arranged the prank

Joanna Whitehead

Wednesday 13 June 2018 14:22 BST

(istock/Getty Images)

A woman returning from a business trip was greeted at the airport by her son holding a large sign that read: “Welcome home from prison, mom!”

Barbara Nielson from Oklahoma was travelling home following a week-long trip for a manufacturing company she works for in Arkansas.

The woman's son greeting her in the arrivals lounge (Facebook)

Her husband Brandon, and son, Daimen, went to the airport to meet her with the homemade sign in tow.

A photo shows Daimen smiling broadly while he holds the large sign.

Fortunately, Barbara saw the humour in the situation, posting the amusing incident on Facebook, which quickly went viral.

“Brandon is a jerk, lol. This is the sign Daimen was holding when I got off the plane,” the original post reportedly said.

Brandon isn’t the first to prank his partner with a comedy sign in the arrivals lounge. One woman met her friend with a bottle of fizz and a giant sign that read: “Kirsten, welcome home from rehab!”

(Facebook (Facebook)

Another picture shows a small bewildered child in front of a pram with a giant sign which reads: “Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but my name’s Harper and I’m your baby!” in a witty play on words of the popular Carly Rae Jepsen hit “Call Me Maybe”.

Where not to visit if you love animals

Show all 9

1/9Where not to visit if you love animals

Where not to visit if you love animals

Monkey shows

Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Marine parks

Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Tiger shows

Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them “safe” for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Donkey rides

Sunning on the beach is great for humans – we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Swimming with dolphins

Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Canned hunting

Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Running of the Bulls

Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Horse-drawn carriages

City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones.

Getty

Where not to visit if you love animals

Zoos

The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further.

EPA

One man posted a picture of himself with a large sign that said: “Tom, will you marry me?”. The joker said that he greets all his straight friends at the airport this way.

Labrador retriever at the airport (istock/Getty Images)

Those seeking a more affectionate greeting in arrivals migth appreciate flying into San Francisco International Airport. In 2013, the airport launched The Wag Brigade, a group of trained dogs for passengers to pet to improve the travelling experience. In 2016, a Juliana-breed pig named Lilou joined the team. Carefully chosen for their gentle temperament, the animals can be identified by vests which read “Pet me!”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies