Culture

Aussies In Hotel Quarantine Have Been Gifted Delightfully Dystopian Easter Eggs

WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE SACRIFICE AND DEDICATION YOU HAVE MADE.

by Rebecca Shaw  12 April 2020
Quarantine

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Australians undergoing mandatory government quarantine in hotels have received a lovely Easter treat, in the form of a very dystopian looking gift. 

Due to the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a few weeks ago that people arriving into Australia from overseas would have to undergo mandatory quarantine in hotels and other accommodations. Since then,  anyone who has arrived back to Australia have been put in hotels by the government, unable to leave their rooms for fourteen days. The first of these, 1300 travellers who arrived into Sydney on March 29th have just started to be released from their accommodation. But for people who arrived later, they are spending Easter in their hotel room. Just like music and culture writer Ben Freeman (free man), who was forced to leave Berlin and come back to Sydney, arriving a few days ago.

But if you feel a bit bad for all these people stuck in a room alone on Easter, never fear! This morning, Freeman posted a picture on Twitter of an Easter gift that had been left at his door.

It is unsure whose idea this gift was, but the sticker makes it clear that it’s an egg from Unified Security, and we can assume they were left at the doors of all guests undergoing quarantine in that hotel. And look, is this basically a nice gesture they didn’t have to do? Yes. Is it also insanely dystopian-seeming, and something you might read in a George Orwell novel? Also yes. A message written in all caps that says “WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE SACRIFICE AND DEDICATION YOU HAVE MADE. THANK YOU” is just a very funny thing to read on an Easter egg. There’s no “Happy Easter”, there’s no any sort of personal message, it is just an emotionless and robotic sounding series of words. But to truly understand how it felt to receive such a thing, Junkee reached out to Freeman to ask him what he thought when he saw his dystopian present.

“When I opened the door to see the egg, it was initially very cute and thoughtful. However when I read the note, I suddenly felt a complete urge to commit my life to Unified Security. Suddenly everything became clear. On one of the years holiest days, I found my higher power.”

And when asked how his Easter has been since receiving the egg, Freeman said he was having a good day.

“Easter has been great! I ate leftover pizza this morning and danced to Kate Bush by the window hoping someone on their Potts Point balcony could see me shake my ass. Might recreate Jesus’s resurrection on Instagram live tonight.”

So there you have it, another happy Unified Security subject. But it seems that your hotel Easter gift depends on where you are staying, and who is in charge of the gesture. Triple J presenter Bridget Hustwaite shared an image from a friend who is in a hotel quarantine, and who received a much more sweet and personalised Easter gift.

Now that is cute! When seeing the comparison to the egg that Ben got, Bridget amusingly speculated that it could be based on how many stars the hotel you’re been quarantined in is.

Likely it just all comes down to the security or hotel staff or whoever had the idea to gift everyone a little something, but it does leave me wondering – where is the Easter Bunny in all this? It seems like he really let down people this year! Did he just get confused, and couldn’t find people if they weren’t in their homes? Was the security at the hotel too good, and he couldn’t get in? Many questions unanswered. I hope everyone reading this is having a good day, and WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE SACRIFICE AND DEDICATION YOU HAVE MADE. Thank you.