One of Alicia Jessop’s life goals was to eat a lobster roll on the coast of Maine — a seemingly reasonable and attainable dream. However, Jessop’s dreams were dashed when just as she was about to photograph her dinner, a seagull swooped down and snatched the lobster roll right out of her hands. And so begins the sequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
Jessop, a sports law professor at Pepperdine University, had just left a work conference in Vermont when she rented a car to bop over to York, Maine, to satiate her hunger for an authentic Maine lobster roll.
“I stopped at the picturesque Nubble Light House and spotted a restaurant adjacent where I could order a lobster roll to-go,” Jessop explained via her new website, seagullstolemylobsterroll.com (devastating). “I paid the cashier $21.50 and happily crossed back through the parking lot to enjoy the decadent treat with the light house in view.”
Remembering the age-old millennial saying, “pics or didn’t happen,” Jessop realized she needed to snap proof of her picturesque meal to share with friends to prove she finally did the damn thing. “So I pulled out my iPhone and maneuvered the lobster roll into perfect position,” she wrote.
But then… tragedy struck.
This is why we can’t have nice things. I was trying to take a picture of the lobster roll I ordered in Maine and well, this happened 😂🤦🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/N601vpQ41h
— Alicia Jessop (@RulingSports) June 7, 2019
“As I hit the capture button on my iPhone, something rattled my hand and startled me,” Jessop described. “I saw my lobster flying out of the roll and identified the culprit: A quick, feisty, fearless seagull who not only encroached my space, but so rapidly tossed the prized lobster meat out of the roll for his friends to chow down on that it was apparent he’d done this before.”
That photo should be the State Flag of Maine, or at least the license plate.
— GoalieZer0 (@GoalieZer0) June 7, 2019
Luckily, Jessop, although shook to her core, did not let the bird dampen her spirit. “All I could do was laugh,” she wrote on her website. Honestly, same here.
Nor did she give up the fight. She ended up going back to the restaurant to retrieve another lobster roll.
$43 and one seagull attack later, I am now enjoying my first lobster roll at Fox’s Lobster House in York, Maine. pic.twitter.com/ZsBFjakcfU
— Alicia Jessop (@RulingSports) June 7, 2019
Unsurprisingly, Jessop and her photo went viral. The seagull attack has been liked on Twitter over 200,000 times.
Just landed back in Los Angeles and see that the seagull and I are trending on Twitter. Needless to say, my trip to Maine was EPIC 😂🐦🦞
— Alicia Jessop (@RulingSports) June 9, 2019
And everyone is getting in on the laughs. “The best laid plans are meant to be broken,” Jessop wrote in her post. “I was so excited for what I felt would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I got more than I bargained for in that regard…”
We all now know to never hold a sandwich in the air. And to never trust seagulls.
They are soulless creatures. They’re only ever out for blood — um, we mean food.
If we needed a sign from above explaining how the rest of our year is going to go, this is it. Crap.
Sorry but… we see no difference.
We were warned. And yet…
The least he could have done was bring his own fork like this gull did. Come on, dude!
Outstanding. Friggin’ seagulls. Not nearly as good a photo/moment, but here’s one I saw in Bath, England last year. pic.twitter.com/jKNrYjEDNr
— Matt Porter (@mattyports) June 7, 2019
Then again, if we looked at this photo as Jessop did, we may have a more optimistic opinion. “Art” may be a stretch, but we see where you’re going with this, @ArtDecider.
Art.
— Art Or Not Art (@ArtDecider) June 7, 2019
We think York, Maine, might want to capitalize on this. We’d all purchase this postcard.
I’d totally buy this postcard
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) June 8, 2019
“Here’s to holding on tighter next time and more spontaneous adventures,” Jessop concluded her post. We’ll cheers to that.
This photo’s so much better than a photo of a lobster roll!
— Barbara Hershey🌺 (@BarbaraHershey8) June 9, 2019
The lesson we learned from Jessop’s photo? Always looks both ways before photographing your lobster roll.
