It's a tough job working for the post office. If you're not dodging dodgy dogs while out delivering the mail, you run the risk of being surrounded by snakes in the sorting office.
OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration - but it does pay to be on your guard. Indeed, clerks at a South African post office were compelled to flee for safety earlier this week, after a metre-long white python came slithering out of a mail bag.
The non-venomous snake was one of four sent in an express parcel that arrived at the post office in Sabie, 185 miles northeast of Johannesburg, on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
And now comes our favourite quote of the week so far - courtesy of branch manager Mthobisi Duba: "This was the most traumatic experience ever in the post office." (We can't help wondering what the second most traumatic experience ever was.)
Anyway, you'll be pleased to hear that the python and three smaller snakes are now being cared for by an official from the local parks board. And the person the parcel was addressed to has now been charged with the illegal transport of animals. Panic over! As you were!
Mind you, we've just had a great idea for a movie: 'Snakes In A Sorting Office'. With Samuel L Jackson as Mthobisi Duba, of course. To give you some idea how it could work, here's the trailer for its Hollywood predecessor...