Finding the proper work-life balance is one of the most important tasks almost every employee faces. In fact, in life there should always be a place for both hard work and rest in order to restore your powers and not burn out emotionally. However, not everyone actually thinks so…

If a person consciously neglects their own rest while working hard, well, that is their own choice. But it’s a completely different matter when someone denies another person the right to relax after work, as happened once with the redditor u/Jdawger_.

The author of the post once decided to relax at the local bar after his shift at the hotel front desk

Image credits: Rodrigo_SalomonHC (not the actual image)

One of the clients saw him downing shots and left a negative review, claiming the hotel had “very poor choice of staff”

Image credits: u/Jdawger_

Image credits: Marcus Herzberg (not the actual image)

Image credits: u/Jdawger_

The manager, however, sided with the author, got in touch with the client and found out she thought front desk staff shouldn’t consume alcohol even off the clock

Image credits: John Matthew (not the actual image)

Image credits: u/Jdawger_

The review was removed by corporate and the arrogant guest was later even placed on the “Do Not Rent” list

So, the Original Poster (OP) says that he has been working at the hotel front desk for over three years, and has never received negative reviews during this time. With the exception of one case that happened a few years ago, when the author of the post was still in college.

The author says that after his day shift, he decided to go to the campus pub with friends – just to unwind. The guy did not change clothes – he just took off his nametag and removed any attributes that identified him with his job. Long story short, he remained in his checkered long-sleeve shirt and black pants. The OP and his friends had a good time, downing shots and drinking beer, and then his roommate drove him and his car back to their apartment.

A few days later, it turned out that one of the hotel guests, whom the OP had met on the front desk earlier in the day, left a negative review, claiming that “a member of the hotel staff was drinking at the bar.” The manager demanded clarification from the author of the post, and he said that all this was true – but he was relaxing after hours, having removed everything from his clothes that could associate him with the hotel.

It turned out that the client simply remembered the face of the front desk agent, and she, in her own words, was firmly convinced that people in this position should not drink at all – either during work or in their free time. However, the OP’s manager did not think so, and the review was removed by corporate, the entitled guest was put on the DNR list, and the boss herself invited the author of the post to the same bar that evening, and even bought the first round.

Image credits: RODNAE Productions(not the actual image)

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In fact, work in the hotel industry is very energy-intensive, and is often associated with strong emotional stress, which employees “dump” by various methods. For example, a survey of London chefs by Unite union in 2017 showed that 51% suffered form depression due to being overworked, and 27% said that they drink alcohol to see them through their shifts.

Furthermore, in a 2018 study on mental health in hospitality workers by The Caterer, 71% said they experienced a mental health problem at some point. Of these, 51% had sought help for it, and 56% said their employer wasn’t aware of it. As you can see, the original poster did the right thing by relaxing after hours, and his boss was also right by supporting an employee in a conflict where the guest was definitely wrong.

“Of course, in their free time, a hotel employee has the right to relax the way they want – as long as this does not violate the laws and does not interfere with the people around,” notes Yanislava Goncharenko, a PhD and associate professor at the Department of Tourism and Hotel and Restaurant Business at the Odessa National Economic University, who was asked by Bored Panda to comment on this story. “If, while relaxing in a bar, an employee changed his uniform or took off his nametag, then, in theory, there should be no complaints at all.”

“Of course, the guest also has the right to be dissatisfied if they do not like something, but in this case it is up to the manager to get in touch with the client and explain that the employee did not violate any rules,” Yanislava Goncharenko states.

People in the comments mostly sided with the original poster as well, stating that demands towards hotel staff not to have any recreation at all look really arrogant. “The guest sounds like the kind of person that thinks school teachers should never be seen in public except at church,” one of the folks in the comments aptly noted. Be that as it may, commenters are pretty happy things worked out this way.

In any case, when a manager sides with an employee in a conflict with a customer, when the latter is clearly wrong, this is a good sign for the employer. Otherwise, it could turn out the way it did with this worker at a small diner, whom the manager scolded right in front of a wrongly dissatisfied client. And if you have also come across or witnessed a similar situation, please feel free to share it in the comments below this post.

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People in the comments mostly supported the author, claiming that he had every right to relax after his shift

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