Surviving Hotel Hockey Hell: The Guilt Trip Olympics at the Front Desk
You haven’t truly lived until you’ve survived a winter working the front desk at a hockey hotel. Forget the Winter Olympics—real endurance is keeping your sanity when a swarm of hockey teams descend upon your independent three-star property, bringing with them chaos, noise, and a tidal wave of trash. But what happens when you finally say “enough is enough” and your overzealous coworker tries to guilt you back into the fire? Welcome to the guilt trip—hotel hospitality edition.
Checking In: Welcome to the Hotel Hockey Inferno
Let’s set the scene. Our protagonist, u/frenchynerd, is prepping for a third brutal winter at a mid-tier hotel—where hockey weekends aren’t just busy, they’re soul-destroying. The first two seasons? “Absolute total nightmarish hell.” We’re talking about weekends so intense, the police once rolled up with seven squad cars just to sort out the carnage. When law enforcement expresses concern that you’re the only staffer on duty, you know you’ve reached DEFCON 1 in hotel management.
After surviving these apocalyptic weekends, plagued by actual nightmares, frenchynerd finally set a boundary: no more Friday and Saturday evenings during hockey season. The boss, ever practical, worked out a compromise—Saturdays off and, allegedly, more help on Fridays. Victory, right?
Not so fast. Enter: the day-shift dynamo.
The Overachiever Olympics: When “Going Above and Beyond” Goes Off the Rails
Every workplace has at least one: the employee who treats the job like a personal quest to become the Patron Saint of Hospitality. This day-shift coworker arrives early (off the clock), answers guest queries well past her shift, and even buys office supplies with her own money. She’s the sort who brings paperwork home to highlight and once considered purchasing a garbage can for the lobby—with her own cash—just to stop guests from dumping their trash at the front desk.
If housekeeping lags or she gets bored? She’ll just go clean the rooms herself.
“She certainly doesn’t lack dedication,” frenchynerd deadpans. But there’s a fine line between committed and, well, a martyr complex. As u/craash420 put it, “I would not take any advice at all from that woman!” The community echoed concerns about liability and burnout, with u/mfigroid warning, “Management needs to know so they can put a stop to that. Huge liability for the hotel.”
Guilt Trips and Passive-Aggressive Passes: The Spectacle Begins
So when frenchynerd secures those precious hockey Saturdays off, the overachiever is not pleased. She greets the news with a stern, “You’re not working on Saturday!???”—immediately warning that the boss will have to cover the shift. (Cue dramatic music.)
But when reminded that students have covered before, she recoils: “No, I don’t want a student there during hockey! Not with all those people! I will propose to boss to do that shift!” She invokes the ghosts of hospitality’s past—“Even Robert did it and he was 70 years old!”—and, when rebuffed, storms out with the air of someone who’s just been denied sainthood.
As the community noted, this is classic guilt-tripping. u/Jagang187 offered a brilliant script: “Oh, wait, is this a guilt trip? Wow, been a while since anyone tried THAT!... But I don’t feel guilt.” (Deadpan delivery required.)
And the drama doesn’t stop there. The next day, the coworker doubles down with more passive-aggression: “Boss doesn’t want me to do Saturday evening! That means boss will have to work because you don’t want to!” When frenchynerd shrugs it off, she storms out again, presumably to highlight registration cards in a huff.
When the Boss Has to Work: A Blessing in Disguise?
Here’s where the plot twist comes in. Is it really a disaster if the boss has to cover a hockey night? As u/RoyallyOakie quipped, “I personally love the idea of a boss working. You might see some new house rules during hockey season. You might be doing everyone a favour.” There’s a certain poetic justice in managers getting a taste of what their staff endures—maybe, just maybe, it’ll lead to real change (or at least a little more empathy).
Others in the thread, like u/bee-the-future, pointed out that in their hotels, managers regularly step in to cover shifts: “Is this uncommon? Our FO manager takes over shifts if we need people, and when we were out for 2h as team, our hotel manager got a quick refresher and checked in people during that time.” Sometimes, the world doesn’t end when the org chart gets a little shake-up.
And if there’s one thing the front desk community agrees on, it’s that everyone deserves a break. “Don’t feel guilty. Feel heard and understood… Take your hockey Saturdays off in good conscience and enjoy the hell out of each and every one of them,” cheered u/Perky214.
The Real Cost of Martyrdom
There’s a dark side to always “pushing through.” As commenters pointed out, the old adage that “working never killed anyone” is, frankly, a load of hockey pucks. Overwork can and does lead to mental and physical health breakdowns—burnout is real, and so are hospital visits. “It certainly has killed people in some industries. The stress has also caused mental breakdowns in some others,” warned u/PonyFlare.
So next time someone tries to guilt you into sacrificing your sanity for the sake of tradition, remember: Breaks aren’t just deserved—they’re necessary. And if you ever feel bad about saying no, just picture your boss wrangling a lobby full of hockey parents at midnight.
Conclusion: Should You Feel Guilty? Absolutely Not!
If you take one thing away from this wild ride, let it be this: Guilt trips are a lousy substitute for real teamwork and self-care. Whether you’re manning the front desk during hockey hell or just trying to protect your peace, you have the right to set boundaries. As u/dropshortreaver asked, “Why does she care so much? … The way she’s acting, you would think SHE was the boss or owner.” Don’t let someone else’s martyrdom become your misery.
Have you survived hotel hockey season, or wrangled with a guilt-trip champion? Share your stories in the comments below—let’s support each other in saying “no” (and maybe inspire a few managers to work a Saturday or two themselves).
Original Reddit Post: The guilt trip