Gym Employee Gets Rude With Customers After Closing Time
The Original Post
I am going to preface this by saying I know this is not a big deal but I am annoyed so I need to know if I was justified or not.
I (26F) work at a big chain gym and we close at 10 pm on Fridays. I do not usually close but I picked up a shift today as a favor. About an hour before closing I warn people coming in that we close at 10pm because on Monday-Thursday we close at 11pm so some people don’t know. 30 min before closing and every 10 mins after I warn people on the intercoms we are closing in \_\_\_ minutes and to please start cleaning up and making your way to the front. I get pretty much everyone out of the gym by 10:08 except for two guys who are in the locker room. I asked the guys who left before them if anyone is still in there and they let me know there are two guys still there. I am waiting at the front desk when they finally slowly walk up around 10:15 pm. They don’t seem apologetic at all and stop walking to look at something on their phones. I tell them (kind of in annoyed tone) “come on guys the gym closed 15 min ago”
They respond with “you don’t have to be rude about it”
Me: “I have things to do”
Them: “it’s 10 pm”
Me: “and it’s past closing get out”
Them: “Be nice about it” (in a commanding tone)
At this point I ignore them, they seem to be in the late teens early 20s if that matters.
I know I could have been nicer and now I kind of feel bad about it. But still, I’m curious who people think is more of an asshole in this situation.
What Reddit Said
Reddit overwhelmingly supported the gym employee in this workplace confrontation. Most commenters emphasized that customers who stay past closing time are automatically in the wrong. Moreover, they pointed out that OP gave multiple warnings throughout the evening.
The top comment received over 2,000 upvotes declaring that anyone at a business past closing time is the asshole. However, some users noted the broader issue of customers treating service workers poorly. In fact, many shared their own horror stories from retail and hospitality jobs.
The Verdict
The overwhelming consensus: OP is Not the Asshole (NTA). This gym employee rude to customers situation actually reveals entitled customer behavior rather than poor service. The customers ignored multiple closing announcements and then demanded politeness while keeping an employee past their shift. This falls into classic workplace drama where service workers deal with inconsiderate patrons.
Original post from r/AmItheAsshole (1,799 upvotes, 149 comments)