Everyone lives their lives a little differently, but there are times when those differences translate into behavior. The world is full of strange and strange and surprises, and sometimes those surprises come to us at hotel breakfast buffets.
A mother has shared her ‘terrifying’ experience of attending a hotel breakfast buffet with a family in their pyjamas.
On the Mumsnet website — a site designed for parents to connect and learn from other parents — a user submitted his concern in the “Am I Being Unreasonable” sub-forum. This forum is a space for parents to vent and get feedback and support from other parents, similar to Reddit’s “AITA” forum.
In his post, he wrote: “Last night spent the night in a City Center hotel and a family all came down for breakfast in their pyjamas, looking like they had all jumped out of bed.”
He shared that the incident took place at 9 AM, so there was still time to shower and get dressed before breakfast was over, and he saw no reason for the family to act like this. “Am I being unreasonable?” he asked the net.
Her post quickly gained traction, receiving several hundred comments mostly agreeing with her discomfort, blaming individualism and disrespect for the family’s actions.
“I think if someone did that they wouldn’t have done it [learned] right attitude.” A user replied. “It’s not, in my opinion, acceptable unless you’re under 3 years old.”
Another argued that it was inappropriate that the hotel staff should have intervened, saying: “I’ve never seen that and I would definitely assume that the staff would send them back to wear clothes. I think it’s the same kind of people who do school drop-offs and shop at the supermarket for pajamas will do it, and they generally don’t respond well to criticism.
One user argued that behaviors like this are the result of extreme individualism, or ‘not thinking of anyone but yourself’. “It shows a complete lack of respect [for] other people… And it affects everyone. What you do what you wear how you behave in public affects everything,” the user wrote.
They also shared a personal story of a fancy dining event that went wrong when a scantily clad woman chose to sit next to their table, making the dinner uncomfortable.
They said, “No, it’s not hurting anyone but the world isn’t a better place for people “just doing their thing.”‘
Most of the comments held strong opinions against the pajamas, and any comments arguing the other side were few, and far between, and were generally shut down by other users.
The argument brings up an interesting topic of social norms and how we present ourselves, but the side seen in the comments is more biased towards one answer, without concern for the other side of the story.
Perhaps wearing unwashed pajamas to a hotel buffet is informal, and less hygienic, but it’s actually against hotel policy that guests will ask to leave them and force them to change? I find it hard to believe.
At the end of the day, the family’s personal situation is unknown to all the strangers who judge them. Maybe they’re just dirty people who don’t care whose morning they ruin, sure, or, maybe, their luggage got lost on the flight, and they didn’t get a chance to buy new clothes.
Perhaps the family is dealing with a sudden death, or an equally traumatic situation, and simply cannot muster the energy to change before taking food. Maybe it’s a family deal with the kids to let them have a “pajama day” on a weekend as a reward for good grades in school.
It’s perfectly normal to be uncomfortable with how other people present themselves, it happens no matter how open-minded we are.
However, the rush of comments to hold anger against this unknown family and want legal action on their behalf is an example of disregarding the feelings of others as much as the choice of clothing.
One comment makes the crux of this issue clear by writing: “They are scummy chavs. I hate to think what they did in the room if they didn’t have such a disregard for social norms and other people.
That’s it, plain and simple. A belief that low-income and lower-class people are inherently dirty, and that a choice as small as wearing pajamas makes it morally okay to treat them as such.
The earlier argument that these people “generally do not react well to criticism” is also rooted in a classist belief that lower class people are more likely to be needlessly aggressive.
No one likes to be told what to do by strangers, and if, indeed, the pajama wearer has an annoying life event going on that causes them to dress up in public, a stranger confronting them about it is can’t do it. they want to silence them immediately.
We can’t control what others do in public, but sometimes, quirks are harmless, and we can live with our own discomfort.
Hawthorn Martin is a news and entertainment writer living in Texas. They focus on social justice, pop culture, and human interest stories.