I (M24) work at an Escape for a second job, and throughout the week days I’m usually by myself as there aren’t a lot of bookings for rooms. One of these times, I had a booking for a group of 7. The group gets here and it’s a Mother, 4 Daughters and 2 boyfriends of the Daughters. All of them appear to be at least 20 or older except for the youngest Daughter who, at the oldest, was around 13. I take the family back to the room and explain everything, then let them Start the room. The second I sit down in the control to watch them, I notice only the boyfriends, who have never done an escape room, and the mom seem excited and are looking around. The daughters start looking around eventually and even find one of the puzzles for the room. They start working on it and not even 2 minutes go by and the mom swoops in, takes the puzzle, and makes them go look elsewhere as she worked on it. That was how the rest of the room went, the kids would find the stuff, and the mom would take over and make them leave. The youngest, getting fed up with this, decides to just sit down and wait in the first part of the room, (This escape room had 4 separate rooms for them to go through). After the group gets to the 3rd room, the mom storms into the first room and tells the little girl to stop pouting and come join them, then before she can respond, the mother tells her “You’re ruining this experience for everyone. I wish I didn’t bring you”… I was flabbergasted… how could anyone speak to thier daughter that way? Eventually they’re nearing the end and all they need is to find a key fob to open the door and escape. In thier haste, they miss it and the mom keeps asking if I can give them a clue to where it is. Here is where I might have been the asshole. They had already used all 3 of thier clues and I was feeling petty, so I told them that unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to tell them any clues on its location, even though I totally could and my boss would have preferred I told them… but I was alone so I decided that I wasn’t going to help. 30 seconds left and the little girl who had been yelled at by her mother found the key fob they needed, smiled, put it back where she found it, and walked away without a word to her family. The timer goes off and I come back to the room, saying the did a good job but unfortunately weren’t able to escape. The mom was pissed and starting blaming the kids but eventually calmed down, thanked me for all the help and left. The kids slowly followed and the last one to leave was the youngest daughter. I asked her why she didn’t show them the key she found and she smiled and said ” Well my mom already said I ruined the experience for her, for I made sure she couldn’t win”. After they left I though about it and kinda felt like an asshole, so I came on here to ask If I was the asshole
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I (M24) work at an Escape for a second job, and throughout the week days I’m usually by myself as there aren’t a lot of bookings for rooms. One of these times, I had a booking for a group of 7. The group gets here and it’s a Mother, 4 Daughters and 2 boyfriends of the Daughters. All of them appear to be at least 20 or older except for the youngest Daughter who, at the oldest, was around 13. I take the family back to the room and explain everything, then let them Start the room. The second I sit down in the control to watch them, I notice only the boyfriends, who have never done an escape room, and the mom seem excited and are looking around. The daughters start looking around eventually and even find one of the puzzles for the room. They start working on it and not even 2 minutes go by and the mom swoops in, takes the puzzle, and makes them go look elsewhere as she worked on it. That was how the rest of the room went, the kids would find the stuff, and the mom would take over and make them leave. The youngest, getting fed up with this, decides to just sit down and wait in the first part of the room, (This escape room had 4 separate rooms for them to go through). After the group gets to the 3rd room, the mom storms into the first room and tells the little girl to stop pouting and come join them, then before she can respond, the mother tells her “You’re ruining this experience for everyone. I wish I didn’t bring you”… I was flabbergasted… how could anyone speak to thier daughter that way? Eventually they’re nearing the end and all they need is to find a key fob to open the door and escape. In thier haste, they miss it and the mom keeps asking if I can give them a clue to where it is. Here is where I might have been the asshole. They had already used all 3 of thier clues and I was feeling petty, so I told them that unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to tell them any clues on its location, even though I totally could and my boss would have preferred I told them… but I was alone so I decided that I wasn’t going to help. 30 seconds left and the little girl who had been yelled at by her mother found the key fob they needed, smiled, put it back where she found it, and walked away without a word to her family. The timer goes off and I come back to the room, saying the did a good job but unfortunately weren’t able to escape. The mom was pissed and starting blaming the kids but eventually calmed down, thanked me for all the help and left. The kids slowly followed and the last one to leave was the youngest daughter. I asked her why she didn’t show them the key she found and she smiled and said ” Well my mom already said I ruined the experience for her, for I made sure she couldn’t win”. After they left I though about it and kinda felt like an asshole, so I came on here to ask If I was the asshole
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I purposely let a family not escape from an escape because of how the mom was treating the kids but can also see why I’d be an asshole for not helping them more
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
Walls of text suck. Use paragraphs!
YTA technically but totally justified.
NTA – this might not have been great for you and your continued employment if she complains ( although I imagine it’ll probably be fine) but it’s fine to choose to adhere to the rules when ppl are being mean. You didn’t prevent the mom from discovering the answer. You didn’t mislead her by telling her the solution is somewhere else. The whole point of an escape room is to escape together as a team. If mom didn’t want to allow others the chance to have fun- that her choice- and choices sometimes have consequences.
NTA. It’s really on the daughter for not sharing where the key fob was, and she was totally justified in that too. Every escape room I’ve ever been to has given out “unlimited” hints, I’m not sure if yours was supposed to do that given how you mentioned they already used “all 3” of their clues, but also your boss would have preferred for you to do that? While you probably shouldn’t make a habit of this, I’m sure the daughter appreciated her little revenge.
NTA.
My husband and I LOVE escape rooms. Love them. We do one at least once a month. We’re running out of rooms in our area. We live in a MAJOR metroplex.
Many years ago I had the idea once to treat my in-laws to an escape room. It SUCKED. FIL didn’t realize he shouldn’t be looking up stuff on his phone. MIL solved every puzzle ten minutes after it had already been solved and was mad at us every time even though it was because she wasn’t paying attention. Younger BIL just texted in the corner. Older FIL– a man in his mid-late 30s –literally shoved me out of the way to get to clues or yanked things out of my hands all throughout. He figured out something was a magnet and just started running it all over everything in the room which caused our clues to come out of order and throw us off. Etc.
Never again. And the people you’re describing sound way worse!
People who can’t do an escape room with a collaborative spirit shouldn’t be encouraged to do them.
I can’t blame anyone who says Y-T-A (or E-S-H) for not giving them the hint, it’s your job, but on behalf of escape room players everywhere I want to thank you for your brave service tbph. I’m so glad most places don’t put groups of strangers together anymore!
Oof. Mom is the asshole ruining that experience for everyone, wtf. I expect the 4 daughters’ disengagement came from knowing their mother too well. NTA.
Personally I would probably flag it with the boss in case a complaint comes in (assuming they appreciate transparency).
NTA and that kid is brilliant. She is obviously used to dealing with her mom.
NTA you didn’t refuse them anything that they were entitled to. And I think it was nice that you let the daughter have a little win
Nta- if she complains say they did find it but just didn’t use it. I doubt she will though. If she’s done this enough times then she knows you dont always win.
NTA
And her youngest is a boss. I’d have high fived her.
NTA I so wish I could fist bump that kid. Mom didnt deserve to win, and doesn’t deserve her daughter.
NTA, you were on the youngsters side