September 27, 2026 at 1:21 pm

Hotel Staff Member Is Fed Up With Guests Barging In Without Knocking On Doors

by Sarrah Murtaza

Man and woman at a front desk

Pexels/Reddit

Isn’t it annoying when people just ignore basic rules and blame the system for it?

This front desk employee shares how guests just barged in without knocking at her hotel.

Check out the full story.

Is Knocking Something Guests Just Don’t Know How To Do Anymore?

Like the title said, do guests just not know how to knock anymore?

Last night it just seemed like person and person was just incapable of comprehending the concept of a locked door.

Things started off on the wrong foot here!

I’d have people, both guests and people from outside, walk up to the door, see that it didn’t open, and just stand there totally confused.

I might be willing to let the people who weren’t guests get away with that in some small way, after all, they’re not staying here, so it can be expected that they might not realize that the door will be locked and they need me to open it.

But that’s a very small allowance because it’s overnight, so common sense says that a business, even a hotel, might lock their doors overnight, let alone 24 hours a day like my hotel does.

But then again, asking people to have common sense is sometimes asking too much. But the guests, they have no excuse.

They know that the doors are locked because they’ve been told at check-in.

UH OH…

The only bright part for me was watching all the extremely funny reactions to the locked doors. There were those guests who, when realizing that the doors were not opening, just stood there, looking lost, like the world had just lost all meaning of how it was supposed to work.

And they’d stay there, standing still waiting for me to look up from the computer or turn around from the back desk and finally notice them to inform them that they need to use their key to make the doors open.

Then there were the ones who would look at the door, and then start tapping with their fingertips. I can only assume that they were thinking, β€œUm, you’re supposed to open. Why are you not opening? Um… is there no God!?!?”

He explains how bad it gets on somedays…

Then there were the wavers who would see the sensor above the doors and wave their hands in front of it thinking maybe it didn’t sense them correctly. The other type of waver would wave his or her hand in front of the doors themselves, like they were Jedi from Star Wars.

I’m sorry sir or ma’am, these aren’t the doors you’re looking for.

Then there were the stompers. These were my favorites because these people got my attention and got me to look up from the computer or my paperwork.

They’d get to the door, it wouldn’t open, and they would proceed to start stomping their foot in front of the doors, repeatedly. I don’t know about other hotels, but mine does not have a pressure pad to activate the doors

This is where it gets worse!

Then you had the few who would try to force the doors open, only to find out that the doors come with this handy security function when they sense that they’re being pried apart, they lock into place and can’t be forced open unless you have the kind of strength reserved for WWE wrestlers or those prepared to pay hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars to fix our door.

And the one thing all these people have in common, is the sheer fact that all these funny, yet futile, attempts could have rendered totally unnecessary if they had simply thought to knock, or even ring that god awful button that rings the bell.

And yes, it would have been even better, in the cases of the guests at least, to think to themselves, β€œGee, let me see if my hotel key would work to open the hotel door.”

EXACTLY!

I mean if I went to their house, I’m sure they’d want me to knock in order to be let in rather than try breaking and entering using any number of ways to force the door open.

Why would they think they’re exempt from that?

YIKES! That sounds super annoying!

Why would people be so mannerless?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user wants to know if guests were given any prior information…

Screenshot 2026 09 23 115500 Hotel Staff Member Is Fed Up With Guests Barging In Without Knocking On Doors

This user knows that not everybody knows about locked hotel doors in the night!

Screenshot 2026 09 23 115514 Hotel Staff Member Is Fed Up With Guests Barging In Without Knocking On Doors

That’s right! This user knows how annoying locked doors can be for new guests…

Screenshot 2026 09 23 115527 Hotel Staff Member Is Fed Up With Guests Barging In Without Knocking On Doors

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who gets problematic overtime changes reversed by pointing out how it will harm the company’s bottom line.

This user thinks pressure pads are pretty outdated.

Screenshot 2026 09 23 115540 Hotel Staff Member Is Fed Up With Guests Barging In Without Knocking On Doors

This user loves this story!

Screenshot 2026 09 23 115555 Hotel Staff Member Is Fed Up With Guests Barging In Without Knocking On Doors

Somebody needs to make rules clear!

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Sarrah Murtaza | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Sarrah Murtaza is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and interpersonal drama. With nearly six years of experience in digital publishing, she excels at identifying compelling, community-driven conversations and elevating them into highly engaging narratives.

Sarrah brings a unique, narrative-focused approach to her journalism. Drawing on her professional background as a screenwriter and director, she has a sharp editorial eye for human conflict and motivation. This allows her to transform everyday online dilemmas and relationship dynamics into well-structured, empathetic stories that resonate deeply with readers.

As a dedicated remote professional, Sarrah uses her location independence to travel the world, bringing a diverse and exploratory perspective to her writing. When she isn't crafting stories, she can usually be found exploring a new city or working on her latest creative project.

Connect with Sarrah on Instagram and read her extended essays on Medium.