Video Of Holiday Inn Worker Having Breakdown Backfires On The Poster

A video of a Holiday Inn receptionist having a mental breakdown while being questioned by an irate guest has largely united social media against the guest filming him.

It's unclear who first published the video, but it had spread around Reddit in /r/publicfreakout before getting reposted to Twitter by rapper Freddie Gibbs, where it gained over 2 million views before Gibbs deleted it, and self-proclaimed "race-baiting" journalist Tariq Nasheed, whose repost has gained over 3.2 million views. The video is still available on YouTube but be warned: it's a tough watch.

In the video, the receptionist appears to be dealing with some sort of clerical error that has made the guest upset. The video picks up after the receptionist had apparently hit his computer in frustration. While the guest aggressively probes him, the receptionist attempts to compose himself before apparently snapping, hitting himself in the head then smashing his head on his computer screen. He then goes to sob offscreen while the customer continues to indignantly complain.

Unlike most public freakout clips, as this one spread across social media, users were extremely sympathetic to the subject.

"This is really fucking sad," wrote one Twitter user. "I have emotional swings and have episodes that have been exacerbated by someone recording and baiting. That guy was completely harmless…what kind of garbage provokes someone when they just need to be left alone in that one specific regard."

Other users felt similarly disgusted with the person filming and provoking the receptionist, as well as Gibbs for sharing it with the mocking caption, "Somebody make sure this white boy don’t have a gun."

Screenshots from the Reddit threads about the video show a user claiming to be the beleaguered employee responding in the comments sections (at the moment, the comments and user claiming to be the receptionist have been deleted from the threads). In the comments, the person states they're the subject of the video and that the video shows him on a bad day dealing with BPD and schizo-active tendencies. He alleges that prior to the recording, the customer called him a homophobic slur and that the customer started recording after he stated he had a mental illness. He stated that while the hotel did not move to fire him and in fact ejected the guest for unruly behavior, he has quit the job, as the breakdown served as a wake-up call for him to get out of the industry.

A GoFundMe for the worker was set up by Jeremy Hambly, and has gained over $36,000 in donations since it was created yesterday. "A Holiday Inn employee was harassed and filmed by a customer having a mental breakdown & is now receiving death threats & having thoughts of self-harm," wrote Hambly. "Let's give him enough of a head start on finding a job where people don't treat him terrible & he can take a nice little vacation."