to think staff in a high end hotel should not have facial injuries as part of their Halloween fancy dress?

[Iris65]

I understand people wanting to wear fancy dress for Halloween and to be sponsored for charity (although I don't know whether the staff here are actually being sponsored). However I am sitting in reception of a high end hotel waiting for a friend and the staff are in very realistic fancy dress. However, they are mostly zombie themed, horrific facial injuries, nurses in torn, bloody uniforms and open wounds. It is just so nasty.
I know some will call me out as a special snowflake, and talk about how its just a bit of fun, but this stuff is damaging and upsetting to many. Especially when there are so many other options for Halloween fancy dress.

[HamSandWitches]

Can I forgot about it so had a mad dash to bnm bargains for a fetching nylon wedding dress with itchy lace and blood splatters.

[peachgreen]

I'm not a fan. I think it's unsettling for children and can be triggering (in the proper sense of the word) for adults who have suffered trauma / have phobias. Don't mind people dressing up but I think properly scary costumes should be saved for Halloween parties so those not of the right disposition can easily avoid them.

[Sammysquiz]

Are a lot of the other guests not dressed up?

I wouldn’t expect them to be, unless the hotel was hosting a Halloween party!

[PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon]

I’m with you OP but only because the sight of blood makes me vomit and I don’t like zombie type fancy dress that’s realistic as apparently it scares the shit out of me (as I found out last year).
I have developed anxiety over the last 18months which I know is not rational (people attended a Halloween party in masks at the weekend and although I knew who it was I was really anxious about it until the masks came off). I am a special snowflake though.

[pasturesgreen]

You're getting an undeserved roasting here, OP. Gory Halloween fancy dress is unacceptable in the workplace imo, the high end hotel is a red herring.

[SpookghosttiAndMeatboos]

I don't like it either, and my eldest would find it absolutely terrifying (the youngest not so much, he's a little barbarian). Even though he knows it's makeup, he lets his imagination run away with him and he would be having nightmares that night.

We couldn't even watch Mulan with him because he was so concerned at what would happen to her when she was found out, and he wouldn't walk on the same side of the shopping centre as the characters that were wandering around handing out sweets at Christmas!

[GlitterGlue]

I like Halloween and we’ve always celebrated, right back when you made a lantern from a turnip and a costume from a bin bag and foil. However, I’m not at all keen on customer facing staff going full on horror fest during working hours.

[HaudYerWheeshtBawbag]

Don’t get the issue of the hotel being “high end” tbh, it’s Halloween, yabu

[LagunaBubbles]

I was taken aback earlier when I went into our bank to be confronted by costumed staff, including someone covered in blood, face paint, a ‘vampire’ in a corset and so on. Rightly or wrongly I feel that when I am doing business I want to be doing it with people who look like they are taking their job seriously

I live in a small town that has just seen the last of our 3 banks permanently closed. Staff could have worked naked for all I care as long as we kept one, ever mind wore vampire costumes!

[picklemepopcorn]

I do t like seeing costumed people everywhere. It’s fine when you trick or treat or go to a themed event, but not great that it’s everywhere now. I find certain themes distressing- fantasy is fine, but realistic injuries, costumes based on real tragedies/crimes, just unnecessary and unpleasant.

I am imaginative and sensitive and find seeing little girls in 'dead bride' costumes particularly distressing.

I know people talk about challenging real fears in this way, but it doesn’t work like that for me!

[KanyeWesticle]

There are plenty of pumpkins, cats, witches, vampires etc that people in public facing roles could choose. It's much less likely to trigger flashbacks and PTSD.

A relative of mine was involved in a serious road traffic accident, and has to stay in on halloween - shops, hairdressers, etc are off limits.

Please avoid the realistic facial injuries and neck wounds. They're too close for comfort.

[Iris65]

I think next year I may consider trying to avoid the worst of it. If hotels, cafes, banks and shops are going 'zombie playground'. I'll have a day at home.
Just got back from Sainsbury's where it was witches, dark angels and Darth Vader.

[HamSandWitches]

It does seem everywhere is doing it now iris compared to previous years. Where I work have done it for over 10 years to collect for the local hospice and it's really appreciated. Im not keen on it but it raises a lot so I get on with it.

[Izzyislington]

American halloweeen is much more comical and less gory. I don’t have a problem with witches, wizards and vampires etc, but really dislike the very gory SFX makeup.
I think it’s bad taste when some people, through no fault of their own, suffer genuinely terrible life-changing wounds and injuries - soldiers, accident victims etc - and here we are imitating their injuries for a bit of fun. All I can see in my head are those awful photos of WW1 soldiers with their faces blown off. One of them was my great-uncle.

[UmmBum]

My DS's (10) dentist had these hideous open wounds all over her face today and he was scared! I thought it unprofessional in the extreme.

[MrsJayy]

My DS's (10) dentist had these hideous open wounds all over her face today and he was scared! I thought it unprofessional in the extreme

I would have been really unhappy if that was my dentist peering down at me

[LIZS]

I wouldn't expect it until evening or in a preadvertised event, and not in a high end hotel.

[Chesntoots]

I was served by a werewolf today in Screwfix!!

[AChickenCalledKorma]

I get it. High end hotel = smartly dressed staff with a big focus on making the customer feel comfortable and happy. Unpleasant gory costumes are not really compatible with that. So YANBU.

[GilligansKitchenIsland]

I think it’s bad taste when some people, through no fault of their own, suffer genuinely terrible life-changing wounds and injuries - soldiers, accident victims etc - and here we are imitating their injuries for a bit of fun.

This x1000. If you've watched a loved one die from an illness that ravaged their body, or had to identify a relative following an accident, some of these Halloween costumes feel like a knife in a the heart.

[Fekko]

We went bowling 2 weeks ago and the staff were dressed up for Halloween.

[RavingRoo]

Never experienced halloween dress as you describe at a London 5 star.

[Laiste]

YANBU OP.

I agree there's a line to be drawn for daytime/customer facing dressing up and it's somewhere between a fun costume and actual special effect quality gore.

One of my DDs does professional special effect prosthetic make up and was v busy Sat eve with bookings for making up adults for their parties. Nothing wrong with that.

Gore everywhere in your face during the day - nah, i don't like it.

Little DD was quite scared by the realistic chopped off heads and hanging bodies around soft play today It's for babies for god sake. Why not stick to fluffy spiders and pumpkins?

[ChelleDawg2020]

The whole dressing-up thing is a potential nest of vipers. What is acceptable at one point gradually becomes unacceptable. Years ago it was ok to dress up as Hitler or a terrorist, but now it's frowned upon. Simulated bodily injuries are generally acceptable today, but will undoubtedly become less acceptable in future.

Just as the (hopefully) pretend Nazi doesn't actually mean to ridicule victims of the holocaust by his dress does not mean that people won't be upset. The same goes for costumes with burns/scars/blood - the intent isn't usually to upset people with genuine injuries, but the result is the same.

I'm not making a judgement on the man dressed as Hitler or the woman dressed as a burns victim, but any kind of fancy dress risks being seen as mocking or ridiculing somebody. Even witch or clown costumes anger some people!

[Armi]

If I’m staying in a nice hotel I expect the staff to be appropriately dressed. I’m paying a fortune for the experience and don’t expect staff to be larking about in fancy dress. It’s not Asda.