I've been around to many places in my life, but never have I experienced such a ridiculous thing as what happened at the Praca da Arvore Hostel. I had been there previously at one occasion without trouble. The second time though this is what happened:

On the third day of my staying I found that one of my Cokes in the fridge was missing and remarked about it, even though I wasn't accusing anyone specific. All I said was that a Coke was missing and that someone must have taken it. The two present cleaning ladies started immediately turning very defensive about the whole thing and repeatedly stating that I hadn't marked the Cokes with my name, and therefore they could be removed.

I was trying to get across that even though something in the fridge isn't marked with a name it doesn't give anyone the right to take it. I wouldn't take anything that doesn't belong to me. Quite simple. This dialog lasted for maybe 2-3 minutes without any outbursts, noise, disturbance, shouting, name-calling or such. I left the scene and forgot about the whole thing.

Later on I was sitting by myself when one of the cleaning ladies showed up and confessed she had taken my Coke in the fridge and wanted to give me a new one. I said it was fine, thanked for the Coke and that everything was OK. After an hour or so one of the staffs approached me with an ultimatum that I had to apologize to the cleaning ladies or leave the hostel. Guess if I was taken aback?

I've never heard of paying guests being kicked out from hotels or hostels for minor misunderstandings. If a trifle like this one can cause you to being kicked out then you should think twice before checking into this place. The people working there seem to act more like a gang of youthful friends covering each others backs rather than a professional team of service providers.

The whole act reveals a simple lack of both judgment and maturity. Apparently the woman that had taken the Coke couldn't handle the situation and felt she had lost her face somehow, with the subsequent rationale of her being the victim and me being the bad guy. If a guest sets the place on fire, steals money, plays loud music in the middle of the night or uses violence I can understand that he/she be asked to leave. But this case is just too far out. Ridiculous is the word.

Furthermore; being a foreigner this really didn't help the image of Brazil.