Luciana Holanda smashes a computer monitor at the Rage Room, a place where people can destroy everyday objects to vent their anger, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, February 19, 2021. REUTERS/Carla Carniel
SAO PAULO – Feeling frustrated and stressed out? Brazilians now have a place to vent their anger and fury in the newly opened “Rage Room.”
Inside a warehouse on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, people are able to swing giant hammers at old televisions, computers and printers, demolishing the machines, and shattering the glass into tiny pieces.
Forty-two-year-old Vanderlei Rodrigues, who opened the business a month ago in Cidade Tiradentes, said he has received a fair number of customers wanting to vent, especially during the pandemic.
Luciana Holanda walks in front of the Rage Room, a place where people can vent their anger on everyday items, such as bottles, broken TV sets and other electronic devices, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, February 19, 2021. Sign reads: “Come break everything.” REUTERS/Carla Carniel
“I think it was the best moment to be able to set this up here in Cidade Tiradentes, related to everything that people are going through, a lot of anxiety, stress.”
The “Rage Room” experience costs $4.64.
Wearing protective suits and helmets, participants write issues that bother them on the walls – “ex-girlfriends”, “ex-husbands,” “corruption” and “work.” These words become the targets of their anger.
Alexandre de Carvalho, 40, who works in advertising and drives two hours back and forth to work, said with worries about health due to the pandemic, “it’s great to come here and release some adrenaline and pent-up feelings.”
For Luciana Holanda, 35, who is an unemployed mother of two daughters, she said she prefers to vent her frustration inside the “Rage Room.”
“With all this accumulated stress, being a mother, having children and not being able to work … it is very good to be able to release some stress and vent.”
“I am not going to vent my frustrations on my daughters or on anyone, so I really prefer to break things, I love it.”