Studying work cannot be complete without taking into account what Goffman called the ‘backstage’, a time and place where it’s possible to drop the mask of being a ‘model employee’ and let go, with fellow workers, out of the sight of customers and management. Contrasting a variety of sources (police officers, temporary construction workers, part-time factory workers as well as, additionally, hospital employees), the study proposes an interactivist model for analysing the backstage work environment. Stretching the dimensions and the definition of backstage, the study looks into how a worker gains access to this ‘space’ and what it encompasses - running the gamut from delightedness to discrimination.