The Backrooms - Explained - Summary

Summary

Here is a concise summary of the provided text:

**Title:** The Backrooms

**Protagonist:** Rob, a junior sales agent

**Story:**

* Rob, seeking revenge for a past prank, outsmarts his coworker Grace in an elevator, but inadvertently "noclips" out of reality.
* He finds himself trapped in an endless, eerie maze of identical office rooms with yellow walls, tan carpets, and flickering fluorescent lights.
* Rob encounters bizarre, aggressive creatures and briefly sees a shell-shocked woman, but cannot interact with her.
* After navigating the maze, he discovers a ringing phone, answers it, and is met with a mundane customer complaint, highlighting the surreal nature of his situation.
* The story concludes with a meta-commentary on the concept of "The Backrooms," a supposedly multilevel, reality-glitching labyrinth, interpreted as a metaphor for the horrors of modern, meaningless office work.

Facts

Here are the key facts extracted from the text, without opinions, in short sentences with numbers:

**Character and Setting Facts**

1. The story takes place in an ordinary office building.
2. The main character, Rob, is a junior sales agent.
3. Another character, Grace, is an intern who works with Rob.
4. Rob encounters strange creatures in the office building.

**Event Facts**

5. Rob gets on an elevator in the garage, bound for the CEO's office on the 10th floor.
6. Grace outsmarts Rob, who is known for playing pranks, and shoves him back into the elevator.
7. The elevator malfunctions, and Rob exits on the 2nd floor, but finds himself in an unfamiliar area.
8. Rob's phone has no signal and cannot send messages or make calls.
9. Rob encounters strange, humanoid creatures that chase him.
10. Rob discovers a room with a locked five-drawer file cabinet.
11. Rob finds a room with a desk and unlocked drawers containing office supplies and a bag of stale tortilla chips.
12. Rob hears a ringing phone and attempts to locate it.
13. Rob finds the ringing phone in a room with a black business phone on a desk.

**Phone Call Fact**

14. Rob answers the phone and speaks with a woman who is complaining about a technician not showing up to her house.

**Backrooms Facts (presented as in-universe information)**

15. The "Backrooms" are a purported multilevel reality glitch.
16. Depending on the source, there are over 100 levels, three levels, or only one level to the Backrooms.
17. Each level of the Backrooms is said to have unique characteristics, some with monstrous creatures, others with more benign decorations.