Theater rudeness reaches new depths (1 Viewer)

[Morgan Jolley]

I work at a movie theater, so I see how rude/mean/cruel/stupid people can be.

Yesterday, a guy arrived to see a 4:00 PM show of Return of the King at 4:05 PM and was trying to use the credit card machines inside. He asked me why he couldn't buy tickets on the machine and I explained that the machine stops selling tickets for a movie around 10 minutes before it starts. He said that he didn't want to use the regular ticket booth (which is outside) because it was cold, so I told him that that was his only choice at this point. He got pissed off, cursed, slammed the door open, went outside, and bought his tickets.

Then, he spent half the movie on his cell phone outside of the theater.

 

[Philip_T]

Wait a second, he actually went outside to use his phone?????? You can do that?????

 

[Stephen Weller]

Pure, poetic justice!

I'm a total klutz. And my wife's a complete spaz. She'd have been wearing BOTH our drinks, too.

[rant]OOPS![/rant]

 

[brentl]

"I'm a total klutz. And my wife's a complete spaz"

A match made in heaven I guess

Brent

 

[Tim Markley]

This is exactly why I stopped going to the movie theater a few years ago.

 

[Stephen Weller]

Yes! We have no bananas...

 

[Brian Lawrence]

Not really theater related but in the same ballpark.

About 30 years ago, I was at an indoor auction that had seating much like a movie theater only a little more cramped, I was with my parents and grandparents. Anyhow we where pretty much seated in the middle. My grandmother had to get up (presumably to use the restroom), and this one asshole down in end-seat would not pull his legs in or budge an inch (when he could of just gotten up and then sat back down, if he where any kind of gentleman). So she is squeezing through while stepping over his legs, and just as her backside was aligned with his face, She let rip with a rather loud gaseous wind-storm, It sounded downright nasty! Well the guy grabbed his crate of chickens and promptly left the building. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard since

Of course this was the same grandmother that when kids would be standing at the entrance-way to the grocery store, with their coffee cans, looking for donations to their softball league, would say "thank you" while flicking her cigarette ashes into the can



As far as movie theaters go, I have only once encountered someone that was kind of an ass. Otherwise, I have not observed any problems with rudeness or cellphones. I guess I have been very lucky.

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

Alan,

I'm with you on this one. Its very rare I have a problem with annoyances in the audience. If there are ever any problems, its because i'm in a theater in the citys of Minneapolis/St. Paul or the Mall of America theaters.

The people in the burbs are a hell of a lot more considerate when it comes to movie watching.

Paul

 

[Carl Miller]

It's just not something I'd do if my kids were with me, that's all. It's not the example I'd want to set for my kids because they're not old enough to know when it might be called for to push their way through someone like that woman in the theater. As an adult, I can make that decision and be aware of and deal with the possible consequences. As children, they can't...So why would I set an example like that for them?

 

[Jason Hughes]

I would have taken the bitches purse and flung it towards the screen. That would have gotten her to get up.

To play Devil's Advocate (briefly ,) maybe the women had a bum knee or something and once she got it up, it was difficult for her to get it back down. Obviously that's not the case since she didn't respond.

 

[Ryan Tsang]

You can't let people get away with acting like that. If they're acting like total dicks, they need to be made aware of that, either physically (walking thru her legs) or verbally ("Can you PLEASE move your f***** legs?).
Of course, be polite and reasonable at first, but you should not be forced to take alterate paths and walk around the bitch.

If she had a bum knee or recent surgery, she should say so. Most people would understand that and walked around.

One of my mottos in life:
Never instigate. Always retaliate.

I think I'll start a rant right after this

 

[Jon_Are]

I thought exactly the same thing, Jason, while sitting in my seat and attempting to consider all possibilities.

Not the case, however; she moved just fine when that drink went a-flyin'.

(and before anyone asks, she was not blind, deaf, mentally challenged, etc.)

Jon

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Jon, I'm glad you mentioned that she wasn't deaf or anything, because at least initially I considered the possibility, but I didn't think it was likely.

All these stories don't make me eager to go to the theater anytime soon.

 

[Edwin-S]

Considering her behavior, I would have to say this one is debatable.

 

[Matt Butler]

Well none of you guys got pissed on (literally).

I take the cake thank you.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I remember going to see the Seattle premier of Thelma and Louise. The theater was packed and this obnoxious woman came in and started down the packed row in front of me, trampling over people despite there not being a single empty seat. and complained that another woman was sitting in HER seat. Woman #2 said she wasn't, that she and her friends had been the first ones in the theater and had been sitting in the row for over 20 minutes., and that there were seats in the front and in the back of the theater. Woman #1 complained LOUDLY that it was her usual seat, that she had a medical condition that made it impossible for her to view movies from any seat but that one. She was obviously in her 30's but had a tantrum worty of a two year old.

Woman #1 got her ass tossed out pronto, but screamed that she would sue the theater because of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

 

[Matt Gordon]

I have a true story to tell you (names have been eliminated to protect the guilty)...

Once upon a time (specifically, January 1998) two buddies were in Reno, NV. They went to see a movie that evening, which was an experience ruined by a guy who wanted to critique the film and second-guess what was going to happen for the entire 194 minutes of the movie.

As the two friends sat watching the movie, eating their large popcorns and drinking their large drinks (this bit is important a little later on), they became increasingly annoyed at this loudmouthed jerk. One of them got up and notified management (twice), who did nothing to resolve the situation. By the end of the movie, the friends' frustration grew to white-hot rage.

After the movie, the two friends followed the jerk out to the parking lot and down the street... winding up at the Reno Hilton. They observed the jerk going into the casino, and plotted their revenge...

Well, when they say a "large" soda (pop, cola, whatever...) in movie theaters, they mean it. One of the buddies followed the jerk into the casino (after making sure the other buddy promised him not to slash the guy's tires) and went to the bathroom while inside the building.

The other friend relieved himself, too... making sure to get the stream up and under the driver's side door handle and all over the window, dripping down to an extremely large puddle along the side of the car. He felt much better after that, in more ways than one!

That's a true story.

 

[Yee-Ming]

It is almost inevitable nowadays that in a movie, some twit's cellphone will go off (used to be beepers, but that's technology for you). Curiously, this did not happen when I watched SW1 and SW2. My theory was that because I went on the very first day, all the die-hard fans were there and they would make it a point to switch off phones so as not to be interrupted.

 

[Philip_G]

it's funny you guys talk about MN that way. I lived in ND for 4 years and encountered the rudest, most annoying audiences anywhere.

Denver isn't too bad, aside from the rude yuppies. I love when they come up to an aisle (I'm tall and ALWAYS take the aisle) and just stare at you without saying a word, expecting you to move. I just stare back until they ask nicely

around here they run trailers before the previews reminding people to shut their phones off, I think they help. You always see people checking their phone.

the only weird thing, after a good show audiences here clap. makes me want to ask them if they realize the moving pictures on the screen can't hear them :b

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

I have never understood this either. Every LOTR movie I went to (I saw each one twice in the theater) people would clap.

Paul