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Original poster

Teenager at cinema

196 replies

Mryjkf · 10/04/2024 18:32

So yesterday I took the kids to the cinema. I was awaiting an important phone call so about 15 minutes into the film I quickly checked my phone to see if I'd missed it. Girl behind, about 12-13, tapped me on the shoulder and told me to put my phone away.

I didn't know whether to applaud her guts or call her a CF. I know the rules but it was a quick glance and I'm a grown adult!!?

OP posts:
Universalsnail · 11/04/2024 09:21

If you had dimmed the lights on your phone and were being discreet with it I think she was unreasonable and bold

If you had full brightness and wernt discreet then I think good on her.

BernardBlacksBreakfastWine · 11/04/2024 09:25

Pre mobile you would have had to stay in and wait for that very important call.

True. But pre-mobile, you could generally access healthcare in more civilised ways too.

JMSA · 11/04/2024 09:26

SantaBarbaraMonica · 10/04/2024 18:55

I think she was a pain in the hole. I don’t love people looking at phones in cinema but would not pull anyone up for a quick glance. There’s many reasons someone might need to check a phone very quickly. I’d be pretty tolerant of a quick check. I also think a child chastising an adult is not a good sign regarding the type of person she is and will be.

Agreed. Precocious brat!

JMSA · 11/04/2024 09:27

And hope your health is ok, OP.

GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight · 11/04/2024 09:29

JMSA · 11/04/2024 09:26

Agreed. Precocious brat!

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😂
She asked someone to put their phone away.
Hardly precocious.
Why should a young teen have to just put up and shut up when it's the adult in the wrong in a public situation like this?

MsLuxLisbon · 11/04/2024 09:37

YABU, both for checking your phone in the first place and also for quadrupling down and insisting you were in the right. No, you weren't. Also, why did you go to the cinema if you were expecting an important call?

Greywhippet · 11/04/2024 09:39

Excellent teenager.
Phones should be switched off in a cinema or a theatre.

BernardBlacksBreakfastWine · 11/04/2024 09:39

MsLuxLisbon · 11/04/2024 09:37

YABU, both for checking your phone in the first place and also for quadrupling down and insisting you were in the right. No, you weren't. Also, why did you go to the cinema if you were expecting an important call?

Perhaps the cinema tickets were already booked and her kids were really looking forward to it as a treat? And the important call was a “we’ll call you on this day about these important test results but can’t give a time” sort of thing? Who knows? Doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to see there might be other factors at play 🤷‍♀️

Abbimae · 11/04/2024 09:40

Get over yourself!

Original poster
Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 16:29

BernardBlacksBreakfastWine · 11/04/2024 08:45

Well, no. I’m just engaging with this comment because I don’t like nonsense:

The fact that she noticed it at all means it distracted her.

Noticing something does not equal being distracted by it. That’s all 🤷‍♀️

For all we know, the girl could have been bored to death by the film and looking for any sort of distraction. She could be a right pain in the arse who delights in picking hole in other people’s behaviour. She’d be right at home on here tbh!

I just find pile-ons pathetic so am looking for the middle ground. But you carry on with your moral outrage.

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Busybody springs to mind!!! Her dad ushered her off pretty fast at the end!

She may well have been in the right to comment. I agree. Still think it was an over reaction. Two second glance and she was tapping me on the shoulder.

OP posts:
Original poster
Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 16:31

BernardBlacksBreakfastWine · 11/04/2024 09:39

Perhaps the cinema tickets were already booked and her kids were really looking forward to it as a treat? And the important call was a “we’ll call you on this day about these important test results but can’t give a time” sort of thing? Who knows? Doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to see there might be other factors at play 🤷‍♀️

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Thank you very much. That is exactly the way it worked. But as usual Mumsnet loves an AIBU jump on!

OP posts:
Original poster
Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 16:31

MsLuxLisbon · 11/04/2024 09:37

YABU, both for checking your phone in the first place and also for quadrupling down and insisting you were in the right. No, you weren't. Also, why did you go to the cinema if you were expecting an important call?

Read the post properly.

Quadrupling down.....wtf does that mean?!

OP posts:
Original poster
Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 16:36

UsherPusher · 11/04/2024 09:09

Some of you are what makes our jobs so hard.

Granted its the theatre in that case but its the same principle. A dark room and a glow.

"I'm just checking if I've missed a call" often becomes "I'm just checking every social media etc"

Some shows have a complete "Do not get your phone out at all" and people get so aggressive about being told to put their phone away

Also, as you'd moved seat you probably had annoyed her. When we book the seats at the cinema we deliberately book ones with no one else around them, at the time. Someone moving in front of us deliberately in an empty cinema would annoy me. Even more so if they then got their phone out.

We had booked particular seats and the cinema changed the screen so the original seats were not in a good spot. They obviously didn't have lots of interest in the film and out it on in a smaller room.

OP posts:
GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight · 11/04/2024 16:45

Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 16:31

Thank you very much. That is exactly the way it worked. But as usual Mumsnet loves an AIBU jump on!

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If you're expecting an important phone call, you don't go to the cinema, or you call them back afterwards, sorry but it's basic common sense.
It's not a pile on either, even if it might feel that way as nearly everyone is saying you are being unreasonable
If you don't want to hear that yes you are, why ask in the first place?!

GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight · 11/04/2024 16:46

Oh and what on earth did we all use to do before mobile phones were invented?! Makes you wonder how we all coped with life 😁

BernardBlacksBreakfastWine · 11/04/2024 17:02

GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight · 11/04/2024 16:45

If you're expecting an important phone call, you don't go to the cinema, or you call them back afterwards, sorry but it's basic common sense.
It's not a pile on either, even if it might feel that way as nearly everyone is saying you are being unreasonable
If you don't want to hear that yes you are, why ask in the first place?!

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But what exactly do you want from OP? Blood? She literally said in the first post that she knew technically she was in the wrong and has since repeated that. Her post was a bit of a WFT about the swift and surprising reaction from a youngster.

You’ve already had it explained to you that sometimes you can’t just ‘call them back’, particularly with medical calls. And they don’t always give you a time slot. And sometimes you do already have quite specific and expensive plans in place. And kids to entertain. And, you know, various shit to juggle.

FFS.

In the era before mobile phones, no one expected you to be waiting for a call all day, so it’s a moot point.

We all know you shouldn’t use your phone in the cinema. We’re all adults and can generally judge when a quick glance may be ok (but, yes yes, technically very very wrong 🙄) in specific cases.

But I’ll ask again. What do you want from OP? You keep popping up to remind her she was wrong. She knows! But she thought some people might share her slight double-take on the girl’s gumption. Sadly not. The mob want her to type out the words “Yes I am very bad and the girl is the most totally awesome human being who ever lived” or something 🤷‍♀️ So pathetic.

peakygold · 11/04/2024 17:04

Good for her. It's down to CF like you I don't go to the cinema anymore.

GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight · 11/04/2024 17:06

So everyone should just stop posting "yes you are being unreasonable" comments after two or so pages lest it constitutes a "pile on.".
Are you new to AIBU/Mumsnet?!
Good luck with that 😁

BernardBlacksBreakfastWine · 11/04/2024 17:06

peakygold · 11/04/2024 17:04

Good for her. It's down to CF like you I don't go to the cinema anymore.

I’m sorry, what? You don’t go to the cinema any more in case someone steals a two-second glance at their phone in their bag? How do you cope with life in general?

MsLuxLisbon · 11/04/2024 17:07

Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 16:31

Read the post properly.

Quadrupling down.....wtf does that mean?!

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I did, thanks. And a little common sense would surely tell you what quadrupling down means!!

Original poster
Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 17:12

MsLuxLisbon · 11/04/2024 17:07

I did, thanks. And a little common sense would surely tell you what quadrupling down means!!

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Well if you had read it properly, your thread would have made more sense. The timing of the call was out of my control as it was medical and I'd booked the tickets before I knew about the call. Hope that's loud enough for those of you at the back.

OP posts:
BernardBlacksBreakfastWine · 11/04/2024 17:13

GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight · 11/04/2024 17:06

So everyone should just stop posting "yes you are being unreasonable" comments after two or so pages lest it constitutes a "pile on.".
Are you new to AIBU/Mumsnet?!
Good luck with that 😁

But what’s the point? What are we on now - page 6? And here you are, reminding OP that you think she’s a dick. If you check, she said the girl was right at least twice in the first page or so.

I’m not new to AIBU, no. Quite often there are interesting discussions and lively debates. And then there’s this sort of thing, where posters repeat the same phrase over and over, just hammering home the point and rubbing their hands with glee. See how many times ‘good on her’ and ‘good for her’ cropped up in the beginning. What’s the point?

Original poster
Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 17:13

Oh and quadrupling down sounds like stupid office jargon, like blue sky thinking and squaring the circle.

OP posts:
MsLuxLisbon · 11/04/2024 17:15

Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 17:13

Oh and quadrupling down sounds like stupid office jargon, like blue sky thinking and squaring the circle.

I take it you have heard the expression 'doubling down'? Well you are doing that, but more so, as you refuse to countenance the very idea that you could be wrong. Why did you bother posting on AIBU if you were so sure you were right?

Original poster
Mryjkf · 11/04/2024 17:18

MsLuxLisbon · 11/04/2024 17:15

I take it you have heard the expression 'doubling down'? Well you are doing that, but more so, as you refuse to countenance the very idea that you could be wrong. Why did you bother posting on AIBU if you were so sure you were right?

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I've actually admitted I was at fault, once again, if you actually read the full post. You're boring me now.

OP posts: