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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why you would spend £9 on a cinema ticket then spend most of the film staring at a phone.

24 replies

bruffin · 31/08/2013 12:21

Went last night to cinema. Women two rows in front and about 5 people to the right spent all night texting. Unfortunately for me and the people we had the light from her phone in direct eyeline. I wear glasses at the cinema so i think the light reflects of the corner so makes it more distracting. She was too far away to ask nicely and i could see it was bothering other people as well but nobody said anything. Thankfully there was a security guard and i went down and spoke to him and he told her to turn it off. You could see who she was from the bottom as the light of the phone lit up her whole face, so was easy to point out to the security guard.

OP posts:

MadeOfStarDust · 31/08/2013 12:25

I hate this too... usually end up desperate to say something, but not having the guts and getting indigestion ulcers through inaction......

YouTheCat · 31/08/2013 12:28

I'm a quiet and shy type but I have no qualms about complaining about other people's really bad cinema behaviour to the staff.

It's expensive enough without having it ruined by some twat.

silverten · 31/08/2013 12:31

This is basically why I never go to the cinema any more. It costs a fortune and you nearly always end up with some twat ruining it for you because they don't know how to behave in public.

AmberLeaf · 31/08/2013 12:43

I've seen this before, but I can't say that is has ever bothered me.

I just look ahead at the giant screen and ignore the 2" square one.

Original poster

bruffin · 31/08/2013 12:49

Amber, the problem was it was reflecting off the corner of my glasses, I couldnt ignore it. It was also bothering the people next to me as they were muttering about it and the woman diagonally in front was having to shift about to avoid it.

OP posts:

hazeyjane · 31/08/2013 12:54

Oh no! I have just been guilty of this. In my defence I was watching The Smurfs, which is one of the longest smurfing fims ever, and txting dh to tell him that we were going to be stuck in the cinema forever.

AmberLeaf · 31/08/2013 12:58

I take your point about your glasses, but I think all the fuss would be more of a distraction than the phone.

skyeskyeskye · 31/08/2013 13:00

My friend sits in the cinema and texts her fiance right through the film. It is very distracting to see her phone lit up all the time. She got asked to be quiet when we went to the theatre as her and her friend were talking through the show!

YouTheCat · 31/08/2013 13:00

It'd be nice if people learned some cinema manners though.

I am off to the cinema in 10 minutes. Hoping it'll be empty as it's a film at the end of its run.

PorkPieandPickle · 31/08/2013 13:01

I agree, particulalry when you wear glasses, people's phones are distracting and annoying. You're told to turn th off for a reason, but there's always the antisocial ones who think the rules don't apply to them!!

limitedperiodonly · 31/08/2013 13:29

I was next to a woman who whined to her boyfriend about his choice of film and then started texting to show him how annoyed she was.

I was too timid to say anything because they both looked a bit rough.

The man behind slapped her on the head and told her to 'put that fucking phone away.'

Her boyfriend turned round to start but it was obvious that the man was so angry that he whispered to her: 'Put it away, babe' and then said to Mr Angry: 'All right, mate?'

limitedperiodonly · 31/08/2013 13:42

I like sitting near vigilantes.

I was on a beach in Crete when a family with a big group of teenagers cranked up their music and annoyed everyone. It wasn't worth saying anything because they were doing it to pick a fight.

They all went into the sea leaving just a mum behind and their music on.

A middle-aged Greek man who was about as wide as he was tall told her to turn it off, so she did. When the mouthy little shits came back they aggressively turned it right up.

The man came over again with a rock and smashed it and sat back down without a word.

Original poster

bruffin · 31/08/2013 14:16

limitedperiodonly

Amber there was no fuss
I walked down the stairs, spoke quietly to the security guard. I went back to my seat and the security guard talked to her, it was over in a couple of minutes, compared to the distraction of the moble that had been going for ages.

Actually we did have a worse one. Went to see Marigold Hotel. A couple in their 20s at down the very front and performed for the rest of the cinema, talking photos of themselves at the same time. They got chucked out but he took a bow as he was leaving

OP posts:

MrsTerryPratchett · 31/08/2013 14:27

You need this. I [heart] Kermode.

limitedperiodonly · 31/08/2013 14:40

I'm going to have to toughen up bruffin.

I've just remembered something else. My friend Keith's two daughters have a pony each and he and his wife were doing pony rides at the village fete.

Some boys were kicking a ball about and deliberately spooking them. The wife, who's a bit like Princess Anne, told them to bugger off and they went but then came back when she'd gone off for a break.

Her husband tried to reason with them in a totally ineffectual: 'Look lads, we all want to have a nice day' kind of way and they kept mimicking him in that way that makes your blood boil.

She just went 'Oh for heaven's sake, Keith. You're useless,' and stabbed their ball with a knife she'd picked up from the barbecue.

I'll give you her phone number for the next time you want to go to the pictures if you like.

limitedperiodonly · 31/08/2013 14:45

Keith told me that story himself. He's proud of his wife but scared too.

AmberLeaf · 31/08/2013 14:46

Bruffin, to me, that is a fuss.

I love Keiths wife though, thats the kind of fuss I like

rubyflipper · 31/08/2013 14:46

This is why I have stopped going to the cinema. Why should I pay over £9 to watch other people texting and listening in to conversations? No thanks - I'll wait until the film comes out on DVD and watch it in the privacy of my own home.

Silverfoxballs · 31/08/2013 14:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

bruffin · 31/08/2013 15:12

I fell asleep in Troy Silverballs.

OP posts:

pointythings · 31/08/2013 15:28

I don't get the phone thing at all. We've just come back from holiday and the place was full of people engrossed in their phones and ignoring the holiday experience - right up to people filming the fireworks on their iPads rather than actually watching them . It's a complete bloody pain when the person in front of you is holding their bloody device up above his head to get the best shot too, so that you can't see at all.

cushtie335 · 31/08/2013 16:17

It's not just in the cinema this happens. I've been to gigs that cost an absolute fortune and eejits sitting next to me are texting all the way through it. People seem to have zero concentration levels these days, or maybe they think "live" gigs can be rewound like the telly.

cushtie335 · 31/08/2013 16:18

X posted with pointythings but I agree about the holidays. We're not long back from Majorca. The foyer of the hotel was full of young people noodling on their phones, having zero conversation or interaction with each other. What a shite world to grow up in.

YouTheCat · 31/08/2013 18:43

I have had a successful trip to the cinema. Nice and quiet.

It was mainly kids and parents tbh but they were all very well behaved.

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