To Find this Woman in the Cinema Rude

[LessMissAbs]

Me and my friend were watching a film in the cinema tonight. She doesn't wear a watch and must have been checking her phone for the time - its a habit of hers to do this, or to ask people the time. I was sitting next to her and I didn't notice it.

There was an empty seat to her other side between her and a woman. The woman suddenly boomed out in the middle of the film, "If you want to play your phone, you can go outside and do it instead of in here".

It was mortifying, and she interrupted the film for me. I was really embarrassed for my friend, but we didn't say anything.

At the end of the film, as we were standing up to leave, I said to the woman "I don't really care if you were disturbed by a light during the film or not, I don't want to have to the film interrupted by your booming voice". She then started arguing back (she said something like "Oh you'd like to be a cheeky one, wouldn't you, and some other stuff) but we turned our backs towards her and her husband so that she was talking to ourselves, put on our coats and left.

Kind of ruined the film for both of us. Normally I find going to the cinema relaxing!

actually, after following the posts, especially OP's, i think the op comes over as being a self congratulating somewhat irritating person, the sort that i avoid. with so many posts clearly stating that using a phone inside a cinema annoying i wouldn't boast about how clever i am and how anyone else that doesn't agree with me is a twat. whilst i think the woman who shouted was a bit ott, i admire her. i don't think this thread is so much about the importance of using a phone at a time when it is annoying for others, but more that it clearly reaks sadness as is a typical example of just how just people how absolately no idea as to how their self absorbed behaviour affects other people. phones in the cinema are fucking annoying. that's it.

I want the OP to answer this question - when you are told to turn your phones off and not use them during the movie do you accept that your friend is therefore wrong to have checked her phone?

Just answer that simple question I want to know your personal stance on it because it appears that you think it is ok to flout such simple rules that are put in place to ensure everyone who comes to the cinema can enjoy the movie.

I think anyone who steams onto the thread and leaves a pithy one liner such as "you are your friend are cunts, HTH!" is probably not particularly motivated by the subject matter just loving having a pop because everyone else is.

Oh jesus i've just seen the the 'finesse' post and how the op's friend works for the EU. Wtaf??
How did i miss that pmsl
As for you harold the goat, perhaps you should never leave the house, in case your precious children fart or something and you miss it.

Harold. I get the feeling that like me you think this thread has become ridiculous but for some reason can't keep away

Here's the thing - I actually can't see any reason why anyone needs to use their phone in a cinema - and that includes people who care for elderly confused parents or SEN children or drunken adults. If you think you really need to keep in touch, then what doctors on call used to do in posh restaurants was leave their phone with the manager - so you ask about do that ( and the signal is more likely to work)

The entire point of cinema as opposed to watching on TV is to remove yourself from the outside world. If you have a really good reason for not removing yourself entirely from the outside world, then cinema simply isn't for you. My cinema's cheapest charge for an adult is £10 - in short it's too expensive not to care.

I like film, I like being transported to a different place and frankly bright lights irritate me ( especially the person - middle class middle aged adult who had to look up Lincoln's speech during Lincoln). It's never a one off and I've yet to see anyone immediately dash from the cinema on looking at their phone ( London and used to go at least once a week in three different cinemas) Going to the pictures, as with every other art form is optional - if you can't be considerate, don't go and watch on netflix.

bookish you do realise that SEN means Special Educational Needs and not Special Needs don't you? The two terms are not interchangeable and mean totally different things.

So your suggestion is to ask the manager to come in and find me if one of my dc kicks off? (both have autism). Would that not be more disturbing than me briefly checking my dimmed phone and immediately leaving if I need to? I wonder what the manager would make of being requested to chase round in the dark summoning various customers for emergencies. Wouldn't be too thrilled I should think.

Your suggestion would be fab if we were living in the seventies but we are not.

How about you stay home and watch Netflix if you can't tolerate a few glances at a phone over the course of a couple of hours?

Vibrate sparkly!

No because I have missed it before and also I am still checking anyway in case I miss it. I have missed calls before with regards to my children and the outcome was pretty bad.

Why did you post in AIBU?

I'm sure that not every cinema phone checker is worrying about SN children at home.

Sorry children with SN!

No but I am and so are a couple of other posters on here.

The 'turn your mobiles off' thing at the beginning doesn't have a list of exemptions though.

Well sparkling I cannot turn off my phone, simple as that. Do you suggest I don't go at all?

Why was knowing the time so crucial?

Surely she knew the time when she went in and knew how long the film lasted?

Oh and FWIW they don't do those orange ads anymore do they? About turning off your phone, just Kevin Bacon wittering on about EE. I was at a Vue cinema in London yesterday watching The Hobbit and there was nothing about turning phones off.

I am not sure sparkly, in your situation maybe I wouldn't go to the cinema, as the rule is that you turn your mobile off but you can't do that.

What would you have done - re child kicking off - before the advent of mobile phones, sss? Serious question. Just never gone out anywhere you couldn't be contacted?

i'm sure that not every phone checker is worring about sn children at home
Ah, t'was only a matter of time before someone mentioned SN[ smile]

I don't want to have the film interrupted by your booming voice? Was the woman Brian Blessed?

Vue still run the ads about switching phones off.

Was the woman Brian Blessed?

Great, so I should just never go out to the cinema at all because I happened to have two dc with autism? Btw going to the cinema is the only thing I do apart from the odd run. I don't go out, I don't drink, I am a lone parent. I can just about get childcare for them long enough to go to a two hour movie at a cinema 12 minutes walk from my house. I will continue to go and I will continue to check my phone as it is essential that I do so.