Cinema stopping kids in suits from coming in - Minions

[jackstini]

DS & his friend (both 13) had tickets this pm for Minions, Rise of Gru

Like lots of people per TikTok, they dressed up in suits/ties - just for fun
Got to cinema and were told they couldn't come in because of what they were wearing

DS called me upset and DH went down to see if he could sort it. Found 5 grown men standing over them and a few other kids, shouting at them that they needed to leave and they were not allowed in. Kids felt very intimidated

No dress code visible in the cinema or on the website

DH asked if they had misbehaved and was told no, we just don't like this suit thing as some of the people on TikTok have kicked off
DH pointed out, they hadn't kicked off, just wanted to watch the film, so what was the problem. Stoney silence
He took them outside, took their jackets & ties off & they went back in 5 minutes later and were admitted by a different member of staff

Is it just me or is this ridiculous? And pathetic for them to treat kids like that

I really want to complain but wanted the MN population to vote on if you think they were BU or not

YANBU - cinema staff were out of order & I should complain
YABU - don't complain

saying that this is more than that, the kids are going out with the intention of upsetting others. It’s not just kids “forgetting” others. They’re intentionally doing that. As a parent I’d be mortified
Totally agree. Normal teenage high spirits is one thing. Most of us probably have been at least a bit irritating when out with friends at some point. If you go somewhere where there are likely to be groups of teens out having fun it would be unreasonable to expect them to behave like they're in a library.
But going somewhere with a predetermined intention to cause a nuisance to other people and/or damage property is antisocial behaviour isn't it? Whilst that may not have been the OP's son and friends' intention, it obviously is the intention of a significant number of kids who are participating in this craze and it's not at all surprising cinemas are taking steps to prevent it. It's the premeditation that makes this particularly bad as far as I see it.

What suddenly strikes me is how unused the general public are to large groups of teenagers. There was a baby boom 2008-2012, those kids are now young teens and it is absolutely appropriate for them to be out without parental supervision. This has all been exacerbated by them all being locked up for 2 years.

Of course kids behaving badly should be kicked out. But some posters are talking about there just being a lot of them, taking their time at the till and chatting and clapping.

Even if it were your 14yo ?

Ah right so the issue isn't that Tiktok users who are in the main, teenagers, are doing stupid, sometimes dangerous, occasionally LETHAL stunts and challenges and people find that at best, disruptive and at worst, fucking scary.

Nooo.. the issue is we're unused to teenagers now and so are unreasonably scared of them.

Theres a reason people, adults and other teenagers, and younger kids, are scared of large groups of teenagers with a disruptive or malicious agenda.

Thats because historically, such groups have done horrific things, including killing people.

Its because from a psychological POV, a group will do things that the individual would not dream of doing, and a CROWD will go even further. See: riots.

When that group or crowd is teenagers rather than adults, things get even worse because teenagers are more impulsive, lack the frontal cortex development that makes us think before we act, reason things out and are much more likely to engage in risky, dangerous and aggressive behaviour.

Hell yes groups of teenagers who outnumber adults, in a darkened room, following an agenda the adults have no idea of, is fucking scary and to be avoided.

Yes it is absolutely sensible to stop that before it can happen.

If you think your teenager was 'just' dressing up, had no intention of scaring anyone or disrupting anything they were just having fun, you are seriously fucking naive.

Even if they set out with no intention of anything unpleasant, they still wanted to be a part of something, they still wanted others to think they were associated with whatever was going on, they still wanted to be identified as 'in this group'.

Who knows WHAT they would have done if they'd got in, if it had all kicked off, if things had turned nasty - you don't know, I don't know, THEY do not know.

Goodskin - how do you, by yourself or lets be generous and say theres one other person with you..

Actually eject say 15 teenagers who are throwing things, yelling/shouting/clapping and refusing to leave.

Do you just imagine that you'd go in there and tell them all to leave and they would do that?

Ah right so the issue isn't that Tiktok users who are in the main, teenagers, are doing stupid, sometimes dangerous, occasionally LETHAL stunts and challenges and people find that at best, disruptive and at worst, fucking scary

Others were talkong about them clapping, talking and procrastinating at the till how is any of that lethal or scary ? I would put that in to the minor annoyance bucket tbh.

Taking drugs, drinking (far)too much and ending up in a warehouse off the the M25 fits all of those descripters far better but is not as irritating to the population. Risk taking is part of teenagerdom it is our job as a society to make sure they the risks are safe and to some extent tolerated

Of course cinema's have the right to throw anyone out/ refuse to serve them.

Embarassment usually works well. Stop the film put the lights on and tell them of they don't cop on they are out.

Also most cimemas sell asigned seating so callimg them by name (first and surname might help). Nothimg wrong with the policey mentiomed up thread of no umaccompanied under 18s. My argumemt is not with the cinema(s) ot's the idea from other PP's that groups of 12-15 year old doing what 12-15yo s do is problematic.

What suddenly strikes me is how unused the general public are to large groups of teenagers. There was a baby boom 2008-2012, those kids are now young teens and it is absolutely appropriate for them to be out without parental supervision. This has all been exacerbated by them all being locked up for 2 years

Yes, and it’s also entirely appropriate that they learn the tolerances of society in public places.

Choose to partake in something that has been experienced as antisocial and your going to find out how people react to that. It’s a disservice to write off teenage behaviours as lack of understanding and empathy on everyone else’s part.

Ok, but do you have a solution that involves not ruining other customers enjoyment of the film or requiring the cinema staff to get into a confrontational situation when they’re likely outnumbered?

Embarrassment could be an effective tool with some but there are a lot of people who it doesn’t work with and actually provokes them into behaving worse to save face/ego.

of course not everything groups of teenagers is problematic but sometimes it is. This is one of those times.

Even if it were your 14yo

that’s why I said “kids I don’t know” in my post.

thankfully mine were far too sensible to take drugs. 😁

Gosh, those boys in the TikTok videos do look like they own the world. How very Bullingdon.

This was our experience on Friday. We had no idea why there were so many teens and they ruined it for so many people. We took our 1yo and she was better behaved than the teens. There was a party of 7(ish) year olds in front of us that I was worried about but they sat beautifully the whole way through. The teens talked endlessly, kept getting up and clapping and were just a pain. The manager kicked them all out when the film was over and they all tried to swarm into a different film.

I’m sorry your son wasn’t planning on being a pain but I can see why they were trying to prevent it.

Personally I can't remember going to a children's film with the sole purpose of ruining the film for others- how pathetic is that? What a bunch of social media guided sheep, and selfish too. Some families would have been saving up to go the cinema and and have it ruined and probably felt intimidated by a group of teenagers? Outrageous.

The other problem now is that the intended audience will be put off seeing it and cost the cinemas £££s. It’s going to be a trend that is bloody annoying for anyone in the cinema with them but will have much broader implications unfortunately. The stewards aren’t paid enough to put up with that shit. Why should the cleaners have to. I’m quite shocked at the few posters defending it as teenagers being teenagers or high jinx. It really isn’t ok.

@Bunnycat101 yup, I had no idea about the TikTok thing and had promised to take dd(6) and a friend to the cinema to see this (huge despicable me/minions fan). I won’t be now because of the slightest chance of running into a group intent on turning into a participation event.

I’ve got better ways to waste £30 on tickets.

What a selfish attitude. I don't want any 14yos putting themselves in such a risky situation, having such things ignored does not benefit society - look at Rotherham. There is a saying where I work safeguarding is everybody's bussiness.

Can you seriously not tell the difference between annoying and downright rude and disrespectful.

Annoying - gathering in doorways, unaware of people around them. Huge groups at tills taking ages to decide what they want whilst having an in-depth discussion about it.

Downright unacceptable - disrupting a show everyone has paid for, trashing cinemas and knowingly disturbing the enjoyment if those around them.

But the shitty, selfish attitude of the teenagers and the attitude of 'teenagers gonna teenage' you are defending here is ok? So it's all fun and hijinks that the teenagers are entitled to and everyone else is boring and needs to accept it, but also everyone else needs to make sure they're OK. Are you now going to say it's on the cinema or the other adults/families whose day got ruined to make sure all the chaos causers were ok during their disgraceful behaviour?

@Goodskin46 I don’t think it’s selfish, it’s very pragmatic. Obviously it would be great if no 14yo were taking drugs. But a random 14yo is not my responsibility. I doubt I’d know if a random 14yo was taking drugs. I’m not a youth worker or a police officer it’s nothing to do with me. Yes, their parents should be trying to sort it out. Though I suspect that might be harder to actually do if a kid is off the rails. 🤷‍♀️

We went to watch Minions on Friday. There was around 30 young people in suits.
they stood up many times during the film and shouted and clapped. They sung at many times. At one point one of them ran up and down the steps jeering.

We had paid £60 for cinema tickets and food. We were all annoyed.

This is a TikTok challenge and it’s annoying. Why did DS and friends dress up like the TikTok challenge? Do they usually wear a suit to the cinema?!!

The cinema should have warned your DS and friends first- used the one strike and you are out approach rather than be so heavy handed.

Really ??
Whatever

Yes, fascinatingly enough events that occur in one place can miraculously not occur in another. Your cinema didn't get hit with a missile either but that doesn't mean it isn't happening elsewhere to other people.

Used to work in a shop, we'd bar kids all the time if it was clear they were Up To Something. It's a private business and they don't need a reason.

It sounds very like the flash mobbing that used to happen a decade or so ago. Often it was harmless but often as in this case it was designed to cause disruption and annoyance.

Not too far, she clearly lack any self respect or concept of right and wrong and should not be advising the next generation.

I lived in a rough area and even for that was deemed an out of control kid (people dont like independant 'children' it seems), was emancipated at 15 and lived on the streets but I never did ecstacy in bikesheds and ruined cinemas.

The kids that I knew that acted like this definately lacked basic self respect (happy to get fingered publicly at a bus stop if they thought more people would talk all about them) and where desperate for people to pay more attention to them (good or bad) because they can't handle not being the center of everything = Pathetic.

Good for you.
Your posts are disgusting.