Coughing lady at the movies

[HibiscusAndPineapples]

Went to the cinema to watch a film, and the lady seated behind me spent the better part of the entire runtime coughing. It wasn’t just muffled coughs here and there either, but full on, loud, non-stop coughing.

Any quiet/tense moment in the film was completely ruined by loud coughing.

AIBU to think that anyone with a cough as loud and relentless as this should just stay away from the cinema?

Did you think about asking if she was okay?

What would that achieve? She came in coughing, was coughing when we were getting popcorn, and had her friend with her. It’s not as if she started coughing midway through the film…

Had a super snotty bloke behind me at Elton concert… ffs blow your nose

Oh please, she sat through a whole film, she was clearly okay just chose to go to the cinema with a bad cough.

OP YANBU it's highly inconsiderate, both from a disturbance perspective (spoiling your enjoyment of the film) and from a passing on germs perspective.

Unless the cinema was full, I'd have moved though.

Used to bug me at university, when lectures were constantly disrupted by coughing.

Could have severe asthma and the air con upset her. I know someone that suffers like this.

These patronising comments where the poster is trying to be "clever" are just annoying and wankish!!

You are right to be annoyed OP, it's selfish behaviour.

Then she should have taken herself out instead of ruining everyone else's enjoyment of the film

If I had severe asthma and knew I'd be coughing the whole way through a film, I'd resign myself to Netflix

@Roselilly36 OP has explained this woman came in coughing and was buying popcorn coughing.

An asthmatic cough has a particular timbre to it, because we aren't able to expel the air through our contracted pipes. It's a comparatively quiet and wheezy cough, not what the OP is talking about. Asthmatics literally cannot expel the air fast enough to do repeatedly loud coughs, and most of us know that coughing doesn't help anyway (and in fact makes things worse) so we try to avoid coughing if possible.

Many people with chronic lung conditions do choose to use Netflix out of not wanting to have an uncomfortable time themselves, let alone spoil things for others.

The fact this woman had no strategy in place (such as using huffs) has me believing she's just someone with a chest infection who doesn't give a shit.

I'm sure she was just fine. Agree with OP it's selfish and she should have rain checked.

She clearly wasn't ok and shouldn't have gone to the cinema!

I rarely go to the cinema now. It's so expensive and more often than not ruined by someone talking / on their phone / kids mucking about. It's not worth the risk.

Of course the coughing woman should have taken herself out! People are just so selfish.

It’s really selfish. I wouldn’t dream of going to the cinema with a cough like that. Some people just think about themselves though.

I would have told her how inconsiderate she was being and then asked for a refund, unfortunately I've had to do that numerous times.

I have an intermittent fairly severe cough most of the time due to a chest condition. If I get a bout in the theatre or cinema, I remove myself very quickly until the coughing fit is over. I would be embarrassed if I knowingly spoiled everyone else’s experience. Obviously people have to be considerate to the sufferer, but to cough persistently throughout a performance is very selfish and entitled.

If she has a chronic health condition that gives her a cough are you saying she should be banned?

I agre with OP, that coughing person was very rude to the other people watching the movie. OP was not BU.

Which chronic health condition gives you a persistent hacking cough at the same time being well enough to scoff dry popcorn at the cinema? As PP said, it’s not Asthma. If it was a throat condition she’d want to lubricate her throat not irritate it, and unfortunately I’ve had several close relatives pass with COPD and lung cancer, both of which wouldn’t be well enough to walk enough steps to enter the cinema if things had progressed to coughing for 2 hours straight.
so what could it possibly be?

YANBU to think that someone who is unwell should not go on that occasion to the cinema.

You absolutely should complain.. I have at Vue. Apparently staff check in intermittently to check all is OK. I complained about 2 toddlers shouting and their 4 toilet visits distracting us. Got 4 free tickets...
Email away op. You definitely should..

No she shouldn’t be banned but she would know more than anyone how irritating it is and as such should have the good manners not to inflict it on a cinema full of people. I had a mild cough on the date I was due to go to the theatre but I gave the ticket to a friend because I wouldn’t have been happy if I had been sitting next to me coughing and spluttering.

Aren't lectures compulsory though? Mine were, and not attending due to a cough would not have been an acceptable reason to miss a lecture.

Who cares if she was okay? She shouldn't've been there.

I had a selfish arse of a flatmate at uni who did this all the way through a piano concert. She had the cheek to come home and be outraged that people had complained to her during the interval. She basically ruined a rare performance for everyone else.