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?

Yep I think it's selfish and inconsiderate of someone to do this - I would be so irritated by it but more irritated by the lack of social awareness of the person doing it.

My DN has an asthmatic cough and it's very loud like a barking cough.

OP, yes, it's rude. I luckily have selective hearing so can usually zone things like that out, my DH would be a different story though, repetitive noises go through him!

I have a chronic lung condition (bronchiectasis), it stops me going to places I used to really enjoy like cinema, shows, museums because I know I'd piss people off and be judged as selfish, I often get disgusted looks from strangers if my coughing starts on the bus where silence isn't isn't expected, if I get called selfish and told I shouldn't leave the house with my cough on the bus, I'm gonna get worse at a cinema.

It's been very hard to adjust to though, it's the sharing the excitement of going to see something like a new marvel film with family and friends and dissecting it all in the way home that I miss. Watching it on my own on Disney plus months later isn't the same but it is what it is. Drive in cinema is great when they show something we all want to see,

I've lost friends who think I should not let the filthy looks and nasty comments stop me doing the things I like and who have gotten frustrated with me declining invites to places I know I'll get looks of disgust and sometimes comments too.

Just sat through a restaurant meal near the cougher from hell. Cheers then. We obviously all need it.

And if she said no, what was the Op expected to do exactly?

Stupid comment

Apart from disturbing people she may well have been infecting people with any airborne virus.
Wish is inconsiderate on several levels.

Don't be a dick. You have no possible way of knowing if the cough was infectious. When I get a cough it can linger for months so life carries on once I'm feeling well enough including restaurants and, yes, the cinema.

I work in public research rooms and this is absolutely endemic.

I remember one lady started coughing quite normally but soon escalated to a quite scary, gasping, hacking attack. Staff rushed over and she was given water, offered help etc. She left the room briefly.

She came back and had three further awful hacking attacks throughout the day, with tears running down her face. Each time once the coughing reached an unbearable crescendo she left the room for a moment or two but then came back to resume her research, coughing quietly til the next huge blow up.

I felt sorry for her suffering but I also thought ffs go home, you are clearly unwell. It was distressing each time but she didn't want help beyond a sip of water.

It's better since covid but I can see coughing creeping back slowly.

My sister has multiple illnesses including cancer she can't control her cough I guess by your criteria she should continue to stay home no last treats and wait for death so as not to inconvenience anyone.

Some medication for high blood pressure makes you cough. It’s for life so all you can do is crack on.

When your terminal with a mass in your lungs and restricted diaphragm added to the damage done to your oesophagus when they tried to take biopsies the little life you have is full of lack of social awareness.

Possibly my sister who when saliva or food goes down her open airway sounds awful and very distressing scares the shit out of her (and me) but not infectious.

Oh okay. I hope somebody someday will remind you of this when you need the Heimlich while dining out.

Your kindness and compassion is overwhelming. /s

Choking is an entirely different matter. This is about persistent coughing from someone who was well enough to attend the cinema and eat a box of popcorn. Not gasping for life in a medical emergency.

I find it so funny when people act like everyone in the cinema needs to sit in complete silence! ‘You shouldn’t be rustling bags of snacks, you shouldn’t open any snacks during ‘tense moments,’ you shouldn’t cough, speak during trailers or breathe too loudly’ etc etc.

I work in the film industry and one of our offices are based BOH in one of the cinemas. The amount of nonsense that people complain about to the ushers is absolutely ridiculous.

She’s still allowed to visit the cinema with a cough. Yes she should have stepped outside if she was being disruptive but either move seats or go to the box office and let someone know. Not any point coming on the internet once the film is now finished!

I mean if you know your cough is ruining everyone's else viewing of the film then take yourself outside or move to the back and walk out every time you cough like crazy

And if you keep coughing then fuck off home

I think though if you have to leave because of being unwell and disturbing everyone in there then you should be entitled to your money back

😂

Yeah, choking is.

But kindness and compassion are not.

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 agree, @ChristmasFluff . I'm asthmatic and currently have a post-viral cough that's lasted three times as long as the damn cold - and it's nothing like asthmatic wheezing or shortness of breath or a real asthma attack, it's gunge on the chest that takes a hell of a hard cough to shift, and no way would I go to a cinema like this! I'm baffled this woman bothered - how much did she even get out of the film?

Wow, the ignorance on this thread.
Have you ever met anyone with cystic fibrosis or a comparable condition? Have you ever lived with them and seen how a persistent cough never gives them a break? How acid reflux worsens their symptoms, or how they cough up blood because the relentless cough irritated their lungs so much?
And that many of these people are painfully aware that their coughing annoys other people, so they shy away from activities?

Of course there is a chance that the woman in the cinema was simply selfish and had a cold, but unless you know what is going on with her you really shouldn’t judge.

Whatever illness someone has should a paying patron really have to embrace that illness too? Cost me nearly 50 quid to sit listening to 2 bloody dc shouting. Could have stayed home for free and done that..

I know it's horrible. Like some people think the public should be shut away if they dare show any signs of a chronic condition

It just seems silly. We're all people. Our bodies do people things. If someone can't accept other people's bodies do things they have no/little control over then they should stay inside away from other people.

I felt sorry for her suffering but I also thought ffs go home, you are clearly unwell. It was distressing each time but she didn't want help beyond a sip of water.

Comments like this demonstrate how some people just don't get it. A cough doesn't necessarily mean someone is unwell. It can also be a sign someone is chronically unwell and so this is as good as things get for them. People with chronic illnesses are allowed to go to the cinema, libraries and lectures.

(And to the poster upthread complaining about someone coughing in a lecture, if one of my students came to me about that they would likely not enjoy my response.)