To expect a grown woman to sit through a play without slurping from her water bottle

[Openbook]

Can she really not wait till the interval to have a drink? It's infantile.

Someone's tired.

Tell us more.

Is she pregnant? I have had to do this in mass when I have had morning sickness.

There could be any number of reasons why she could need to drink water.

YABU

Oh - I don't seem to have struck a chord here. Ah well. I don't understand why someone needs to drink from a water bottle during a play. Going to the theatre is supposed to be a treat - a bit up market. I get there in time for a drink ( out of a glass)before it starts and do not eat or drink during the performance and as far as I know that is considered to be standard behaviour. Of course you can buy an ice cream or a drink in the interval but this is supposed to be finished before the play starts again.This is just the way it is as far as I am concerned. I think to have to have a water bottle with you at the theatre is common tbh and an infantile habit. Oh I know she MIGHT have been feeling sick but I think she was behaving as if she was in her own sitting room. She also commented on the play to her companion as it went on.

You're absolutely right, that's dreadful. Next time you go to a play it might be prudent to hand the people either side of you a list of rules that they must abide by if they are to have the honour of sitting near you. Good luck with that.

Oh for christ sake, if she wants to have a drink during the play then thats HER business!

YABU, and tbh idiotic!

YABU -now if she were taking calls on her mobile phone, trying to take photos of the play etc. I could understand you being annoyed/pissed off. Drinking from a bottle of water -unless she was noisily guzzling down a through a straw with big slurp -aah noises - is pretty inoffensive to be honest...

Why would it bother you ? People can eat and drink what they like as long as they dont rustle sweet wrappers too much !

Well I suppose I knew I'd be shot down but are you saying that there aren't rules for these occasions. When wouldn't it be acceptable to pull out a plastic bottle of water in your view?

Hmm - come on people, she did say 'slurping'! If someone were being noisy to the extent I couldn't hear during a play, I'd be cross and I'd ask them to keep it down (or I hope I would; I'm probably too British).

I wouldn't care if someone were drinking quietly at all.

Since when has a water bottle been an offensive article or an indicator of lack of etiquette? Sorry, you're not making much sense. I was brought up going to plays, the ballet, the opera etc from a young age....taken by both my parents and grandmothers, all of whom are very tight on traditional etiquette. This is a new one to me!

Besides, some people do need to keep drinking, water is very important to hydration. I know I suffer greatly from headaches and as such carry a bottle of water with me everywhere.

I would consider taking illicit alcohol in in a brown paper bag to be a little passe, but a bottle of water? Get off your self-created high horse!

Commenting on someone else's behaviour in such a high handed fashion is far more 'not done'...love the reference to 'drinking from a glass' by the way.

I always drink from a small bottle of water when at the theatre/cinema. There is absolutely no harm in it. It is not like the woman concerned was slurping/belching! Sorry, but you do sound v uptight

Meant to say: if she was literally slurping that is slightly different, but again I guess some people can't help being noisy drinkers so I'm not sure what you'd do about it. Commenting is only likely to embarrass the person and ruining their evening, hardly worth it.

OK drinking water from a bottle is not the greatest theatre sin. But I know what you mean. Now it seems like everyone constantly carries and sips from a bottle of water. They can't all have medical conditions necessitating it. No one used to do this 10 or so years ago

If you knew you would be 'shot down' why bother posting? You asked the question in AIBU after all, so people are just responding with their opinions.

If you are going to eat or drink during a play, you should do so quietly - no slurping or rustling of sweetie wrappers, or crunching of crunchy food.

So no, I don't think the OP is being unreasonable to object to a woman slurping her water during the play - she should have drunk it quietly.

It does seem a bit daft. No-one can be that ill at the theatre that they needs to keep drinking all the time. I would find it annoying TBH. Why can't people just still still and watch without eating or drinking all the time. The bloody cinema is bad enough - crunch, rustle, slurp, chew ...gargghh! Watch the f*ing film!

I don't understand this at all ..... she was drinking water. If she were injecting herself with heroin I could understand your concern but she was drinking water, it's hardly something to get worked up about.

But why? Was she going to faint with dehydration? Is it not possible to sit for 30 mins without constantly consuming something?

How noisy can drinking water be??

wishes she had less things to stress about so that she may concentrate on the more petty things in life

I often take water into the theatre with me. And people (i'm mainly talking at the National Theatre here cos that's mostly what we have done lately thanks to mil giving us tickets) often taken their drinks in from the bar.

I am asthmatic and frequently get a cough/dry throat/whatever and would rather have a quick (quiet) slug of water than be coughing/herumphing throughout.