The husband of a very good friend of mine is in town, and he's staying with us for a few days. Yesterday, TTO, FH (friend's hubby) and I decide to go watch Jumper at the cinema.
That movie is PG 10 if my memory serves me correctly. This fact is pertinent.
We're sitting in the movie, and I swear I hear a baby cry and get quickly hushed up. I look around, and don't see anything, and continue watching the movie.
During the really actiony parts of the movie, it's obviously quite loud. The baby starts to REALLY bawl. I look around, and spot the culprit. Some dumbass decided to bring their less than 2 years old baby to a movie!
Not only that, but they didn't take the kid out when they started crying! I mean, it's LOUD! It's SCARY! That kid must've been scared by the noise and the flashing lights; not to mention they're disturbing EVERYONE in the cinema. Add to that I'm sitting about 6 rows away from them, I cannot imagine how their neighbours felt.
Funnily enough, no-one said anything to them*. I'm hoping they'll grow some common sense and take the baby out, but they don't! And they sit there with their crying baby during the movie!
Halfway through the movie, I get up, go outside and grab an usher.
Me
U: Usher
Me: "This movie is PG 10. Why is there a baby in the audience?"
U: "Uh, I dunno"
Me: "Well, the baby's crying and bugging everyone. Please can someone come deal with this?"
U: "I'll take care of it"
I go back into the movie, and lo and behold, the kid is still crying, and NO-ONE comes to deal with it.
I'm fuming, TTO is fuming, BH is fuming, as are a whole bunch of other people. I was THISCLOSE to talking to the person myself, but TTO doesn't like it when I do that, so I didn't (later he told me he wished I had )
After the movie, I go to the same usher:
Me: "No-one came after I complained about the baby. What gives??"
U: "you'll need to talk to the manager. He's there"
*Points half heartedly in a vague direction*
Me:
We track down the manager.
Me
M: Manager
Me: Hi. I'd like my money back please. I was just in a movie that was PG 10, and someone let a patron in with a baby that was crying through the whole movie. I reported it to an usher, and he told me he would take care of it, but nothing happened.
M: I'm really sorry about that, but the ushers cannot leave their points. If they do, they lose their jobs.
Me: He could've flagged someone else down to fetch you. He didn't tell me anything like that, he said, and I quote "I'll take care of it". Also, how is it possible that people can bring BABIES into a cinema where the movie is not kiddie friendly? What's the point of age restrictions then?
M: *gives some half hearted story about how people buy tickets for one movie and sneak into another cinema - hard to swallow since the whole cinema was full!*
Me: I quite honestly don't see how that's my problem. It is your responsibility to make sure the restrictions are enforced, not mine. And we three would like our money back as our movie experience was ruined by a screaming baby.
So, TTO, BF and I now have 3 complimentary tickets. Yay. I would rather just have not had to go through that. I wanted to find the patron and give them a piece of my mind, but they got out the theatre before I did
* This is a typical South African thing. We'll rather sit and suffer through something than complain. We're wusses. I'm ashamed
That movie is PG 10 if my memory serves me correctly. This fact is pertinent.
We're sitting in the movie, and I swear I hear a baby cry and get quickly hushed up. I look around, and don't see anything, and continue watching the movie.
During the really actiony parts of the movie, it's obviously quite loud. The baby starts to REALLY bawl. I look around, and spot the culprit. Some dumbass decided to bring their less than 2 years old baby to a movie!
Not only that, but they didn't take the kid out when they started crying! I mean, it's LOUD! It's SCARY! That kid must've been scared by the noise and the flashing lights; not to mention they're disturbing EVERYONE in the cinema. Add to that I'm sitting about 6 rows away from them, I cannot imagine how their neighbours felt.
Funnily enough, no-one said anything to them*. I'm hoping they'll grow some common sense and take the baby out, but they don't! And they sit there with their crying baby during the movie!
Halfway through the movie, I get up, go outside and grab an usher.
Me
U: Usher
Me: "This movie is PG 10. Why is there a baby in the audience?"
U: "Uh, I dunno"
Me: "Well, the baby's crying and bugging everyone. Please can someone come deal with this?"
U: "I'll take care of it"
I go back into the movie, and lo and behold, the kid is still crying, and NO-ONE comes to deal with it.
I'm fuming, TTO is fuming, BH is fuming, as are a whole bunch of other people. I was THISCLOSE to talking to the person myself, but TTO doesn't like it when I do that, so I didn't (later he told me he wished I had )
After the movie, I go to the same usher:
Me: "No-one came after I complained about the baby. What gives??"
U: "you'll need to talk to the manager. He's there"
*Points half heartedly in a vague direction*
Me:
We track down the manager.
Me
M: Manager
Me: Hi. I'd like my money back please. I was just in a movie that was PG 10, and someone let a patron in with a baby that was crying through the whole movie. I reported it to an usher, and he told me he would take care of it, but nothing happened.
M: I'm really sorry about that, but the ushers cannot leave their points. If they do, they lose their jobs.
Me: He could've flagged someone else down to fetch you. He didn't tell me anything like that, he said, and I quote "I'll take care of it". Also, how is it possible that people can bring BABIES into a cinema where the movie is not kiddie friendly? What's the point of age restrictions then?
M: *gives some half hearted story about how people buy tickets for one movie and sneak into another cinema - hard to swallow since the whole cinema was full!*
Me: I quite honestly don't see how that's my problem. It is your responsibility to make sure the restrictions are enforced, not mine. And we three would like our money back as our movie experience was ruined by a screaming baby.
So, TTO, BF and I now have 3 complimentary tickets. Yay. I would rather just have not had to go through that. I wanted to find the patron and give them a piece of my mind, but they got out the theatre before I did
* This is a typical South African thing. We'll rather sit and suffer through something than complain. We're wusses. I'm ashamed
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