Theater behavior

[Venus193]

That is exactly the problem with 90% of the issues we bring to this forum.  It's that the offenders don't care if they offend others.

[LifeOnPluto]

Hi again...Today we went to see "Jack Reacher".  It's a fairly violent movie, not sure of the rating, but there's a sniper killing 5 people in the opening scene.  Not a movie for small children.  Anyway, we sat in the front section on the back row. It was a sold out movie.  I thought GOOD no way to kick my seat back.  More on that later.  So the family right behind us brings a 4 year old, who is bored, of course.  He commences to pop out of his seat, talk loudly, and than run up and down the aisle.  All the while mom and pop sit there oblivious.  I think they had 5-6 children.  Their teenage daughter was in charge of the four year old.  Mom and Dad ignored the kids.  So I go out and tell the concessions people about the problem while I was getting popcorn.  Said family KNEW I did this since little boy was no-where to be found until after the movie was over and he was sitting on a bench in the lobby with big brother waiting.  The concessions people said they would deal with it, but I was watching for it and they never did. The kid was gone from the theater when I came back in with my popcorn. Suffice it to say, parents knew the kid was disruptive and they suspected I lodged a complaint so they took care of it before they were ejected.  But the teenage girl behind me did reach forward and kick my seat several times until I turned around and looked at her.  In the dark theater she did see me, just as her parents did earlier when I looked back.  Her row of seats had a wide walk space in front of them, so she really was trying, and not just fidgeting.  Just by walking out to the concession stand did the trick.  These people knew exactly what they were subjecting everyone to.  They just didn't care.

Goodness! I think you did the right thing in notifying the concessions people about the disruptive family. It's a shame the concessions didn't appear to do anything about the situation. In that case, I'd go back and complain again (and maybe even demand my money back). Failing that, I'd write an angry letter to corporate, informing them of the cinema staff's neglect at handling the situation.

[Katana_Geldar]

Find yourself a good art house cinema.

[mindicherry]

Just wanted to say - we went to the movies in another state the day after Christmas.  Almost EVERY theater where I live has "buckets" for popcorn and sells candies in boxes.

Well - the theater where we went out-of-state still sells popcorn in paper bags and Twizzlers in plastic wrapping.  By the end of the movie I was homicidal as well!

(and these were my own kids and husband making the noise)

I blame the theater for selling noise-makers ;-)

(as for the kicking of seats?  there is no excuse! my response probably wouldn't have been eHell approved)

[FenigDurak]

The stories I could tell of poor theatre behavior encountered in my brash youth...

I recently saw Lincoln while visiting family in LA. I have never been to a movie theatre with assigned seating before. My Mother and I found a couple sitting in our seats, but a polite word saw them evacuating our seats for their own (we were in a party of 5 all sitting together).  Just before the previews began, an usher addressed the whole theatre and reminded everyone that this was a distraction free environment and that she would be on hand to ensure it remained such. All I could think was where can I buy stock and open up a chain in my area of the country.

[ettiquit]

My husband and I like to go to movies and also to plays, operas and other events.  I have noticed that in movie theaters that the behavior has gotten increasingly bad over the past few years.  You would think it is bad behavior from kids, but it also comes from adults.  Last weekend we went to see the Hobbit movie, which we really enjoyed, except for grandma's behavior.  She was sitting with her son and daughter with their pre-teen kids.  The kids were fine, but granny was not.  She kept bouncing her foot against the back our our seats, off and on through the entire movie.  It was a constant on and off nervous bounce, about 3 bounces per second and was very distracting to me. I kept glancing back at her to give her the hint, but she was not deterred.  My husband gets very embarrassed when I say something to people like this, so I have learned to keep quiet.  But it ruined my experience.

Than, we went to a Christmas play this past weekend, and spent $240 for four tickets.  After the intermission the 55+ lady behind me kept wrinkling the candy wrapper through the rest of the performance.  I again gave her the look several times, but she was oblivious.  By the time the play was over I had homicidal thoughts!  Am I overly sensitive to distractions?

How is a nice but effective way to handle this?

To the bolded - You may be, but not in a way that you can control.  I can leave a movie annoyed as heck because of someone behind me constantly talking, and my DH won't have noticed a single noise.  It may be an inability to fully concentrate, and as hard as I've tried to ignore distractions, I rarely can.  I actually don't go to movies very often because of this.

[The TARDIS]

The OP's description sounds like habits the culprits may not be aware of. A polite word to bring it to their attention should make something like that stop.