I received applause from the theater after the girls had been escorted out… so the people in the movie theater, at least, did not find what I said rude.
I told the story to two friends today btw and they both thought I was right, and that they’d have drenched the girls with their sodas.
March 1999. Opening weekend of the Matrix. Some teenager came in late, sat in front of me , and talked to his friends throughout the opening action sequence. I told him to shut up. He didn’t. I slapped him across the back of the neck. He glared at me. I glared back. He shut up.
I applaud the OP for his restraint.
I would have called the police and had them arrested for assault. Too many bratty teens around now. They need sorting out.
I’d have wanted to do more than slap, but that leaves us open to prosecution, as the so called justice system is weighted in favour of the miscreants, especially horrid children.
The neck slap is hardly violence - its purpose is to assert dominance, not to cause pain. Much as I despise employing the methods of the bully, these methods have their uses.
Also, I live in a less litigious society than you do. The cops would probably just have forced us to shake hands.
As far as I’m concerned, if someone’s blaring their conversation at inappropriate volume and forcing me to hear it, it becomes my business, because it’s an intrusion into my doing what I’m trying to (e.g., watch the (bleep) movie!). Throwing things qualifies as assault, IMO, even if it’s small stuff like popcorn and coins.
As for “pre-teen gossip”, I assumed that phrase referred to the maturity level of the conversation, not the ages of participants.
This kind of garbage is among the many reasons I’ve given up movie theaters. Not worth it when being a bit patient gets me much better viewing conditions at lower cost.
I agree that you should have gone to get the management once they didn’t respond to your polite request to be quiet. I also agree that your final statement was rude, it just wasn’t nearly as rude as the girls’ behavior, given how much they provoked you.
If that had been your first statement to them, that’s a different story.
I recently watched Django Unchained, and a nearby woman simply would not shut up. She kept talking to the characters and using her phone. Nobody tried to quiet her down. I usually don’t have the nerve to ask people to be quiet in movie theaters, since if they’re talking loudly in the first place, they’ve already shown that they’re extremely inconsiderate, and are unlikely to respond reasonably. Then again, I’ve never had to deal with someone that overly obnoxious. If confronted with the same behavior you were, I probably would have gone to get someone.
This is why I like the Alamo Drafthouse. Talk or text once, get a warning. Do it again, get thrown out without a refund. It’s a magical place.
You know, the more I think about it, the more I think that even your initial statement was quite rude. You were far, far, far from being the ruder party, but honestly, how did you expect them to respond to your “pre-teen gossip” line? They were already acting belligerent to people shooshing them, surely you didn’t think that what you said was going to diffuse the situation?
I wasn’t trying to just shut them up but trying to get them to know that those around them were not in the mood to hear what they were loudly discussing and that we wanted to see the movie we paid for. I did want them to shut up and I hope when actually confronted rather than just people going “SHHHH!” or “BE QUIET”, they would actually be quiet.
And yes, “preteen gossip” was referring to what they were saying, not their ages.
Yes. It’s just like the time I was eating at a restaurant and the woman and man at the table next to me were talking about farting during sex and queefing.. I actually turned around and said something then too.
Those girls were either very brave or very stupid, like they’ve never been told off their entire lives. Haven’t they heard of theater shootings, senseless stabbings, and just plain punch-ups? I can never understand pissing off strangers in public.
Also, I never thought I’d get a chance to address two threads all at once:
In a movie house, sit down and be quiet. By doing those two things, you won’t piss anyone off except idiots.