In Doperland, live theater performances are attended almost exclusively by mothers with sick children at home, doctors on call, and people with relatives on the verge of death.
So do you recommend Bed pans also?
Our onscreen reminders happen when you’ve been watching a minute or so of a fake movie trailer: suddenly you hear a phone ringing with the Nokia tune, and because of surround sound it seems like the ringing is coming from the audience. Then, one of the characters in the fake trailer stops, breaks the 4th wall, and chastises the “guilty party.”
I don’t go to the movies very often, so I fall for this every single time. The Nokia tune begins, and I start looking around for the offendor. And 5 seconds later I feel like an idiot. :smack:
It’s effective, though!
You need to have someone call you on your cellphone to tell you it’s time to take a dump? Oh, all right, I’ll go a little way off-topic with you.
I recommend going to the bathroom before the show, after the show, and/or during the intermission. It’s worked for small children the world over. Of course unforeseen emergencies can arise, and sometimes a trip to the bathroom can’t be postponed, and if that happens you get a pass (amazing how the puns just pop up unbidden), but that doesn’t mean you’re not inconveniencing anyone: it just means you have a good reason and should be forgiven. But if such emergencies are likely, then they’re foreseeable, and if they’re foreseeable, the impact on others can and should be minimized by the above tactics or the use of products designed to cope with the problem.
Of course, someone who leaves a cellphone on can be assumed to expect s/he’ll be inconveniencing others. But many of those people would probably just argue that they had a right to crap in their seat.
Yeah, it was the worst timing for something like that. Had it happened during one of the louder tracks like “Nierika”, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but during this one, everybody heard it. I was way up front, so I didn’t see anyone else turn off their phone 
Another worst timing in the world situation … why are you breaking beer bottles during a freaking ACAPELLA song?? For cryin’ out loud …
I’ll be interested to see how the concert sounds on cd … still waiting!
Look I don’t even carry a cell phone, I dislike being called on it and I use it primarily as a car phone. (With Hands free Headset and very rarely).
I just think you are being a little over the top that even vibrate is too much.
Whenever I am at a Broadway play I see people get up and I have no idea where they are going.
I don’t really care and more importantly I don’t mind if they do it quietly with minimal disturbance. I assume most need the “potty” and a few have got to take a call. Why is this a major hassle to you?
Jim
Which still doesn’t change the fact that signal-blocking or -dampening mechanics instituted by the theater or concert hall could be dangerous. No cell phone during a performance should ever be audible or noticeable to anyone to whom it doesn’t belong, but there are people who have to be reachable at all times for safety’s sake.
If you have tubes in your ears, it’s incumbent upon you not to stand in the YMCA pool up to your neck and ask other people to stop splashing.
If you are allergic to cigarette smoke, it is incumbent upon you not to sit in the tobacco shop and demand they remove all of their allergenic items for your comfort and convenience.
If you are expecting a message so important that you can’t turn your phone off, it’s incumbent upon you not to go anywhere that turning off your phone is an entry requirement. Trust me on this one: I was an organ transplant receipient with a 24/7 pager. If I couldn’t be at the doctor’s office within 2 hours of a page, the donated organs for which I had waited months might die waiting for me.
It was my responsibility and nobody else’s that I respected the urgency of that responsibility. I can’t see why anybody would argue that the other paying patrons of a theater must all kowtow to Mr. Important With the (Self-)Important Message.
it’s rather ridiculous however, that there was a standing ovation…
think about it…
people do idiotic things everyday of their life, and then suddenly as a group they indulge in someone elses mistake…yes, she should have had her phone off, yes, she should have learned by the first ring…
but quite frankly, i dont think you are very intelligent/independent if you took part in some grand cheer to an asshole actor (who shouldnt have taken responsibility of informing her of her blunder) and some moronic woman.
just my spare change…
So doctors, some military officials, and people with ill relatives never get to go to the theater or concerts?
If we subscribe to The King of Soup rules of theater going ; Yes.
Jim
Great! Neither do I. Let’s be buddies.
Well, mostly as it still causes the much larger interruption of someone getting up in front of everyone and bumping their way down the row to the aisle, but yes, I’m clearly at the extreme end of the argument. That doesn’t bug me, and I don’t expect that everyone will join me out here.
I wouldn’t characterize it as a major hassle. But for people to leave their seats and the auditorium, and later to resume them, during the performance, is distracting and rude (I like theaters that prevent re-entry during the performance, and some do) and sometimes can rise to that level. I am sure that sometimes there’s a very good excuse for it that deserves everyone’s sympathy. But it is still distracting and rude, and should be discouraged. I am unsympathetic to the point of view that rude behavior somehow isn’t wrong if there’s a reason for it, especially if the reason is merely pleading someone’s personal convenience (urgent bathroom breaks excepted, as noted above). That they are being rude as quietly as possible doesn’t impress me much either. What can I say? I was taught to sit still and be quiet during a performance. It was assumed that I would do so because the performance and the rest of the audience was more important than my convenience, not only until I could construct a plausible excuse that it wasn’t, somehow.
But no hard feelings. Opinions are like neckties: we can admire each others’ without having to wear them home with us.
I think leaving your cell phone on is very inconsiderate, but that is the wrong way to handle it. Heck, I’m just reading about it and it’s not going over well with me at all. For one thing, it sneers at pretty much everyone with a cell phone, not just the irresponsible.
You deal with it because you have no choice and don’t want to make the plane crash. And if you really needed the phone, there’s one right in front of you anyhow. I thought I heard some time ago that airlines are actually considering changing their rules about phone use, but I don’t know the status of that.
You turn your phone off for the safety of other people.
It pains me to say this, but I guess I have to: the movies and the theatre are less important than hospital machinery and the communications systems on an airplane. Thus, when someone’s ringing phone interrupts your movie or show, it’s irritating and assholish, but nobody’s life is damaged. For that reason, I’m not convinced that the more extreme measures are justified.
Happy to agree to disagree with no ill-will. Besides I only go to 2 plays a year anyway.
Jim
Ringing is one thing. But the other thing that gripes me is people who put their cell phones on vibrate, but have enough flashing lights on their cell that a helicopter could land using it for a guide. And of course, they have to take it out and see who’s calling. Repeatedly.
I have been known to yell at them. I’m usually just one voice in the chorus.
Missed this exchange. Let’s take the easy one first. All these people are allowed to go to the theater. None of these people is entitled to spoil the performance for anyone else. See the difference?
-
Doctors/Military. I know a few. I don’t know any who are on call 24/7 for their entire lives. If any job requires that a person be instantly available at all times, with no scheduled down time at all, the job requires that the person modify his/her behavior accordingly. You wanna argue for that same hypothetical person’s right to have a few beers at a party and then go to work? Basically, if you’re important and irreplaceable enough to claim the right to be rude in a theater, you’re too important and irreplaceable to be allowed ever to go home, much less out on the town. Fortunately, by and large, such jobs and people do not exist. The occasional professional or specialist called out of a theater for a legitimate reason, oh well. I’ll excuse them, but they’re leaving anyway – it’s an emergency, remember?
-
Ill Relatives. Sympathy for the ill relatives, not for you. Sure you love them, but what exactly entitles you to leave their sides for your entertainment and then demand the right to spoil my evening on the grounds of your devotion to them? Pick some other diversion, or stay home (if it’s that critical a situation), or resign yourself to having to call before Act One, during the intermission, and after the curtain (and exactly what harm would accrue from an hour’s delay? You aren’t their doctor). You get to decide which is more important – instant information about your relatives or a particular amusement at a particular time – and I won’t criticize your choice. But, having demonstrated that you think the theater is more important, don’t turn around and claim the reverse just so you can assert the privilege of rudeness to others.
I’m not out to punish anybody. I recognize that sometimes ettiquette can and should take a back seat to exigent circumstances. I think that those circumstances are often far too broadly defined by those whose sense of entitlement exceeds their sense of social responsibility.
We’ve discussed the cell phone jammer thing a few times. The thing to remember is that many cell phones operate on frequencies adjacent to those used by many public safety agencies (EMS, Police, fire) and any jamming of phones would most likely jam these radios as well.
St. Urho
Paramedic
Obviously you have never ever heard of someone using a specific text message like oh, 911-mom or 911-dad to indicate a problem…
<my brother hates talking on the phone, but will text in emergencies>
As a matter of fact, there are very few people who actually have my cell number - I use it for emergency or important calls only.
And if someone is the type who puts it on vibrate, you automatically assume that they will whip it out and answer it? Asshole. :rolleyes:
What part of I put my phone on vibrate.
Which you quoted did you not understand?
A cell phone is a tool, and many people are actually capable of using it correctly as such.
I truely hope that you never have to deal with a chronically ill or very elderly parent/child/loved one. To tell someone that is in a high stress time of their life that they cannot seek a few very short hours of down time is intense cruelty. If you ask any family advocate in a hospice or eldercare situaton they will confirm that the healthy members need to take care of their physical and mental health. Part of caring for your mental health is getting away from the situation for a few hours and doing ANYTHING except worrying about the situation at hand.
Sod off.