Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Wife and I went to see Grindhouse at the Director's Hall Theatre at the Bridge here in Los Angeles yesterday. We especially like that theatre as well as the Arclight in Hollywood because of the assigned seats...I don't like having to worry about seating and assigned seats when you buy the tickets cures this problem instantly. Now the Bridge has a few more weirdos in it than you get at the Arclight...also the Arclight is policed heavily with ushers who will toss you for not following the rules or making life uncomfortable for anyone around you.
We saw Grindhouse(great film), but on to what happened. So we go have a couple of drinks before the movie starts and we come back in to sit as the previews are rolling. We have seats 2 and 3 in the row, there is a guy in seat 1 when we get there. I sit down and about 5 minutes into the Rodriguez portion of the film the guy next to me opens a plastic bag form the grocery store with his personal rations that he has brought into the movie house. now MOP is all for folks bringing food into the theatres, I usually pop my own microwave bag before going as I like the taste of it better than the movie popcorn, also like to bring some fruit along too. This imbecile next to me opens a big can of TUNA IN OIL! It smelled like cat food. Mrs MOP almost
in her mouth, MOP is ready to upchuck the 3 shots of Bushmills he/I downed in the bar outside.
I turned to this fellow and said something like this..."You got a lot of nerve bringing something that smelly into the middle of a movie theatre. I don't appreciate it, wife doesn't either, in fact everyone is looking at you wanting to :X right now." Guy says nothing and you can tell he is not going to address me, total pacifist...pacifism only enrages me to be honest. A lot of people think if they ignore someone they will go away...not a chance in hell I was going to stop.
A few minutes go by, he attempted to put it away but the stench was out and I told him. "I am giving you a chance to move up to the front of the theatre where there are seats. I am not (dirty f word) with you. Look at me you (dirty word), I am not ( dirtfy word) with you."
He then attempts to drink from his water bottle he brought in...I took my hand/fist and knocked it out of his hand without hitting him and it launched somewhere into the aisle. Mrs MOP who was not stopping me to this point and was actually sort of cheerleading me on to my surprise, tells me to go get an usher. As I go to get an usher, this weasel takes off for the top row but left behind his tuna/catfish mess behind. No one from the house comes into help, 10 more minutes go by, the stench is repulsive. Mrs MOP went outside and brings back a security guard, hands her the tuna can, security guard walks up to the top of the theatre and talks to the patron...does not escort him out of the theatre. Idiot leaves 20 minutes into the 2nd part of the double feature so he wasn't going to stick around for the credits.
OK, now some of you would have done something similar, some will undoubtedly think I was infringing upon his rights simply because of me being MOP, that's fine. Here is my real questions about this entire incident.
1. This is not the first time I have encountered people similar to this guy either at the movies or other public places. Where do these people learn to behave? Where do they think it is OK to do what this fellow did? It is almost like it has become acceptable behavior. I was in a restaurant where 4 drunks came in and made life miserable for everyone around them and the managers of the establishment seemed to refuse to confront them. Why?
2. What should be done about these people? Its not like half the people do this, its just in a group of 100 people there are going to be 5-10 that could at any moment cause a scene that can ruin the experience for everyone around them. Its entertaining to some degree but overall I think most of us could do without them.
PS: House gave us 2 tickets to come back initially...honestly it didn't totally ruin the film, made for an interesting story with friends. I did however get more freebies on top of the 1st two. I told the house manager that they were neglegent for not acting sooner and that the 1st 2 freebies he gave me only made up for the 2 that I paid for, it didn't really feel like he was going above and beyond since I expected he would give me 2 return tickets to use anyways. He had a big wheel of free tickets. He ripped off 4 more for me and asked if that was fair. I said sure.
We saw Grindhouse(great film), but on to what happened. So we go have a couple of drinks before the movie starts and we come back in to sit as the previews are rolling. We have seats 2 and 3 in the row, there is a guy in seat 1 when we get there. I sit down and about 5 minutes into the Rodriguez portion of the film the guy next to me opens a plastic bag form the grocery store with his personal rations that he has brought into the movie house. now MOP is all for folks bringing food into the theatres, I usually pop my own microwave bag before going as I like the taste of it better than the movie popcorn, also like to bring some fruit along too. This imbecile next to me opens a big can of TUNA IN OIL! It smelled like cat food. Mrs MOP almost
in her mouth, MOP is ready to upchuck the 3 shots of Bushmills he/I downed in the bar outside.I turned to this fellow and said something like this..."You got a lot of nerve bringing something that smelly into the middle of a movie theatre. I don't appreciate it, wife doesn't either, in fact everyone is looking at you wanting to :X right now." Guy says nothing and you can tell he is not going to address me, total pacifist...pacifism only enrages me to be honest. A lot of people think if they ignore someone they will go away...not a chance in hell I was going to stop.
A few minutes go by, he attempted to put it away but the stench was out and I told him. "I am giving you a chance to move up to the front of the theatre where there are seats. I am not (dirty f word) with you. Look at me you (dirty word), I am not ( dirtfy word) with you."
He then attempts to drink from his water bottle he brought in...I took my hand/fist and knocked it out of his hand without hitting him and it launched somewhere into the aisle. Mrs MOP who was not stopping me to this point and was actually sort of cheerleading me on to my surprise, tells me to go get an usher. As I go to get an usher, this weasel takes off for the top row but left behind his tuna/catfish mess behind. No one from the house comes into help, 10 more minutes go by, the stench is repulsive. Mrs MOP went outside and brings back a security guard, hands her the tuna can, security guard walks up to the top of the theatre and talks to the patron...does not escort him out of the theatre. Idiot leaves 20 minutes into the 2nd part of the double feature so he wasn't going to stick around for the credits.
OK, now some of you would have done something similar, some will undoubtedly think I was infringing upon his rights simply because of me being MOP, that's fine. Here is my real questions about this entire incident.
1. This is not the first time I have encountered people similar to this guy either at the movies or other public places. Where do these people learn to behave? Where do they think it is OK to do what this fellow did? It is almost like it has become acceptable behavior. I was in a restaurant where 4 drunks came in and made life miserable for everyone around them and the managers of the establishment seemed to refuse to confront them. Why?
2. What should be done about these people? Its not like half the people do this, its just in a group of 100 people there are going to be 5-10 that could at any moment cause a scene that can ruin the experience for everyone around them. Its entertaining to some degree but overall I think most of us could do without them.
PS: House gave us 2 tickets to come back initially...honestly it didn't totally ruin the film, made for an interesting story with friends. I did however get more freebies on top of the 1st two. I told the house manager that they were neglegent for not acting sooner and that the 1st 2 freebies he gave me only made up for the 2 that I paid for, it didn't really feel like he was going above and beyond since I expected he would give me 2 return tickets to use anyways. He had a big wheel of free tickets. He ripped off 4 more for me and asked if that was fair. I said sure.
Last edited by a moderator:
Yay Furley
