AITBF for asking a woman to put her phone away?
Took my four-year-old to the cinema to see the Paw Patrol movie. Totally get that many films for the really wee ones are going to bore some adults, but in this screening the woman one row in front of us takes her phone out no fewer than five times in the opening half-an-hour of the film. Once or twice, maybe forgivable, but this lassie’s browsing online clothing stores; checking Facebook, then Instagram, then Facebook again; deleting apps; texting; etc..
On the fifth occasion, I’m done. The screen light is intense - who the fuck has high brightness anyway, never mind the dark cinema during a screening!?!? - and even when she isn’t using the phone, she’s placing it screen-up on her chair tray meaning everything is reflected and glares out for the rows behind…
I crouch forward and ask her ‘could you, please, put your phone away. This is easily the fifth time you’ve done it and we’re barely thirty minutes in. Please, just enjoy the time with your kid’. I get that life is happening outside the screen, but nip down the corridor if you need to check something; don’t ignore the most basic of cinema etiquette just ‘cause you’re bored. She glares daggers at me, sighs aggressively, and shakes her head like it’s a fucking hassle that she’s being tasked with.
Her kid was comfortably twice the age of mine, so I get that perhaps neither of them wanted to be there in the end, but, to me, her behaviour was a joke. Thoughts, team? AITBF for how I handled it / handling it myself, rather than dragging my son out from something he was enjoying to go find a staff member to deal with it instead?
Signed: 33y/o, Dad of four
EDIT: Ushers aren’t really a thing in Scotland. Folks find their own seats after tickets are checked, and staff infrequently glance in on audiences (mostly to do their headcount early on). It’s been a long time since any cinema chains here hired enough staff to have one person assigned per room.
EDIT II: New release, small screening room, Saturday afternoon, very busy, so moving (unless to the very front wasn’t an option).