Cleveland‘s local theater has an event going on where they show old movies on the big screen. It’s a great idea and with a Groupon, my friend and I got 6 tickets for $7.50! The first movie we decided to see was The Muppet Movie. For whatever reason, it never occurred to me that it was a children’s movie. There were 4 of us going total, all childfree and part of the No Kidding group.
When I walked into the theater, I was overwhelmed with the amount of people there in general. I had no idea it would be so crowded, and I don’t do well in large crowds. For anyone who had a Groupon, there was a special line. Once I got in it, I realized that it was obviously more confusing than it be and waited in line for about 10 minutes before it was my turn, with only 2 people in front of me to begin with. When I finally got up to the front of the line, I could tell that the woman behind the counter was unclear about what she was doing. While I was there trying to explain to her what I wanted, there were two children and a mother next to me. The children were pushing me and leaning on me so much that I was falling over. Now keep in mind I was already irritated that I had to wait in line, that I was surrounded by so many people, and that the woman working there was clueless. With all of that, I actually felt like I held it together really well. So when the kids were pushing and leaning on me, I looked at the mother and said, “Excuse me!” She looked at me with a look or scorn. She then looked at her children and said, “Listen honey, this woman here is really cranky so we need to get out of her way.” OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’re joking, right?! Your children are pushing me to the point that I can no longer stand up straight, and all I say to that is “excuse me” and you tell your kids that I’m cranky?!?! I could have said a lot worse, but I was trying to remain as calm as possible. I was so taken aback by what she said, and so angry that all I could do was stare at her with my mouth wide open. I knew if I said something, it would be horrible, so I said nothing. A woman behind me said, “Well, your kids were pushing her!” That helped, but I was so angry that I didn’t even thank that woman. SERIOUSLY!! Your children are allowed to lean on me and push me to the point of me almost falling over, but I’m not allowed to comment on it?!?!
AAHHHHH!!! I don’t get it. I hate when people come over and my dog jumps on them. She is super smart and I can teach her anything, but she still has a problem with jumping. But every time she does it, even to me, I tell her “off” and try to train her not to do that; not because I don’t like it, but because I can understand other people not liking it and I don’t want to be rude when I have company over. If my company is uncomfortable with my dog, I will put her outside or in another room. I don’t let her jump on furniture at anyone else’s house, even if they say it’s okay. I don’t let her beg company for food or bed to be petted. But why is it that people think their children can do whatever they want to do, all the time, without anyone ever saying anything about it?
The movie itself was great! Of course I’ve seen it several times before, though not for many years. But it was really hard to concentrate on the movie. We were able to find seats with few people around. However, an hour, yes an HOUR after the movie was scheduled to start, this group of people came in and sat right behind us. Directly behind me was a woman holding a child. The child grabbed my hair several times before I sat up straighter. Then the child started kicking the back of my seat. Since the child was sitting on the woman’s lap, and there were other adults sitting next to the child, I’m sure someone saw the child doing this but do you think any of the adults redirected the child? No, of course not. The child just continued to grab at my hair and kick my seat. Then one of the kids behind us starting crying and screaming. Not once did I hear an adult try to soothe the child. We finally got up and moved to a less child-friendly section but continually heard babies screaming. Why didn’t the parents take the screaming children out of the theater? I can’t understand how someone who doesn’t want children can possibly know more about parenting than people who actually have children.
Sorry for the rant, but I’m still irritated and if I can’t be irritated on my blog, where else can I be irritated? 
I enjoyed this one. #1: I love the name of tha group: No Kidding. What.a.great.idea! And the large crowds, I totally feel your pain and I am sure you know that if you read my post “the stairs from hell”
I can’t take credit for the No Kidding name. It’s actually an international organization. But it’s definitely a clever name.