Cinema Etiquette

While we are used to the (lack of) phone etiquette in cinemas, our visit to Mercato yesterday to see Star Wars was marred by something completely different.

BetterArf had entered the cinema somewhat earlier than me (I needed a toilet break). She found her seat occupied by a kid, asked him to move, and was told that he was waiting for his mother and didn't know where he was supposed to sit. After a while the mother turned up, berated BetterArf for harrassing her son ('he's only ten!'), and took their proper seats.

Sometime into the movie, after taking a few phone calls on her high-intensity phone, the mother started yelling at the guy sitting behind her son. I couldn't hear what it was about, but she left the cinema for a while and came back with some security guys. They spoke to the guy in the row behind us, he left the room for a few minutes and then came back.

As we left the auditorium, we saw him, and he showed us his free tickets for another movie and explained that the mad woman had accused him of touching her kid's hair. It seems the management are up to speed on this particular lady, and deem it easier to give out free tickets to her victims than to stop her patronising their establishment altogether.

Weird!