After our outing to The Producers last night, I've been thinking about how rude people are these days and how they accomplish their rudeness.
All sorts of things happened that were rude while we were in the theater. It's funny how I can go to the show unshaved and in jeans when I'm surrounded by fur coats and ties, but I've still got better manners than many of the idiots in the audience.
I don't think people realize what a nuisance their cellphones are to other people. And that's the point, really - other people. It would be easy to concede that cell phones are pervasive and there is no escape. We may have to integrate them into our mental working model of the universe. But there are concerns I have about them that aren't limited to the courtesy of turning off the ringer during a show.
If you forget to turn off your ringer (which is the only reason why I should hear it in a theater, ever), then answer your phone as quickly as possible with the words, "Please hold." Exit the theater and apologize to your caller for making them wait. Be sure when you hang up to turn off the ringer before you sit back down.
I don't mind you having a phone in the theater. I want to have mine in case I'm out and something happens at home that needs my attention. But you have to be courteous. You simply can't accept calls (let alone make calls) in the theater without being rude.
Checking the internet wirelessly on your phone during the show is also out of the question. While it might be completely silent, it's really bright. Not only will you bother the people behind you with your fussing, you're paying a great disrespect to the actors on stage, or even the ones in the film. You're probably also the person that goofs around during the movie - talking, fetching something from your purse, etc. - and then expect your friends to tell you everything you missed. Key words for you - silence in the theater.
Most heinous of all theater rude acts, in my opinion, is leaving before the final bows are over. I have left movies before the credits were over, but there is a huge difference between that and leaving before the show is over. In our show last night, there was an additional song after the bow. All the idiots who left beforehand missed that. But they probably didn't care since they hated the show so much as to leave early.
There were a few folks who left the show before it even ended. And when I say "a few" I mean a couple of rows. They couldn't wait to be gone, like they had arrived at some magical deadline. It must be a common thing because it wasn't just one group of people, it was several that all bailed at once. I can't help but wonder what would cause people to act so rudely.
Granted, we were sitting in the cheap seats. I suppose that's what you should come to expect when sitting with the rabble in fur coats.
While I'm on the subject of being rude, why don't I go over a couple of other rude incidents that have been stewing in my mind.
The setting: Wawa. Our local convenience store. I get in line to pay for lunch behind a lady who is buying cigarettes. [This whole cigarette thing is something I don't get. Do many cigarette smokers get their rudeness from the nicotine? How can you afford to pay $5/pack once or more a day for your cancer-causing habit? I don't get it.]
She is friendly with the clerk. It is obvious she has been here before. She orders her cigarettes- one pack each of two different brands. The cashier looks around the rack for her choices, and takes quite some time looking for her strange brand. She watches him search, looking kind of vacant.
Eventually, he finds it. Now, look... There are stickers on the racks that show where the cigarettes go. They go into the same slots every time. Maybe the clerk didn't know where her cigarettes were, but she probably did. But she stood there, lifeless, unwilling to point them out. Moreover, she did not move.
So the clerk puts the boxes on the counter and rings her up. Only then does she go for the purse. She fishes around in there for a while and extracts a wallet-thing. She opens that up and fishes around in it for cash and change, and she drops the wadded money on the counter.
At this point I'm still next in line, and there are maybe five or six people behind me. The cashier cashes her out after unwadding her bills. It's easy for me to assume that I'll soon be on my way. But no.
Out of nowhere, her friend whips from the other direction and surprisingly dumps her garbage on the counter. What's with the cutting in line at the convenience store? Surely you saw the line forming behind your vapid friend? You should have gotten in line with her. Ugh. Whatever. I'll assume that they meant to check out together.
And then I wait while the woman counts her money, realizes that she did have enough for that milk, then runs over to the dairy case to get it. Then after recounting her change she realizes that she has enough money for the newspaper, too, and she runs over to get that. With all of the stuff on the counter, she change fully counted, and a total on the cashier's screen, she announces, "And two packs of Marlboro Lights." Gah, whatever.
And on a final note on the rudeness topic for now, people walking with cellphones bother me too. You should really try to be more aware of what's going on around you when you're walking with a phone.
I was on my way out of this same Wawa (finally rung up and paid) with a guy following me out the door. He was holding a phone to his ear and talking to someone on the other end. I held the inside door open for him, as people walking through doors do. I should have let the outside door smack hm in the face/phone, because he didn't bother to acknowledge that I did anything for him. But I held open the outside door, and he didn't even touch it. He just kept walking and talking like I wasn't even there.
It is weird because he didn't seem the type. He looked like a construction guy. He wasn't speaking as though he was concentrating so intently on his work that he was absorbed. I try to make excuses for them so you don't think I'm just being overly critical. But this guy was behaving differently, as if he need not conform to social niceties, just because he had a phone to his ear. Come on!
I'm growing weary of this bizarre behavior. It's just a matter of time until I start freaking out at people who treat me (or people nearby me) improperly because they're using a cell phone. Because if the rest of us just take it, it'll only get worse. I'll have to think of some counter-phone tactics that I can use on people that can't pull their phone from their head long enough to say, "Thanks."
