Pet Peeve #1

So like many people, I've a number of things that bug me.  They run from 1 barely registers as annoying to 10 I'MGOINGBALLISTICAREYOUSERIOUS?!?

This one ranks about a 5 but ca easily escalate to 10 depending on outside influences.

Drum roll please.....

People who show up late for movies.

Yes, I know, first world problems but I live in a first world country and attend a lot of movies so this is a trigger.

Now, I was brought up that if you're 5 minutes early you're already late.  If an event starts at 6:45 pm that means you are sitting in your seat and ready to be entertained when the curtain rises, NOT wander into the venue and stare myopically at everyone else who's arrived on time and wonder where all these people came from.

Example of a 5: We are sitting opening weekend (okay opening day) in the theater waiting for Skyfall the new James Bond movie to start.

Now we arrived when the theatre opened 45 minutes earlier to ensure that we:

• Had seats together;
• Had seats in the middle of a row 3/4 of the way up (optimal seating position see Sheldon Cooper for confirmation);
• Have had our bio-breaks and are ready to sit for the next 2.5 hours;
• Have purchased all snacks, drinks, picked up a magazine and are ready to be entertained
  
  
  Now, part of the movie going experience are the trailers. I have a good friend who leaves the theater when they start as she feels that they ruin the whole movie by giving away too much.  She is allowed to do so because a: she is eccentric and that's why I love her, and b: her ass was in the seat well before said trailers started.
  If you are held up in line getting your snacks etc., unless you are alone you should have sent someone from your party ahead into the theatre to Harvey Hogger and  saved y'all some seats!
  
  
  You walking in, in the dark trying to find four seats together opening night anywhere but the front row is ridiculous.
  
  
  I love to watch these bewildered individuals who obviously couldn't organize themselves out of a burning paper bag try to figure this out.
  
  
  Well how does this become a 10, you ask.  Allow me to retort.
  
  
  So, this one time, at a major movie opening weekend, the usher comes in and asks the rest of us to make room for people as there may be a seat here and there that are open.
  
  
  ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?! I don't think so Tim.  I'm not moving over a single seat to allow for some dipshit and his loser family who've decided at the 11th hour to come to a movie, late no less, so they can sit anywhere but the front row.  Guess what idiot, you loose. Sit down front in neck-crick land or ask for tickets to the next show.  The other 300 of us got ourselves and kids organized and made it here to pick decent seats so we weren't being pain in the asses.
  
  
  It's true, there have been a few times where we've arrived later than expected and had to sit waaaay closer than we wanted to (like fourth row from the screen, right side for Thor: The Dark World) but we owned that and sat in crappy seats and ended up seeing it again in better seats a few days later.  Our bad.  Did we make anyone move over or conquer and divide our team? No. We sucked it up and dealt with it.
   
  So how does one avoid the dipshit reshuffle? Well, location is one way. We live in small (small) town so this is frequent and cannot be avoided unless we travel 30+ minutes.
   
  Timing. Yes this whole post is a bitch about timing but maybe don't see the prime time showing on opening weekend.  Actually my fave time to see a new flick is the 12:30 on Sunday morning.  It's usually quiet and they'll play the 2D version then. Aside: I hate 3D it's a waste of time and very few movies need to be seen in 3D.  It's a money grab and nothing more.
  
  
  One of my new favourite things is saving up our Scene points and then going to the theaters where you can book your seat online like a real theater. It's a numbered seat and everything. Then there's no snafu at the beginning taking away from my trailer enjoyment. 
  
  
  I'm also loving the adult only theaters with reclining seats, boozey bevys and table service.  If I'd ha a blanket I'd have slept through the movie accidentally.
  
  
  So there you have it, one of my Pet Peeves. 
  
  
  What are your thoughts on late movie goers (comers)?
  
  
  I'll be thinking of you as I'm off to the show tonight.
  
  
  Love Mel