It Just Had to Be Done

Friday night, we went to a PG movie titled, "Henry Poole Was Here." We were happily settled into our seats, snarfing candy and soda. About 10 minutes into the movie, 5 teenage girls came in and sat to the upper right of us - across the aisle. They rarely looked at the screen, were turned around talking to the girls behind them, had their cell phones open so the lcd screens were shining brightly, were not talking quietly, were calling people (probably each other), did not have their cell phones on vibrate, went up and down the aisle, went to the bathroom en masse (yet were not gone long enough to have actually done anything).......At some point, I poked Paul and said, "you've got to say something." He was sitting in the aisle seat after all. Another couple in the theater "shushed" them two different times which did no good. I really, really tried to ignore them but couldn't. I poked Paul again and told him to "do" something.
Next, one girl gets up and walks to the front of the theater and does a cartwheel. That was it! I was on my feet.
As I got up, I noticed another man in the back getting up and going out too. I was so glad - I was going to go back up his complaint. [In the meantime, the girls were cleaning up their act when they saw two adults get up right after the cartwheel incident.]
The man got to the popcorn counter ahead of me (that is the only place an employee was located - this is a smallish theater that was pretty dead for a Friday night), and I was just dying to hear what he was going to say.......
He said, "Could I have some more popcorn, please?"
Wha??!!???
I stood there, waiting for him to continue while I noticed that my heart was racing.
But he just stood there, asking for "some more butter too, please."
Wha??!!!???
My heart was hammering because I was going to have to be the one with the balls!
So I said to him, "are you in the Henry Poole movie?" and "are those girls up front bothering you?"
I made to sure to ask him if he were in the same theater (even though I knew he was) in order to establish that I was not with him.
I looked at the young girl behind the counter and calmly told her what was going on. She about tripped over herself as she was going to find a manager.
When I went back into the theater, the girls were looking back at me and the (neutered) man. They saw that he had popcorn and that I had nothing. They probably suspected that I tattled on them.
In about 5 minutes, someone came in and sternly told them to straighten up or they could leave. They said, "yes, ma'am." and were pretty good the rest of the movie.
In the truck on the way home, I recounted the incident at the popcorn counter to Paul. I admitted my disgust at having to be the one to tattle (no one wants to be a narc). But I also told him and Abbie that I was proud of myself for doing it. Abbie told me she was glad I did it, and that made me feel better. Paul tried to wiggle out of it by saying, "we were that age once...we probably did that a few times..." And he called me a narc! I started to feel a little guilty. But I think I did the right thing. It's one thing to talk and be on your phone during a movie and get in and out of your seat and to disregard shushing - that is disrespectful. But it is absurd to be cartwheeling in front of the movie screen like you own the place.
I told Paul about this post and how "man"kind had let me down. He asked, "You were upset that I didn't do anything?" And I said yes.
He smiled and smugly said, "I understand kids and their need to fool around."
:)