Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Theater Gives Texters the Boot

Hugh Pickens writes "Ever been annoyed during that nail-biting darkened hallway scene by someone turning on their phone to send a text? Well, don't mess with Texas or you may end up on the screen in a public service announcement. Alamo Drafthouse, a local chain of dine-and-screen movie theaters in Austin, Texas, has long waged a war against impolite moviegoers booting out customers who talk or text during performances. Phoebe Connelly writes that according to Tim League, the Drafthouse's founder, a woman was recently warned twice about texting during a screening, and then, in accordance with company policy, was escorted out without a refund. 'I don't think people realize that it is distracting,' says League. 'It seems like nothing, but if you spend as much time as I do at the movies, you realize the entire theater sees it and it pulls you out of the movie experience. It's every bit as intrusive as talking.' The irate customer called up the Alamo Drafthouse and left a profanity-laced (and perhaps slightly inebriated) message decrying the theater's policies, but the theater got the last laugh as they took the audio of the woman's voicemail, transcribed it, and turned it into an in-house preview [tl: Note, YouTube video contains some profanity] that warns theatergoers against cell phone use during movies. 'Part of what we're trying to do is have a comedic message about what to us is a very serious issue,' says League, declining to give any more details about the woman at the center of the recent PSA."

Comments

Re:I Will Throw You Out

[Doc Ruby]

No, the difference between them and me is that I'm doing what I'm doing to stop someone else from harming me. They're just selfishly indulging themself; they don't even think about the harm. I can assure you that when I'm confronting these selfish jerks, I'm thinking about the harm I am, and could be, causing them.

It does matter how polite I am - not just the words, but the tone - when I ask the first time. You might not be able to appreciate that actually being polite, which I said I was, does not equal only the words. I, a well adjusted adult, am perfectly capable of asking truly politely, even when expecting the worst, and being ready to defend myself from a surprise punch (which has never happened). But also while being ready and open to the typical response to a polite request about an obviously reasonable matter: compliance, and sometimes a quick "sorry". Which is what happens, oh, 80% of the time. Though I expect that jerks who respond to a polite request with either explicit rudeness, or just ignoring the request, get the "inevitable" response from me (or others like me) that warns I'll not be polite the third time, think it's the only possible outcome. BTW, I've seen others stand up as I do, and I thank them too.

If they're incapable of being polite even when treated politely, then I've only wasted both our time going through the original polite request. I do it anyway, because I'm feeling much more strongly connected to the rest of the audience who have been watching the movie with manners.

Another difference is that other people in the theater are protected from the same harm I'm protecting myself from. There's no one but real sociopaths thinking "yeah, don't let him do you like that" about the phone jerk; I often have people thanking me for standing up, sometimes joining me right away, but more often waiting until the confrontation ends with the phone jerk slinking away. Can you see the difference between what people appreciate about my standing up, vs what people might appreciate about the person with the phone?

And to show I'm being polite as I respond to your attempt to "put me in the category" of those people, despite my emotional response to it and your other belligerent mistakes in your post, I'll leave for last that somehow I'm "creating their behavior", which kicked off with them shining a light in a dark theater, is the kind of absurd we call "preposterous".