Public Mannerlessness Reaches A New Low
Last night, I found myself having to argue with the girl behind me at the movies about why she couldn't keep her big shoe on the velvet armrest of my seat. I was with Gregg, who will always bail me out of jail if I get in trouble, but whose rule is no verbal confrontations when I'm seated or standing right next to him, especially if the offender in question is employed by the TSA.
Recognizing this, I simply snarled, "Excuse me." She slowly removed her foot.
You'd think being caught in the act of mannerlessness (ie, do you put your feet on the velvet armrest of grandma's couch? [answer: if you're her, probably]) would have nipped her rudeness into submission. Nope. Moments later, her dirty sneaker sole was right back up there, playing footsie with my lavender shawl. I longed to spontaneously grow my arm another 14 inches and reach back and slap her. Instead, I turned and glared at her in a way that translated to "Remove your shoe, cur! Before I remove your foot."
She actually said, "It isn't bothering you." I couldn't believe believe that I had to do a dissertation on why it's improper to have your foot on the velvet armrest of my chair, but such, it seems, is life these days. Well, my little boorette was a lucky girl, because, since Gregg was there, I just said, "Yes, it actually is." I then used my elbow to block off her foot rest for the remainder of the attempted movie
PS Skip Syriana: no story, no main characters, no characters you care about, no point, no movie.
Posted by aalkon at November 26, 2005 9:28 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.advicegoddess.com/mt4/mt-tb.cgi/815
Comments
Bummer the movie sucked. Are you a RENT fan? Planning to see the movie?
Posted by: MissPinkKate at November 26, 2005 11:15 AM
I am planning to see it. On a strange coincidence/trivia note, a woman I know told me Jonathan Larsen was very likely the guy who inspired us to start The Advice Ladies (the precursor to my current career), where two friends and I gave free advice on a Soho street corner on Saturdays for a number of years. According to this woman, a friend of Larsen's, he was probably the sad waiter who talked to us at The Moondance Diner one night, telling us after we gave him advice about a guy who'd just dumped him, "You guys are great, you should do this for a living."
Posted by: Amy Alkon at November 26, 2005 11:38 AM
Huh, that's one crazy coincedence!
Except that I thought Larsen was straight?
Posted by: MissPinkKate at November 26, 2005 12:14 PM
It is a tremendous pet peeve of mine when people put feet on seats in movies, or worse, kick the seats. Mann's Chinese used to admonish people not to do it in their pre-show video, but later deleted it for some reason.
I totally disagree on Syriana, though. Except maybe that there's no main character, which is true enough, but I don't think should be a disqualifying factor for an ensemble film.
Posted by: LYT at November 26, 2005 12:17 PM
Looked for your review, of course, on SFWeekly, but it wasn't there yet!
Posted by: Amy Alkon at November 26, 2005 1:02 PM
This sort of thing does make it difficult for me to champion individual rights. It also illustrates why those in power prefer to choose what things are doled out to the masses.
Posted by: Radwaste at November 26, 2005 1:46 PM
That girl could use a nice set of passive restraints, and probably, a muzzle. A pity some people don't see the obligations behind freedom.
Posted by: Amy Alkon at November 26, 2005 2:19 PM
You should have gone to the concession stand, bought and chewed as much gum as possible, and quietly stuck it to the bottom of her shoe.
Posted by: Eric, stealth ninja of quiet revenge. at November 26, 2005 6:23 PM
That's funny. "It isn't bothering you." Uh-huh. That's why you're glaring at her, cause it isn't bothering you. I must confess, I am one of those that puts their shoes on movie chairs but at least I don't do it when the chairs are OCCUPIED. But I applaud your restraint, solely because it's never good to piss off obviously rude and childish people when you have to have them behind you for two hours.
Posted by: christina at November 27, 2005 6:19 PM
Thanks for reminding me why I don't go to movie theaters, anymore.
Posted by: SWLiP at December 4, 2005 6:15 AM
Leave a comment