An afternoon at the movies

It’s humiliating to admit this to you, but I went to go see “Michael Jackson’s: This is It” Sunday afternoon and got kicked out of the theatre.

Why?

Let me just take you through the scenario. My phone was on vibrate and I received a call so I took the phone out of my right coat pocket and held it down close to my hip and cleared out the call (second nature to do this). A minute or so later my phone started to vibrate again indicating I received a voicemail. Like the first time I pulled out the phone and held it down by my hip and cleared the voicemail so it would stop vibrating.

Shortly after the second instance a guy walked up the steps to where I was sitting and said, “Sir, please step outside for a moment.” I was a bit confused, but I obliged. As we got towards the exit door he informed me of the theatres no cell phone in theatre’s policy and told me that I would have to leave.

I was shocked to say the least!

I told the manager that I had no clue of the policy and was in no way trying to be a nuisance. He said it didn’t matter and that I had to leave. As I continued to question the policy he informed me that they have signs posted and that they are clearly visible. As it turns out they do have signs posted in three places:

• Front door
• Banner near the “ticket taker” stand
• Plaque on the right side of the theatre entrance

I don’t know about you, but I really can’t think of the last time I read a sign in a theater. They put stuff everywhere and it’s typically sensory overload. Take note of the fact I didn’t highlight a mention of the policy on the movie screen prior to the movie. Given how extreme the theatre enforces this policy it should be illustrated with a big flashing stop sign with the words, “Use your cell phone during this movie and you will be kicked out – no exceptions!” on the big screen prior to the movie starting.

Simply putting up signs in hopes that customers will notice them is not satisfactory in my opinion.

If the manager informed me of the policy and I repeated “the offense” later in the movie I would be able to better understand being kicked out. That wasn’t the case though.

Before leaving I questioned the manager and he said that if they even see a light from a phone that you will be asked to leave. His instructions were to get up and walk outside to check your phone – no matter what it is for. Imagine how annoying it would be if the theatre was packed and people constantly got up to go outside to check their phones. Wonder what they do to people that talk during movies or make noise with candy wrappers… yikes!

I fully believe in policies and their enforcement, but how you make customers aware of those polices is extremely important.

Notes:

There were less than 25 people in attendance and there were only five people sitting higher than I was.

For anyone living in Greensboro, NC the theatre in question is The Grand 18 by Four Seasons Town Center. Avoid it unless you would like to subject yourself to this type of customer service.

There was less than 20 minutes left in the movie.

I asked if I could exit and re-enter so that I could watch the end of the movie. The answer was no.