Summer is around the corner, and that means this year's biggest blockbusters are starting to hit the big screen. With all the big crowds cramming into the movie theaters, we talked to people around town about some of their biggest pet peeves. "People with their cell phones on in front of you," one young woman said. "You can see the light, oh my gosh!"
"Loud bag crunching," another complained. "Like, wow, it's frustrating."After forking out more than $20 for two tickets, and sometimes another $20 on concessions, someone ruining the movie can get on your nerves. Overall, the biggest pet peeve: not just answering a call in the middle of a movie, but texting.
"The phones ring so loud," one young girl said. "I'm like, can you turn down your light?" a teenager said with a giggle.
"Eh, cell phones don't really bug me. I just watch the movie," one young woman said. "Is that because you're one of the ones on your cell phone?" the reporter asked, to a round of laughter from the woman and her friends. "Well, probably," she said with a smile. "I can be guilty of that from time to time, yeah."
"You're walking up the stairs, they still text and stuff," said Maya Cinemas Guest Services staff member Misha Parks. "I tell them to get off their phones, and they're like 'Well it's an emergency.' 'Well you can go outside instead of texting here.' And they still do, and I walk out and walk back in and they're still on their phones. Customers complain about that all the time."
"Or you have the people that are on their phones but they're trying to act like they're talking to the person next to them," added Sami Ibarra, a concession worker at Maya Cinemas. "They're like 'Yeah, so, something' and I'm like 'Dude, you're so obvious. There's a screen right next to your face!'"How about audience members who add their own lines? "I actually just saw 'Scream 4,'" one young woman said. "And they kept saying 'Oh, she's going to die next!'"
"I really don't like it when people talk, like 'oh my God! don't go in the door!'" another woman added.
Another pet peeve is crying babies in the theater. "It bothers me a lot because you're sitting here, trying to watch a movie in peace, and you can't really go out and buy the movie, and so you have to come out here," a young woman said. "And they have their kids crying, and they don't have enough respect to walk out of the theaters."Maya Cinemas came up with a solution for that: crying rooms, where the movie can be loud, your baby can be loud, but nobody hears you at all.
Here's one that's still up for debate: two feet, or not two feet? You make sure to get to the theater early to get that perfect seat, but then someone comes and sits right in front of you. Well then who's more rude? That person for sitting there, or you for having your feet on the seats? Another pet peeve is people who intentionally try to make the biggest, dirtiest mess they can. "My dad spilled his drink on my feet," a young girl said. "I know, I've spilled my popcorn a few times, on accident," a young woman said. "But it just depends on if it's intentional or not. But even if they don't come and clean up the theater, it's kind of like not doing their job, I guess."
"What about the people who make a gigantic mess? And almost on purpose, spill their popcorn all over the place?" the reporter asked. "We absolutely love them," answered Terry McGee, a box office staff member at Maya Cinemas. "Because they allow us to clean up the theaters, which gives us more hours."
That may be a bit of a cheerful exaggeration, as their staff can clean a huge theater that's been thrashed in just 10 minutes. "We have no pet peeves, no," McGee said. "Every customer, no matter how ... difficult ... they may be from time to time."