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North Carolina theater prohibits cell phone use
posted by
CSWalczak
on
October 7, 2009 at 7:45 am
GREENSBORO, NC — If you use your cell phone in the auditoriums of the Four Seasons Grand Cinema, expect to be escorted out of the theater with no refund of your ticket price. No one even needs to complain, according to this article at MyFox8.com.
According to the policy, which was put in place earlier this month, customers must keep their cell phones on vibrate or silent and leave the theater to take a call or type a text message.
Briana Barner was kicked out of the theater recently for using the Internet on her phone to check the balance on her account.
“It was just embarrassing that I had to be escorted out of the movie theater,” she said. “I was on my phone for two seconds. I was on the Internet checking my balance on my account, and I was asked to leave the theater because I was disturbing the other customers.”
Comments (21)
I hope this catches on all over the Country, make your calls before entering the Theatre, not in the middle of the movie. Stop thinking about yourself and learn to respect others around you.
Oh, please, please, please make this happen in New York and on Long Island!!! And be sure to prohibit people from also SCROLLING their brightly-lit and distracting cell phones and what-not during a movie!
Do all of that and I just might start going to the movies more often than I have in recent years!
Unfortunately, ushers are long gone from most movie theaters, so no one is there to escort you out. It’s a free-for-all at most theaters.
Hurrah for that theatre management! Those damn cell phones and the idiots who use them in theaters are the main reason that with rare exception I don’t go to the movies anymore, and I say that as a life long movie fan who loves (or used to love) the big screen movie going experience. Thank God for DVD, Blu-ray, HD satellite TV and wide screen HDTV sets! That technology came along just when we needed it most! You can now have a home theater experience that beats the presentation in many of the multiplexes and enjoy it without an audience of self indulgent jerks. That is a good thing!
This young woman in the article who got kicked out couldn’t understand why she shouldn’t check her bank balance (and I bet it only took TWO SECONDS!) in the middle of the movie huh? More proof that we are becoming a nation of morons!
YIPPY! More power to you. Since a few of the theaters I go to are patronized by shall I say a more ‘urban’ crowd, the need for off-duty police officers would necessitate implementing a policy of kicking out cell phone users during a show. The kids that are employed are no match brawn-wise for many of the offenders.
Other than the much often discussed lousy projection/sound issues, nothing is worse than having to watch a movie and see that annoying backlight of a cell phone in use.
How I wish that more movie theatre managers would get tough on cell-phone users, and that it would catch on in the Boston area, and the Bay State, generally. The woman who decided to use her cellphone to check her bank balance in the middle of a movie was being rather stupid, as it’s totally inappropriate. For all you people who use cellphones in the middle of movies: Have the common decency and consideration to allow people who go to the movies to watch movies allow them to enjoy their time in the movie theatre.
From what I understand, Israel has a system in place that causes cellphones to jam up if a user tries to use his/her cellphone in a public place, such as a movie theatre, restaurant, etc. Maybe something like that should be implemented here, in the United States.
Active (electronic) cell phone jamming is illegal in the US. And even if it were legal, people would still open their phones to try to use them and cause them to light up, which is still a major distraction. Jamming would only really prevent incoming calls from ringing.
It absolutely astounds me how many people need to be surgically removed from their cell phones. We’ve all seen the morons who drive while using their cell phone, but the all-time classic for me was when I watched a man at the men’s room urinal hold his cell phone with one hand and take a piss with another!
That, my friends, may as well be the end of what remains of intelligent western civilization!
Hooray for the management of this theatre. Southern Theatres Corporation,which not only operates area cinemas in Greensboro but also in Winston-Salem as well is really regarding this policy,and it should be strictly ENFORCED!!!! Anyone using and calling their baby mama or baby daddy on a cell phone during a movie should be escorted out the cinema!!! And do get wrong with parents whose kids act the fool and are loud as hell during a movie gets me too….if you CANNOT CONTROL YOUR CHILD’S BEHAVIOR IN THE CINEMA…please by all means have them escorted out the door!!! NO
EXCUSES!!! No Cell Phones during a movie and NO TALKING during the show!
Also Ciné Enterprise (Montreal-Granby-Trois Riviers and Saguenay) has an zero tolerance policy http://www.cineentreprise.ca/salles/cellulaire.asp
A zero-tolerance policy regarding cell-phone use and other inappropriate action(s) and behaviour(s) is probably what’s needed in more movie theatres, then.
This story and following letters is nothing but GOOD NEWS!
The spawned kids of today are utterly obsessed beyond help with their G D phones.
Most cinema/theater managers don’t have the guts to turf offenders out…. well how about the offended patrons dude!
One solution to reduce the incoming calls during show time is to re-record your personal message “I’m at the show right now… call me back after 10pm.” This way you won’t disturb others as well as ruin your flick.
Interestingly, I still have the Reuters newspaper article about these signal blocking devices. READ ON DEAR FRIENDS…
They’re made in Israel by NETLINE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES. Yeah! I understand that there is a way of obtaining these (U.S. illegal) “babies” from Monterrey, Mexico -about two hours by car south of the Texas/Mexico border.
Everyone get a truck load of these babies and lets go to WAR on these irritating cell phone idiots in restaurants, bars, libraries and who knows where else!!!
Southern Theatres, LLC, which operates this theater and others in seven states under the Grand and AmStar banners has apparently extended this policy to all of their theaters, according to this article:
View link
Get with the program, AMC, Regal, Carmike, Cinemark, and all you other chains!
Score one for our side. Hope this catches on and other theater chains take note.
Eastern Federal Corporation,based of out Charlotte,have a zero-tolerance policy for patrons who bring them kids to movies that misbehaves…..
“We love kids and we do appreciate them coming here. But if they are too loud and rude and as a courtesy to others,please take them out of the theatre. If they do not comply with the rules and regulations,management will have them escort out of the theatre.”
Theatre managers all over the United States should be tougher on rude kids and adults alike.
Film version of live New York Met opera “Tosca” was shown at the new showcase theater in Legacy Place, Dedham, MA, October 10, 09. No advance publicity on the film appeared in any local medium. I live next door to Legacy Place; I love opera. Someone goofed; not a PR achievement.
In case of a repeat of such film/opera, I would appreciate information on price (regular theater, please) and media advance notice of such presentations. Thank you, Philip Levin,
How the hell did we go from cell phones,to some idiot wanting advance notice on the stupid Opera.
To: MPol,
I totally agree with you regarding tougher policies affected cell phone usage not to mention dealing with arrogant adults, and stupid pathetic parents who cannot control their kids when they bring them to the theatre. Its bad enough when you just paid over $15.00(you know how much going to the movies is these days….regular admission has jumped to $10.00!!!) to see a great movie and while enjoying it you got idiots who make calls on their cell phone during the show and kids who are unmannered,untrained and basically act out during the picture. They need to be thrown out!!!!
I glad management has step down on this in Greensboro,and it should be enforced all over the country. Anyone who pays good money to see a great picture shouldn’t have to deal with the mess during the show!!!! Comments?
First off, the girl in question was checking her balance BEFORE the movie started.This policy is being forced to the extreme. Case in point, this guy simply LOOKED at his phone (which was on vibrate) to see who called and he was ushered out of the theater.That is ridiculous! He wasn’t making a phone call, he wasn’t texting, he simply looked at the phone and put it back in his pocket.The next thing I see, he is being ushered out of the building.I think that is taking this policy a bit too far? Now, everyone in the area is avoiding this theater like the plague due to “terrible customer service”. What’s next? Crinkling our candy wrappers is too loud? How bout ushering the guy out next to me that keeps talking during the whiole movie instead! Crunching popcorn too annoying? How ‘bout I
get to
Hire ushers ,and kick them out,like they used to do.Thats right that would cost $$$$$.