I am A Legend and being awkward

[cinema guy]

It was New Year's Eve.

Two important pieces of information: the cinema closes early (you know where this is going, don't you?) and I am Legend is a 15 certificate film, which means no-one under the age of fifteen can see it..

I am awkward

I am serving at the box office. Guy with three teenagers (two guys and a girl) approaches me.

Dramatis Personae
MF: miserable father
Me:

MF: "Two for The Golden Compass and two for I am legend.
Me: "The Golden Compass is full, I am afraid.
MF has brief murmered conversation with teenagers.
MF (to girl): "I'm NOT watching Enchanted."
MF to me: "Four for I am Legend, then."
Me: "Are they all fifteen?"
The teenagers could easily have been fifteen, but I wasn't a 100% sure. By asking, I am covering my ass. If he'd told me they were, I would have gladly sold them all tickets.
MF: "They are, she's fourteen."
Me: "She can't watch it, it is a fifteen film."
MF: "Can't you let her in?"
Me: "No."
MF mutters something about kids getting in to films all the time, and says, "She's fifteen, let her in."
Me: "No."
MF: "You're just being awkward now."
Another murmered discussion amonst them and he buys two tickets for I am Legend for the guys.
MF (sarcasticly, as he leaves) "Happy new year to you."

I guess his daughter didn't have a happy new, since she didn't get to see a film.


I am A Legend

The film is called I am Legend. Not 'I am A Legend'. Not 'The One with Will Smith'. And certainly not I, Robot.


Yes, we have lives too

'6.25, is that your last showing?' Yes, we close early so that we can celebrate the new year too.

At 7.30, 'Are you open?'

At 8pm, 'Can I book tickets for tomorrow?'

And repeatedly, 'Are you open tomorrow?' Yes, we are robots, we do do not suffer from hangovers like real people do. Your screeching children will not inflict the pain of a thousand red-hot neeedles on our alcohol abused ear drums. Please be waiting at the doors when we open so your offspring can watch Alvin and the Chipmonks.

Not that I chose to get drunk, or celebrate the New Year in any way.

[Custard Chick]

Ugg I wish my work was closed New Years Day. We had regular hours today. Which meant that the opening shift had to be there at 5am. And I had to be there at 8am, after opening on New Years Eve.

Lame.

[Jadedcarguy]

Interesting that UK rules don't allow minors in with parents. In the bloody colonies you can take your five year old to see whatever as long as you go with. Not saying that's a good idea of course.........

I am considering going to see Aliens vs Predator Requiem today. I started to feel bad about it til I realized that the employees will be working whether I see a movie or not. Does that make me evil?

[blas]

I think in this story, the parent was not planning on seeing the film with the kids.

Where I live, a 5 year old could get into Planet Terror and no one would have cared. But a few years ago, I couldn't get into Jackass. Wrap that around your head for a second and anticipate the oncoming brain explosion.

[Jadedcarguy]

Where I live, a 5 year old could get into Planet Terror and no one would have cared. But a few years ago, I couldn't get into Jackass. Wrap that around your head for a second and anticipate the oncoming brain explosion.

I can only assume you were under 17 at the time. Still stupid though.

Reminds me of the time I got carded for American Pie. I was 28 at the time, MAJOR widows peak hairline, and a full beard. Sound under 17 to you? I thought not. What really pissed me off was the guy at the counter did not card my friend's GF, who was 19 going on 12 and looked and acted it. If he had carded her as well, I wouldn't have really cared.

[blas]

I was 15 at the time. With two 16 year olds. Neither of them were carded.

Then I moved down here, and nearly every middle schooler in town got in to Planet Terror and Death Proof.

Just irks me, looking back on it.

[Jadedcarguy]

I was 15 at the time. With two 16 year olds. Neither of them were carded.

Then I moved down here, and nearly every middle schooler in town got in to Planet Terror and Death Proof.

Just irks me, looking back on it.

Yup. I remember watching my friends get away with shit while I sat in the EPIC FAIL corner. Irksome to say the least.

[FlamingSickle]

I can only assume you were under 17 at the time. Still stupid though.

Reminds me of the time I got carded for American Pie. I was 28 at the time, MAJOR widows peak hairline, and a full beard. Sound under 17 to you? I thought not. What really pissed me off was the guy at the counter did not card my friend's GF, who was 19 going on 12 and looked and acted it. If he had carded her as well, I wouldn't have really cared.

Were you all together and were you carded first? If so, then, depending on the rules where you are, the cashier probably didn't need to card anyone else. In the States, at least, you have to be 21 to bring someone underage in, so he may have been checking you were at least that old. Of course, if you were separate or this occured at different times, then he just wasn't doing his job properly.

As for I Am Legend being restricted to 15 and up, I find that fascinating. In the U.S. it's rated PG-13, meaning anyone, even a five-year-old, could see it alone but that it's recommended parents attend with the kids who are twelve and under.

[Jadedcarguy]

Were you all together and were you carded first? If so, then, depending on the rules where you are, the cashier probably didn't need to card anyone else. In the States, at least, you have to be 21 to bring someone underage in, so he may have been checking you were at least that old. Of course, if you were separate or this occured at different times, then he just wasn't doing his job properly.

We were all together, but I bought my ticket last. He let her and my friend go through without hesitation. I however with my widows peak, beard, and deep uncracking voice must be shielded from boobs and bad swears. I wanted to choke the guy.

EDIT: My sincere apologies to cinemaguy for taking your thread on this tangent.

[BookstoreEscapee]

As for I Am Legend being restricted to 15 and up, I find that fascinating. In the U.S. it's rated PG-13, meaning anyone, even a five-year-old, could see it alone but that it's recommended parents attend with the kids who are twelve and under.

Good point...only R-rated movies require an adult to actually accompany the underage into the movie. And only NC-17 doesn't allow underage kids in at all, with or without a parent (and how often do you see one of those around?). (On that note, I saw a kid who looked about 15 going to see Borat with his mother. I was watching it with a male friend and I cringed at certain parts. But my mother? Oh, no way! I can only imagine what the ride home was like for that kid and his mom...)

I don't think I've ever actually been carded for a movie. On the other end of the spectrum, though, my best friend and I were still getting in for the kids' price when we were 15, while they tried to charge her 4-years-younger sister the adult price.

[Peppergirl]

Good story, but I'm about to ask what's probably a typical question from a dumb am-ur-i-kun, so brace yourselves:

Why would he call you awkward? Is word an insult in the UK? Does it mean he thought you were being a smartass or stupid or something?

Here in the states, it tends to mean a feeling of discomfort or perhaps being clumsy.

[cinema guy]

It means those things too, over here. But it always means being deliberately difficult for no good reason.

[Listerfiend]

I went to see I am Legend a week or so ago and there was a kid in the theater... If I was to guess I'd day s/he might have been between 5-8. Naturally there was much chattering from the kid, and at one of the scarier parts of the film (the dog fight; how the kid withstood earlier intense parts of the film I have no idea) of the course s/he was crying and had to be removed from the theater (at least the parent had enough sense to get the kid out). I can understand that it can be hard to find a sitter or a movie might end up being worse than you thought, but all of these things can be avoided. It pisses me off knowing that people see nothing wrong with subjecting kids to certain material/visuals when they can have a very negative impact on them.

[PaRaGaS]

Ugg I wish my work was closed New Years Day. We had regular hours today. Which meant that the opening shift had to be there at 5am. And I had to be there at 8am, after opening on New Years Eve.

Lame.

I worked New Year's Eve.
At McDonald's.
The largest and busiest one in Warsaw.
In the exact city centre.
Next to a bigass New Year's Eve party,
with two concert stages and some twenty thousand people attending.
And a nightclub RIGHT IN FRONT of the main entrance.

Fuuuuun.

Actually, it wasn't bad at all. We got a half-hour break at 11:30PM.
There was CAKE. And three trayfulls of leftover burgers.

[Imogene]

Mom, Sister in Law, and I went to see Golden Compass on New Years Eve... It was perfectly empty when we got there. About ten minutes before it started, the theater filled to bursting suddenly. And someone just off to my left and above me started chattering in a way that I knew there was going to be trouble.
Sure enough, once the movie started, whenever it was quiet, that voice would start talking about what had just happened.

Admittedly, I haven't finished reading the first book yet, but it didn't really feel like a good adaptation. *shrug*