Throwing A Monitor Through A Glass Door Is Not The Best Way To Complain About Iron Man
If something goes wrong with the projection while you're watching Iron Man, (or any other movie, actually) and the ticket agent will not give you a refund, do not grab the monitor and throw it through a glass door.
According to the Jackson Hole Star-Tribune, a 55 year-old man was arrested for suspicion of property damage and disturbing the peace after he became enraged and threw a monitor through a glass door and into the mall food court.
"Officers responded to the theater just after 7 p.m. and found Vaughn sweating profusely near the shoe department at JC Penney," says the paper.
The man had apparently requested a refund and when the theater employees offered him a "voucher." He then started yelling at employees and other customers that he was being ripped off.
A customer says that the man shouted that he was going to get his money's worth before grabbing the monitor and hurling it into the food court.
The officer who arrested the man says that he told him that "he had done the right thing in the war against injustice in the world."
Well, no.
Man fights movie theater 'injustice,', lands in jail [Star-Tribune] (Thanks, A.!)
(Photo: Getty)
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I'm wondering if we're getting the whole story. As much the guy's reaction was overblown, if he asked for his money back, why not give it to him instead of a raincheck? When my last moviegoing experience was interrupted by a fire alarm, the theatre offered us a re-admit to another show or a refund.
The dude was crazy to start throwing equipment, but I'm not a fan of when a business screws up and then assumes a customer wants a free voucher to come back to another potential screw up.
it was probably for 10% off you next ticket purchase of $50 or more*
*No applicable to first two weeks of a new movie, any comic book based movie, any movie staring an A-list celebrity, any movie made by Pixar, Disney, or Sony. Excludes all movies shot in color.
What I want to know is-what plane of reality does this guy exist on, and how many other customers were there really? I saw Iron Man in May. That's what you get for seeing a movie 3 months after it comes out. Should've seen TDK or Pineapple Express
Oh, and I had that happen to me during the last Star Wars movie. It died and 20 min later they came in and told us we can either get a refund or go to the next screen over where the movie was 45 min behind ours. I went to the next one over and sat down at the exact point the screen went dead... score...
This guy was on my local radio morning show this morning. He said he looked around, made sure no one was in the way, then threw the monitor out the window. At least he was careful! He also went on a rant about how the police and court systems have made everyone afraid to stand up against injustice (like the movie theater) and that he's had other "incedents" like these. Then he sang a song he wrote about how America sucks and he wishes he could leave and get ready to "bend over for the red white and blue." Interesting guy.
As overdone and ridiculous as this sort of thing is I can't help but envy the people crazy enough to do it.
Here are my recent movie theater experiences:
1) Watched "Iron Man" totally out of focus the whole time.
2) Watched "Breach", and something went wrong with the masking, so as the image drooped down the screen, we could see the boom mikes, lights, etc. from the filming. At the end, the black space between the frames was in the center of the screen. Fun.
3) Audio cut out and popped during one of the few key dialogue sequences in "The Kingdom"
4) Unticketed people sneaked in with 30 minutes remaining in "Cloverfield", and laughed at all the action on screen.
5) Guy text-messaged on his 17", max-brighness Blackberry screen during "Dark Knight", glaring in my face.
All this makes me glad I have a nice surround sound system and Blu-ray player, and makes me wonder why I continue to buy $8.00 movie tickets.
This guy was on my local radio morning show this morning. He said he looked around, made sure no one was in the way, then threw the monitor out the window. At least he was careful! He also went on a rant about how the police and court systems have made everyone afraid to stand up against injustice (like the movie theater) and that he's had other "incedents" like these. Then he sang a song he wrote about how America sucks and he wishes he could leave and get ready to "bend over for the red white and blue." Interesting guy.
Welcome to the Terror Watch List, Mr. Monitor-Thrower.
@linus: Food vouchers from a movie theater? I doubt it. They make their money from concession sales. If you've paid for a movie once, there's no real financial loss to let you in again, but those Goobers have to be paid for.
Every time there's been a problem with the projection or audio at a movie I've been to, I just had to politely ask the manager for a voucher, and I've gotten one. I've actually been to movies where things went particularly bad, so they had somebody with a book of them handing one out to everybody who asked.
@InfiniTrent:
"5) Guy text-messaged on his 17", max-brighness Blackberry screen during "Dark Knight", glaring in my face."
If anyone does that during my (third) viewing this weekend, I might go all Joker on his ass.
*sigh* remember the days when the theater employees would kick people like that out?
@HogwartsAlum: yeah I do, I also remember the days when you could say something to someone without getting stabbed.
When my gf and I went to see Transformers I almost got into a fight with these two kids. During the scene where the gunship is lighting up the decepticon in the desert you could hear these two punks behind me OVER the movie. Also, it's not like they were saying anything insightful, here it is word for word:
"Oh snap he be transformin'"
"Dat be Optimus Prime"
With no racial biases or implications that is what was said word for word. I asked them to be quiet and was told to "relax" and "chill out" when these guys were louder than the Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Finally at the scene where Jazz dies they were still talking, I screamed at the top of my lungs "you two need to talk louder so everyone can hear!" (yes I see the irony in my actions). At which point these two thugs told me to "STFU". But they were quiet after that.
I hate theaters now. I am going to see Wanted tonight. 6 weeks after the release is a pretty safe time frame for me to actually be able to enjoy the movie.
How did this guy get a monitor loose? If I want to detach my monitor at home, it's a involved process of unscrewing connections. Anyone have insight on this? If he took the time to disconnect/unscrew all the connections, he should have had time to calm down.
That is no way to complain about Iron Man.
It is, however, an appropriate way to complain about The Happening or the X-Files movie.
@InfiniTrent: This happened at Pineapple Express. I don't know how to deal with it. They're not talking per se, but the brightness is annoying. And an usher'll never do anything about it, so...street justice!
I am Ironman dun-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-nah!
You can shoot someone for texting in front of you right? Peripheral distraction
The last movie I went to that had a problem with the projection nobody in the theatre could find a manager to get any kind of compensation. The entire place was run by teenagers.
And the MPAA blames piracy whenever ticket sales are less than expected. Not idiot theater-goers or perpetually malfunctioning equipment. Go figure.
That said, I saw the first 20 minutes of "Sleepy Hollow" (last showing of the night) in the theater before the projector cut out. Not only were we given a cash refund, but we also received a voucher good for a movie anytime (or two vouchers if we didn't want to stand in line getting our tickets processed for the cash refund).
@InfiniTrent: Stop complaining about $8 movie tickets! They're $10.50 in the SF Bay Area! :(
I agree, it's a ripoff though. Have you tried Costco? Around here Costco has 2-packs of ticket-vouchers for whatever the prominent theater chain locally is, for $15. There are no restrictions on their use.
I would assume that yours would be about $11-12ish bucks for the 2-packs if they do this near you. It's definitely drastically cut our movie budget.
It's the Casper Star Tribune, but the post says Jackson Hole. Being born and raised in Jackson (and working at it's movie theatres for three years) and last time I was there, the theatres didn't have cash registers with monitors (seriously).
@Hate_Brian_Club: I am totally with you. Can you imagine the look on the cashier's face when the guy took the monitor and threw it? Just once I would like to do it in BB or Fry's.
Receipt Checker: May I see you receipt?
Me: No, but you can see the podium crash through your front door.
Of course I would probably get tased.
@MaytagRepairman: Like Lord of the Flies. They probably had a swine head on a stick in the back of the concession stand.
@startertan: @HogwartsAlum: See, I'm lucky enough that my theater employs teenage ushers to clean and take tickets and big, capable security guys to secure. Some creepy, most likely unticketed guy lurking in a theater filled with young women during halfway through Enchanted was quickly shown the door after I reported his presence.
When I saw Hancock and this jerk began a phone conversation, it only took the time of a patron to walk to the lobby and find security to get this guy to shut up.
My theater may be a crazy, overpriced monolpoly that drove the rest out of town but at least they run a good operation.
I'm thinking the vouchers were for them JC Penney shoes. I would be extremely angry about that too.
Monitor aside, just complaining about Iron Man made him a jerk. Who doesn't like Iron Man?
When the sound went out for 10 minutes during the second MATRIX movie, they didn't even want to give us vouchers. When we argued we got vouchers, but we don't even live in that part of the state so they never got used. They refused to give us a refund.
(Yes, we came out DURING the problem, not at the end of the movie. We were more than willing to leave).
I don't go to theaters much anymore, I vastly prefer just buying the DVD's now.
I'm not a fan of when a business screws up and then assumes a customer wants a free voucher to come back to another potential screw up.
@urban bohemian: It makes sense if the screw-up was something even the customer knows doesn't normally happen but I never understood coupons for things like a restaurant serving awful or tainted food.
I wouldn't have expected a projector malfunction to happen again and just taken the voucher but I agree that if he insisted on a refund they should have just given it to him.
*sigh* remember the days when the theater employees would kick people like that out?
Remember the days when there was more than one theater employee?
@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity:
How did this guy get a monitor loose? If I want to detach my monitor at home, it's a involved process of unscrewing connections. Anyone have insight on this? If he took the time to disconnect/unscrew all the connections, he should have had time to calm down.
Having to painfully contort his hands to unscrew those VGA connections was probably just drove him into a greater rage!
This happened at Pineapple Express. I don't know how to deal with it. They're not talking per se, but the brightness is annoying. And an usher'll never do anything about it, so...street justice!
Maybe just lean over their shoulder and read the screen, and suggest how to respond?
Or go "Hey, hey man...hey...you just wrote out 'l-a-t-e-r', but you could have just writeen 'l-number 8-r' Srsly."
@InfiniTrent: He said he ripped it off in one big motion. One would think you'd need to be Superman? Also, added info - he said all the theaters in his town were owned by the same guy, and he had tried to see Ironman a week or two before, and the SAME THING happened then, and he got a voucher. This theater was different than the first and had the same issue. I'd be pretty pissed too I guess... Although I'd probably just throw some popcorn around.
Stop complaining about $8 movie tickets! They're $10.50 in the SF Bay Area! :(I agree, it's a ripoff though. Have you tried Costco? Around here Costco has 2-packs of ticket-vouchers for whatever the prominent theater chain locally is, for $15. There are no restrictions on their use.
Stop talking about Costco! There aren't any in the Lexington, KY area!
You darn left-coasters, and your Costco discounts.
You can shoot someone for texting in front of you right?
Not a jury in the world would convict you.
@jaydez: Just remember not to take out your frustration on the ushers when this sort of thing happens. When Episode I came out and one the projectors kept breaking down, I got the lucky job of telling people, "The movie should start again in five to ten minutes - if not, you may see the manager for a refund or a return ticket" (I forget exactly what the deal was, but some kind of compensation was involved). People were berating me left and right and a few people were throwing popcorn at me, which is completely unnecessary.
If you have a bad experience, just remember that not every single employee of a place is responsible for it, and that it's incredibly disrespectful to take out your frustrations on somebody who had nothing to do with it.
In his defense, depending on how far he got into the movie, this reaction would be totally expected. If it were Mama Mia, he would have broken into song.
That's why I go to the Arclight, they actually give a shit about the quality of the experience, sound, focus, projection, etc.
@Ubik2501:
That's why you ask for the manager and REFUSE to back down. You will always get your money back no matter what their policy is.
Also, throwing popcorn at an usher while in a theatre? Not only is it necessary, it's a responsibility!
Gee last time my movie didn't they gave me 2 vouchers to see any movie at any time (I was seeing a matinee) I don't see what he has to complain about, he prob could have seen the next time slot if he wanted to
@InfiniTrent: Did you report any of these incidents? I used to work at a movie theater, and honestly while we're supposed to do theater checks, these days there isn't enough payroll for us to man the box, concessions, and still pay for enough ushers. We really don't know that something's wrong unless you tell us. Most of the time, if someone complains after the movie, they'll get a pass (with no restrictions) that they can use whenever they wish.
You're lucky to be paying only 8 bucks....
This guy and the Comcast granny need to hook up.
@sponica:
Did you report any of these incidents? I used to work at a movie theater, and honestly while we're supposed to do theater checks, these days there isn't enough payroll for us to man the box, concessions, and still pay for enough ushers. We really don't know that something's wrong unless you tell us. Most of the time, if someone complains after the movie, they'll get a pass (with no restrictions) that they can use whenever they wish.You're lucky to be paying only 8 bucks....
I'm usually good about complaining appropriately when I have a problem like that. For some reason, though, I don't usually gripe at movie theaters. I think it's that I don't know who to talk to, since the few employees who are around are always busy, and there's never a manager visible.
I know those problems didn't happen on purpose, and unfortunately going to report them means missing part of the movie. In the opening parts of Iron Man, for example, I squinted and got on with it, because no way was I missing that. With "Breach", somebody reported the problem several times, it was fixed several times, and kept going bad. In "The Kingdom", I should have mentioned the problem since it was such a key moment where the audio went out, but for some reason I didn't mention it (I was in a hurry that day, I think).
As for ratting on others in the theater, I wasn't about to leave "Cloverfield", and the kid in "Dark Knight" finally stowed the Blackberry after two or three messages.
Ubik, you should be grateful they weren't throwing monitors.
@InfiniTrent: You don't need a manager to tackle the image quality problems, usually you just need to find someone with a walkie-talkie to holler up to the projectionist(s). We had one at the concession stand. The only time you need a manager is when there's a problem with another customer, as they are the only ones allowed to mediate problems.
I've had people say I go overboard because I ask for my money back when theatres lie about the starting time of the flick. I pay to see a movie, not advertising.
I'll have to start carrying this around to ask them, "How about now?"
Wow...I mean, how do you respond to that? What were the vouchers for? If it was for food, it was a rip-off.
If it was tickets to a future show, it might not have been a bad deal.