Beef

Okay, I hate to start this off on a negative note, but I have a beef. It's a small one. I've been going to the press screenings for a few weeks now and just about every morning something happens, almost like clockwork, that is begining to get under my skin and I know I'm not the only one. It's on par with someone sitting directly in front of you with a big hat, or chomping too loudly on popcorn and candy. Almost without fail, usually during the first screening at 10am, someone (and I'm not saying who, because you know who you are) begins snoring right in the middle of the movie.

Now if this was only a one time occurrence, I'd dismiss it as a minor annoyance because it usually takes more to ruffle my feathers, but it's not. I swear this happens just about every time I go to an early screening. One day it happened twice. Once at the 10am screening and once at noon. And sometimes it takes a while for this person to wake up. Today I almost got up and went back to tap them on the shoulder, but they were too far away for it to be worth my while. I was really hoping that the person giving them the evil eye who was sitting behind them would do it, but they just sat there being annoyed.

I don't have a problem with people falling asleep in the theater--sometimes that happens--but when the person is audibly snoring in a saw-like fashion it tends to affect other viewers' enjoyment. Why didn't that person sitting behind them wake them up? I don't know. If we were in New York they would have belted their seat or belittled them when they woke up. Seattle is kinder, but Jesus! Wouldn't it be kinder to stay in bed? If you're going to miss the majority of the movie because you're unconscious, just stay in bed and come out to the later screenings. It seems pointless.

I don't men to sound cruel. Does this person have narcolepsy? I dunno. They do, however, have sleep apnea and I'm not the only one who notices. Many other audience members began to squirm today when the wheezing began. Maybe I'm being touchy. Last week I thought I was imagining things when the snoring seemed excessively prolonged, but no, I turned around and there was not one, but two people asleep, audibly snoring. Sheesh. I hope this doesn't continue or I'll have to tell management.