Your Lateness Is Not The Theme Of This Movie

(I am at the movies with my sister and boyfriend. I am paying for my sister and myself, and my boyfriend is waiting behind us so he can pay for himself. As I’m paying, a middle-aged lady walks in and stands behind my boyfriend. It is a slow day and there is only one employee.)

Lady: *interrupting my transaction* “Has [Movie] started yet? I think I’m late!”

Employee: “I’m not sure; it might still be finishing up the previews.”

(I finish paying and tell my boyfriend that we are going to go sit down while he pays and we will meet him in the theater. The other lady is still talking about how she’s late and going to miss her movie.)

Lady: *to my boyfriend* “Are you going to be long?”

Boyfriend: “Can I have a ticket to the same movie as them in front of me? Let me take a look at the drinks.” *after a moment* “Can I have a bottle of water, please?”

Lady: “I… I’m late for my movie. It already started. I have to go. I’ll pay later.”

Employee: *calling after her* “Ma’am, I, uh…”

(She LEAVES to go find her movie WITHOUT PAYING. The theater recently switched companies, and the new one does not display which movies are playing in each room. I double-check my ticket and am most of the way down the hall to my theater when the other customer calls after me.)

Lady: *realizing she has no clue where her movie is* “Ladies! What movie are you seeing?”

Me: “[Kids’ Movie that we arrived early for].”

Lady: *huffs away*

(The best part is that her friend came in looking for her while my boyfriend was paying. Why would she not wait and buy a ticket, especially since she had someone else with her?! My boyfriend would have let her go in front of him if she had just asked, but instead he took his time since she was rude about it. Either arrive earlier or deal with missing the first few minutes.)