You don't want to sound dumb - don't want to offend, so don't call me a faggot, not unless you are a friend
On the nights that I take tickets at the movie theater, I get to crowd watch, as I face the large lobby we have with video games, tables and chairs and the concession stand. I am always surprised by how many kids spend hours in our lobby playing games and eating food either before or after the movie. We also have a balcony that overlooks the lobby, only used when someone has a party, as the party rooms are upstairs.
On Saturday, there were two boys that spent some time in the lobby, both probably mid-teenagers like 15-17 years old. I noticed them at first because of the way they looked. One was tall and gangly with a thick bush of curly hair. Think Napoleon Dynamite, curly and severely parted on one side, but thicker. He kept putting his chin down and forcefully parting it with each hand and pulling it back as he put his neck up to get it out of his eyes. He was wearing brown corduroys and a brown button down shirt.
The other one was tall and wiry, but was wearing girls jeans. Skin tight black girls jeans. They looked strange to me when I first saw him, and I asked a co-worker, and she verified that the cut of the jeans made them girls jeans. He was also wearing a skin tight print t-shirt and neon green and white checkered shoes, with no socks, and glasses. And he was quite effeminate. Carried himself a bit more delicate, stood a little more leaning on one leg that you’d see a girl standing. This is by no means any type of judgment call on him. Most of the guys I’ve dated have been much more effeminate. I like guys with a little sugar in their tank. Just describing that he was effeminate.
They went to the concession stand and got one large drink and one order of fries, walked to the lobby and sat at the table closest to me, about 25 feet away. After a few minutes, I noticed that they were feeding each other French fries and sharing the drink. And to be honest, they were being playful about it, not sexual or sensual about it, but also not shoving it in each others mouths. And it wasn’t every French fry, just here and there.
After they finished eating, they went to play “Virtual Tennis.” And Bushy Hair wasn’t as good as Tight Jeans, and Tight Jeans got happy when he made a point in the game he would squeal. Then Bushy stopped playing, but was cheering on Jeans. I then noticed that Bushy was rubbing Jeans back with his open palm, very affectionately, but again, there wasn’t anything sensual about it. It was tender, but nothing lurid and I just remember thinking that they were acting like a couple without it being obvious. I also kept wondering if they had been a boy and a girl or if they both acted hyper masculine, would I have noticed at all?
They went on to one of those large shooting games, and one was good and the other wasn’t, but the one that wasn’t good at it was cheering on the other one. It was very cute, very couple-ish, but without it being obvious. There was no overt hand holding, or any type of groping that I saw (I did still have to tear tickets from time to time, so I might have missed something obvious.)
Then I heard something, but I wasn’t sure what I heard. I could see a change in the demeanor of Bushy & Jeans. I saw what looked like their backs stiffening up. They didn’t directly look anywhere, but something had affected them. Then I heard a low, guttural chuckle from the balcony, and I looked up. There were two men, mid 30-ish, overweight and one was balding with a goatee, and they were saying something loudly. I could see that they were looking directly at the two boys at the video game. Then I heard the word “Faggot” quite clearly. I felt the white hot anger rising in me.
I asked my nephew, who was working the concession stand, to come out and watch the ticket booth. I walked up the stairs to the two men standing on the balcony. I got up next to them and, quite loudly, I said “Excuse me. Could you please learn to show respect to all of our patrons?”
The balding guy, who was doing all the talking/joking, looked at me with shock while his friend backed away. He meekly, very meekly, said “I am with the birthday party.”
“I understand that, sir, however we do ask that you show the same respect to our other patrons that they show to you and your party.” I said this while taking one step closer to him. I was about 4 or 5 inches taller than him. By this time, his friend had backed away a good deal, and this poor bastard was just standing there with the balcony railing to his back. I did step just closer to him, probably within 6 inches of him. He still said nothing.
“Sir, we do not tolerate anyone treating any of our patrons in such a rude manner as I observed you doing. If you are unable to comply with that, I will escort you out of the building. Do you understand me?”
There were some people looking at me, but not too many. I think most were trying to ignore what was happening, and the people in the lobby couldn’t hear me too well with all the noise from the big screen that showed movie trailers and the different video games. But a few of the parents from the party were certainly aware of what was going on. And still, no one was saying a word, including pudgy little balding homophobic goatee bully.
“Sir, before I will leave, I will need you to show me you understand what will happen if you continue to show disrespect towards our other patrons. Do you understand?’
He nodded his head like a fucking coward. I would have guessed he was about to piss himself from the look on his face.
I then turned my head to his friend to the left who had backed away. I know he didn’t say anything, but he was laughing along when he thought it was alright for his friend to make comments. “Do you understand as well?”
“I didn’t say anything!” was his response. Like a 5 year old that was caught. This is what we have to put up with in society? One balding guy who cowers the second anyone confronts them and another one who wants to push all blame on the friend who he was probably prodding along by laughing at him making fun of two boys who were less than half their age and who were just playing video games.
“But you understand what will happen when you treat our patrons rudely?” I asked pointedly again.
“Yes,” was all he could get out.
“Good. Enjoy the rest of your stay here at our theater.” It was actually after they had the movie, so they were probably leaving shortly anyway.
I went back to my chair tearing tickets. To be honest, my heart was racing for several reasons. I thought management would come up to me and say something. When a manager finally wondered around later on, I asked if they had heard anything about what happened, and she said nope, but the mother who paid for the party thanked them for a great time. I told her kind of what I did, and she said she’d have been OK with that, as long as I wasn’t threatening them.
I also thought goatee guy, after some thought, would finally grow some balls and try to confront me. I saw him slink out the door with his wife and son without looking towards me or the two boys that he seemed fine with trying to terrorize earlier, who were back to playing video games in the lobby.
I saw the boys go to their movie. From what I could gather a few hours later, they had come to the theater with one of their parents, and the parents had gone to see “Bobby,” which is like 2 ½ hours long. They went to see something else that was much shorter (they didn’t go on my side, they had to go on the other side. I only tear tickets for theaters 12-22, and their theater was on the 1-11 side.) and I saw the parents and the boys meet a few hours later at a table. The boys went back to playing video games, dancing around effeminately when they did something good, touching each other tenderly, one rubbing the others back, and having a good time. Without fear of any harassment.
When the whole clan was leaving, I did see Tight Jeans put his coat on, look over at me for a moment and smile, a big, broad smile. He then rubbed the back of Bushy Hair, as they walked out the door.
I don’t know if they were gay, though I would assume at least one was, Tight Jeans. I don’t even know if they were a couple, as they didn’t try to push the boundaries as much as I thought they could have (though feeding each other fries is intimate in my book.) But I felt great that I was able to make them feel a tiny bit safer from bullies when they are in my movie theater. And I made those two fucking bullies (don’t be mistaken, the bully and the guy who laughs and eggs on the bully are both bullies) look like the assholes that they are. And I didn’t get in a fight; I was able to use my height and size to at least make them accept my viewpoint.
And I still think goatee guy peed himself just a little bit.
On Saturday, there were two boys that spent some time in the lobby, both probably mid-teenagers like 15-17 years old. I noticed them at first because of the way they looked. One was tall and gangly with a thick bush of curly hair. Think Napoleon Dynamite, curly and severely parted on one side, but thicker. He kept putting his chin down and forcefully parting it with each hand and pulling it back as he put his neck up to get it out of his eyes. He was wearing brown corduroys and a brown button down shirt.
The other one was tall and wiry, but was wearing girls jeans. Skin tight black girls jeans. They looked strange to me when I first saw him, and I asked a co-worker, and she verified that the cut of the jeans made them girls jeans. He was also wearing a skin tight print t-shirt and neon green and white checkered shoes, with no socks, and glasses. And he was quite effeminate. Carried himself a bit more delicate, stood a little more leaning on one leg that you’d see a girl standing. This is by no means any type of judgment call on him. Most of the guys I’ve dated have been much more effeminate. I like guys with a little sugar in their tank. Just describing that he was effeminate.
They went to the concession stand and got one large drink and one order of fries, walked to the lobby and sat at the table closest to me, about 25 feet away. After a few minutes, I noticed that they were feeding each other French fries and sharing the drink. And to be honest, they were being playful about it, not sexual or sensual about it, but also not shoving it in each others mouths. And it wasn’t every French fry, just here and there.
After they finished eating, they went to play “Virtual Tennis.” And Bushy Hair wasn’t as good as Tight Jeans, and Tight Jeans got happy when he made a point in the game he would squeal. Then Bushy stopped playing, but was cheering on Jeans. I then noticed that Bushy was rubbing Jeans back with his open palm, very affectionately, but again, there wasn’t anything sensual about it. It was tender, but nothing lurid and I just remember thinking that they were acting like a couple without it being obvious. I also kept wondering if they had been a boy and a girl or if they both acted hyper masculine, would I have noticed at all?
They went on to one of those large shooting games, and one was good and the other wasn’t, but the one that wasn’t good at it was cheering on the other one. It was very cute, very couple-ish, but without it being obvious. There was no overt hand holding, or any type of groping that I saw (I did still have to tear tickets from time to time, so I might have missed something obvious.)
Then I heard something, but I wasn’t sure what I heard. I could see a change in the demeanor of Bushy & Jeans. I saw what looked like their backs stiffening up. They didn’t directly look anywhere, but something had affected them. Then I heard a low, guttural chuckle from the balcony, and I looked up. There were two men, mid 30-ish, overweight and one was balding with a goatee, and they were saying something loudly. I could see that they were looking directly at the two boys at the video game. Then I heard the word “Faggot” quite clearly. I felt the white hot anger rising in me.
I asked my nephew, who was working the concession stand, to come out and watch the ticket booth. I walked up the stairs to the two men standing on the balcony. I got up next to them and, quite loudly, I said “Excuse me. Could you please learn to show respect to all of our patrons?”
The balding guy, who was doing all the talking/joking, looked at me with shock while his friend backed away. He meekly, very meekly, said “I am with the birthday party.”
“I understand that, sir, however we do ask that you show the same respect to our other patrons that they show to you and your party.” I said this while taking one step closer to him. I was about 4 or 5 inches taller than him. By this time, his friend had backed away a good deal, and this poor bastard was just standing there with the balcony railing to his back. I did step just closer to him, probably within 6 inches of him. He still said nothing.
“Sir, we do not tolerate anyone treating any of our patrons in such a rude manner as I observed you doing. If you are unable to comply with that, I will escort you out of the building. Do you understand me?”
There were some people looking at me, but not too many. I think most were trying to ignore what was happening, and the people in the lobby couldn’t hear me too well with all the noise from the big screen that showed movie trailers and the different video games. But a few of the parents from the party were certainly aware of what was going on. And still, no one was saying a word, including pudgy little balding homophobic goatee bully.
“Sir, before I will leave, I will need you to show me you understand what will happen if you continue to show disrespect towards our other patrons. Do you understand?’
He nodded his head like a fucking coward. I would have guessed he was about to piss himself from the look on his face.
I then turned my head to his friend to the left who had backed away. I know he didn’t say anything, but he was laughing along when he thought it was alright for his friend to make comments. “Do you understand as well?”
“I didn’t say anything!” was his response. Like a 5 year old that was caught. This is what we have to put up with in society? One balding guy who cowers the second anyone confronts them and another one who wants to push all blame on the friend who he was probably prodding along by laughing at him making fun of two boys who were less than half their age and who were just playing video games.
“But you understand what will happen when you treat our patrons rudely?” I asked pointedly again.
“Yes,” was all he could get out.
“Good. Enjoy the rest of your stay here at our theater.” It was actually after they had the movie, so they were probably leaving shortly anyway.
I went back to my chair tearing tickets. To be honest, my heart was racing for several reasons. I thought management would come up to me and say something. When a manager finally wondered around later on, I asked if they had heard anything about what happened, and she said nope, but the mother who paid for the party thanked them for a great time. I told her kind of what I did, and she said she’d have been OK with that, as long as I wasn’t threatening them.
I also thought goatee guy, after some thought, would finally grow some balls and try to confront me. I saw him slink out the door with his wife and son without looking towards me or the two boys that he seemed fine with trying to terrorize earlier, who were back to playing video games in the lobby.
I saw the boys go to their movie. From what I could gather a few hours later, they had come to the theater with one of their parents, and the parents had gone to see “Bobby,” which is like 2 ½ hours long. They went to see something else that was much shorter (they didn’t go on my side, they had to go on the other side. I only tear tickets for theaters 12-22, and their theater was on the 1-11 side.) and I saw the parents and the boys meet a few hours later at a table. The boys went back to playing video games, dancing around effeminately when they did something good, touching each other tenderly, one rubbing the others back, and having a good time. Without fear of any harassment.
When the whole clan was leaving, I did see Tight Jeans put his coat on, look over at me for a moment and smile, a big, broad smile. He then rubbed the back of Bushy Hair, as they walked out the door.
I don’t know if they were gay, though I would assume at least one was, Tight Jeans. I don’t even know if they were a couple, as they didn’t try to push the boundaries as much as I thought they could have (though feeding each other fries is intimate in my book.) But I felt great that I was able to make them feel a tiny bit safer from bullies when they are in my movie theater. And I made those two fucking bullies (don’t be mistaken, the bully and the guy who laughs and eggs on the bully are both bullies) look like the assholes that they are. And I didn’t get in a fight; I was able to use my height and size to at least make them accept my viewpoint.
And I still think goatee guy peed himself just a little bit.
posted by Mike at 1:05 PM
2 Comments:
Great post and I am glad you have balls that are that large.
I would think anyone would do the same thing when you get fed up with the hate. And I just felt so bad for the two boys, who don't deserve to be terrorized by bullies.
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