Here's the deal...I do not like to be picked on.  And I really hate when people act as though they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, just because no one is willing to stand up to them.

And I especially will not tolerate this behavior in children.

Here's the story. Tadd and I made plans with a friend and her dad to go out to a movie. We arranged for a babysitter to put the kids to bed and bath and went. I even put on cute jeans and a fun t-shirt. We decided to go to a theater where we've had mixed experiences. Same movie theater with the freaking out baby on Valentines' Day. A place where there are usually large groups of teens loitering or fighting in the parking lot. But, we gave it another chance. (Why, oh why, do we just not follow our gut?!) We went to see Knowing. Right as the dialogue started, the speakers began crackling loudly. We couldn't hear any dialogue. We sat for 20 minutes when they tried to get it fixed, to no avail. So we left. After a quick conference, we decided to go see another movie. Slasher flick? No thanks. Action movie with great actor. Hmm, some people already saw it. We decided to suck it up and see the cutesy Confessions of A Shopaholic. Best movie? No, of course not. But we were actually OUT for goodness' sakes and we wanted to watch a movie. After all, we paid our money and arranged for a babysitter and coordinated schedules and everything.

The movie was cute and we were having a good time with it. Then, towards the end, a group of 4-5 young teen boys came bursting through the theater. They were cracking up loud and ran to the back. Ok, I get it. Theater hopping. We've all done it as teens, whatever. The trouble was, they wouldn't keep quiet. Not just an annoying whisper, either. Loud whooping. Making comments to the girls in front of them (who were enjoying the movie the whole time we were) Just being generally obnoxious. After about 20 minutes of that, some of the girls told them to be quiet. They didn't. Then Tadd turned around and said "If y'all are going to keep talking, you need to go out of the theater." To which they responded by repeating his comment in a mocking voice and laughing hysterically at their own brilliance.

Boys, you just ticked off the wrong woman.

I whipped my head to the back of the theater. "Hey!" I shouted. "You kids need to knock it off!" They responded with more laughter to which I stood up. "You think that's funny?! We are trying to watch a MOVIE HERE!! Everyone here is watching the movie but YOU!!"  I think they were starting to realize they might not have as much fun mocking people as they would have liked, so they started to swagger down the steps, sucking in their teeth. Then they made another crucial mistake of using the B-word and commenting on my kinky hair, just loud enough for me to hear it.

OH NO THEY DIDN'T!!!!

I promptly threw my purse in the seat and followed them out. There they all were standing there in the hall. "NO!" I pointed my finger at that. "Oh, HECK NO! (By the way, I gave up swearing for Lent, so my language was very clean, albeit heated) You do NOT come in theaters acting like that! I am a grown woman and I paid a lot of money to be here tonight, not to MENTION having to get a babysitter. You are NOT going to stand there and disrespect me and everyone else. No, SIR, not TODAY!!" 

I was walking full speed during this whole tirade. They started to slink away, trying to disappear. Except one. One of them sucked his teeth and started to casually walk. Then he realized, I was not going away. It scared him a little, I think. He stopped and so did I. "What?" I shouted "You made a comment to me before. Whatcha got to say now?" He started to get indignant. "I'm not bothering you." "Actually," I snapped "You are. You are being rude.  I did not come here to listen to you and to be insulted, all right?! I am a grown woman and I am NOT going to tolerate this from some misbehaving children!"

With that I marched right back to Guest Services. On the way, all the movie theater workers watched me storming through the halls with looks of fear and intrigue. I can imagine what was going through their minds, "Oh, snap! This little woman is TICKED!"

I went to the guest desk to the manager there. "Excuse me." I demanded. "There are a bunch of hoodlum kids in Theater 20, right now!" The man nodded, and immediately got on his walkie-talkie. I spun around on my heel and marched back to the theater, followed by a team of theater management in suits and uniforms. "Paid good money...first movie was broken and now I gotta put up with this...they must of lost their minds..." If those kids thought Madea was scary, I was worse...because I was live and unpredictable.

And get this...those kids were so arrogant, they went back to the theater. Are you kidding me?! Obviously, it was a group the staff has dealt with before, because management was able to round them all up and told them to leave. We all went back to watch the last few minutes of the movie.

After the film ended and the audience walked out, I apologized to the girls that were in the theater with us and thanked them for being respectful. One of them said "No, actually we thank you! They were back there being very nasty. I'm glad someone said something."

Now, here's where I probably should have been nervous. The boys were all starting right outside of the movie theater exit. It looked like they were just waiting for us to come out. I said I probably should have been nervous...but I wasn't. I just got more incensed.

Just the whole mentality that they could do and act anyway they felt like because no one would stand up to them. Because people are too afraid or too polite or too whatever. Hmmm, funny, I don't get to do whatever I'd like to whoever, whenever I'd like. And if these kids don't learn know that every action causes a reaction of some sort, they will do something even worse than insulting a frazzled angry mom. And those kids were not gang members with weapons. They were just being punk kids, thinking it was cool to act that way.

I marched right out there and spoke right up. " Why are you all standing around the exit? What? Did you think I wouldn't say anything?? You all have no business hovering around here and you all need to go on home!!"

Again, they were expecting that. I heard a few mutters. "Excuse me? Whatcha say? Seriously, I will call the police on all of you RIGHT NOW if you don't knock it off!!" I almost added in "And pull up your pants, but I restrained myself. I totally, totally turned into my mother. She wouldn't have tolerated foolishness either. And I grew up to believe that if your parents weren't around and you were acting up, another parent would step in...or worse, tell your parents and then you would REALLY be in trouble!

The theater staff had all the boys sit down on the benches in front of the building while they waited for their parents to come pick them up. They gave us free passes for our inconvenience. I'm not mad at the staff. They are trying to run a business, in a tough economy. But I probably won't be back there for a while. I have no desire to have that type of scenario every time I go out with my spouse.

I said to someone recently, "Gosh, I just pray that Peanut & Pumpkin will not grown up to act a-fool!"  My friend laughed and said, "Um, with a no nonsense mom like you that loves them? I don't think you have anything to worry about!" I hope she is right. Thankfully, right now the worst thing they do is throwing toys out of their crib.

But, just in case, if you see my children when they are teens one day acting completely out of line and being horribly rude and disrespectful, please let them know to stop. Oh, and call me on the phone and tell me what they did.