Well I surely didn't expect this next installment of "Adventures at AMC" to come so soon. It's been only 3 weeks since my initial AMC blog. After what I witnessed tonight, I've decided that I should write about it, despite my own reluctance. This isn't a happy story. I don't think it's very funny either. It's much more serious than last time, and my hesitancy comes from the tremendous guilt I feel over what occurred tonight. Rather than keep it all to myself, I think it's more important for me to use this a means to publicly hold myself accountable for my inaction, to discourage myself from allowing something like this to happen again.
Before I get started, I'd just like to say that I don't in any way mean to disrespect AMC theaters with these stories. I enjoy their theaters and even consider many of their employees to be friends. I am in no way trying to criticize or belittle them, but simply am sharing the bizarre stories that have occurred during my visits to their theaters. I'm bound to run into some strange things late at night at the movies, or anywhere for that matter. These instances are far from the norm, and I don't intend to discourage any of you from going to AMC as a result from my rare and unusual adventures.. I know it will still continue to be my theater of choice. With that out of the way, let us begin, shall we?
Before I get started, I'd just like to say that I don't in any way mean to disrespect AMC theaters with these stories. I enjoy their theaters and even consider many of their employees to be friends. I am in no way trying to criticize or belittle them, but simply am sharing the bizarre stories that have occurred during my visits to their theaters. I'm bound to run into some strange things late at night at the movies, or anywhere for that matter. These instances are far from the norm, and I don't intend to discourage any of you from going to AMC as a result from my rare and unusual adventures.. I know it will still continue to be my theater of choice. With that out of the way, let us begin, shall we?
Tonight started out like a typical Thursday night for me. Right after work, I headed straight to AMC to catch a flick. My favorite day of the week to go to the movies. I went and saw The Judge, since it was clearly going to win Pick My Flick. Yes, I told you that I'd keep the voting open until the 25th this month, but considering the movie was winning by such a wide margin, I decided to take my chances and just go see it. Sorry, I know that's kind of cheating, but I also know I'm not going to randomly get that many votes in a day to turn the tides of the poll. People have been telling me great things about the movie, and just the fact that it has Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall was enough to make me want to see it. Unfortunately, I found it didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it was pretty good for the most part. A good cast kept it entertaining, but it was never great.
Anyway, so I walk into the theater, and it's empty, and it completely smells like marijuana. Great. And I'm the only person in the whole theater, so naturally I'm paranoid the next people to come in are going to think that I'm the one that smells like weed, despite the fact that I am very much drug-free and alcohol-free. I always hope for an empty theater anyway, but because of this, I was hoping for it even more than usual. There has actually only been a single time in my life where I was alone in a theater, and it was with my cousin. We saw Iron Man 3, and it ended up being one of the greatest movie experiences of my life. While I'd argue that the movie wasn't great, it was definitely funny, and was even more enjoyable with my cousin. What still baffles me to this day is that we saw this hugely successful movie on the Monday after opening weekend, and nobody else was in the theater. The movie went on to gross $400 million in the US, and $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the 14th most successful movie in box office history, and yet THIS is the movie that nobody else watched that night? I've seen so many less successful movies in my life and still there is always at least one or two other people there. Somebody always walks in during the previews, and that's exactly what happened last night, but those people have nothing to do with the story. The real story here doesn't begin until after the movie, as I'm exiting the theater.
Anyway, so I walk into the theater, and it's empty, and it completely smells like marijuana. Great. And I'm the only person in the whole theater, so naturally I'm paranoid the next people to come in are going to think that I'm the one that smells like weed, despite the fact that I am very much drug-free and alcohol-free. I always hope for an empty theater anyway, but because of this, I was hoping for it even more than usual. There has actually only been a single time in my life where I was alone in a theater, and it was with my cousin. We saw Iron Man 3, and it ended up being one of the greatest movie experiences of my life. While I'd argue that the movie wasn't great, it was definitely funny, and was even more enjoyable with my cousin. What still baffles me to this day is that we saw this hugely successful movie on the Monday after opening weekend, and nobody else was in the theater. The movie went on to gross $400 million in the US, and $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the 14th most successful movie in box office history, and yet THIS is the movie that nobody else watched that night? I've seen so many less successful movies in my life and still there is always at least one or two other people there. Somebody always walks in during the previews, and that's exactly what happened last night, but those people have nothing to do with the story. The real story here doesn't begin until after the movie, as I'm exiting the theater.
I'm usually the first person to walk out of the theater once the credits begin to roll. My brother-in-law insists on sitting through the credits as a way of showing respect to the people that worked on the movie, but I'm not worried about all of that. I don't even like waiting through the credits for a post-credit scene because I think it's typically not worth it. I usually watch movies late at night, so I just want to hurry up and get home. I even play this odd little game in my head where I try to get completely out of the movie theater before anyone reaches the escalator that leads to the exit. Just vanishing without a trace; unseen. I guess I'm kind of weird like that. Though that's not quite what happened last night.
So I reach the escalator in good time. I can see there's a guy just getting off the escalator to exit as I'm getting on it. I'm checking out the movie posters and cutouts on display, and then notice the man ahead of me is pushing himself up off the floor. Uhhh... what? Did that guy just randomly do a push-up before leaving the theater? What a weirdo! (Says the guy who tries to leave the theater undetected). Usually I walk down the escalator, but I stopped and just rode it along, keeping my distance from this dude. The theater is on the third floor of the mall, so there's an escalator to leave the theater, and then two more to get down to the ground floor and exit the mall. I'm approaching the 2nd escalator as he's just getting off of it, and he's kind of wandering around clumsily. That's when I realize something is very wrong with this dude. He's totally drunk. He wasn't doing push-ups. He was picking himself up after eating it on the floor. The third escalator is turned off, so I watch him bounce back and forth against the sides while he tries to walk down the escalator stairs. It was like watching a bowling ball bouncing back and forth between bumpers. I can't believe he managed to make it all the way without falling on his face.
I can see a security guard in the distance, back on the third floor, halfway across the mall, watching from a distance. I wave him over, to let him know to come down or send somebody over to deal with this drunk guy. I watch the guy walk right into the closed glass doors of a shoe store and almost fall down. It's more sad than funny. He keeps on going, though, walking towards the exit, using the wall to help him keep his balance. At this point, I'm about 15 feet behind him, cautiously trailing him. I don't think he notices me at all. He has a cell phone in his hand, and keeps holding it to his ear like he's waiting for someone to pick up, but he never says a word. He stumbles through the exit doors and makes it outside. I follow.
So I reach the escalator in good time. I can see there's a guy just getting off the escalator to exit as I'm getting on it. I'm checking out the movie posters and cutouts on display, and then notice the man ahead of me is pushing himself up off the floor. Uhhh... what? Did that guy just randomly do a push-up before leaving the theater? What a weirdo! (Says the guy who tries to leave the theater undetected). Usually I walk down the escalator, but I stopped and just rode it along, keeping my distance from this dude. The theater is on the third floor of the mall, so there's an escalator to leave the theater, and then two more to get down to the ground floor and exit the mall. I'm approaching the 2nd escalator as he's just getting off of it, and he's kind of wandering around clumsily. That's when I realize something is very wrong with this dude. He's totally drunk. He wasn't doing push-ups. He was picking himself up after eating it on the floor. The third escalator is turned off, so I watch him bounce back and forth against the sides while he tries to walk down the escalator stairs. It was like watching a bowling ball bouncing back and forth between bumpers. I can't believe he managed to make it all the way without falling on his face.
I can see a security guard in the distance, back on the third floor, halfway across the mall, watching from a distance. I wave him over, to let him know to come down or send somebody over to deal with this drunk guy. I watch the guy walk right into the closed glass doors of a shoe store and almost fall down. It's more sad than funny. He keeps on going, though, walking towards the exit, using the wall to help him keep his balance. At this point, I'm about 15 feet behind him, cautiously trailing him. I don't think he notices me at all. He has a cell phone in his hand, and keeps holding it to his ear like he's waiting for someone to pick up, but he never says a word. He stumbles through the exit doors and makes it outside. I follow.
He's still on the phone, walking around like a Drunken Master. His ability to keep from falling is almost skillful. As the man starts heading towards the outdoor patio area of a restaurant, I notice there's a security guard in a truck parked outside. I walk over to notify security about this guy and he informs me that he already knows and he has it under control. Okay, so I leave the guy alone for the security guard to deal with, and proceed to walk across the parking lot to my car. I keep looking back to watch. The security guard pulled the truck forward to get a better view of the guy, and then got out. I'm slowly walking backwards, nearing my car, and the drunk guy walks right past the security guard, and hurries through the parking lot, coming my way. The lone security guard is standing idly and watching. The drunk guy seems to have found his footing and is walking steadily. A car I had walked past beeps and lights up. He had just unlocked his car remotely. He's going to try to drive away in his condition. I'm waiting for security to do something, but he just continues to stand there and watch from a distance as the drunk guy gets closer to his car. That's when I should have taken action and stopped the man myself. But I didn't. He got into his car and drove off. The security guard jumped back in his truck and made a haphazard attempt to block the car's exit, but he managed to drive past him and drive away.
My reluctance to act could have cost someone's life. This guy could have killed somebody. Somebody I know. Somebody I care about. While yes, this was the security guard's job and he failed to stop it, that doesn't excuse my own inaction. As a human being, I have a responsibilty to help and protect others. I could have stopped him easily. Anybody could have. He was drunk out of his mind. He could hardly walk. But I let him get in his car, and I am at fault for that.
I don't know if security called the police, but I never saw them. For the record, the guy's driving was actually quite normal. I didn't think he'd even make it out of the parking lot, but he managed to do it just fine. Still, that doesn't make any of this okay. He was far beyond the legal intoxication limit and should never have been behind the wheel of a car. I don't know if he made it home, or if he crashed or got pulled over, or what. I think that's what makes it all the more troubling for me. Not knowing what happened as a result of my inaction, but knowing that I could have prevented any potential tragedy from occurring at all if I had just taken it upon myself to handle the situation responsibly. I have to be able to stand up for what I know is right, no matter what.
My reluctance to act could have cost someone's life. This guy could have killed somebody. Somebody I know. Somebody I care about. While yes, this was the security guard's job and he failed to stop it, that doesn't excuse my own inaction. As a human being, I have a responsibilty to help and protect others. I could have stopped him easily. Anybody could have. He was drunk out of his mind. He could hardly walk. But I let him get in his car, and I am at fault for that.
I don't know if security called the police, but I never saw them. For the record, the guy's driving was actually quite normal. I didn't think he'd even make it out of the parking lot, but he managed to do it just fine. Still, that doesn't make any of this okay. He was far beyond the legal intoxication limit and should never have been behind the wheel of a car. I don't know if he made it home, or if he crashed or got pulled over, or what. I think that's what makes it all the more troubling for me. Not knowing what happened as a result of my inaction, but knowing that I could have prevented any potential tragedy from occurring at all if I had just taken it upon myself to handle the situation responsibly. I have to be able to stand up for what I know is right, no matter what.
You guys will probably laugh at this, but when I find myself in these kind of situations, I ask myself, "What would Tom Cruise do?" WWTCD? What would T.C. do? You know what T.C. would do? T.C. would Take. Control. That's right. Take control. It means to take control of the situation. Take control of your own actions. Take control of your life. That's what T.C. means to me. It's become something of a personal motto, but I don't always heed its call, like I should have done tonight. I always want to be the hero. I look up to guys like Tom Cruise, and Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Guys who play the hero in the movies. Yet in my own life, I so often let that moment to rise pass me by. If I want to be like them, then, crazy antics aside, I need to act like them, and I need to take action. I need be responsible, confident, and courageous. So not only is this a message for myself, but I hope it may also serve as a message for you. Do what you know is right. Trust in your judgment, and don't be afraid to act. Your very own inaction could end up costing lives.
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