Not too long ago I was visiting the Wehrenberg Ronnies 20 Theater. There has been a noticeable decline in my enjoyment of going to see shows at this particular site. We were watching a new release of 27 Dresses at an evening show. There was much activity in the theater during the movie: cell phones out, loud conversations, etc.

A person down the row from me was on her cell phone. She was quite audible on it. I asked her to put it away. Eventually she did, but took it out again and her friend flashed it in my eyes during a dark and quiet scene to aggravate me. I said, "I'm trying to watch a movie," and she said, "Watch it then!" Then she was talking on it again and a theater usher walked up the aisle, the rude patron was 2 seats from the aisle. The usher did nothing. The usher said nothing. I was exasperated.

My friends and I went to complain and management gave us emergency refund passes. We explained to the manager that this is a recurring problem in their theater. That there is no policing from the ushers. They do not do their job to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable experience.

The manager told us we should have left the theater to go get someone to help. We told him that someone walked in and still didn't do anything about it. We told him that leaving the theater makes us miss the movie we're already paying for and there should be some accountability on behalf of the staff and the management of the theater to keep the experience as enjoyable as possible.

We pointed out the theater behavior posted right next to the management/help desk. It said that people not following the policy of no cell phones, no loud conversations could be removed from the theater.

Since our initial complaint, the theater has removed their policy off the wall completely and my experience has not improved.

I have been a frequent patron of Wehrenberg since I was a kid; I see at least 5-10 movies a month. I really don't want to take my business to AMC, St. Louis and Landmark Cinemas. My friends and I have already stopped going to Ronnies, the theater we grew up with, since as far back as it was Ronnies 8.

AMC has a reminder on screen before every movie to ask patrons for some courtesy. Years ago you did too, why not bring something like that back?

Reinstate a policy on theater behavior. Train your employees to check the theaters at regular intervals for unsavory behavior.

Sincerely,
Ms. Jessica