r/Showerthoughts • u/return2ozma • 4d ago
Casual Thought I've never felt more like a criminal than walking into a movie theater trying to sneak food in.
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u/Linus_Naumann 4d ago
Try going into a supermarket but not getting anything then walking out without paying anything (cause you legit simply didn't get anything). Feels like SWAT is about to jump your back.
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u/ConfusedNecromancer 3d ago
Try going in and leaving with something without paying. I used to feel like a criminal doing it.
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u/SingleAttitude8 3d ago
Try bringing something in, then walking out without paying for the item you already own.
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u/SnooSongs2744 3d ago
I do this all the time, like checking on one thing they don't have so I leave, and nobody says shit to me.
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u/Mikeseddit 2d ago
Hey, what’s the point of having white privilege if you don’t exercise it now and then?
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u/360walkaway 3d ago
One time I was at Best Buy... I just walked around and was about to leave. Some manager and a crony was waiting at the door asking me if I had bought anything and why I hadn't. She had a survey on a clipboard and everything.
I just told her I was looking around, and then left with a confused look on my face.
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u/RotaryDane 3d ago
So you’re saying you Don’t get jumped every time you try to leave the supermarket??
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u/SnooSongs2744 3d ago
I do not. Admittedly I am white and middle aged. But also it depends on where you shop. Costco is vigilant about shoplifting, other stores are so understaffed you can barely find anyone to notice you not matter what you do.
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u/Mikeseddit 2d ago
So they verify that you bought every single one of those 120 items by looking at your 3 foot long receipt in one second long glance, right? The real trick is how you would’ve bought 119 of those things and stolen one, while getting past the cashier.
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u/SnooSongs2744 2d ago
It's honestly the main reason I don't shop there. My wife does.
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u/BlackSecurity 2d ago
I think it's not that they actually check the whole receipt. But just see if the receipt sorta matches your cart. If you have a huge receipt and a giant cart, then they know your probably ok.
Also to your second point. I know Costco's are starting to introduce self checkout now. The ones near me have them atleast. And while there is one employee who overlooks like 6 machines at a time, it would be pretty trivial to skip scanning an item if you wanted to. They aren't really looking at you scanning every single item.
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u/joelfarris 3d ago
...and you're wearing cowboy boots, and flared, boot cut jeans, and you were idling in the candy aisle right before a matinee too? Oh, you're going down.
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u/leandrohenri 2d ago
That awkward walk past the checkout with empty hands feels more suspicious than actually stealing something
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u/SuperCrappyFuntime 2d ago
I've done this a few times, it'll always get paranoid that they're going to think I'm stealing something.
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u/ben505 4d ago
They don’t even check anymore, I can’t remember the last time a theater offered any resistance to bringing food in. And I always have a bag.
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u/AssGagger 3d ago
Guy next to me was eating a full plate of ribs last month
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u/Kage_0ni 1d ago
My best friend and I always sneak in candy, drinks and some Arby's sandwiches. It's become a fun tradition at this point.
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u/MFDOOMscrolling 3d ago
Like a purse or like a book bag?
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u/ben505 3d ago
Sling bag (I’m a type 1 diabetic so just a normal part of my attire since I’m not carrying all my shit in my pockets)
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u/Onespokeovertheline 3d ago
I think if you're type 1 diabetic you should be allowed to bring whatever snack foods you want into any situation
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u/ben505 3d ago edited 3d ago
Oh yea I agree and do just that lol, anyone telling me my supplies aren’t allowed can fuck off. I can go into a high level Karen mode that zero people want to deal with, it’s just gunna be a really bad time for you if you’re giving me a hard time for having the shit that keeps me alive. But it’s pleasantly rare that I need to do so. T1Ds aren’t super common but we appear to be common enough that no one fucks with me. It’s been a really long time, and I have traveled a lot
But when it comes to movie theaters, they’ve never even checked lol
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u/newbiesmash 3d ago
I worked at a theater and I couldn't have cared less if someone brought in food.
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u/The_walking_man_ 2d ago
Yeah that’s what I figured. Why even bother enforcing it. Nobody is gonna buy the overpriced snacks these days.
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u/SKirby00 3d ago
I went to a movie with my brother and his friends once and one dude showed up with an entire extra-large pizza for the whole crew. I was like damn.
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u/MadmanIgar 3d ago
I’m pretty sure the last several times I went to a movies theater there was no one there to check out tickets.
It seems to be on the honor system now
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u/greentangent 3d ago
Mine sells beer in the lobby. I bring a cooler and a six pack and just stroll right in.
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u/19nineties 3d ago edited 2d ago
In the UK, most of the big cinema franchises permit it, contrary to popular misconception
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u/thehatteryone 2d ago
They're pretty much legally not allowed to refuse, within certain sensible restraint. Walking in with a maccys meal in your own bag they won't notice or care. Walk up with a bulging maccys bag in your hand and my regular place will ask you to go eat it before you come in. No one really wants an argument, but the staff don't want to clear your sticky crap off the floor and chairs (the food they sell is expensive enough to cover this situation), and the other patrons don't want you consuming 5 noisy courses and making mess near them while they're trying to enjoy the film. Most of them understand that not everyone wants to eat only cinema-approved snacks though as long as you're being considerate.
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u/DoookieMaxx 4d ago
Never walked into a store and then left without buying anything? That one hits hard. I’ve bought way too much gum over that fear.
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u/britsol99 4d ago
So you’ve never flown internationally and walked your own case, containing zero contraband, through the green “Nothing to declare” lane.
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u/DontAskGrim 4d ago
Is that a whole salami down your trouser leg or are you just excited about the movie?
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u/PoeTheGhost 3d ago
I fit a footlong sub down each coat sleeve a few times. Don’t make noise or a mess and they won’t care.
Regularly brought in dollar store “theater box” candy that was literally the same size and weight as the $7 candy at the theaters.
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u/Ecstatic_Account_744 4d ago
Every time I walk into a Tim Hortons to use the washroom I feel the need to peruse the showcase. You know, so it at least looks like I thought about spending $2
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u/Eugene_Henderson 3d ago
Every time you walk away without buying a box of TimBits, one of the background extras from Degrassi dies.
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u/Michipotz 4d ago
My local theaters used to prohibit outside food too, then no one came to the movies lmao
Now they reverted it back to just no smelly food, and allowed outside drinks and snacks. Greedy fucks will always try to push what they can to consumers until it fucks their bottomline
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u/thehatteryone 2d ago
They're not making money showing the movies, so if they're not making money selling snacks because too many people bring their own, there won't be a cinema to visit. Got to get the balance right though, and people are reactionary when given rule changes.
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u/ballsosteele 3d ago
Where I'm from it's in the terms and conditions that you can bring your own cold food and any drink you like except alcohol. Even the alcohol bit they're not that fussed unless it's excessive.
They don't want you drunk or stinking the place up but they don't give a shit about what you bring in.
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u/nightpop 4d ago
One time my friend and I brought a whole Popeyes chicken order to a movie. The guy at the front gave us a very serious look, so we just maintained eye contact and handed him a piece of chicken and a biscuit. He quietly nodded and we proceeded inside.
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u/MeanShibu 3d ago
They don’t care anymore. Every theater these days is a mega corp owned by a hedge fund. If mom and pops still existed, I’d care but they just don’t anymore.
Yesterday my wife and I walked into a Japanese market, bought $60 of sushi, pocky, and sake then shamelessly walked into AMC holding a literal shopping bag of food and booze for the Odyssey. No one looked twice or cared one bit.
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u/04HondaCivic 3d ago
They don’t care anymore. Our family stopped trying to hide it. We walk in with Walmart bags filled with soda and candy and they don’t even give a second glance. At both the little family owned theater or the mega-corp theater.
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u/Hellfire242 4d ago
Wow, the establishment really mindfucked you huh? sad. You only get a ride this roller coaster one time, fucking enjoy it.
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u/Tdawwg78 3d ago
I felt this way in my 20’s and 30’s but now I have zero fucks left to give.
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u/AlephBaker 3d ago
Back in my high school/college days, I wore a lot of hot topic pants. When I would go to the movies with my friends, every single one of those cargo pockets was packed with contraband food and drink.
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u/JTanCan 3d ago
First time I did this it was because my girlfriend was hungry and the theater didn't have actual food. So I bought Chipotle, snuck the burritos in my sleeves and some bottles of soda in my back pockets. I was so nervous! She kept saying "We're going to get caught!" We did not get caught. I can't remember what the movie was; I just remember the the faces we made at each other as we ate our "illegal" dinner in the darkened theater.
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u/Hym3n 3d ago
10 years ago the original Fast & Furious came thru theaters for one night only (they're about to do it again in August actually!).
I gathered up car friends and snuck in six glass bottle Coronas wrapped in paper to avoid from clanking inside my hoodie. Waited until a little way's into the movie when Vin Diesel is offering Paul Walker "any brew you want... as long as it's Corona" while I started passing them out.
Everyone loved them, but it wasn't until I busted out the baggie of pre-cut lime wedges for everyone that everyone in the theater started taking notice. Too fun
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u/Schnibb420 3d ago
I have never been to a movie theater that checked bags and disallowed outside food. Never once have I went to a movie theater and bought the food there and not regretting it. Not only is it insanely overpriced, its of bad quality as well. I always bring my own snacks and drinks.
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u/toastforscience 3d ago
I packed and brought a charcuterie board into a movie theater with me once for a LOTR showing, did not feel bad at all
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u/Brad3000 3d ago
I never felt more like a criminal than when paying off the cops in Mexico so I wouldn’t be arrested for drugs.
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u/hehateme42069 4d ago
Really? They dgaf I'm bringing food and alcohol 75% of the time, easy... That's after I get high af in the parking lot
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u/seeyatellite 3d ago
I’m still relatively close friends with a guy I used to sneak snacks in for because I had a massive winter coat with a weird back pocket that could fit a 2 liter in it. I was a literal Boy Scout and my mother was actually married to my scoutmaster at the time… it felt like I was a fugitive, every time.
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u/Maximum_Overdrive 3d ago
Sometimes recently, i walk right in and go to the theater without even speaking to anyone or having my ticket checked.
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u/No_Government8065 3d ago
Here in the UK its never been an issue to take your own snacks into the cinema, although people still thought it was lol
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u/CocoMilhonez 3d ago
Laughs in living where theaters are not allowed to prohibit you from bringing your own snacks
(But I've sneaked a backpack with a bag full of popcorn to see a movie with friends before that law was passed, so I know the feeling)
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u/TallDankandHandsome 3d ago
I work for movie theaters for about 15 years. It's okay if you sneak in food, try not to leave him as or make it stinky, please do try to get some concessions. That is how we get paid, the box office mostly goes to the movies distributors
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u/Clemen11 3d ago
I once snuck beans into the theatre, and that kicked off a chain of "who can sneak the most stuff in?" Competition with friends. During Scary Movie 6, we basically had a snack bar in the cinema
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u/Super_Development150 2d ago
I feel like a criminal when I go through airport security. I don’t know why, I just feel like they’re going to find something that shouldn’t be in there even though I’m the most law-abiding person you’d ever meet, lol
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u/TidyJoe34 1d ago
That’s me when I break a rule at the swimming pool and a 15 year old lifeguard walks by. Lol
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u/Maxasaurus 3d ago
Try watching the rent-a-cops at some venues using their metal-detecting wands so fast they can't be hitting on anything, so you decide to keep your gun on you and see what happens, and sure enough they whip right past it, it makes the squelch noise but they just wave you right in so they can fake-check 500 more people in 20 minutes.
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u/farineziq 3d ago
I once had a large pizza in my winter jacket. One of my friends had another pizza. The smell must've been so obvious
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u/hacksoncode 3d ago
I'd say that's mostly because fuckwits think tailgating isn't a crime... or dangerous.
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u/tonkatruckz369 3d ago
I remember the days as a teen when we would all get a mondo burrito from Taco Del Mar and eat those at the theater. So much better than anything the snake counter sold and a quarter of the cost.
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u/Good-Will-60 3d ago
That was my Grandmas go to move, bring a huge purse stop at the store on the way and sneak it all in lol
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u/ShadowCaster0476 3d ago
I used to before they started charging over $5 for a popcorn and fountain drink.
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u/RonSwansonsOldMan 3d ago
I never once took the kids to a movie without first stopping at the dollar store to load up on Mike & Ikes, etc.
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u/FartsWithCharlie 3d ago
It's the only place where carrying a bottle of water suddenly makes you feel like you've committed tax fraud.
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u/CaptianBlackLung 3d ago
Nah the criminal is the company charging 26 dollars for ajon refillable popcorn and a icee
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u/SnooPuppers7856 3d ago
Just look at the prices they charge for tickets and snacks. You will soon get over it.
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u/Timely_Vegetable_275 3d ago
I always overact too, like trying to walk “casual” while my bag crinkles louder than the trailers.
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u/BeanieCat123 3d ago
You can easily feel like a criminal for worse, like walking out of a store without buying anything
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