Character Confession: How Would You Handle It–Drive-In Edition

There are three issues from 2011 that I struggle with. God knows my heart, and I’ve been honest about it. I know I need to move on in all of them, but I’m not quite there.

This is one I can talk about, and see what you think.

My husband loves the drive-in. For him, it’s an affordable family experience. I’m not the fan he is. I’m a homebody, and so sensitive to sounds. Hearing everyone rip open their chip bags and eat with their mouths open isn’t appealing for me.

But anyway.

Last summer we went to the same drive-in we’ve attended for years. It has three screens and we realized that the first movie was great, but the second was one we don’t watch because the content goes against our core values. However, another screen’s second movie had something we were able to watch as a family. I remarked to my husband that I wasn’t sure if we would be allowed to switch screens, so we should ask.

So, we did.

We had a teen worker who we all believe after the fact was trying to be nice. We certainly weren’t hiding anything. We were upfront and said we brought our own food, and what was the charge. We asked if we were allowed to switch screens. He said yes, and hesistated, almost apologizing. He said it would cost extra, but only a couple dollars (I believe that was the amount.) He gave us a ticket to signify such and we placed it on our dashboard.

When we started to drive over to the other screen, a man on a golf cart drives over to us and cuts us off. He is yelling before he even reaches us, letting us know we are not allowed to switch screens. We are robbing studios and what we’re doing is not allowed. I hold up the ticket and try to explain we asked, and paid, and that the worker gave us a ticket.

He would not listen. He went on for a few minutes until he receives a call on his walkie-talkie (I think) where he is needed elsewhere. He orders us to stay put.

And we do.

When he returns, he continues. He then walks to the back and asks if we are hiding any extra people in the back of our Escape. It has our Adirondack chairs and blankets. He then turns to our children and demands to know their ages. We answer 8 and 13. He accuses us of lying.

Now I’m getting mad.

I hold up the ticket and let him know that we asked about the screens. We paid extra, and he gave us this ticket.

He asks how much we paid. We say $2, or whatever it was. He said, well that isn’t the price. Whatever the final price was, we owed $3.

Okay. We start pulling out money, trying to pay.

But he won’t let it go.

He returns to the back of our vehicle, again accusing us of hiding others. He asks the kids again their ages. My husband finally just holds the dollar bills out the window and tells the guy to take it. I’m not kidding, this exchange is lasting over 10 minutes.

He drives off, and we proceed to the new spot.

The first movie on that screen ends, and the loudspeaker cues up, letting moviegoers know about the concession stand. There is a PS to the message, and it’s a voice we know all too well. The man is  now letting everyone know that as a reminder, there is no movie switching allowed, that it robs the studios, and he’s had to deal with that and everyone needs to remember that.

We felt like he singled us out and could not let go.

But he wasn’t done.

Five minutes later, the golf cart comes by again, this time stopping by the back of the car. He is there for a minute, then comes to my husband’s window.

“Just taking down your license plate in case I have any trouble with you later.”

I’m. Not. Kidding.

Look at us. Do we look like a family that would cause harm?

When he drives away, I’m so upset I’m fighting tears. I get the drive-in is located in a kind of  hard area. I’m positive this man deals with people trying to work the system every night of his job.

But we weren’t one of those people. We’d been honest, and realized the teen worker was being nice and undercharged us.

We were intent on making it right.

And this man refused to let it go.

I never left the car. The rest of the family set up the chairs and blankets. Our youngest ended up in the car asleep, but I cried throughout the movie, so upset that he wouldn’t even believe my kids when they told him their ages. That he made an announcement over the loudspeaker knowing it was about us, and then had the audacity to write down our license plate. It’s apples and oranges, but it was a small taste on profiling. And it was heartbreaking to experience.

Half-way through the movie, the golf cart returns. He asks me where my husband is. I don’t even have a voice, I’m that upset and I’ve cried that hard. I point to the front, and he goes over, explaining that he talked to the kid and now understands what the kid did, but that he has to make sure the studios get their money and go after everyone who switches screens. It was his form of an apology, but we were so done. The incident probably started at 11:30, and it was nearly 2am. We were literally drained.

It is now drive-in season and although I joke about friends not being able to attend with me, I confess, I’m so not over this. I remain as hurt and upset as the night it happened. My son remains upset, and does not want to go back. The thought of me going back literally upsets my stomach.

Yet, it’s a great family experience and a summer tradition.

What would you do?

Would you return to that drive in? There are others, but at a distance. Our friends from church all go to this one.

Would you put this post on their FB page? When I scrolled posts there, one customer brought up what I’m certain is this one man and whoever answered on the drive-in behalf clearly sided with the man and kind of mocked the person that posted.

What would you have done?

It’s obvious I need to get over this, I’m tearing up just typing this post up. My favorite definition on forgiveness is “Letting go of the fact the other person did not meet your expectations.”

I know I have to let this go.

But I’m not quite there yet.

featured image from photobucket

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