Shrieking Susan

This is a story inspired by the more annoying people in society that you encounter in public outings.

Shrieking Susan

Last night my friends and I rushed down to our local movie theater to see the remake of Stephen King's "It". We were super eager to see the reinvention, but slightly nervous about fighting all of the traffic considering it was a Saturday night. The isles were flooded with people shuffling around, but we finally fought through to find 3 open seats. Right as we sat down, the lights began to dim and the movie started. We sighed in relief feeling a sense of accomplishment for getting there right in the nick of time. 

In the middle of watching little Bill and Georgie make their famous paper boat, the man beside me stood up and started waving his hands while yelling, "SUSAN!! SUSUANNNN!!!" I looked down to see the women he was beckoning to rushing up the stairs with a large popcorn. She was a middle aged woman, with a blonde pixie cut, and an awfully orange spray tan. Of course, as fate had it, she plopped down right beside me. She loudly asked in her New Jersey accent what she had missed. As the man beside her began explaining it to her, I suddenly realized this was going to be a very long movie. 

As the movie progressed, the scenes got scarier with more pop-outs. With every pop-out that the movie had, I received a loud shriek from Susan going directly into my right ear. And as the movie got scarier, the shrieks got louder. The worst part was she would shriek 3 or 4 times per pop-out. Susan was screaming louder than the kids in the movie who were getting attacked. I sat there thinking, "What are the odds that I have to deal with this awful woman screaming right in my ear for a whole 2 hours and 15 minutes?" 

After sitting silently, stewing about Susan, I realized I was missing half the movie hung up on this lady. Not only was my right ear ringing, but I was also distracted by the negative thoughts running through my head. I realized that there are so many times where people around us just don't seem to know boundaries, or proper manners. Many times, it's hard for me to just ignore those people and have a good time. I get so caught up on all the bad things going on, that I can't even focus on the reason I'm there. I was there to watch a movie, not to let Shrieking Susan agitate me. 

I slowly calmed down and returned my attention to the movie, which turned out to be a really amazing remake. Yes, I had to deal with Susan letting out a slur of curse words before screaming bloody murder every 5 minutes, but I still enjoyed myself. I left the theater with a ringing ear, and an awful headache. But, I also left with a sense of accomplishment for sticking it out.