Listen HereColumn by
Dylan Frazier
@dylanfrazier44
I’ve been very cautious with COVID-19 since before it was cool (not to brag). I bought some surgical masks before it was cool, and I bought so much hand sanitizer that we still have some leftover (again not to brag or anything). I’ve hardly left the house except for a few things here and there, but one thing I have truly missed is going to the movie theater. I think I’ve written for The Pulse enough and anyone who knows me well enough that there’s nothing better to me than going to the movie theater.
Well on Thursday, Aug. 27, I finally went back to AMC Findlay 12 after not being there since Onward came out in March. I was a little nervous because the theater seats are so close together and I hated sitting near people way before the pandemic. But I can honestly say I felt safer at the movies then I do, let’s say, at Kroger or Wal-Mart getting groceries, because to me, it felt that AMC’s protocols will work.
I ordered my ticket online because it’s easier for me and for the ticket taker at the theater and I walked into the lobby. Sanitizer to the left and the right and a ticket booth near the very front with a taker waiting for me. My friends and I scanned our tickets and walked into the theater to see New Mutants (which was okay at best).
But before we walked in a worker stopped one of my friends for his mask because it didn’t meet the requirements for the theatre. Under AMC protocols, masks with valves on the sides are banned because the science they used for this plan said the masks doesn’t really work.
They told my friend to pay $1 for a mask or to leave the theater. I was initially stunned by that but also thankful because it made me feel a little safer in the theater. Everyone there was wearing masks and it isn’t like Wal-Mart where they don’t turn anyone away. AMC had a standard.
We walked into the theater with only seven total people in it and AMC had roped off every other row and had sanitizer wipes available to wipe your seat with, which of course we all did. We found a nice spot to sit and spread ourselves out so we were all practicing social distancing and still comfortable.
Even though the movie wasn’t exactly the greatest movie I’ve seen in theaters, that wasn’t the point of going. I mean yes, of course I wanted to see the movie, but I really wanted to see if it was going to be safe for me to go. And it was-at least to me. I felt very safe and I can’t wait to go back to see the next movie.
So thank you AMC. Thank you for being a company that even though wearing a mask is controversial (which it shouldn’t be but that’s for another article), you are protecting people.
