My husband and I ride our motorcycles as much as possible in decent weather both because it’s fun and because less fuel consumption is better for the environment.
Wednesday evening we stopped by Regal Cinemas in the Old Mill, and bought movie tickets at a kiosk. We were greeted by the manager when we presented our tickets for admission. He told us we needed to leave our backpacks (each about the same size as a large purse) behind the service desk. We told him we weren’t comfortable with such an option as our bags had valuable, expensive contents. We had ridden our motorcycles to the movie house after all and didn’t have cargo racks or bags. He said he simply couldn’t allow us to bring our oversized items into the movie theater. I asked if he had a ticket I could present to get my bag back if I left it at the customer service desk and he said no, all I’d get was his word that nothing would be taken. I even offered to show him the contents of our bags as neither of us had food or drink. He refused. My husband pointed to a lady standing in the concession line who had a purse larger than either my backpack or my husband’s smaller courier bag and asked why she could bring in a large purse but we were denied entry. The manager stated that the lady’s large purse/bag was fine but he couldn’t allow us to enter with our bags. We asked for a refund.
With people seeking alternate means of transportation to save money and the environment, it seems businesses might be accepting of and applaud these efforts. After all, businesses are still getting business, so why should it matter how a person gets there and what he or she uses to carry groceries or items that support alternate means of transportation such as a helmet and jacket? Furthermore, why is a lady’s large purse “okay” but a man’s smaller bag, held in the same manner, over the shoulder, not “okay?”
For heaven’s sake all business owners, with the economy the way it is, take what you can get! Discrimination can help you lose money!
H and D.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2009.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
I am so sorry for the way those people were treated. And I hope they take some kind of action.
Yet another reason why my multi-year boycott of Regal Cinemas remains in effect. I’ll add that to the list:
Unreasonably high ticket prices
Obnoxious and annoying advertising
And now, discrimination against fellow motorcyclists
RJ
American Motorcyclist Association member since 1991
The actions of confiscating backpacks but not purses is discriminatory on more levels than a multi-tasking lawyer could shake a carbon-fiber lawsuit-stick at. Unfortunately, it is common not just to the odious Regal Cinemas (and, since they’ll be dead in a year or two, let’s give ’em a break), but to other businesses as well — and not just Bend. They will, of course, never (or, at least, rarely) confiscate a woman’s purse, but they’ll confiscate anything and everything else, including man-purses, backpacks, fishing vests and ginormous shopping bags full of their neighbors’ merchandise.