patsomerset Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 You bet, I always queue. It's what I'm used to and how I was brought up I suppose and I still believe, like you, that order should prevail. Compared to several other venues I can think of, the ROH is fairly well endowed with ladies loos but I think the 'in' and 'out' doors do genuinely puzzle some people and there are always a large number of visitors at ROH some of whom have never been before and who do not seem to speak English. As always there the selfish and rude rather like the drivers on the motorway who will not merge lanes until the very last moment and then cut in front of the drivers who have been queuing patiently. An attendant (at ROH) might be a good idea. They may not take up the idea unless a fight breaks out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Can I just say that I know the loos you mean, and I have in the past walked in through the wrong door, not realising that I was going in the Out one (if you get my meaning.) There was no queue at the time, so it wasn't actually a problem, and I only realised there were two doors when somone came in the other door. Do they actually say Entrance and Exit? Or was I just being a bit stupid? You've got me there. I haven't been since last June - to the ROH I mean - I can't remember if the doors bear the legends IN and OUT or variations thereof. I seem to recall they open in a manner that suggests one is for IN and the other is for OUT, much as they do in restaurant kitchens to avoid mishaps. I think next time I will go in through the out door just for the hell of it. You are not being stupid at all. If there are no signs, people can go in whichever door they like. So why on earth do we queue. No wonder we get pitying looks. I just did the first time I went - so to speak, oh dear!! - because there was a queue so I got in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsomerset Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 No, I do not think they say 'in' and 'out' or anything else but I am not sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I think I only went in the Out door in the first place, because someone coming out held it open for me in a helpful manner. I I am normally very hot on queueing, I think it is the most civilised way of dealing with things, and I would be very angry indeed if someone deliberately queue jumped. But if it is very busy, the constant flow of people means you don't really notice which way the door is opening, you just go through. And it doesn't help that once you are in, the basins are all the way down the middle, so that there is a milling confusion of people getting in each other's way. Not a good arrangement at all, really. Although nowhere near as bad as the Ladies at Gatwick Airport after you check in, but before you go through passport control. They have been beautifully done up, but there are no general washbasins any more. Instead, each cubicle has a wash basin inside it. So by the time each lady has finished washing her hands, combing her hair, adjusting her makeup and so on, they emerge to a long line of women with anxious expressions. No idea who came up with that daft idea. A man, I am sure. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Not a good arrangement at all, really. Although nowhere near as bad as the Ladies at Gatwick Airport after you check in, but before you go through passport control. They have been beautifully done up, but there are no general washbasins any more. Instead, each cubicle has a wash basin inside it. So by the time each lady has finished washing her hands, combing her hair, adjusting her makeup and so on, they emerge to a long line of women with anxious expressions. No idea who came up with that daft idea. A man, I am sure. Just like the Balcony loos at the Barbican Centre . Not a bad idea in practice, as long as they'd put in a washbasin or two and some mirrors in the communal area for those of us who just wanted to wash our hands or something. But no ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 If its the loos I'm thinking of.....near the Stalls Circle left side entrance then yes I do queue but didn't realise there is a proper 'in' and 'out' door. I thought you sort of make a decision whether you're going for the right side or left side loos as you get into the loos! There doesnt seem to be room there to mill around in the middle area waiting for a loo to be free on either side because of the people coming out etc. Even if this means that say you go for the right side but a loo on the left becomes vacant I don't usually cut across if you know what I mean. A bit like queuing at a bank machine if there are two cash machines.......if two queues have formed you just have to make a decision which one to join.....and off course the other one always moves more quickly!! Sometimes people form a single file so that the first in the queue chooses whichever machine comes free first......which is fairer but its just not always like that. For some reason in those loos I nearly always choose the block on the right side......not even sure if have been in the ones on the left side!! Oh dear such a creature of habit ........can't believe have just written all this on the loos at ROH and not even sure if its the ones being discussed!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 How bizarre Lin, if there is a choice of loo-sides (eg at motorway service stations, ROH etc) I always go for the ones on the right hand side! Some years ago we were at the Opera Bastille in Paris and there was a very large queue for the ladies. Some enterprising ladies made sure the gents was empty and took it over!! Someone stood guard over the door and the queue reduced much faster. Trust the French ladies to take charge of the situation! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Aha well ditto again!! when we were on holiday in Lanzarote last summer we went on a day trip over to the island of Fuertaventura and after a considerable drive were stopping for lunch up in the mountains (very bleak ones in fact) . We had been warned by the tour guide that there were only two loos and as it gets very busy in the restaurant not to leave it too long etc. Well quite a few of us were dying to go when we got there so a massive queue formed outside the ladies queue but the mans queue soon disappeared. I wandered up to the mans toilet and cautiously looked inside in case it was no place for a lady but it looked exactly like the female loo!! Because I wasn't at the front of the queue I said to the first few ladies hey look its fine why don't we use this as well but no one would go in. So I did!! Which meant I certainly jumped the queue ....but I did offer. Not long after I came out I saw other ladies starting to use the men's toilet as well. Perhaps they were just waiting to see if I came out in one piece and hadn't been got at by some "demon" of the lavatories!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 The Ladies' behind the amphitheatre bar have clear in and out signs. Those behind the main cloakroom downstairs do not. Arguably it is this lack of signage which causes the problem - added to the fact that not everyone realises that there are loos on both sides once one gets in. I agree about the sometimes rude behaviour one encounters in and near the Ladies' at the ROH. Some people who go to the Opera House (a minority fortunately) seem to think that they are very important and should have priority. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Some people who go to the Opera House (a minority fortunately) seem to think that they are very important and should have priority. I find I usually encounter them on the stairs . Funny how some people think that, with room for one person going up and one person going down the stairs, they are somehow entitled to hog most of the width of the staircase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I find I usually encounter them on the stairs . Funny how some people think that, with room for one person going up and one person going down the stairs, they are somehow entitled to hog most of the width of the staircase. I don't want the great unwashed getting anywhere near my ermine cape. Or my tiara to get jostled. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Guess you haven't been to the ROH lately, have you, Anjuli? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Guess you haven't been to the ROH lately, have you, Anjuli? Was that you, Alison, who spilled wine on my gold lamé gown and then I had to run into the ladies room through the wrong door to wash it off - losing a glass slipper along the way? By the way, the tiara showed up in the Lost and Found, minus a few paste diamonds. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueline Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Anjuli, I hope you remembered to give the queuing ladies a pitying look as you went in through the out door!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Anjuli, I hope you remembered to give the queuing ladies a pitying look as you went in through the out door!!! My dear, there is no one who can give a pitying look quite like an old ballet teacher. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A frog Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 This has probably been covered in the past pages.There was a very affectionate couple in the stalls yesterday, complete with suction noises. They fortunately managed to mostly keep it down during the actual performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Oh yes, that reminds me, especially in the run-up to Valentine's Day: people planning on kissing, canoodling, sitting on other people's laps or for that matter anything else requiring two heads to be closer than would normally be expected, please select a row where there is nobody behind you whose view you might obliterate by there being 2 heads instead of 1. I've had that twice in recent weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Well, after the little cinema incident where an argument about texting was settled by a fatal shooting, I'm getting a bit reluctant to complain about people's behaviour in theatres. Maybe it's the prospect of a bullet in the face that's making the staff reluctant to do anything too. But these days, inconsiderate behaviour seems to be getting more common - I don't know if it's the whole "personal freedom" business of "nobody tells ME what to do" or whether people are so used to interacting electronically that they've forgotten how to behave face to face or what the problem is, but it's really rather depressing these days. A few years ago I was at a Christmas Revels performance, and there was a woman and her two pre-teen boys in the seats in front of us. Granted, the Revels performances have some audience participation, but that's only in particular numbers marked on the programme; it isn't an audience free-for-all throughout. Yet these two kids were being a real problem - climbing all over their seats, whining, chatting, running up and down the aisle, and quite deliberately getting in the way of other people trying to watch the performance. I asked the woman in front to please keep them under control and she just gave me this "drop dead" look. Then my friend lost patience and asked, and got the "they're only children" excuse (they were like 10 years old, not toddlers). The little blighters were absolutely still and breathless and transfixed during the sword dance, but that was the only respite we had for the entire performance. And they knew they were annoying other people and they were loving it. And mum just sat there, apparently oblivious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petunia Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Firstly, I just want to express my gratitude for the lessons in ROH loo behaviour, because I’ll be coming over to see Marianela Nunez dance Sleeping Beauty ! And I want to do everything right of course so not to step on someone’s toes. (Any hints?) Secondly, my “pet peeve” is perfume. I love a nice fragrance but why do I always get the seat between the ladies with a certain fondness for the sweet and heavy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Some perfumes start me sneezing, which in turn will annoy those around me, some women seem to douse themselves in the stuff unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I am allergic to lots of perfumes, and some of those worn by other people give me a migraine like headache. There used to be a very pungent one that was popular in the early 90s. I can't remember what it was, but it used to make me feel quite sick. Thank goodness it seems to have gone out of fashion. And men who wear rather smelly aftershave also are not pleasant to sit next to. Although that also seems to have gone out of fashion - either that or I am losing my sense of smell! Regarding badly behaved children, I was talking about this the other night with a few "grumpy middle aged people". When I was a nipper, the only way to see any of the Disney classics, was to go to the cinema. Hence we learnt to sit quietly for the duration of the film, and concentrate on what was going on, without disturbing other people. Now that is no longer the case, so small children watch these things in their own home. I very much doubt if they sit there for an hour and a half without talking, eating, getting up to go to the loo, or just jumping about. Consequently they are not used to doing so when they do end up going to live performances. The behaviour of that woman was just plain bad parenting - lazy and selfish. She has got into the habit of ignoring her offspring for the sake of a quiet life for herself. Of course, there are plenty of children who behave beautifully when taken to the theatre. When I went to Le Corsaire, there were masses of small children, all sitting still and watching the performance. So, it is not the fault of the children, it is entirely the fault of the responsible adult. Rant over. For now......... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi66 Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I am allergic to lots of perfumes, and some of those worn by other people give me a migraine like headache. There used to be a very pungent one that was popular in the early 90s. I can't remember what it was, but it used to make me feel quite sick. Thank goodness it seems to have gone out of fashion. Dior's "Poison" - so aptly named and I also remenber it was just vail! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 I love perfume but many of them these days give me a headache and I have issues sitting next to heavily doused people. I have noticed lots of ladies redouse themselves in the ladies when there is absolutely no need! I spray before I go out and that is it. Not audience behaviour but colleague behaviour. There was a colleague I had issues with and she deliberately used to spray herself with perfume as she was walking past me because she knew her chosen perfume gave me a dreadful headache. In the end our personnel team issued a reminder that perfume should not be sprayed in the office! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I think it is the chemicals in modern perfumes that are the problem, rather than the actual scents in many cases. On a blisteringly hot day when my head was already thumping, I was persuaded to tour a perfume house in Grasse; it was very expensive and up-market and to my surprise I felt no worse afterwards, perhaps because their boast was natural ingredients. As a London commuter I always carry perfume for emergences, such as this morning when a guy F***ed in my Victoria Line carriage, it's handy when the tramps get on too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petunia Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 MAB ! Do you spray them? That's a very good idea. But I wouldn't like to use any good scent for that. (Sorry, off topic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MargaretN7 Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Not audience behaviour but colleague behaviour. There was a colleague I had issues with and she deliberately used to spray herself with perfume as she was walking past me because she knew her chosen perfume gave me a dreadful headache. In the end our personnel team issued a reminder that perfume should not be sprayed in the office! I wonder if that was the colleague I had at one time, with the same habit. Although our personnel team had begun calling themselves 'Human Resources', and said such interpersonal matters were not their concern! I eventually left - for a much better job which much nicer people :-) And my emergency device is a breath freshening spray, which also acts to intercept unwelcome scents from others, and doesn't cause problems for people who might react adversely, as I would, if I (or anyone else) used a scent spray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 MAB ! Do you spray them? That's a very good idea. But I wouldn't like to use any good scent for that. (Sorry, off topic) I dab it under my nose! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I dab it under my nose! You should put it on a handkerchief like Monsieur GM! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 And then there are the coughers… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Oh dear, sorry about that. :blush: I have an irritating cough at the moment, which I can't do anything about. As it seems to be triggered by an allergic reaction to central heating, cough mixture is useless. I can assure you it is just as annoying for me as everyone else. What were those throat sweets that someone mentioned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I used to work at a midlands concert hall venue The rules were very strict. For orchestral concerts a short first piece was usually programmed. Latecomers were allowed in once that piece was over - any later & they had to wait until the interval. Or they were let in after the first movement ofcthe symphony (& woe betide any in between movement clappers- the subscribers would glare daggers) Strictly no food or drink was allowed inside the hall except for sela cough sweets with special no rustle wrappers. I was once allowed to take a cup of water to a patron who was feeling ill We had to stabs guard at the doors at the interval to watch for ice creams & he vendors were not allowed to sell any more drinks/ice creams after the 5 min bell without warning the customer that they couldn't take it into the hall Silence was expected from the very first note to the end of the performance Mind you the worst behaviour I witnessed was from a certain soprano who was giving a recital. She wouldn't let any of us stewards into the hall to do our safety/cleanliness checks as she was rehearsing late so we were rushed & late letting patrons in. She started moaning at the accompanist during the piano introduction. It was as if she felt the music wasn't important if she wasn't actually singing at that point. She was certainly a bit of a 'battle' axe that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 In response to posts 582 & 583: I remember Poison all too well. I remember an over-enthusiastic saleslady spraying me with it in a department store and I had to dash to the loos to throw up. Sadly my jumper still smelled of it when I got home and I finished up throwing it away. It's the only perfume I have ever found literally sickening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 PITF, could you have been arrested if you stabbed a guard? I would have offered to amend the typo but it is so hilarious I think you should let it stand! We had to stabs guard at the doors at the interval to watch for ice creams & he vendors were not allowed to sell any more drinks/ice creams after the 5 min bell without warning the customer that they couldn't take it into the hall 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts