They can't confiscate your candy if they kick you out as well!

Right..

That's not his job, though. Unless it's different than the movie theater I work at; we can't just willy-nilly search people's bags and purses.

Nope, not even a piece of cherry pie.

He might have limp licorice

No Erin, you read it wrong. They actually confiscated the candy that was inside the purse. He did ask for her purse and searched inside it. Which I don't think they can do that, if that's what you're asking :)

They can ask she could have refused

Business and company owners in the US are stingy as ****. Though this is overstepping legal boundaries even then.

The US is pretty ****** up. We live in a sort of police state, even though most people don't realize it.

The reason why the theaters frown on bringing your own food is because the ticket sales only go to the movie companies to pay for allowing the films to be in the theaters. The food and drinks the theaters sell are the main profit supply so they dont allow people to BYOF and drinks because they are losing profit. The boyfriend really over stepped the line by searching OP though...

Because everyone knows that multi billion dollar film industries need the extra two dollar inflation to make the CEO's bank book a little bigger, to continue to pay minimum wage to the people doing the upsell of said overpriced carbonated sugar water.

Hey there,I thought i was the only italuan on FML! Good to know i'm in good company!

We can bring our own in Denmark too :3

Yeah, that's good in Italy, but in America, everyone is lawsuit happy. I don't know if that's the case in Italy, but like a past commenter said, if someone brings their own food from another restaurant and gets food poisoning, they'll be able to sue the theater company over something they're not responsible for.

It's a movie theater, they don't have any legal right to search any bag whatsoever. They can deny her entrance if they want to, but they have no right to search anything regardless of size.

Yes! Exactly, I was going to say this too. Mind you a few theaters have cops on duty and they can call on one of them if they see something "suspicious", but having treats in your bag does not warrant that.

actually they do if you pay attention to there signs of no bags or backpacks most movie theaters on private property so they have the rights to search a bag most of them won't ever search a purse but they can search backs but mostly only to take a look inside I know cause I use to work at one

#160: They can ASK to search bags, but you don't have to agree with it. At that point, there's nothing they can do about it besides letting you in or escorting you out. They can put up as many signs as they want about bag searches, but that doesn't mean they're legally allowed to do them if the customer/patron refuses.

This FML post was written from the United States.

This FML did happen in the US. And since cinema's are private property, they ARE allowed to ask for a bag search and even kick a person out if they fail to comply. However you're allowed to refuse a bag search if you want.

What about it being private property gives them the right to compel a search without a warrant? They can deny entrance if they suspect the person is bringing in contraband, but they certainly can't force a patron to submit to a violation of their privacy just to watch a movie.

No, but they can refuse entrance if you don't comply. I don't know about US food and health rules, but in Canada it is actually against health code to bring outside food into a food serving establishment. They can't confiscate it, but they are legally required to have you remove it from the premises. Whether they let you back in after your violation is another matter. Cheap people still sneak food into theaters (and restaurants for that matter).

27, they cannot require a search. Just because it's "private" doesn't mean the amendments of the United States aren't intact. Under your theory, they could deny access because of ethnicity too.

157 - That makes no sense. Denying someone entrance for refusing to comply with a business's rules is NOT the same as denying someone because of their race or religion.

#157: Because cinemas are generally private property, they are allowed (to an extent) to make up their own rules. And are allowed to kick a person out if they don't comply with the rules. (Hell, my local cinema used to kick out people who didn't wear shoes, because they had a lot of trouble with people not wearing shoes to the cinema and stinking the place out.) I don't know how you think bag searches are anything like racial/religious discrimination though. One is something that can be helped (you either let them check you bag, or get kicked out), the other is something that a person can't help (a person can't erase their race or religious beliefs).