Many of us have heard the phrase "hold my beer" at some point in our lives. It's basically an expression indicating that a person is about to do something pretty dumb, so his or her buddy should hold their beer to free up both hands for the shenanigans. Well, it seems that some poor sap in Germany should've really let someone hold his beer, because his attempt to open a cold one with a can of pepper spray accidentally resulted in the evacuation of an entire movie theater.
According to the New York Post, the incident transpired in the northern German town of Osnabrück, in which a man attempted to open a beer with personal protection pepper spray. However, the canister of the spray accidentally broke in the process -- effectively turning it into a makeshift tear gas bomb. As a result of this rare display of buffoonery, roughly 200 people had to exit the theater in a panic. However, all's well that ends well, as it has also been reported that the movie was restarted thirty minutes later.
During the fallout of this incident, the police were called and the manager of the movie theater claimed that everything remained relatively calm until things could be restored to normal. As of right now, nobody who was in attendance at the cinema has reported issues with their breathing or eyesight.
Of course, the presence of alcohol in movie theaters has become increasingly common in recent years -- even in the United States. Although you're not necessarily allowed to bring outside booze into most movie theaters, several chains have begun selling beer, wine, and signature cocktails for patrons to sip on during the latest blockbuster or Oscar contender. Theater chains have been looking for any and every form of panacea to ease the fact that movie theater attendance has generally declined in a pretty depressing way, and the markup from alcohol sales has quietly become a big moneymaker for the industry -- along with services like MoviePass, more comfortable seats, and cheaper select tickets. It turns out that people seem to want tall, frosty beverages with their films, as long as nobody combines them with pepper spray.
So what's the lesson for all of us to glean from this story? There are a few to come to mind right off of the top of my head, but the critical thing to remember is that you should never attempt to take something that's designed to be a personal defense weapon and use it as a beer-opening device in an enclosed space.
Now, memorize that rule, and make sure to check out our 2017 movie premiere guide and our 2018 movie premiere guide so you can see all of the most highly-anticipated film releases over the course of the next year without MacGyver-ing a tear gas grenade and ruining everyone's evening.
