Karma Cleanser - Will Karma come back to haunt me because I talked?

Dear Karma Cleanser:

I was sitting in a movie theater waiting for my movie to start. The person in the row in front of me leaned over and tapped the person in front of him and asked if they knew each other. They started talking like old friends, shooting some shit before the movie started.

What they did not realize was that I knew about two-thirds of the people they were talking about, and that I was sitting there hanging on their every word.

They proceeded to talk some serious smack about one of my ex-girlfriends. They called her almost every name in the proverbial book and listed three people she had screwed over in the past year. My name was not mentioned, so I sat there and played dumb.

Later, I told my ex-girlfriend about this, and she could not figure out who the guys were. She was also mad at me for not speaking up and defending her. Anyway, I now feel bad for blabbing my mouth like I did — I mean, what good did it really do? Maybe I should have just kept it to myself?

-- Coming Distractions

We can see why you’re no longer with the ex — she sounds like a cold-blooded harpy who only thinks of herself. You were right in not speaking up: The First Amendment also covers those unfortunate situations where you’re held prisoner by other folks’ annoying conversations, and it just happened that this one involved dirt on someone you know. Then again, if every trip to the multiplex included this much drama and intrigue, we’re guessing that Hollywood wouldn’t be suffering from such a sales slump.

Been bad? karmacleanser@gmail.com.