This is a story from many years ago, before seat allocation in movie threatres.
I arrived at the cinema early with my school aged daughter, to see one of The Lord of the Rings movies. We picked the best seats, up towards the back and in the centre. The cinema was not very full, with whole rows empty.
Usually you do not really interact with strangers at the cinema, everyone tends to be quite respectful.
In comes in group of two dads with about 4 children in tow.
Entitled dad asks, " Can you both move so we can sit there?" Not an excuse me, or please or any reasoning.
I reply, "No".
He continues rather more aggressively, "You can sit somewhere else."
Not sure what this guy's issue was.
I reply again, "No I arrived here early to get good seats." I can't believe I have to deal with this nonsense and I am not going to be bullied in front of my daughter.
The guy looks like he is about to have a fit when his friend starts physically pulling him away and placating him. At least one of them was a reasonable fellow, though no apology for the rude behaviour.
Luckily that was the end of it.
Entitled people are the ones who were never told no as kids. Good for you standing, I mean, sitting your groundlol
It happens so much these days. Kids in class demand something, then are shocked when the teacher says no. The stand there with their mouth open trying to process this new word.
Standing up, metaphorically!
There were plenty of other seats, so there was no reason to expect strangers to move.
This is why I mainly go to movie theaters that have reserved seating. I'm 6'6" tall and a big guy so I try to be considerate and arrive early enough to take my seat while previews are still running. If something makes me late, I sincerely apologize for disturbing others. That guy was a JERK!
That is very considerate of you.
Last time I went to a theater I reserved the seat I wanted, got in there and theater was only about 10% full, 50 seats in a row, and some guy took mine. I had to move 10 feet to the right!
This is why we have a projector + screen at home.
As a shorter guy, I sincerely appreciate your efforts, my friend!
Good you stood up for yourself!
probably the same guy that walks into a shop, that has a line and walks right up to the front of the line expecting to be checked out right then and there My bet is this guy grew up being given anything and everything by his parents, never taught how to respect others but basically shown that you're better than others and entitled to whatever you want, whenever you want it's only a matter of time until he makes the mistake of demanding something from the wrong person....and I'm just gonna leave it at that
Honestly, posts like these I always think are rage bait and for engagement because besides viral videos and my job (nurse) I rarely have seen this behavior when o it and about. However, I'll NEVER forget one morning around the holidays. I worked overnight and we were discussing Kitchen Aid stand mixers. (I bake to decompress 🫣) I googled and saw Macy's was having a huge sale for them. So I get off around 7:30 and go grocery shopping and then head to the mall as it opened early at 9 am for the Holidays. I head to the line that's pretty backed up already. About 7-8 people. I'm like number 4 or 5, middle of the line. A man comes up, literally foaming at the mouth, yelling and demanding to have his items rang up because he's running late. The person next in line is like chill out. It's only one person, blah blah blah. The guy is literally having the biggest temper tantrum ever. An adult, like a legit adult. He throws his items on the floor and leaves. I was so shocked. Your story reminded me of that time.
You should have said what you were thinking out loud
I reply again, "No I arrived here early to get good seats." I can't believe I have to deal with this nonsense and I am not going to be bullied in front of my daughter.”
The guy was just trying to bully you to get what he wanted - first come, first served, and he was not first.
"You can sit somewhere else." So can you. I mean, one or two rows in either direction doesn't make a big difference. So, why did he try that?
Yeah made no sense.
Shame you had a small child with you, as the 2nd response really should have been "fuck off"
This guy has lost all connection with reality
Wow. Just…demanded a seat in which you were already sitting!! That’s next level entitlement.
You can sit somewhere else. Well so can you. Great example for his kids.
He probably was thinking to himself why does he even have to bother asking, you should have automatically moved seats when you saw him. lol 😂
This is one of the best perks about selected seating!
And sadly even that doesn’t always help, had a couple lady’s sitting in our seats a couple months ago and when I said something they replied that “they’re not seat counters” with a sneer and then made a dramatic production of moving only to do the whole thing over again when the people who had those seats came and wanted their spots.
Why don't they ever use their own logic? They could've just sat somewhere else. What a jerk.
I’ve had that happen before. Some lady asked us to move over so her kids could sit there. That would’ve put me behind a tall guy. I said no, we came early to pick out our seats so that wasn’t happening
I had the same thing happen back when I saw Indiana Jones 3 in the theater. I got there early and was first in line. I picked my seat, 7th row center seat, and sat and waited for the movie to start. When in comes this huge group, who also picks the 7th row. They start filling up the row, and then ask me to move down to make room for them. I told them no. I told them I got to the theater first so I could pick this very seat to sit in. And that there were empty seats in the row in front of and behind that row, where they can all still sit together. The theater wasn't even close to being full at that point in time. They looked at me like I had just shot their dog. I didn't budge. They sat in the next row.
“Absolutely, we’d be glad to move, just give us a little time. Come back, say, in about three hours.”
You. Shall. Not. Take my seats. I hope you had a good rest of the film I have good memories of going with my Dad
Yeah we always by Malteezers.
Its sad that 99% of people will get their souls reincarnated and memory wipes, literally becoming NPCs
Notice YOU could sit somewhere else, but THEY could not. 🤦🏼♀️
Back in the mid 1990s, my wife and I went to see Demolition Man in one of those huge theaters that was a leftover before the multiplexes took over. We grabbed a set of seats in basically the middle of the theater, which was virtually empty. Two women arrived and sat directly in front of us. No other people are around us for 100 feet. Okay, that's not polite, but it's allowed. The bad part is that they begin to have a conversation during the movie. Not comments about the movie, but a full on loud as you like conversation. We got up and moved a few rows away, making sure that they knew why we were moving. The theater had maybe 8 people in it and it could hold like 400.
It is weird how people always sit in front of you in empty threatres, but talking it wild.
Me and the fam went to see one of the last three Star Wars movies shortly after it was released (I cannot recall which one) and the theatre was packed with many in attendance wearing costumes. Once the previews were done and the movie started to play, two clowns seated in the row behind us continued talking and joking. I was just about to tell them to knock it off in my best dad voice when the guy a few seats over from me half sat up out of his seat, turned to them and said; "This is the time for watching, not for talking." This guy was massive - like Alan Ritchson massive but not as cut. Needless to say, there wasn't peep out of those two clowns for the rest of the movie and I know for a fact his sheer size made them behave better than my best dad voice could have! I still chuckle about it from time to time. Sometimes things just work out.
Ughh, that drives me crazy.
You should have said he can sit somewhere else.
I wish switching seat stories were banned here too
Yeah. A few weeks back I was walking my dog by the local beach. Along comes walking three people the other way, two M, one F. One of the males walks up to me and tells me that his friends are getting married soon and they are there today to take some pictures, and "Could you not be here?" Before I could think up an appropriate response, the other guy pulled him away.
You have met a narcissist in real life. Like meeting Trump?
Post this stupid shit in a different sub next time…doesn’t belong here.
My husband and I went to the movies one time and found good seats. The theater was mostly empty. Some guy comes and sits right next to me. My husband and I exchanged weird look and then just chatted about stuff since the previews hadn’t even started yet. The guy next to me gets all huffy and moves away saying how rude we are talking in a theater. Weirdo.
"How rude you are for sitting right next to us in a movie theater that's nearly entirely empty!" "You treat movie theaters like men's urinals? Yea, we don't m8. Go sit a few spaces down and we wouldn't be making noise. Ye creep."
would have sworn he was feeling social
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I am sitting somewhere else. Somewhere other than where your seat is.
I’d say you have good people skills. One must be ready to counter those who don’t.
\>can you both move so we can sit there? Truly bizarre question. Just fundamentally misunderstanding the situation. This isn’t a restaurant where the experience will be the same at any table. This is a theater, everyone is there to see a movie. Seats directly affect the enjoyment of the experience. How can someone ask another person to give up their seats and think they will?? \>you can sit somewhere else. So can you??
"Don't you know I'm a CEO??" \*fart sound*
you can buy em for $100 a piece bud
“You can sit somewhere else.” “So can you.”
No is a complete sentence. You should not have to defend your no.
So….the earliest this could have happened was 23 years ago. Were you stewing about this for that long? Why post about it now? Not trying to be rude just curious as to why you felt the need to post about this so many years later.
Reading other people's posts jogged a memory.
This has to be ai, because seat allocation has been a real thing since i remember going in cinemas when I was in year 4 & they definitely did back then at the premium seats. Rest of seats was fair gain first come first serve
There is always one. Pretty much typed this out here old school. There is at least one typo. Think I have only noticed seat allocation in my city in the last 10 years. This was not premium seating.
I've never been to a USA movie theater with assigned seats. But I assume maybe IMAX might have assigned seats.
Mid to late 40s here. I remember going to the movies as recently as 10-15 years ago and they didn't have assigned seating. They definitely didn't do that in the 80s & 90s.
"You can sit somewhere else." yea, you too.
I had to geta manager to move a guy who took my asigned seat. Cops in tow. He almost got arrested. They just kicked em out.
Cops came immediately for the issue of someone sitting in the wrong seat in a movie theatre? They take forever for actual crimes here.
That escalated quickly.
the nerve of some people, who thinks they can just demand seats like that?
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When he said: You can sit somewhere else. You should have answered: So can you.
I was a theater manager back when Avatar came out and nobody could believe how good the 3D was. A regular brought his mom to the 2D, couldn't find seats. I offered to exchange his tickets if he paid the difference but he just snuck in. Threw him and his mom out without a refund and gave the seats to a paying couple. FU, "Big Mike!"
I used to enjoy a matinee on a weekday, with a near-empty theater. I would sit in the back row and observe the entitled who behaved this way. That, and worse. And that was before everyone had a cell phone to talk and text with during the movie/concert/performance. I've learned to enjoy streaming on my big screen at home.
Yeah, even I would say no. For me if the guy would ask nicely, like they would like to seat next to his child cause they couldn't book seat next to each other in team, and my new seat is not that bad I would move for them and they should also accept that not all will comply, but if they demanded and are rude about it I would immediately say no then ignore them.
I would have spun his ass up. It would have been karma to see him and his kids get ejected. In his defense if you are MAGA you are owed, due to your privilege.
Could he have been Autistic?
Don't think so.
I don't understand some people. Good for you for standing your ground. I would have told him no and when he kept pushing it, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"