A woman has turned to the internet to ask if she was in the wrong for not giving up her seat at the cinema to a 10-year-old - despite her having paid for it. The theatre-goer took to Reddit's 'Am I The A******?' forum to seek advice after explaining how the awkward encounter happened.
"I (24-year-old female) work a busy job and rarely get time to treat myself to anything fun. I decided with all the fun movies coming out to reserve a ticket that same night," she began. "There were five different showings, but due to the popularity of the movie I chose to see, the middle row (which is just after the handicap seating) was usually filled.
"However I found one showing that had barely any tickets sold and my favourite seat open, so I chose that showing. I purchased the ticket at 6:00pm and the movie was at 7:20pm."
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As reported by the Daily Record, she continued: "When I arrive I get my snack and drink and head into the theatre where there were maybe a total of eight people. I start walking to my seat when I see a family of three (dad, son, mom) and I notice that the son is sitting in my seat.
"I respectfully tell them my seat number was the seat their son was sitting in. At first the dad seemed confused, then shifted to annoyance when I wouldn’t go away. He told me “the theatre is empty, you can go anywhere you want”. Like I said earlier, I had chosen this showing for this seat rather than an earlier/later showing.
"Also, this could’ve given them time to book these seats had they thought about it prior to 6pm." After the boy's comment, the woman admits she became "super stubborn" and told him she wanted that seat as she had paid for it.
She added: "So his son moves next to the dad. At this point there is a seat between mom and dad left open. I tell the mom, if you’d like to scoot over so you’re altogether I would be okay with that. The dad interrupted me and said “you want your seat, go sit in it” so I did.
"The entire movie I sat in between the dad and mom while the entire theatre was empty." She then claims that for the first half of the movie, the dad kept making comments and he encouraged his son to have extremely loud conversations.
She also claims the father was on his phone playing Candy Crush, and "even went so far as to shove his arm in my face when passing popcorn to his wife (which she apologized to me for). All of that said, I still enjoyed the movie and wasn’t going to let him ruin it for me."
She concluded: "However- I told my mom this and she said I should’ve just moved. My friends agree with me, but I’m just curious what everyone else thinks. I know I’m petty, but am I the a******?" Many people rushed to weigh in on the debate, with hundreds of fellow Reddit users posting their opinion in the comment section in agreement.
Following the big response, the woman later re-visited her post to clarify a few things in an update. She said: "My mom was more on the side of not starting more issues and not causing more drama. She’s always been quiet and reserved and has always taken the path that’s less problematic. I mentioned in comments, but she’s German.
"I’m in North East (USA), in a very populated city so the odds of the theatre being empty like it was, was very unlikely. I walked in right at 7:20p when the previews began. The son was maybe 8-10 years old, his parents couldn’t have been more than 30-40 years old."
In the comments, Mother_of_Peacocks told the woman: "Not the a****** [nta], the guy totally is. Assigned seating in theatres is nothing new. You should have gone to the theatre manager and complained about him.
"My son is a manager at a theatre and they LOVE being able to kindly tell people like this guy that they're out of line and they have the authority to escort him out if he continues to be disruptive. I'm amazed that your mom doesn't agree, but whatever. You were kinder and more tolerant than I would have been, trust me."
Sintr0vert added: "NTA. The ONE TIME I was nice about it and sat in a different seat than the one I'd purchased because someone else was in mine, people kept showing up late and I had to move six different times. People, for the love of god, sit in the goddamned seats you selected and paid for."
No-Locksmith-8590 put: "Nta if the theatre was that empty, why didn't they move?" Apprehensive-Crow146 typed: "This is an easy one. NTA. You paid for this specific seat, so it's yours."
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