I'm not giving up my seat

The BBQ Pit
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Since the 5th row is perfectly comfortable, the OPer can avoid future standoffs by simply choosing the 5th row from the get go.

Seriously, I think the thread title accurately sums up the OP’s position. I wish she’d have just couched her true feelings into a rant, instead of pretending to solicit feedback. I also wish she hadn’t padded the OP with filler, which she’s obviously concocted to bolster her unyielding stance.

For instance, I simply don’t believe that the patrons on either side of them were sniffling, and THAT’s the main reason they didn’t want to move. The whole “I wanted to spare the sick girl’s feelings” is as ridiculous as it was fictitious.*

Furthermore, I don’t believe that the movie was already 3-5 minutes in progress when the latecomers first asked to be accommodated. If it was, that would have been, and should have been, the OPer’s loudest complaint. And I believe that anyone sitting around her would have backed her up, by shushing the latecomers, or shouting at them to “Sit down!!”

Finally, as others of said, I mean, as others HAVE said, “So who do you think was in the wrong?” was disingenuous. Her opinion, in all its glory, is right here: “But to me, I don’t need a reason. If I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to. It’s as simple as that.”

FWIW, I concede that the OPer has a point, even stripped of all the added baloney.

*P.S. For future reference, a more effective thing to say might be, “Sit here if you want, but I just got over the flu.”

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My irony meter just melted.

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Well I, for one, am glad I live in a country where assigned seating is the norm. In fact, I only think I’ve ever once been in a theatre that wasn’t, and that was tiny hole-in-the-wall arthouse place.

Having said that, I don’t think the OP did anything wrong, and the latecomers were rude, doubly rude for keeping up the argument, and triply rude for texting throughout.

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I’m with mademoiselle 100%.

If I were late enough to a movie that it had already been running for 5 minutes, I simply wouldn’t go in; I’d wait for the next one or make other plans for the evening. Generally I do as mademoiselle did and arrive in plenty of time to choose my seats. But if for some reason I arrived late, I would simply slide into the closest available seats with a minimum of disturbance and SHUT THE HELL UP. I most certainly would not go stumbling around in the dark looking for my usual seats and asking people to move out of them for my entitled, rude ass, and then throw a fit when they (rightfully) did not cave in and comply.

205

I too can’t believe people are defending the latecomers. There were five empty rows, they could have sat their stupid late asses up there.

The OP had no obligation to move, whatsoever, and didn’t make a bad situation worse. The other couple should not have even asked, not once the movie was rolling. I’d have been pissed.

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I would like to clarify that I am not really defending the latecomers, as I think they were rude also. I am just also not defending the OP. There’s plenty of rude to go around in this scenario.

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Note - I am writing on an iPad, and I have dyslexia. I am trying my best.

PunditLisa,

I addressed the should have/ should of thing a couple times. I AM trying. I struggle with dyslexia.

So you are telling me, in the future I should sit in the 5th row so that if a random latecomer comes, they could have a seat in the back. Would you do that?

I find it interesting that people are saying I am being combative, all with a hushed “sorry, no”. I am again being accused of being a liar. They were late. That is the truth. No, the other theatre patrons did not rise up in revolt. Why would they? It was my conversation, not theirs. I have been in theatres where loud drunks carried on for an hour before someone got the management. I have observed that people typically don’t choose to enter into other people’s disputes if they can help it. Maybe that is an NYC thing.

Your post telling me what you would have me do, and accusing me of being a liar was long and padded. You have many requests for how I should write an op more to your liking. You use “I” in it quite a bit, for a person who was not there.

I don’t allow myself to be bullied. And that’s it. Here, there, or elsewhere.

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Saying “no” to a reasonable request that people have a societal expectation you will agree to is being somewhat combative, yes. It is at the least being rude.

Tip: Someone asking you if you could please move seats is not bullying you. Their later behavior was inexcusable, of course, but the initial request was perfectly acceptable, and you should have simply moved over, thus avoiding all of your subsequent problems.

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… And the Golden Globe award for the most dramatic performance of kettle by pot goes to… ** mademoiselle**!

You were rude. They were rude. The pox on both your houses.

Now STFU. I’m trying to watch the movie…

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No, it isn’t. Everyone should know how to say no politely. Good gods, now we have to say yes to everything people ask us for?

If there were no other seats I’d grudgingly tell the OP she has to go with it. There are other seats! The couple can bite my brown ass.

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[Miss Manners]What we have here, therefore, is a rudeness draw. [/Miss Manners]

And I propose we give “should of” and “would of” the same place in the Hall of Doper Fame as "“Hi Opal” and “Gotcha-ya”.

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  1. Profit!
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Too late to edit.

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This is why I never go to the movies when there’s even a remote possibility it’ll be crowded. Once it starts I don’t want my concentration and enjoyment interrupted, especially when it’s by someone who can’t be arsed to arrive on time and not impose upon others.

Couldn’t care less about seeing premeires. I’ll gladly wait until they’re about to end the run or just wait until it’s available in my home.

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Did the late comers try to get other people to accomodate them or did they just focus like a laser on these two seats. Is the OP the only no they recvd? If you come in late it should be obvious that you aren’t going to get your choice of seats. I’m interested if anybody else in the theater denied their request. I support OP. Come in late, you take your chance. If you want to be assured of your first choice of seats, come earlier.

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Not as horrifying as sitting in one of the other 5 rows of empty seats!:eek:

**mademoiselle **wasn’t accommodating, but, she wasn’t really a jerk. And, if she *was *a jerk, she wasn’t as big a jerk as the late-arriving couple.

And, once latecomers were denied, they should have shogged off and stopped interrupting the movie, and sat in one of the less desired seats.
BTW, if you have a special seat, you, too, should arrive early.
JUST IN CASE SOMEBODY ELSE GETS THERE AHEAD OF YOU AND SITS IN IT FIRST!

217

They initially focused on these particular seats. They went away for a few minutes after, meandering about the theatre. I honestly do not know what they did, if they asked others or not, as I was focusing on the movie.

About 5 minutes later, the woman came back, and sat in the empty seat next to SO. The man walked into the row, briefly stood in front of the woman, and then the people on the other side of her stood up and moved over, giving him an empty seat.

She entered from the left. He entered from the right (crossing over us). I don’t know if it was intended as a intimidation tactic, but it did not work.

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This is simple. The op should have moved. The late comers should have asked management to assist them. They were ultimately wrong for the confrontation.

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Good points. As a matter of fact, the OP can avoid future standoffs by simply choosing the 4th row, since somebody may come in 10 minutes late.
You are saying that the OP should arrange her schedule around some wankers who show up late, and demand her seat, or else a damned good explanation as to why not? Not very reasonable.
Also, from what are you inferring that the OP is making all of this stuff up???

Listen, to all concerned: If you want the good seats, get there before they get taken. As a matter of fact, whatever you want in life, you have to get everywhere on time before ‘it’ is all gone. How hard is that to understand???

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What the hell is going on up in this thread? She was corrected about the misuse of those words and she accepted the correction with class and an explanation. Kimmy Gibler and you gonna keep runnin’ up on her about it?

The OP wasn’t wrong. I think a lot of posters are misunderstanding each other in this thread. The OP wasn’t wrong, but to move would have been a nice thing to do.

OP, since you did ask, posters who think you should have done the nicer thing are just being honest with you.