I’m not so sure about that. Now , I’ve never been to this theatre, but in my experience, most places have wheelchair seating, not handicapped seating. And the seat next to the wheelchair gap is for a companion of someone in a wheelchair.It’s a little more obvious with places such as stadiums that have written ticket policies. Seeing it from the guy’s point of view, I’d wonder why in the world this person who doesn’t need a wheelchair cannot sit in a regular seat.
Just wanted to add - when presented with a problem as prickly and sensitive as inadiquate handicapped seating, the theater manager would have totally given you vouchers in a heartbeat. I’m with everyone else who thinks you should have talked to him.
It wasn’t a regular seat; it had a lifting arm that the OP’s mom needed to be able to access the seat.
Yes, but if I’m there with my wheelchair-bound father who needs a companion , I’m wondering what sort of handicap requires a seat with a lifting arm but not a wheelchair. I don’t expect the OP to explain it to me, but in my experience, those seats are for the companions of the wheelchair-bound. If someone else needs it more, I’d probably move but they’d have to give some explanantion to get me to move. I wouldn’t do it just because someone doesn’t like seats with arms.
In any of the newer theaters I go to, seats with a lifting arm are plentiful, and are spread out throughout a few rows, not just next to the handicapped spot.
Maybe the person in the OP said no because he couldn’t find another seat next to his friend, but thought there were other banks of lifting arm seats.
My fault… I missed the “and a bunch of family” in your opening sentence… my brain only registered “my mother and I.”
I presented this to my brother and he explained to me that in a lot of theaters, the seats next to the wheelchair gaps are just standard seats for the companions or caretakers. Some theaters, however have lifting arm seats so that wheelchair bound patrons are not forced to stay in the wheelchair during a show. It allows them to easily slide into a seat. Personally, I think that someone didn’t really think that all the way through because where do you put the wheelchair to keep it out of the way. Its qutie likely that the guy just didn’t know he was in a special seat. I used to see most of my movies with my brother and I never noticed a handicap label on the seats that I would use when accompanying him in a wheelchair.
People get very judgemental when it comes to handicapped spaces and seating. I have had people make comments when I throw the placard on the rearview mirror and hop out of the car to go pick up my brother. They all get that embarassed look when I return pushing a wheelchair and one lady actually apologized for saying something to me. He really hates to use the placard even when there are no spots but sometimes the alternative is just too difficult. I completely understand that people are sick of the way that some people abuse the system but everyone should remember that there are legitimately handicapped people in the world and it doesn’t pay to be so skeptical all the time.
I always assumed those seats were for the friends and such of the handicapped folks. The more you know, I guess.
Don’t take this the wrong way but if you know your mother requires special accommodations, why wouldn’t you show up extra early for the film? If the theater was mostly full, it had to have been near the start time, even at a special preview.
I don’t like the way you’re poo-pooing the fact that he wants to sit next to his friend. I think, since you got there later, that it’s up to you to find him an equivalent seat (i.e., one where he can sit next to his friend). Maybe that means asking others on the opposite side of his friend if they could slide down one. Maybe that means finding the manager, so the he can find some way to accommodate both you and the other person. I’m sorry for your mom, but if your only solution is to put the burden of your coming in too late on a complete stranger, I don’t think you should blame him for your mother not being able to watch the movie.
Me neither. If people come early specifically so that they can find seats where they can sit together, it seems harsh for someone to later come along and force them to move.
What would you have done if all three of the special seats had already been occupied by handicapped people?
What if the person in the wheelchair next to the special seat had instead decided to sit in the special seat itself?
Just for the record, my Mom **was **there early, she had all the tickets in her name though so she was stuck waiting for everyone to show up and that included my aunt who didn’t get there until 5 minutes before showtime. I spent a half hour running back and forth between the theatre and the lobby trying to figure out where she needed to sit and talking to security trying to make it happen, so it’s not like we waltzed in 20 minutes late expecting special favors.
It’s not the end of the world of course, I just wondered what the consensus was on this kind of situation. As for "poo-poo"ing the guy, I reserve the right to think someone who thought it was just dandy for a disabled woman to leave a movie because he wouldn’t slide down three seats a bit of a prig. If someone parked in a handicapped spot because it was the only one open next to his buddy’s car, he’d get crucified in some parts. I realize it’s not exactly the same thing, but there’s a similar principle involved.
What (s)he said.
The guy was either sitting in a seat designated for handicapped persons or he wasn’t. The OP says he was. If he wasn’t, what’s the point of this thread?
If he was sitting in a regular seat, why did the OP’s mother need it? Why couldn’t she just sit in some other regular seat? The obvious answer is that he was an able bodied person sitting in a seat reserved for handicapped people. He was an ass not to move. What kind of jerk goes out to a movie with a handicapped friend and refuses to surrender a handicapped seat to a handicapped person? If anyone should know what obstacles they face it should be him.
I don’t think this is at all a valid analogy. Part of the experience of going out to a movie (or performance, or whatever) with a friend/relative/date is sitting together. If you’re not sitting together, the experience is less enjoyable by a nontrivial amount.
Were there other places the wheelchair could have been “parked,” besides next to a handicapped seat? If the only wheelchair spots were next to handicapped seats, it would make it tough for two people, one of whom was in a wheelchair and the other wasn’t, to go to a movie together. Which is an issue of handicap-accessability I hadn’t thought of before now.
Yeah, that’s-- uh-- not even remotely the same thing. Sorry.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s unfortunate your plans didn’t pan out well- I know how frustrating that can be. But if you and your mom were there especially early, why didn’t the one who wasn’t handing out tickets go camp out in the seat you knew you needed? In fact, you could have helped your mom in, she could have saved you a seat near her, and you could have passed out the tickets. Heck, I’m sure if you explained the situation to the person behind the counter, they’d have been happy to keep and hand out your tickets for you.
I suppose I just don’t get the hate for the guy wanting to sit by his friend. I realize I sound like a total cunt, but there’s that famous saying about poor planning on your part. . .
In our local theaters (stadium style), there is a row right at the level where you walk in for handicapped folks. There are a bunch of slightly more spaced out seats, every few has a chair space between. All theaters here have arms that go up on the chairs, so I can’t comment on that.
I guess I was just under the impression that those seats are for handicapped folks and their friends that are with them. As someone said, half the fun of a movie is going with friends (well, for me at least). When my grandma came and we went to the theater, I wheeled her in and sat in the seat next to her. It never even crossed my mind that this was somehow rude or wrong.
But he was sitting in a special seat for people with disabilities - not a seat next to a seat for someone with disabilities, but in a specially designated seat. The right for someone with disabilities to be able to sit down and watch the movie trumps anyone’s right to sit next to their friend. If he needs to sit next to his friend in order to assist his friend, then he could move to the seat on the other side.
But surely you’d have moved a seat or two away if someone who could only sit in those seats politely asked if you’d move? You can still glance over and see each other’s reactions to the films, and still get to your friend/grandma easily if need be. It’s not like you’re planning on having long conversations during a movie.
Actually, he was doing both. And it seems to me that if you can’t do one without doing the other, the theater is poorly designed.
Maybe it wasn’t. Was it designated as a handicapped seat? Did you refuse to let a handicapped person use it? If “no” in both cases, I’d say you were just fine.
So what? Either the seat was for a handicapped person or it wasn’t. Sitting in a handicapped seat and refusing to surrender it to a handicapped person is boorish, rude, and just plain wrong. I can’t believe there is any question about this. No one is guaranteed a seat beside their friends at the movies. It’s first come first served. Except for handicapped seating. What would be the point if just anyone could sit there?