A movie fan was left in an awkward position, after forcing a ten year-old child out of her favourite cinema seat.
The debate around giving up your seat on public transport has fired up online, with some people complaining about being asked to move from their pre-booked seats by other passengers.
But one woman recently took to the internet for advice, after refusing to give up her booked cinema seat for a young family's son. The ordeal resulted in the patron sitting between two angry parents - with the father refusing to let things go.
Posting on Reddit, she explained: "I (24F) 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.
"There were five different showings, but due to the popularity of the movie I chose to see, the middle row 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."
With her seat booked, there wasn't even ten people in the theatre when she arrived. Despite plenty of space, the ticket holder noticed a family of three sitting down, with their 10 year-old son in her pre-booked seat - so she explained the situation.
"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 much persuading, the son eventually moved to sit beside Dad - but the drama wasn't over. "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."
The angry dad preceded to make things difficult for the woman, but she wouldn't give in.The disgruntled father then played on his phone, encouraged his son to talk loudly and "even went so far as to shove his arm in my face when passing popcorn to his wife (which she apologised to me for).
"All of that said, I still enjoyed the movie and wasn’t going to let him ruin it for me."
The woman added that while her friends were on her side, her mum - who's not a fan of confrontation - said that she should've just moved. This prompted her to ask others if she was in the wrong.
However, the majority of respondents supported her decision, stressing that assigned seating in cinemas has existed long enough for the parents to know better.
"Assigned seating in theatres is nothing new," read one comment. "You should have gone to the theatre manager and complained about him."
A second, who tried to be neutral agreed that she shouldn't have faced the abuse: "I would have called the manager from my seat and the whole thing would have ended with an usher moving the family to the seats they paid for. Its silly to go nuclear about little things.
"But, don't harass people who are just trying to be comfortable and get what they already paid for."
Who do you think is in the wrong? Let us know in the comments below.
