Can't quite decide if my family was in the wrong here or not. We went to a production at our local theater last night. It was not a sell out, by any means. The house sold the center sections, but very few side mezzanine seats. My family had four aisle seats in the center lower mezzanine.
As it became clear that the majority of the side seats were going to be empty, with the exception of the first few rows, we decided to wait until just before show time and move across the aisle to the side seats so we could have a little more room to stretch out. (Yes, we are kind of tall, and I had to put my legs sideways in the center section-the seats were that cramped.) A man and his wife moved down into the row that was behind were we planned to move. I don't know if he came from the upper mezzanine or the lower mezzanine, but it was pretty clear that these were not their assigned seats.
About two minutes before the show started, we moved across the aisle, in front of this other couple. While they did not speak directly TO us, the husband let loose with a few f-bombs, and they then moved their seats again. By this time, most of the aisle seats were quickly filling up. Since neither of us had been assigned to these seats, were we wrong to move in front of them? The reason we chose these particular seats was that they were directly across from our assigned seats, so on the slight chance that someone did hold tickets to the seats we occupied, it would have been easy for us to move back to where we belonged.
Again, while we are tall, I really don't think we were blocking their view. In fact, another family eventually occupied the seats, and they had a 3 or 4 year old little girl. BTW, if we did do something wrong here, we were sort of punished in a karma like way. The little girl and her mom talked through the entire performance.
As it became clear that the majority of the side seats were going to be empty, with the exception of the first few rows, we decided to wait until just before show time and move across the aisle to the side seats so we could have a little more room to stretch out. (Yes, we are kind of tall, and I had to put my legs sideways in the center section-the seats were that cramped.) A man and his wife moved down into the row that was behind were we planned to move. I don't know if he came from the upper mezzanine or the lower mezzanine, but it was pretty clear that these were not their assigned seats.
About two minutes before the show started, we moved across the aisle, in front of this other couple. While they did not speak directly TO us, the husband let loose with a few f-bombs, and they then moved their seats again. By this time, most of the aisle seats were quickly filling up. Since neither of us had been assigned to these seats, were we wrong to move in front of them? The reason we chose these particular seats was that they were directly across from our assigned seats, so on the slight chance that someone did hold tickets to the seats we occupied, it would have been easy for us to move back to where we belonged.
Again, while we are tall, I really don't think we were blocking their view. In fact, another family eventually occupied the seats, and they had a 3 or 4 year old little girl. BTW, if we did do something wrong here, we were sort of punished in a karma like way. The little girl and her mom talked through the entire performance.
The only time we've really moved is when we're one of only a few couples in a theatre and someone else insists on either sitting right in front of us or right behind us with their feet on the backs of our chairs.
I don't think, however, that us being on the tall side inhibited the guy's view, considering that a small child sat behind us. I only mentioned it because my LEGS did not fit in the other seat. I won't move my seat again without permission from an usher, I promise. I also would never mutter f-bombs at a family, either (we had an 8 yr. old with us), but I guess that's a whole other issue. Really, if he had asked nicely, we would have moved. Just didn't think it would be an issue as he had just plopped himself in the seat himself. Mea culpa.
