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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want someone sitting right beside me in a practically empty cinema

56 replies

daisywellies · 08/07/2015 12:52

I was at the cinema last night and there was only a scattering of people around. A couple came in, sat right beside me so I had to move my coat, and asked me to move my arm so they could put their drink in the holder.
Why do idiots do this kind of thing and AIBU to find it really irritating?

OP posts:
NotGoingOut17 · 08/07/2015 13:29

Gosh no it's just bloody weird - I hate that. I would have moved (and have done when it's happened to me). Reminds me of a time when I went to see a film alone, cinema was pretty much empty and then a teenage couple decide directly behind me and started talking through the film. If they'd wanted to talk they could have sat in any of the other hundred plus seats where I wouldn't have heard them.

helenahandbag · 08/07/2015 13:29

I'm another who would have moved. And I would have made a passive aggressive show of it too Wink

whatsagoodusername · 08/07/2015 13:31

I know some people who are very particular about where they sit in a cinema so they can get the "best" view.

Maybe you got one of them, and they were too inflexible to move up/down/over one seat because they wanted their seats.

RiverTam · 08/07/2015 13:32

At least they weren't in front of you, that is even more of a pet hate of mine.

Lateswim16 · 08/07/2015 13:33

How wierd some people are with boundaries.

I would have moved. Idiots.

TinyTearsFirstLove · 08/07/2015 13:37

I would have chewed my popcorn noisily, burped (and blown it in their direction) and farted. That would really piss me off having someone sit next to me in an empty cinema.

Spog · 08/07/2015 13:39

i would have challenged them and told them they were being weirdos.

steff13 · 08/07/2015 13:43

Surely they were just going by their ticket numbers?

What do you mean, their ticket numbers?

Flatt7 · 08/07/2015 13:45

Somebody once sat down next to me on a plane and told me to move my arm from the communal armrest. Not politely, a command. After laughing, I told them to make me. They arranged to move seats.

FraggleHair · 08/07/2015 13:48

Freaks. I'd have got up and flounced off.

TheHouseOnBellSt · 08/07/2015 13:49

Oh we had this on a 12 hour flight! Dh and I with newborn DD....three seats. A man came and sat down with us...the air crew man came and said to him "Oh we have a lot of empty seats down here...you will be more comfortable."

And the man said "Oh no I'm fine thanks."

Hmm

So DH said "No....I promise you, you will be better off moving, this baby makes a lot of noise."

And he moved.....mainly, we wanted the 3rd seat for all the baby crap we had!

TheHouseOnBellSt · 08/07/2015 13:50

Flatt cheeky bastard! I love you for that. I'm the same....quite bolshy....people can't handle it when they expect their way to be THE way.

Gileswithachainsaw · 08/07/2015 13:50

I meant the allocated seat numbers on the tickets.

FraggleHair · 08/07/2015 13:52

Do cinemas have allocated seating?

OnlyLovers · 08/07/2015 13:52

Maybe you were in one of the best seats in the house and they wanted good seats too?

Icimoi · 08/07/2015 13:53

Didn't you move, OP?

There does seem to be some sort of compulsion to do this amongst some people. I've come across it when I'm sitting on a near empty beach - for some reason it is almost inevitable that some idiot will come and sit right next to you.

OnlyLovers · 08/07/2015 13:53

Fraggle, yes, some cinemas and for some screenings.

steff13 · 08/07/2015 13:54

Oh, theaters here don't have allocated seating. Surely if the tickets have assigned seating, they print in chronological order? So, if there are 12 people in the movie, the are all expected to sit in a row, 1-12?

Flatt7 · 08/07/2015 13:57

Thanks TheHouseOnBellSt :) Gotta stand up for yourself in these situations, no-one else will! :P

Gileswithachainsaw · 08/07/2015 14:00

Here you can pick if there's enough space. or you ask for an aisle/back/front seat or whatever and you get given them (if available)

if it's full ish then two people just ask for two tickets and you get a block.of two if there is one.

TheChandler · 08/07/2015 14:00

YANBU Its like those people who park next to you when you're sitting in your car in an otherwise empty car park or having a break at a petrol station.

Mind you, I did once have one woman say to me that the two empty seats next to her on a ferry were occupied, when there were no other seats available. I saw her husband sit down next to her and there was no third person, and I had to stand.

FraggleHair · 08/07/2015 14:02

You'd want to be a right goody-two-shoes to stick to the seat number on your ticket in a near empty cinema.

Lweji · 08/07/2015 14:02

Was it Sheldon and Amy and it was "their spot"?

paulapompom · 08/07/2015 14:03

YaNbu no need for that, they could have just moved along.

I once went to a midnight showing of 'the exorcist', about ten people in the whole cinema. A guy came in and sat directly behind me and rustled a bag all through the film, I kept thinking he was up to something and couldn't watch the film properly Angry

Lweji · 08/07/2015 14:03

So, if there are 12 people in the movie, the are all expected to sit in a row, 1-12?

No, I usually can choose whether at the centre, or higher or lower.

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