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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask people to move seats at the theatre

633 replies

Homemoans · 06/06/2017 15:48

My 6-year son really wants to see a play of one of David Walliams on Saturday, the only seats they have left are on the front row but they are 5 seats apart. WIBU to buy the two tickets and ask the 5 people sat in between us to either move up or move down?

To ask people to move seats at the theatre
OP posts:
user1487941567 · 06/06/2017 21:57

And yes, view can change within one seat. That's why end seats are often in a different price range.

Ratatatouille · 06/06/2017 21:57

Asking people isn't rude and entitled, expecting it and demanding it would be rude and entitled.

^^ This.

Honestly Livia you're entitled to your opinion and you obviously have decided to live a certain way, never asking for/offering help, judging those who do as entitled and rude etc but it sounds truly miserable. I would hate to live like that. Everything is just so much nicer with a little give and take, kindness and generosity.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 21:58

And she probably went to the next person and the next... she probably didn't need the money to get a sandwich, she was probably just trying to blag some money. People hang round the city centre where I work and do exactly that.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 21:59

But if you don't ask for help because it doesn't feel right, is it better to bend over backwards to accommodate others? Nah - that way lies serious pisstaking

southeastdweller · 06/06/2017 21:59

12 pages on this? It's simple - YABU because the people have booked and paid for those good seats for a reason.

If this particular date and time was really important to you then you should have got your arse into gear and booked early like hundreds of other people. So book another time.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 06/06/2017 22:01

Yes. YABU.

How do you know all the seats in the middle aren't taken up by a family who want to sit together?

You can ask by all means. But be prepared for them to say no.

OhTallulah · 06/06/2017 22:02

I'm sure you'll tell me how wrong I am Livia but you don't sound like a glass half full person.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 06/06/2017 22:03

True southeastdweller. Our theatre is already taking bookings for shows around christmas time, probably purely for this reason!

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 22:04

I'm not a glass half full kind of person - the problem with being an optimist is that you risk a shit ton of disappointment

NavyandWhite · 06/06/2017 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NavyandWhite · 06/06/2017 22:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 22:07

No but I don't have it anyway - contrary to popular belief, most people don't have it, those who do are the exception rather than the rule

OhTallulah · 06/06/2017 22:09

No you don't Navy but a happy person tends to be a kinder person ime.

Mistletoekids · 06/06/2017 22:11

Yabu
The other people may not even know each other

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 22:12

I'm happy because I don't have to interact with people like that.

If someone helps me out I'm horrendously embarrassed as I don't know how to deal with it.

NavyandWhite · 06/06/2017 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 22:14

That's great. But I don't feel empathy that much and most people outside MN don't tend to value kindness over everything else.

NavyandWhite · 06/06/2017 22:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OhTallulah · 06/06/2017 22:16

If someone helps me out I'm horrendously embarrassed as I don't know how to deal with it.
I do find this a bit of a shame tbh Livia, most people really don't mind helping others out, I know I don't.

Lucked · 06/06/2017 22:17

the problem with being an optimist is that you risk a shit ton of disappointment

An optimist makes the best of things even when they don't work out as expected so surely we have less disappointment in our lives.

In this example we all get a free upgrade! Would you never take an upgrade in case next time you didn't get it and were disappointed?

ittakes2 · 06/06/2017 22:20

You could ask but if they say no would it be uncomfortable for him to sit on your lap?

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 22:22

Why would it be an upgrade? Surely if it's on the same row it's not an upgrade

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 06/06/2017 22:24

Not less disappointment

If you assume someone is going to be a nob, then you don't trust them and you aren't disappointed.

If you give them the benefit of the doubt and they let you down, then you are disappointed

I have done kind things. But i wouldn't ask someone unless it was an emergency and it genuinely doesn't sit well if they ask me

Etymology23 · 06/06/2017 22:26

Gosh the times I've been asked for help and not been happy to give it have been very few, and equally I certainly can't remember a time when I've asked for help and not been given it.

I'm lucky enough to inhabit a world where my neighbours help me with my gardening, or to put up a curtain rail. In one where I will happily give people a lift in the evening to save them a walk. In one where I ask someone to pick something up from a shop for me and they say it's not a problem. One where people will bring me meals if I'm unwell, and I'll do their washing if their washing machine is broken. I've even (gasp) picked up hitchhikers and been helped when hitching a lift with a bike with a punctured tyre. When my friends needed help with DIY, they ask if I can come and help them - the answer is of course.

I think the difference is that I tend not to view helping people as trouble. I enjoy helping people, even those I don't know, because to me that's the very essence of humanity - the glue of a society in the care we take for strangers, in the actions we take to make others lives easier. And when other people do the same, everyone wins, because we can support other people in their burdens and they in ours.

There are many circumstances under which asking someone to move seats in a theatre might be a big deal. If they have an aisle seat, if it would involve moving rows. In this instance no one has to swap, everyone can move one towards the centre (or the edge, as preferred by them), remaining sitting next to exactly the same people as before except on one end of the five where instead of sitting next to a six year old they are now sat next to a different random person that they don't know. Obviously this doesn't stand if there's eg a pillar or conductor in the way.

In this instance it looks likely that hopefully the OP got the days muddled so fingers crossed they don't have to risk frustrating anyone.

user1495025590 · 06/06/2017 22:26

lets get this straight.We are not talking about helping out someone who has had some misfortune.We are taking about a piss-taker of a mother knowingly booking isolated seats for herself and a small child on the assumption someone will move for them.