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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder what you all think of the lawyer guy punching the designer guy at the opera?

27 replies

Madmotherintheattic · 16/12/2019 23:30

It's in all the papers:
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/16/lawyer-repeatedly-punched-royal-opera-house-seat-dispute-court

I really don't like it when people move up a row (or more) to sit in a seat they didn't pay for, and I didn't like the sound of the guy who moved putting the woman's coat in her lap (or on the floor depending on who is telling the truth) but then I read the physiotherapist fellow opera goer who said the guy climbed over the seats "quietly and neatly" and the couple had been behaving badly a few nights before (she said it in a snobby way, that people wouldn't flick their hair and talk in their local cinema, much less the Royal Opera House). AIBU to think they all sound a bunch of prats? (Don't sit in seats you haven't paid for, don't punch people even if they do that, don't be snobby)?

OP posts:

DdraigGoch · 16/12/2019 23:44

I don't care what the designer did, it was no excuse to start a brawl.

PegasusReturns · 16/12/2019 23:47

Don’t care where the designer sat or whose coat he moved, he didn’t deserve to be punched

LittleReindeer · 16/12/2019 23:50

They were both wrong. I don’t for a second believe that the guy only pushed him, or that the victim spoke politely and apologised. Most likely the victim was rude and confrontational so the guy smacked him one.

Babymamamama · 16/12/2019 23:51

I don't think if you pay for a seat you have some kind of control over the seats around you. I've moved forward in concert halls where there have been gaps at the front. Conversely I think it creates a better atmosphere for the performers if they can't see loads of gaps upfront. So in summary I think the designers didn't really do much wrong. Wonder what the royal opera house think of seat swapping and whether there's any guidance on it.

frazzledasarock · 16/12/2019 23:53

The designer’s been banned from the ROH and the lawyer’s awaiting punishment for the punch up!

The ROH has gone downhill since I last visited 😂

NeverTwerkNaked · 16/12/2019 23:55

I think they all sound ghastly!!

HoneysuckIejasmine · 16/12/2019 23:56

I've been encouraged by staff to move forward in the West End before. I wasn't comfortable doing so but they insisted we would be better moving.

Violence solves nothing. Lawyer should have fetched staff if he believed designer was out of line.

brittabot · 16/12/2019 23:59

Fashion designer sounds annoying but no excuse to punch him.

Breathlessness · 17/12/2019 00:02

Wagner leads to violence.

AfterSchoolWorry · 17/12/2019 00:09

Opera wankers.

It's like an episode of Frasier!

spongedog · 17/12/2019 00:09

Knowing what those seats would have cost and how difficult it is to get tickets for Wagner the only real question to be answered here is whose was that empty seat in the front row? Perhaps empty if directly behind the conductor.

The partner - Chandler - sounds beyond entitled. If it wasnt their seat (or a friend who was in the loo or the bar) then what right did they have to be deciding who sat there. Unimpressed by the victim climbing over seats. Beyond necessary. Sounds like he was making a point. I wonder if that's why the ROH banned him. No comment from them of course.

So I do agree with a pp - all parties behaved quite badly. (I normally only see this type of behaviour in the balcony at ENO).

Equanimitas · 17/12/2019 00:38

But you weren't there, neutral witnesses who were don't support that, and the magistrate who has heard and seen all the evidence has found otherwise. On what basis do you claim to know better?

VanyaHargreeves · 17/12/2019 00:56

If I was the ROH I'd ban them both.

Standards etc.

Gingerkittykat · 17/12/2019 01:06

I'm dubious about the claim that the guy who was punched now has PTSD. Yes, it was an unpleasant incident butnot the type of life threatening incident where PTSD normally devlops.

I wonder if there will be a personal injury claim at some point in the future.

MrsTerryPratchett · 17/12/2019 01:11

Will the lawyer have issues with the job now?

GruffaIoChrimbo · 17/12/2019 01:18

A Fight At The Opera
Is that a new Queen album?

runoutofnamechanges · 17/12/2019 01:25

"Engler was subsequently arrested at the opera house on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm but he was not charged."

That's odd. It sounds like the lawyer tried to cover himself after punching the designer. In which case, he brought it upon himself.

The designer sounds like a bit of a CF but still... All they had to do was complain to staff, if they weren't happy. We used to get some great free "hard to get" tickets thanks to corporate sponsorship and I was always horrified at all the empty seats around us. I wouldn't have minded someone moving up at all but if I had, I would have just asked staff to deal with it.

wondering7777 · 17/12/2019 07:17

Is that a new Queen album?

FreedomfromPE · 17/12/2019 07:19

No idea what this is about. Some soap? But yeah fights are not the right way to deal with seats at an event.

partofyoupoursoutofme · 17/12/2019 07:22

When I read it I just thought 'money doesn't buy class' and had a chuckle to myself.

PooWillyBumBum · 17/12/2019 07:27

We have been offered to move into empty seats at the ROH so I don’t think it’s a faux pas. The designer didn’t pay for the seat, but neither did the lawyer and his girlfriend. The lawyer is disgusting, IMO.

MrsToothyBitch · 17/12/2019 07:27

They're as bad as each other. The lawyer for decking someone, the designer for climbing over seats- for which he has rightly been banned from ROH. I don't mind seat hoppers but the seat climbing is silly.

SaskiaRembrandt · 17/12/2019 08:41

I think they're both massively U for enjoying Wagner.

Equanimitas · 17/12/2019 08:57

Will the lawyer have issues with the job now?

He's self-employed, but I assume he'll be reported to the Solicitors' Regulation Authority because of the conviction.

enjoyingscience · 17/12/2019 08:59

No one comes out looking great, really. Even the witness who complained about excess hair swishing.

I feel sorry for the opera, they try and make it more accessible and then their audience go and act like this.

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