I’m researching the etiquette on this because someone called the manager on me for saving seats this evening. My in-laws were behind me in line with my children because they had grabbed a bite to eat. My friends and I went in about 2 minutes ahead of them to save seats. We were among the first to enter the theatre. My friend set down her jacket and purse and went to get her daughter – who she realized didn’t have her ticket stub and needed it to get through all the check points. I was left holding 7 seats – but the theatre had not yet really become busy. I didn’t feel weird doing it, and I’m usually hyper sensitive about being fair. I only said to one group of people that I was holding the seats for family/friends who were right behind me. I held them for less than 5 minutes – well before the show began. I heard the group making jokes about getting a “reserved” sign – but then I was surprised moments later when the manager showed up – just as the rest of my party appeared. The man who summoned the manager said he was making a point. I’m not usually a seat saver. I will be more careful in the future. I didn’t feel like I had done anything wrong – in fact – there were many seats left and would have moved if I had felt like I was unethically “saving seats”. It was an uncomfortable situation to say the least. Then we had sit behind these people the whole time.
I’m researching the etiquette on this because someone called the manager on me for saving seats this evening. My in-laws were behind me in line with my children because they had grabbed a bite to eat. My friends and I went in about 2 minutes ahead of them to save seats. We were among the first to enter the theatre. My friend set down her jacket and purse and went to get her daughter – who she realized didn’t have her ticket stub and needed it to get through all the check points. I was left holding 7 seats – but the theatre had not yet really become busy. I didn’t feel weird doing it, and I’m usually hyper sensitive about being fair. I only said to one group of people that I was holding the seats for family/friends who were right behind me. I held them for less than 5 minutes – well before the show began. I heard the group making jokes about getting a “reserved” sign – but then I was surprised moments later when the manager showed up – just as the rest of my party appeared. The man who summoned the manager said he was making a point. I’m not usually a seat saver. I will be more careful in the future. I didn’t feel like I had done anything wrong – in fact – there were many seats left and would have moved if I had felt like I was unethically “saving seats”. It was an uncomfortable situation to say the least. Then we had sit behind these people the whole time.