A man has been praised by people online after he refused to swap seats with a mother at a movie theater so that she could sit next to her daughter to watch the Barbie movie.
The man shared his situation anonymously on Reddit's Am I The A**hole? forum to see whether people agreed with his refusal to switch places.
He revealed that he and his girlfriend had joined the many thousands of cinemagoers around the world and had booked to watch the Barbie movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling alongside an all-star cast.
The pair had bought their tickets a few days in advance to ensure they got seats together in the middle row, but arrived to find a mother and daughter sitting in their pre-booked seats.
He explained: "When we got into the theater a woman and her daughter were in our seats. I’m not sure how old the daughter was but she looked about 5 or 6.
"I let the woman know that they were our seats and I even showed her the tickets. She said when she purchased her tickets they only had two seats available, one in the front row and another in the far back.
"She said she wanted to sit next to her daughter and she didn’t want her sitting that far away from her so she asked if my girlfriend and I could swap seats."
The man told the mother that it "wasn't [his] problem and [he] paid for those seats," and "politely asked" her to move from their seats, adding: "The woman said she understood I paid for the seats but I didn’t have to be rude and inconsiderate."
Another cinemagoer overheard their interaction and offered to swap with the mom and daughter themselves, so the pair could sit together after all.
He added: "As we were leaving the theater my girlfriend said she felt bad for the woman and giving up our seats would’ve been the right thing to do and I was being a bit inconsiderate.
"At first I didn’t think I did anything wrong, I paid for those seats and the woman purchased the tickets knowing she wouldn’t be able to sit with her daughter. Now I’m starting to feel a little bad because of what my girlfriend and the woman said. AITA?"
Despite the man's girlfriend feeling bad for the mom and daughter, users on the Reddit forum seemed to unanimously agree that the man was "not the a**hole" in the situation, as he had every right to keep the seats he had booked and paid for.
They commented: "NTA the woman should have chose a different movie time instead of assuming people would move for her. She was being inconsiderate to her own daughter in the situation no one would move."
Another added: "THIS! NTA as stewie Griffin has said 'your poor planning doesn't constitute as an emergency for me'. She rlly bought the tickets anyways knowing her daughter wouldn't be with her and then took someone else's seats to try and force what she wanted to happened and when it didn't happen she played victim/got upset. At the end of the day she went thru with a poor plan and then tried to force others to comply to a new plan tht worked only for her instead of using her common sense and buying tickets for another screening or day. (sic)"
One parent commented: "NTA. I am a parent. If I can’t find seats together, I don’t buy the tickets. This applies to plane tickets, movie tickets, live theater tickets. Her lack of planning should not be your problem," while someone else added: "This wasn’t an airplane seat. The mother and daughter could go to the movie some other, less busy day, or to a later screening, or actually pre plan and buy tickets ahead of time. It’s not like the Barbie movie is going anywhere. NTA."
What would you have done in this situation? Let us know in the comments!
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