It's been more than a few years, but I went to opening night of [Huge Blockbuster Movie] with a friend and in order to get good seats, we arrived at the theater an hour and a half in advance. We were the first patrons in line and when they opened the door and we went in, we found that there was a pair of seats right in the middle of the theater that were missing entirely. Score! We sat down behind the empty space, knowing that we would not be subjected to the tallest person in the crowd sitting right in front of me (why does that always happen?) and we would have a spectacular view of the screen. Needless to say the two of us exchanged a high-five at our good fortune and advance planning.
As the theater filled, many people congratulated us on our stellar seats. A few asked how we'd gotten so fortunate, and then nodded in understanding when we said we'd gotten there ridiculously early.
Eventually, it was down to about ten minutes before the previews were set to begin, and there were only four seats left in our row; two at each end. That was when the Special Snowflakes Double Date Couples arrived.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!" one of the guys called down the row. "Would all of you folks please move down into the empty seats? Thanks!" A couple of the people beyond us began to shuffle down to the seats to the end. My friend and I looked at each other and decided that no, we would not be moving.
When the seats to our right opened up, we turned to the people to our left and said, "If you guys want to move into these empty seats, we'll let you past us, but we're not going to give up these seats." The couple decided that they didn't want to move either. The pair next to them apparently considered moving into the empty seats by us, but before they could do so, the people that had all just moved right moved back to their previous places, again making it so that the only empty seats in the row were the pair on the far right and the pair on the far left.
The Snowflake Spokesman started up again. "ExCUSE me, people, but we need FOUR seats together. You all are going to have to move!"
Someone said, pointing to us, "They said they weren't going to move, and if they aren't going to move then neither are we." The Snowflakes' attention was then riveted on us.
"You won't move?" said the guy.
"No, we're not moving," my friend said coolly. "We got here almost two hours ago, and we hand-picked these seats. We're staying in them. Would you give these seats up?" He gestured at the completely empty space in front of us.
"So you're not moving," he said.
"No, we're staying here," my friend reiterated.
"We'll see about that," the guy said, and the two guys marched out of the theater, leaving their dates to hover in the aisle. The gentlemen returned momentarily, a theater employee in tow. "You need to help us get four seats together," the guy said to the employee.
The theater employee called down the row and asked if everyone was willing to move down two seats. My friend piped up again. "No, we are not going to move, but we will let people go past us if they want to."
Another person in the row spoke up. "Do we have to move? Or is it optional?"
"Well, you don't have to," said the usher.
The other patron continued. "Well, I don't think any of us should have to move. We all got here really early to make sure we got good seats. I don't think any of us should be punished because other people can't be bothered to plan." At that, there was a smattering of applause from nearby people.
There was a hushed conference between the four double-daters and the theater employee, after which all five left the theater. We learned from the people nearest the end of the row that they'd been offered a refund of their ticket price.
