The Crazies Are Out In The Daytime, Too

I am a customer in this story. My work is unexpectedly closed on a Wednesday due to a power outage, so I decide to go see a movie by myself. I am an adult female in my 20s, but I really enjoy animated movies, so I buy a ticket for the most recent Pixar film.

It is a weekday at noon, so the theater is not very crowded, and when I go to sit down I am the only one there. I take a seat in the center row, and a few minutes later a woman and two kids around age eight to ten come in. One of the kids runs up to the row I am in and sits down, leaving one seat between me and him. I don’t think anything of it because a lot of people like to sit in the center row.

But then, the woman tells him to move because I have someone else coming to sit next to me and he should leave some space. I politely tell her that, no, I am actually here alone, so it’s fine. She goes completely crazy, yelling that it is weird for an adult to be coming alone to see a kids’ movie and that I am some kind of pervert because I really want her kid to sit near me. She drags her kids out of the theater and comes back a few minutes later with a manager, still screaming I am trying to hurt her kids. After I, the employee, and even her kids try to explain to her that I wasn’t doing anything wrong, she is still yelling, so I just decide to leave because I don’t want to ruin the movie for her kids. Luckily, the theater gives me a free ticket for later that night and free popcorn, so I come back with my boyfriend.

FYI, some people like to go see movies alone when they have a day off; that doesn’t mean they are creepy perverts.