Maybe this trend has already hit your local multi-plex. Do they still call it that? Movie theater will suffice if you're old school like me. Seems that all the movie theaters in our city are converting their screens to reserved leather recliners. We came across this for the first time several months when we went to "Wolf of Wall Street" across the river in Council Bluffs (that's in Iowa, in case you didn't know that).
As we were checking in, er, purchasing out tickets, the gate agent, er, the ticket seller asked us of we'd like to pick our seats. Excuse me, I meant to say select our seats. She flipped the LCD monitor around and indicated where the unsold seats were and we made our choice. Cool. Just like flying on a jet. Except without a baggage claim.
A few minutes later, after getting ripped off by purchasing the large drink and tub of popcorn, we wandered into the theater, tickets in hand to find our reserved leather reclining seats. This was almost like flying in first class, expect we didn't get to act like snobs since everyone else in the theater also got to sit in a big ass leather recliner too. Nonetheless, the movie was 3 hours long so the recliner was a godsend on that night.
Which brings us to today. We headed off to see "Jersey Boys" at our neighborhood theater where they had been hyping the remodeling of the theater, including the addition of leather recliners, for some time. Georgette purchased 2 tickets and then mentioned as we headed towards the concession stand to get ripped off again on soda and popcorn, "Well, at least we didn't get those reserved seats."
"We didn't. How do you know that?"
"She didn't ask me where we wanted to sit. She just handed me the tickets and said theater 3"
"What's wrong with the reserved seats?"
"I don't need a reserved seat. I just want to be able to go and find my own seat."
No comment.
Walking down the long hallway towards Theater 3, we noticed there was a monitor placed outside the entrance to every theater showing the seat assignments, indicating which seats were taken and which ones were still available. Not sure why that is necessary since everyone should have received their boarding pass, er, seat assignment when they purchased the ticket, but oh well.
When we arrived at Theater 3 we discovered there was a monitor there too.
"You sure we don't have reserved seats?"
"She didn't ask me where we wanted to be seated, she just handed me the tickets"
"Let me see the tickets. Yep, they're reserved. We're in 12 E & 12 F"
Deep sigh. Not sure if that was because she'd rather pick, er, select her own seat. Or because the ticket seller failed to consult with us about our preference for seats before handing them to us. Either way, clearly we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.
I had barely sat down in my recliner and was looking for the cup holder to secure the 20lb. cup of soda when I noticed that Georgette had already found the magic button that adjusts the recliner and foot rest.....she was chillin' like Magellan. I guess her seat issues were short lived.
That's when my seat issues began. It's our custom to share the large soda and tub o' popcorn. As I went to secure the soda in the cup holder between our seats.....there was none to be found. Instead, the cup holders were located on the outside arms of each seat.
I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable. We need to be able to conveniently share the soda by having it positioned between us. I quickly concluded that this was a secret ploy to trick us into buying 2 sodas, thus more profits for the fat cats while the little guy, me in this case, gets the shaft.
And the there was the issue with the lights being on in the theater all through the previews. I suppose this is needed because people need to be able to see their seat numbers.
The kicker was when the ad came on the screen about how you can come early and order off the menu. Dinner and a movie all from your reserved leather recliner. So much JuJu Beans and Junior Mints. Hells, bells, we might as well stay home and eat in front of the TV.
Something was said about dealing with change and that we're just a couple of old fuddy duddies and before long we were laughing at ourselves and our reactions to what most people think is progress.
I'm sure it won't be long and they will be offering upgrades to better levels of seats......for a fee, of course. But I have to admit, the view from seats 12 E and 12 F was just fine.
And so was "Jersey Boys".
"Let's hang on, to what we got, don't let it go girl we got a lot. Got a lot of love between us, hang on, hang on, hang on .....to what we got".
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