Friday, November 18, 2011

Seat Stealers--I'm Watching You!!!

Hubby and I with our Hannah.  She's our fave Ice Girl!!!

Tonight is date night as Hubby and I are headed to an Oilers game!!  This is big for me as I actually do my hair and he's charming and attentive and buys me onion rings while lots of hot guys skate within a couple feet of my seat.  Sounds perfect, right?!

It would be if not for a breed of people I will now call the despicable "Seat Stealers".  Some back story--lauramariealtom.com is a corporate sponsor of the Tulsa Oilers.  I figure what better product for a romance writer to sponsor than men.  Along with my sponsorship, I get a pair of REALLY great seats, but they aren't exactly cheap.  Because of the price, during some games, not all of the glass seats are occupied, making way for the Seat Stealers.

Now, not all Seat Stealers are inherently bad.  A couple behind us who also have season tickets send down their little boy who politely cheers on our guys and doesn't litter.  He's cute and well-mannered and doesn't bother me a bit.  Drunks are always welcome, as they up the the night's entertainment factor by setting their beers on the little ledge under the glass.  When players ram into that section, the beer splatters and voila--beer soaked drunk people.  Great fun!!  Especially when they're happy drunks!!

Unfortunately, sweet little Trent is the cream of the crop when it comes to Seat Stealers.  We had a game Sunday and I arrived a little later than usual.  (Hubby was out of town.)  I get to our seats and there are already TEN people in our row.  I think it only holds fifteen and our seats are seven and eight.  First, this crew refused to let me in.  They all just stared like I should climb over them.  Finally through, I set my purse and blanket in seat twelve, politely asking the girl in MY SEASON SEATS if she has tickets.  She says, "No, we got in free."

I say, "That's great, but you're sitting in MY SEASON SEATS."

This girl gives me a death stare I found chilling, then shrugs.

Fuming, I sit in seat twelve, trying to figure my next move.  Then a strange thing happens.  The guy in seat one seems to be the group leader announces they have to move.  So six of them move to the glass seats in section 101 and four stay with me, moving to seats one through four, the whole time glaring like I've done something wrong.

Oh well, at least I've got my seats, right?  Ha!  Next to arrive?  AN ENTIRE PEEWEE HOCKEY TEAM!!!  Well over a dozen rowdy, sticky, spilling, dripping, jumping, horribly behaved kids fill in the rest of the row.  More kids file in behind them.  Where are their parents??!!  These kids were so bad, I moved closer to the original Seat Stealers to attempt getting away. 

During the first period intermission, two of my adult row mates start making out so hard I thought I might need a condom!!!

Some time during the third period, thankfully, the bad kids ran off.  Sweet little Trent appeared and what does he do?  Starts picking up all the trash the other kids left!!

Sadly, most every game, this scenario plays out in some form.  Like I earlier said, if people are polite about it, it's not a big deal, but by far most Seat Stealers lack basic human manners.  Tonight, I plan to speak with the BOK Center usher of our section.  I'm highly doubtful this will accomplish anything, but for my own sanity, I have to try.  We've got a long season ahead of us . . .

Lets go Oilers!!!! :-)             

2 comments:

skyprincess said...

The thing is, in order to be a seat stealer, I think you must be a bit amoral. So all bad behavior after the first act of impropriety, is a given. But there goes MY speech. "No you cannot take an open seat in First Class if you are seated in Coach, do you go to a sporting event and sit in the premium seats when you have cheap tickets?"

Laura Marie Altom said...

Thank you, Sky, for your awesome analogy!! My point exactly.