Dad books best movie theater seats to surprise his 7-year-old with ‘A Minecraft Movie,’ entitled family steals them, uses his own kids' chaos to teach a lesson: ‘Cue petty revenge light bulb.'

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
May 11, 2025 7:00 AM EDT

There are many teachable moments for your kids when you are a parent. It's your job to decipher when they arise, what kind of lesson it is, and how you are going to teach them. Like, is this a moment to teach your kids some empathy and forgiveness, or is this a moment to teach them how to stand up for themselves and be unafraid to be a little tough sometimes? It can be difficult to figure out which way to go, but as a parent, you have to decide so your kid can grow up and know what to do when they find themselves in moments like this again.

 

In this Reddit thread, we see a dad teaching how to dish out a little petty revenge at the movie theater. Showing them that sometimes, malicious compliance is called for—as a parent, what do you think?

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  • It started when an entitled family took the assigned seats that this father had paid for months in advance. He chose these seats for a reason and tried to get the entitled family out of them, but they refused. So, other than making the situation even more stressful, he decided to get a little petty revenge by malicious compliance. He agreed to take their old seats, which were directly behind them. What the entitled family didn't know is that he chose those prepaid seats because his kids can get a little rambunctious in the theater. So now, instead of reeling them in, he let them run wild right behind the entitled family who stole their seats. Karma can sometimes be some screaming kids having chaotic fun in a quiet movie theater. 

  • Cheezburger Image 10502393600
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "You took my seats for the Minecraft movie? Ok..."

    My 7-year-old spent a full year excited to see the Minecraft movie. He knew it was to come out April 4th, but I bought tickets for an early showing on Thursday the 3rd. The plan was for me and his sisters to pull him out of school a few minutes early and surprise him. It worked
    via derallo
  • beautifully, until we got to our seats. A week out, I purchased 5 tickets for right in the middle of the F row. I choose this row every time in our theater because it's the first in a section. This
    via derallo
  • means my kids won't be kicking anyone's seat, or talking right in their ear, and don't have to scooch past to get to the bathroom.
    via derallo
  • When we got to the theater, 15 minutes early, I found the entire row was taken up by a rather large family. There were also a lot of them.
    via derallo
  • I told the matriarch I thought they were in my seats, double-checked my receipt for theater and time, but she maintained that she also had bought these seats.
    via derallo
  • I walked out and grabbed a 17 year-old usher I wasn't very confident in the authority of. I told him, I don't mind sitting in the G row, I just don't want someone else to come in having reserved those G seats and make ME the interloper.
    via derallo
  • The woman fumbled with her phone a little bit, hemmed and hawed, But nothing came of it. Keep in mind this was a Thursday afternoon matinee so there weren't a ton of people filing into the theater.
    via derallo
  • My kids could tell something was going on. In the interest of modeling conflict resolution and saving the moment, I decide we take the G row and see what happens. Cue petty revenge light bulb, and it doesn't have anything to do with chicken jockeys.
    via derallo
  • Tutne out it was only us and them in the theater. So let my kids have a blast at this movie. I didn't shush them, I didn't care if they kicked the seats of the F row, put their feet up, h II would have let them throw a little popcorn, but they didn't. Every time an F row
    via derallo
  • interloper sighed and glared backward, all I did was shrug. It was glorious. After the movie, those people left behind all their popcorn buckets and trash, like the scum they were.
    via derallo
  • 00
    via Unsplash+ (and Jamie Matociños)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • FeelingKind7644 My mom slapped a lady at the water park for stealing my tube on my 10th bday. Maybe that's why I am the way I am.
    via FeelingKind7644
  • Meta-Fox As a regular cinema goer I've grown increasingly impatient for people like this. Now I'm at the point where I'll just ask them to vacate my seat - that I know well is mine as I book the same seat via the app every time - and if on the odd occasion they refuse I walk straight out and get a member of staff.
    via Meta-Fox
  • I don't care what excuse you come up with for justifying seat stealing, you should have booked online just like everyone else.
    via Meta-Fox
  • MarXucious Same thing happened with my wife and I. We went to the Minecraft Movie with my brother in law and nephew. A family was in our seats when we got up there, I made them leave the seats mean while they tried to play dumb. They moved to
    via MarXucious
  • the row behind and the people in those seats they moved to had to move. I'd also paid for D-box.. get the eff out of my more expensive seats.. → Wasn't ride about it, was just assertive and intent. Had a blast in our D-box seats, was a great movie for D-box
    via MarXucious
  • justheath Years ago for one of the Jurassic Park movies we reserved 6 seats in a row, taking up most of the seats of that row in the section. We get there and there's 2 teenage kids in the middle of our seats, looking like a date.
    via justheath
  • I politely told them they're in our seats. They insisted otherwise. I double-check out tickets to confirm I'm right and we get staff to mediate. Kids got kicked out as they had tickets. for the next day. Had they not insisted on those seats they could have moved elsewhere and stayed. I like to think the date went poorly after this.
    via justheath
  • grim1952 Karma is nice and all but would be better if your kids learnt to stand for themselves instead of teaching them to be petty and unruly... derallo OP Yeah.. they're seven and five, I wasn't going to taint their experience, we talked about it afterward.
    via grim1952
  • derallo OP One other consideration was that yes I could have got them to vacate MY seats, but then we would have been still flanked by them, possibly on the side and behind. That wouldn't have been pleasant.
    via derallo

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