I decided to check out Ghosts of Girlfriend Past this weekend at the AMC Theater in Tyson’s Corner. My girlfriend and I ended up going to the 7:10 PM showing because we had an electrician and carpet installers at the house earlier in the day.

When we entered the theater, there were a few open rows left, so we decided on a row that was about half way up, and it only had two other people in it, all of the way on the other side of the row.

As we watched the advertisement reel, more and more people came in — mostly young, loud girls. The theater started to fill up.

Now, proper movie theater etiquette requires a one-seat buffer between people that don’t know each other. Only when a row is almost completely filled can you overrule the buffer zone. But, for some reason, people who go to Tyson’s don’t seem to understand this rule.

Another rule is, don’t sit directly in front of people. If there is an entire row open in front of two people. If you decide to sit in that row, sit one or two seats to the left or the right, not directly in front of them. People in Tyson’s don’t get this rule either.

Within five minutes of sitting down, I had people directly in front of me, directly behind me, and on both sides. I should say that the people who sat on both sides of us left one-seat buffers. We put napkins and my gf’s purse on the seats next to us to encourage the buffer.

As the start time grew closer, we began to realize that our buffer zone would soon be gone. Our row was popular and filling up fast.

This couple walked in and started eyeing our row. I knew these would be the people to enter our buffer. I had a feeling. It bothered me at first, but then I thought that it wasn’t a big deal considering that the movie theater was pretty full, meaning all buffer bets were off.

The couple on our left had a one-seat buffer on each side of them as well. So, the couple that entered the row asked them if they could move over one seat, creating two seats together, but killing both our and their buffer zone.

The guy, who just reaked of douch-ness and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, said, “I don’t know. I’m kind of liking this seat.” And he wasn’t being funny. What a douche!

The girl he was with, however, overruled him and said, “Oh, he’ll move.” And so he did.

But, stop and think about it. You have to be a pretty big a-hole to not want to move over one or two seats so someone could sit with their friend. I mean, really. If someone asks you to move over, how can you say no?

This douche obviously could, which was surprising. Almost as surprising as wearing a Hawaiian shirt and thinking it looks good.