the Buffer Seat

I’ve heard many complaints about my movie-going tendencies: some complain about my restless leg syndrome, others about my refusal to buy the extra-large popcorn with 10 pounds of butter on it but most of them find it odd that when I go to the movies with a buddy we don’t sit right next to one another. The first few complaints come from just about anybody who goes to the movies with me but the latter one comes mostly from female friends who can’t seem to grasp the concept of a little extra space to let the boys air out and allow me to adjust myself a bit


I’ll hear the following from chicks all the time

If you are going to the movies with somebody else why would you not sit next to each other, you can’t even talk. It’s totally antisocial.

Well let’s take this one by one; first of all I’m sick of hearing the complaint about not being able to talk with your friends.  This is the ultimate crap excuse since you aren’t supposed to talk while at the movies anyway. The people who complain about the buffer seat are the same ones that are probably hooting and hollering the entire way through The Nutty Professor III which is a much bigger disturbance than two dudes not cuddled up together.  Secondly I’m paying $12 to be entertained by Warner Brothers not my fantasy football league-mates.

But forget the talking aspect,
How is going to the movies any different than sitting in your own house?  
When I’m watching the Star Wars trilogy with a buddy, we don’t sit right next to each other on the couch.   He sits on one side and I sit on the other leaving a little space.

How is it any different than an airplane?
When two friends get onto an airplane and they are given the option of one sitting at the window and the other on the aisle leaving the middle seat empty nobody complains.  This is the exact same set up as the moview and nobody would claim you are homophobic for not sitting leg to leg on a flight when given an option for a little extra room to stretch your legs.