Outrageous behavior! Cinema Chair broke & they ask me to pay for damage

[deknoiJT]

On Friday we took our in-laws out to see Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise at a cinema near Bang Kapi.

We bought a 205 baht set each, went through the ridiculous security checks, and into our favourite seat row and numbers, I always take the aisle seat.

When I sat down my seat cracked. It wasn’t the loudest of cracks and I didn’t fall off but the chair cracked and sloped sideways rendering it unusable. I am not a small guy, weighing about 260 pounds (120 kilos), but I have sat in cinema chairs regularly in Pattaya and Bangkok and back in other various countries without any issue. Cinema chairs have to be rated to regularly hold strong loads. The movie is in English, subtitled Thai so clearly the cinema is geared for farangs.

My mistake was to inform the cinema staff what had happened. With my partner in tow I went and told the cinema staff about the chair. With the trailers and commercials into their thirtieth minute, quite a crowd started to gather to look at my chair. First one cinema torch bearer, then two, then three, then four, then a few of the actual cinema paying crowd came for a look and some discussion. The surreal moment was when the national anthem started up and the small crowd of about ten people around my chair stood in silence until the anthem finished, then they started up the pointing and laughing again!

This is where it got even more ridiculous if possible: My partner insisted we escort our gaggle of cinema attendants outside to finish the conversation. About this time some type of manager came up to us. She spoke almost exclusively to my partner in Thai. I was expecting some type of apology but no! She actually wanted me to pay for the chair. Pay for the chair! Outrageous! She was pointing at me and calling me fat and telling me partner it was my fault the chair broke.

I almost went ballistic like a crazed banshee i was so infuriated. I admit i started to point my finger at the female manager and i got quite agitated and animated and even started mocking her but luckily I retained a modicum of self control or it could have gotten ugly for me. The cinema security guards had joined the lively conversation at this stage and the word ‘farang’ was being used in desultory terms.

I demanded to see her manager, someone higher up than whatever level 3^rd assistant manager she was. She refused and kept saying her boss was not available and she was sorry but we would have to pay for the broken chair.

This ludicrous situation might never have ended had it not been for my partner’s stroke of genius. He pulled out his smartphone and started filming the manager and her minions while making some commentary in Thai about what was happening. He stopped filming then brought up a selfie on his facebook of himself and a well known Thai media figure. Although the selfie was a random encounter in the restaurant of a 5 star Hotel, he started to tell the assistant manager this was his best friend and he would be sending his video to the friend and it would be on TV and there would be big trouble.

The manager backed right off then and started to apologise and grovel and now it was all a misunderstanding!

What would have happened if we hadn’t pulled the ‘friends in high places’ routine or if I had been there by myself?

Thailand. I just don’t know whether I should laugh or cry.

[Thai at Heart]

Classic.

[krisb]

Oy oy oy!

[Costas2008]

Sorry, for your mishappen OP, but I bet the Thais enjoyed it more than the actual film.

[mesquite]

OP, let us know what happens when you go back.

[transam]

Sorry, for your mishappen OP, but I bet the Thais enjoyed it more than the actual film.

I bet his "Mrs" lost a lot of face for sure..............

[deknoiJT]

Entertaining OP. Thanks very much.

Now use the humiliation as motivation to go on a diet.

Oh, you misunderstand. I didn't feel humiliation at all, just anger and outrage at this clearly ridiculous situation.

I am a tall large man and not ashamed of my weight one iota. The pleasures of good food is one of the rainbows life serves up to me.

[saakura]

If you could share the video clip by uploading it on you tube and providing a link, we may be able to understand this better.

[CharlieH]

Sorry, for your mishappen OP, but I bet the Thais enjoyed it more than the actual film.

I bet his "Mrs" lost a lot of face for sure..............

Or in this particular case, his Mr.

[transam]

Sorry, for your mishappen OP, but I bet the Thais enjoyed it more than the actual film.

I bet his "Mrs" lost a lot of face for sure..............

Or in this particular case, his Mr.

Hence my "...", but I think his "...." wished the OP lost a lot of ass in this case...........

Sorry OP, we jest..........

[arthurwait]

Mmmmmm piesssssssssss,

but someone has eaten them all.

[arthurwait]

Dek noi ?

This is not a jing thing.

[krisb]

Kind of curious, how much is a Thai cinema chair worth?

[deknoiJT]

Sorry, for your mishappen OP, but I bet the Thais enjoyed it more than the actual film.

I bet his "Mrs" lost a lot of face for sure..............

Or in this particular case, his Mr.

Hence my "...", but I think his "...." wished the OP lost a lot of ass in this case...........

Sorry OP, we jest..........

I take no offence Mon Cheri.

As a practising Muslim and openly gay man I have had a lifetime of jokes at my expense. My skin is as thick as a Rhinos.

My partner has been with me for a very very long time and spent much time in the West. Far from being shamed or embarrassed he was possibly more outraged than myself and willingly took up the casue without prompting or unease. A true keeper and life partner this one.

[hellohello123]

man some tv people are simply losers,

the guy watches a film, 120kg is heavy but not, ridciulously heavy,

and gets asked to pay for a chair which could have been half broken in the first place, which is ridiculous

and then comes on here and gets ridiculed for it

I have a friend who is 6ft 5, and is built like a chopstick and he weighs 95kg

i just wonder if the average TV loser represents every farang in LOS, i certainly hope not

I have a friend who is 6ft 5, and is built like a chopstick and he weighs 95kg

[deknoiJT]

Kind of curious, how much is a Thai cinema chair worth?

I do not know what a chair is worth nor its replacement cost and the question is not relevant to this discussion at all.

Just one of many questions that must be asked is why should a cinema patron be expected to pay for wear and tear on an item that thousands of people have plonked their ample posteriors into? The chair clearly has a design fault and poses a danger to customers such as myself. Who is to say what initially triggered the design fault that led to the chair cracking?

Not once did staff or management ask about my health or well being and while I was uninjured from the chair a simple enquiry from any member of the cinema staff would have been appropriate if not a pre requisite of such a situation. I am of course a paying customer using their provided equipment and I could have been injured.

[ATF]

Anyway how was the movie? I haven't seen it yet.

[stickylies]

i'm 72kg and thai chairs break on me all the time. if they would ever ask to pay for it i'd just have a laugh and tell them: <deleted> off.

[thaibeachlovers]

Anyway how was the movie? I haven't seen it yet.

I really enjoyed it. Clearly SF is Cruise's forte.

However, like Oblivion, the film shamlessly steals bits of other well known SF films. Enjoy counting all the copy cat bits as you watch the movie.

[thaibeachlovers]

PS. the OP has hopefully learned that honesty is not the best policy in LOS. Should have just moved to another seat and left while the credits were still rolling. Bet he doesn't make that mistake again.

[IAMSOBAD]

Thais do not know about customer service or safety.

Never tell them YOU broke it. Blame the last guy or say nothing. Also tell them to call an ambulance... you just broke your back and see how they run for the big manager.

I love the YOU TUBE threat.

[realenglish1]

Everyone has lost the reason for the post Here . There was an attempt to rip someone off. The staff at the cinema where looking to make money. It is the responsibility of the Cinema to provide proper seating and it it fails this is their fault not the fault of the patron.

No where is it written that if you break a chair from sitting then you are responsible if you are just sitting in it .

I would follow up on it and talk directly to the Cinema Manager after all has been said and done. My gut tells me the staff wanted to rip you off. How the heck would they know the value of one seat

when it breaks.

[thaibeachlovers]

There was a case some years back when a beach hut burned down due to poor electrical wiring. The manager made the farang customer pay for the hut, with the connivance of the police.

[arminbkk]

OP, let us know what happens when you go back.

+1

[up-country_sinclair]

No where is it written that if you break a chair from sitting then you are responsible if you are just sitting in it .

True. But I doubt the seats were designed and manufactured to withstand 120 kilograms. Not casting aspersions, but it would be interesting to see a video of how the OP lowered himself into the seat. Was it a normal, slow movement, or did he flop down into it quickly? Just wondering.

[Andre0720]

Entertaining OP. Thanks very much.

Now use the humiliation as motivation to go on a diet.

Oh, you misunderstand. I didn't feel humiliation at all, just anger and outrage at this clearly ridiculous situation.

I am a tall large man and not ashamed of my weight one iota. The pleasures of good food is one of the rainbows life serves up to me.

"The pleasures of good food" comes with a higher price, which should include the price of a broken seat resulting from too many rainbows that life has served you.

You should have paid...

[Mudcrab]

As a practising Muslim and openly gay man

​Mate,if you win a weekend for two in ISIS...a word of warning...don't take it!!!!

[transam]

Lets be clear here......If a business takes ones money to provide a seat then it is the businesses risk after taking the money. Otherwise weigh folk on entrance..........

[sustento]

Everyone has lost the reason for the post Here . There was an attempt to rip someone off.

They certainly have. They just don't realise what the reason is.

[gaucho]

total bs ..this was just a blatant attempt to rip a farang off ..they try it on all the time here and in the pi .....can u imagine a theatre chain in the west trying to charge a tubby gay foreigner ...