Seat Savers - The Selfish & Inconsiderate Rule. Courteous People: Stay Home
 

I almost added to the other active thread on whole sections of chairs roped off inside the squares, but I think this deserves some focus today with the St. Patrick's Day celebration and parade at Spanish Springs.

At 10:00 a.m. this morning, almost about 3/4 of the chairs for the nightly entertainment IN the square were "reserved" by groups using seat cushions tied on, ropes strung thru the chair arms and tied, and "rope" made of twisted plastic sheeting. Some rows of seats had BOTH ropes and seat pads. I guess the seat hogs have been reading here where people said they'd cut and remove ropes or plastic bags rolled into rope used to tie off seats, but they wouldn't remove and discard seat pads!

There were also personally owned chairs in place in the prime seating areas for the dancing and live music TONIGHT.

I'm not going to comment on all the tables and chairs in the parking spaces that were reserved for viewing the parade at 3pm. I think parade-route positioning and saving a spot is pretty standard for parades around the country.

HOWEVER. Saving batches of seats for the nightly entertainment IN the square is just plain obnoxious and inconsiderate. The nightly entertainment is supposed to be for everybody--Villagers and non-Villagers alike, and this habit of saving seat blocks says STAY HOME to any normal people who are just out enjoying the evening and would like to sit down and listen to the music and dance for awhile.

This morning, a Recreation Dept. worker there in the street (diverting traffic at the road blocks closing off car/cart traffic to the street circling the square) at Spanish Springs told me that they are instructed to no longer take away seat-saving items like ropes and chair pads.

In my estimation this facilitates and welcomes selfish, obnoxious people to seize control of the music/dance facility, and it tells courteous and considerate people to just stay away because SOME residents have some kind of preferred status for seating there.

I think we all need to email the Recreation and DistrictGov managers and tell them this seat saving has to stop, unless they want the most inconsiderate people among us to rule the roost on seating at the nightly entertainment on the squares!

How in the world are visitors, newbies, Preview Stay guests, and others passing thru the area supposed to spend time there tonight and enjoy themselves, when the seats have all been hogged since 6:30 am.??

Take thier cushions and ropes and throw them in the trash.

This is TODAY and people can see and do for themselves what needs to be done to stop this behavior, without reading pages and pages of speculation about who's in charge or not in charge of it, or who's supposedly not going to do anything about it.

From what the Rec Dept. employee told me, they--a dept. of District Gov--are in charge and we need to voice our complaints to them.

No, it hasn't. The magnitude of this seat saving for the SP's Day celebration is greater than anything mentioned in the other thread. And to tell you the truth, I don't care if a new thread is started for every occurrence of the extreme sort. This one easily qualifies.

I have my doubts that things will ever change, but without keeping the subject in the forefront, you can be sure they won't.

Unfortunately, these people don't care.

Just like the ones who violate the dress codes on a cruise. The Matried used to siop them, now they won't. Just like people wearing tee shirts and shorts on formal nights instead of a Tux,

inconsiderate people everywhere and until someone in authrity stops them they will contiue.

This thread was started by a renter who calls herself Katsudden, in 2013, indignant that her seat cushions were removed in Spanish Springs. Just read this thread. It is from the seat saver's point of view.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...tml#post623458

I read it and I think she is wrong. The chairs and the space the chairs are placed on are not her property. They are community property, to be shared so others have a chance to sit down and relax for awhile after others have used them for awhile.

This seat saving is such garbage! We can't go to ANY events because we have a disabled elderly with us. He was NEVER offered a seat at the squares when we used to go and the seats were all taken. He is visably disabled by his walk and cane. Selfish people don't care about anyone but themselves.

I was furious when I read this originally. She is a vacationer.

We never go to see the special events or the bands that everyone loves. It's just too crowded. This is all such a disappointment. It was one of the amenities that attracted us to TV. The seat saving makes me just shake my head at the sense of entitlement so many people have here. I really can't lug a chair all the way from the parking lot so don't tell me to bring my own chair. That's if we can find a parking space. How did this get like this? Our only hope is that someone in charge will make some rules, some signs, whatever. I feel this is only going to get worse.

We have stopped going to the squares as much as we used to because the atmosphere sometimes feels so confrontational. We never go see Rocky and the Rollers any more because there's just no room.

Our biggest complaint during snowbird season is the long lines at the :beer3: :laugh: tiki huts and bars. But that is a staffing problem, not a seating problem!

It is what it is. If I had guests in town and wanted to take them to the St Pats parade I would go early and save seats.

No different than people all over this great country that go to July 4 fireworks and set up blankets, chairs, tents, etc for the best viewing.

I don't go to the parade anymore for myself because I've see it and I don't want to get there 4-5 hours beforehand for a seat.

The ONLY thing all this complaining will get you is NO EVENTS.

I love the fact that she tries to justify this by saying that she has a mobility problem. How many people in The Villages have some sort of mobility problem. Or maybe I should have asked how many don't.

As far as her asking what the difference is when someone gets up to dance or go the bathroom or get a drink, there is a huge difference. I think that anyone with any common sense can see the difference between that and going there at 3:00 and roping off chairs.

If you get a seat and intend to stay there, the seat should be yours. If you want to go to dinner or shopping you shouldn't be able to keep your seat. This creates a problem of how to know who is doing what. But I don't think that it's something that can't be solved

:agree:
:agree:

It's very sad and events like today's parade just remind everyone of the overgrowth of TV.

This past Saturday at the Lake Sumter Landing St. Patrick's Day event, my wife was told the same thing by a Rec. Dept employee and that any prohibitions against seat saving are not to be enforced...:mad:

That is such BS!!!

Threads like this must continue, as has been said above, to keep this disgraceful problem in the forefront. Maybe, just maybe, it will be universally and evenly confronted and stopped.

Unbelievable. "Mine, mine mine…" as one of us said above. Just a pack of selfish greedy twerps with the brains and emotions of seagulls. "Mine, mine, mine."

And as for the situation with Gerryann's elderly, infirm guest not being offered a precious chair….wow. As kids in NYC, we were taught and always did offer bus seats or subway seats to expectant mothers and elderly folk. Always. How many of the fine people averting their eyes forgot basic charity and civility and manners?

I rarely if at all go to the Squares for shows because the spectacle depresses me. And we have the nerve to only complain about today's amoral and untaught youth. Ha.

Upon starting this thread, I wrote specifically that I was NOT commenting on the parade-route spots and tables/chairs in the parking spaces people were saving curbside to see the parade. I wrote specifically and posted a photo about people roping off and marking entire rows and blocks of seats for themselves IN the square where people hope to come and sit down for a while, to see and enjoy the nightly live entertainment. We're talking about hogging rows and sections of chairs for the NIGHTLY entertainment.

As is stated above, many people are simply not coming to the squares because they have no chance of getting a seat. This is especially inconsiderate of people who are visiting, are on the Lifestyle Preview Stay, are new, or are here for only a few days or weeks. People who live here full-time or for half the year have this live entertainment available to them 365 or 182 nights per year, while visiting guests, prospective homebuyers, tourists, and Preview Stay people do not. It is selfish to not allow others to have a chance to sit down.

The really sad thing is, these seat savers do not even offer a seat to elderly or handicapped people who come there! Our kids were taught in Catholic school that they were to get up and offer their chairs to adults they saw trying to find one, and if they didn't, they were sanctioned. These K-8 students behaved better and they still offer their seats to others, out of respect, regardless of perceived/judged fitness or disability!

Courtesy is going to the dogs in this society, but The Villages has been known for its friendly and courteous treatment of others. It seems that is being pushed out by The Pushy Crowd.

And the more I see of these things, the more I would like to see no events. I just got back from Publix. I had to take an alternate route. There was literally no place to park in the Publix parking lot. The closest space was down near Ace Hardware. There are golf carts parked all over the place. I saw three near miss accidents by people just trying to maneuver around all of the cars illegally parked. There were carts parked all along side the road going to bridge all the way up to the bridge.

It was an absolute madhouse. Anyone that wants to do anything in that area beside go to the event in the square is in big trouble.

I have seen enough parades in my life but, like you, if I had company with children, I'd go early and put my own chairs where we could watch the parade. I would never rope off or mark off any of the public chairs however. That should never be done and the entertainment department had better start policing it or there's going to be a big problem some day.

Either remove the chairs and tell people going forward events are standing room only or charge for the seat.

I have said it before and will do so again . . .

YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!

A cliche? You betcha. But These "people" are entitled and would be the first one to confront you.

I don't go to these events because I don't want a confrontation and I don't want to deal with the crowds. It is a shame but until someone in authority does the RIGHT THING this is the way it will be.

OH . . . Happy Saint Patricks Day!

And you know that all of those 'seat savers' and others attending the event are Villagers and NOT members of the outside community?

Seems more indicative to me that there are Villagers AND folks from the surrounding communities that appreciate and enjoy the efforts of the Resident's Committee that works so hard to produce a quality event!

Shameful/Shameless? confession from me:

Several days ago I went to a club that I often attend. Wow! It was packed.

I got my ID out and ready for the door-keeper who beeps us with that thing that crows -- or whatever that sound is.

A man arrived at the door at the same time I did. The door-keeper said, "Only two seats left."

I smiled at the guy next to me and said, "I guess that works. We can split them."

BUT, the other person trying to get in was too busy telling the door-keeper, "Oh, good. My friend is on the way."

At which point, I slithered through the door, got beeped, and disappeared into that big crowd in the room.

In my own defense though, had he been older or had mobility issues, I really would have stepped aside. I know that about myself. Without a doubt.

There is no answer to the seat-saving issue. They would need to hire big bouncers, not nice retired people who just want to work a few hours a week. And what would happen with the first punch or trampling if they tried to open the seats at a certain time. It ain't purdy either way.

There is no way I want to be among 'em tonight.

And so I am celebrating quietly.

I went to Publix wearing my green shirt. And guess what! Everybody working there was wearing a green shirt. It was so St. Pat's festive. (And they were all nice, too.) I also went to the liquor store where a guy gave me a little sample of Kerrygold Irish Cream. I guess Kerrygold is ready to give Bailey's a run for the market.

And then I came home where we will have dinner with company.

Sometimes Agile Laurie

How many chairs would anybody guess are at the squares? 500? I think that would be a lot.
How many bring their own? Another 500? More like 250 or less.

If it makes one feel better double my numbers.

With well over 100,000 population we these threads are upset about seating for one percent of the population (make it two percent....but don't know where all those chairs would be found?).

Maybe on a crowded event there could be 5000-10,000?

The puzzle that is coming into focus is there never was any intent or ability or capability to provide dequate seating.

I have been to many, many, MANY events at the squares and have never seen fit to need a chair....(I do not like being hemmed in).
I again suspect that the largest population of attendees at the squares or in or around or near the entertainment are like me....we enjoy what there is....crowded? Yes. If one doen't like crowds there must be a lot of places these folks never get to enjoy!

The 90% of us that do not need a chair do not think the 1-2 or 5% that do should not cast a negative aspect to what TV is.....a good time for MOST OF US!!:boxing2:

Once again a post of reason.
The posts on these threads are burning a lot of calories over a very small part of the population.
It has been said over and over again..........just take your own damn chairs!

And this too has been said before, on this thread???? :jester:

NO< there is so much positive about these events from The Villages getting publicity to the vendors making money to the restaurants getting more customers to The Village residents having fun participating!

The Events will go on.

Be sweet and put honey on all their seats!

Following the logic of the highlighted quote portions above,

How many holes of Executive, Free Golf are there? 270?

And how many people in TV out of 105,000 are playing Executive Golf at a time? 900?

So how about dropping the tee time reservation system that does not allow people to hog certain tee times at certain courses more than once a week.

How about leaving the Executive Courses open for golfing groups to come and rope off all 9 tees of a course so that their group of cronies can all go directly to a tee and have a Shotgun Start round at 10:00 a.m., and those 9 tees are roped off and held for them while they go and have breakfast at Mallory CC and then they can just walk on 5 minutes before their Shotgun Start round??

"The 60% of us who don't golf don't want the 1-2 or the 5% who do to cast a negative aspect to what Executive Golf in TV is…..……."

The more I think about it, the more I realize that we're fighting a losing battle. As long as the squares are full, what does the entertainment staff care about a piddly little seat saving problem. The squares are full of people who are buying drinks and patronizing the vendors, restaurants and shops around the squares. If you look at it objectively, the squares are a huge success.

We are the people in the old joke who are saying, nobody ever goes there anymore because it's too crowded.

I think for a lot of us who have been hear for a while, it's not worth the effort to go to the squares and see the same old bands and DJs. We don't care about vendor's nights because we've seen the same vendors there every time. The squares are not for us. They are a sales tool. They are for the new people that come here. As long as people are buying houses, renting for the season and vacationing here they will have plenty of people going to the squares. As long as there are thousands of people there every night, it's a huge success and there are no problems.

I have company in town and want to go to the squares to enjoy some music and show how great the Villages are. We took our own chairs and settled-in to an area near the dancing. People just decided to stand and have conversations with friends DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US. We waited for 10 minutes and figured they would say their hello's and move on.
No-o. They were having fun watching the dancers. I wondered if I was invisable? After about 20 minutes of this, I got up, moved my chair directly in front of them. They thought I was a _itch but I didn't care. I came to the square to enjoy myself and I was in an appropriate area. These people were just "clueless" that they were obstructing anyone because they were so self absorbed in what they were enjoying.
People are thoughtless, clueless and sometimes just selfish. I would not hesitate to take a chair that is being saved and the music is going. I have more right to that seat than the person who is not there.

I wonder how the people who attended the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City handled these major issues......there were two million OF THEM WHO DECIDED TO GO HAVE SOME FUN today!!!!

I'm not sweet so I was actually thinking more like tacks to get the "point" across. Just kidding...

I don't know about today but I either watched the parade in NYC or marched in it a number of times in the 60s and 70s.

There were no chairs. The viewing stands down near St Patrick's Cathedral were for the honorees and such. No one I ever saw sat down.

If someone wanted a frontline view, one would keep walking uptown and then find a space. It was never an issue. Here, for some reason, it's a major requirement for 'fun.'

Very sad, and very annoying.

Actually you bring up an excellent point Sunnyatlast!! And I could not agree with you more - not only is it selfish obnoxious behavior but for people visiting the villages for the first time gives a terrible first impression - although there are very nice, courteous people there are the same amount of rude people that have a sense of entitlement and act like they are the only ones that should enjoy everything the Villages has to offer. I have encountered this kind of behavior not only in the centers but at the pools as well. I try and shrug it off because misery loves company but some times that is easier said than done.

It has been said before and will be said again and again - You can always sell your house, make a very nice profit, and move to another community such as StoneCrest or Plantation.

You need to call Janet Tutt at the VCCD things like this are what the VCCD calls" complaint driven" enough complaints and she goes to work.She's the one that will direct the Rec. people to do what should be done.I bet you 25% are outsiders.........

When none of us can come up with any repercussions for breaking a rule...on a public site. A rule, NOT a law. What can all the kings horses and all the kings men DO??? They cannot fine a person, many are not homeowners anyway. They cannot call the cops, they aren't breaking a law. They cannot tell them they have lost privileges to use the public place. They can keep the chairs and dole them out, BUT WHEN? Nasty, selfish people will continue to be selfish and game players.

I can see the events people trying.

Events person. You cannot save seats.
Seat saver. OH.

Events person removes ropes and takes cushions.
Seat saver, mad as hell, retrieves them and reropes and reseats.

Event person hangs signs and paints seats with DO NOT SAVE.
Seat saver. Saves them anyway.

How can we stop this? By going early and sitting on the seats. Who wants to do that?

It is so annoying but we cannot blame someone else for not making it work. There are no repercussions. And I can't think of ANY...can any of you???

In my humble opinion for what its worth
As long as the the developers are profiting from sales at the squares via bar huts and alike they could care less .
Money Money Money its' not about you