High school graduation today and the seat savers in the crowd made a mess of the event. Our group of 4 people arrived 40 minutes before the scheduled start time and could not find a seat despite about half the arena chairs being empty. They were all being "saved." Not like saving one seat for someone parking the car or something reasonable like that. Three people spread out across an entire row trying to guard 15 or more seats. It got so ridiculous that there were crowds stuck at the portals and spilling back into the concourses without anywhere to go in the half-empty arena.

I finally had to just walk past a guy trying to save an entire row by himself and just sit down. By 15 minutes before start time, the staff had made two announcements for people to stop saving seats so that they could get the audience in place. It still didn't work. As the graduates started filing into the arena some of their family members were still stuck outside while multiple idiots sat there with their arms, coats, and programs scattered across vacant seats.

People, if it is that important that you sit with all your aunts, uncles, and cousins in one group you have two options: 1) You all arrive early enough to pick your seats and sit down or 2) You all wait in the lobby until your group is complete and then you go in.

Unless you are at an event with reserved seating, you don't save more than a seat or two for someone going to the bathroom or parking the car.