Saving seats and Dean's homework

[PinionTwister]

I attended the Midwest Regional this weekend - great event. I was frustrated once again about trying to find a place to sit as many seats seemed to be "saved" by coats, bags or whatever. When I located some empty seats I was welcomed with comments like "those seats are saved" or "someone is sitting there." Or, people would sit in every other seat in order to save entire sections of seating. There was a couple of seats that I sat in to be pushed out of because they were "saved for someone." Exerting GP I moved to another seat only to watch NO ONE sit in the "saved" seats for the entire afternoon.

I was not wearing team logo - the people saving the seats would not know whether I was a corporate sponsor or a general member of the public.

It frustrates me because Dean wants us to invite the public to attend our events. How will the public be treated when there is no open seating - and then, when someone sits in an available seat they are discouraged from being there. Is this the way we want to treat the public??

I wonder, if my mother came to the event and was looking for a place to sit would she be welcomed like she should be!

Clearly, FIRST has always said there is no saved seating. How come people forget about this.

Perhaps Dean's homework should have been a refresher course on GP - for teams and parents!