There’s a classic Seinfeld bit about car rental services when Jerry goes to pick up a rental car and they don’t have it. He then says to the clerk, «You know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to hold the reservation. And that’s really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anyone can just take them.» This is a key tenet of reservations. They’re utterly meaningless unless you know how to hold onto them. Otherwise, they’re just wisps of nothing. 

One group learned that the hard way when another family sauntered up and demanded their spot. Despite having printed proof of a reservation, these folks just wouldn’t take «no» for an answer. They kept on pushing, making up reasons that they couldn’t use their allotted space. As an adult, you’re bound to run into more than a few people like this on your way. You have to learn how to deal with them, and it’s far from an easy task. You have to use your spine way more than the average person. That’s what these people did.