A man who recently had his foot amputated went on a date with his wife at a Joliet movie theater only to be told to leave after a “humiliating” series of interactions with management, he and his wife say.
Rick Bontowski and his wife Holly went to the Cinemark Louis at the Joliet Mall on May 4 to “Avengers: Infinity War” for a long awaited date night. When they entered the theater the couple noticed all the handicap seats were taken, so Holly went to consult with a manager on where they should sit. A manager, Holly wrote in a Facebook post, told her they could sit in handicap “DBox seats” that are normally reserved by patrons ahead of time.
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“Ten minutes into it, however, another manager comes in, as the first manager stands to the side, and tells us they ‘sold these seats’ and we will ‘need to leave,’ Holly wrote.
The managers told the Bontowskis they could get into a later movie, Holly wrote, as the couple grew increasingly embarrassed and frustrated.
The exchange created a disturbance in the theatre to the point that a family got up and left, but not before telling the managers “they won’t stay in a place that ‘treats people this way,’” Holly wrote.
“What is crazy is the manager who has asked us to leave is a complete jerk, actually angry because we won’t accept his ‘later movie’ offer, and the first manager - who gave us the seats in the first place - thinks he’s actually “making it right” by this offer,” she wrote.
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Holly also said she could see some of the people sitting in handicap seating were “non-mobility device assisted people” and the managers never asked them to move.
The managers also refused to refund the couple’s tickets because they lost their receipts while they were leaving the theatre, Holly said.
“Luckily, a Sheriff who guards the theater comes over, reinforces what they have done is illegal, and gets this done - interestingly - much more quickly,” she wrote.
Cinemark had no public comment on the allegations but have reached out to the Bontkowski family, a spokesperson said.
“Obviously, I’m furious, and both of us mortifyingly embarrassed, but moreso we realize maybe for the first time in our lives what it means to be in a marginalized group,” she wrote. “What this theater has done is disgusting (and illegal) but because there are only two of us, they still do it. We are not real people to them, and they have no idea why what they are doing is wrong.”
