Uncle assigns family members seats based on their weight to “protect” his new dining chairs, relative brings their own chair to dinner and leaves when asked to use a folding chair: ‘The name cards were already making a spectacle’ – FAIL Blog

Not only did the uncle have the courage to assign seats based on weight, but he also accused this man of making a spectacle. I think the spectacle has already been made. The person bringing their own chair was just responding to the bizarre little social experiment you created.

I think bringing a chair from home is hilarious; it’s so wonderfully petty without actually being mean. It’s saying, “Fine, if we’re pretending this is all about furniture, I’ll solve your furniture problem.” No yelling, no insults; just one sturdy chair and an incredible amount of passive-aggressive confidence. Talk about being smart.  

Also, family dinners are already complicated enough; theoretically, they are supposed to make you feel like you belong, but we all have that one family member who always has something to say. So an opinionated family member is already bad enough; I can’t imagine what a silent ranking system is like where some relatives get the nice seats, and others are treated like they’re one sneeze away from collapsing the furniture. If your guests leave remembering the seating arrangement instead of the meal, you’ve failed as a host. And as a decent human being. 

At some point, you have to ask yourself a very simple question: did you buy dining chairs to gather your family around the table, or did you buy a family just to protect your dining chairs? Because from where I’m sitting, and thankfully it’s on a chair of my own choosing, it sure looks like the chairs won.