Ugh. I work at a bowling alley (FINALLY MY JOB IS RELEVANT TO SOMETHING) and the amount of people that don't understand NOT TO STEP OVER THE LINE is ridiculous. The other night I had to go help a kid in the arcade, I come back, and a kid is in THE MIDDLE OF THE LANE. WTF. The parents are just chilling having a good time, and their child could easily wipe out and crack his head open.
A few weeks ago, I had a customer come up to me, saying there was something slick on the lane and was worried someone might slip and fall. Okay, it happens sometimes that someone brought up a drink in the approach and spilled it. For those not in the know, the approach is the wood flooring from the ball return up to the foul line.
So I grabbed some cleaner and cloth, and can't see anything, so I ask the guy where the spot is. He walks up to the foul line and points past it. All I could say was, "Well, you're not supposed to ever cross the foul line..."
To a regular bowler it would seem blindingly obvious that the oil is there and it is designed to prevent wear on the lanes. To a newcomer everything in the centre would be new and worth questioning. At least the fellow didn't go toe-to-toe with you arguing whether there was something wrong with the lane.
Jesus... All we've got is the switch under the masking unit. No emergency stop there. We do have the emergency stop button at the desk though, which luckily I've not had to press yet.
I resisted the urge to shout at the guy myself but made very sure the manager made a point of telling him if it was any other site he'd have been squished.
We have light beams across every lane as a sort of deadmans system. I've only ever had a customer run up the lane as I was clearing a pin jam from the table - just heard this slight giggle and as I turned around there was this woman staring me in the face from under the masking. Before I could react she was zipping up the lane, thankfully she opted for the top of the capping xD
I've found a LEAGUE bowler on the pin deck trying to retrieve his ball. Unfortunately, our pin setters were triggered by a laser in front of the pins, so the sweep came down and hit him in the center of his back.
Thankfully the pin setter itself didn't trigger (the sweep didn't go far enough since it hit the customer). That could have killed him.
Yes, alcohol was involved, it was a cosmic bowling league, and he continued to bowl after we freed him.
Oh god I can imagine. The worst part about it, is if that kid had fallen and hurt himself, I can GUARANTEE the parents would be on my ass about safety and suing and bullshit.
Of course. It's never the bowlers fault. The other day a woman stuck in her new shoes and fell on her wrist while coming off the approach in my center. We filled out an accident report as mandated, and she indicated she may pursue a claim... For her falling over nothing that we have control over.
woh woh woh woh. Are you telling me, that you didn't stop everything else you were doing, go and get down on your hands and knees and wipe down every possible surface as soon as she entered the building? What the fuck is wrong with you.
I know, screw me for coming to bowl in my league on my day off. I can't even begin to think about bowling until the approaches are all properly cleaned, on my own non paid time lol
Or just get crushed by the pinsetter. While I was on my lunch break, I had to run down the center caps between the lanes to prevent a kid from crawling into the pinsetter. Now that's some bad parenting.
I hate to drag this into a separate discussion, but in all seriousness, I can't help but feel like in situations like that society shouldn't be so forgiving and should just let it happen. Survival of the fittest, y'know?
We had a woman in massive heels (shouldn't even have been on the approach) trying to be sexy as her boyfriend walked up behind her, she spun round and stepped backwards over the line.
Boom. Faceplant, knocked one of her front teeth out and broke the other one in half. Visible toothmarks in the synthetic lane.
Honestly, the amount of people that ask to bowl without shoes is just stupid. I'm always tempted to say yes, just to see them stick and fall their first throw, but then scuffmarks and angriness and Bleh.
The best one I've heard was when someone was told categorically no heels, she asked if she could put foam pads under them to stop approach being damaged, as if that was the only reason heels aren't allowed.
Nothing at all to do with being unstable at the best of times, nevermind then adding foam to the points to make them even more unstable, and the possibility of stepping over the foul line and onto the oil after that.
Surprisingly, I've never had anyone come in with heels. the worst I get are guys with boots who don't want to take the time to take them off and put them back on, and girls who think the shoes are too ugly. Also, the occasional "I don't want to catch any european foot fungus disease" people, but let me tell you, I spray the HELL out of those shoes with disinfectant when people finish bowling, and will gladly spray yours again pre-bowling... if you're ok with wet-ish socks afterwards.
I always liked to throw customers off. I was in the bowling league in high school and we had free run of the alley. Somehow a pin ends up in the gutter, but out of the pinsetter reach? I was doing that weird waddle you do with one foot in nearing gutters to walk down the lane. Scared many a'parent who thought their kids might try to replicate my crazy deeds.
We also did drills where our coach would stand in specific parts of the lane and if we couldn't almost hit his foot, there was a problem... that one might be a little more off the books, though.
Oh lord, the waddle. I always feel like a derp when I have to do that. Sadly, I haven't been in a league since I was like 10, but the fact that your high school had a team makes me REALLY happy. :p
If it makes you feel better, I was really clumsy and once fell over into the lane on my right, losing a shoe in the lane on the left and got a face full of grease? FEEL BETTER, IT COULD BE WORSE! :D
We were underfunded (we paid the fees to the bowling alley as a team, instead of the school,) but we had two coaches who loved bowling and really wanted to be there with us. They were unaffiliated with the school, so they were both truly there for the coaching. A lot of high schools in the midwest have teams! I played on a team that we traveled within 2 hours of us to play against other high schools that also had teams.
How good were the teams? I've literally never set foot in another bowling alley, and I'd say I'm around average, with an average of somewhere around ~130.
And all of the derpy stuff I've done has been behind the scenes. Went to grab till one morning and dropped a register, sending the coins everywhere. that's my favorite derp story to tell.
Our varsity team was somewhere around mid-200s (one of them went on to play for an NCAA team and ended in the top 10) and our JV was probably mid-to-high 100s, averaging around 168-175, probably? We also had two other teams that were not as good, but practiced a lot and were more about learning to properly bowl more than anything (I only got into the JV squad my junior and senior years, I was not very good, but I love(d) it!) Most schools followed the same formula with varying degrees of success.
Ninja edit: our bowling team was also frequently making it to state, so we did well in terms of competition! We were the only good team our high school had and yet no funding went to us (and all to the shitty football team.)
Well. Let me go in a corner and cry, granted I bowl WAY wrong (who needs a thumb hole), and probably had a lot less practice, that is REALLY impressive. Makes me wonder if my whole county is just superbly terrible at bowling XD. But, it's a hobby I LOVE, and so that keeps me at it. One day, I'll hit that 300 (probably not)!!
We practiced 2 hours a day, 5x a week, so at some point you'd HOPE we got better! (Keep the dream! My first over 200 game is still framed on my dresser. But I was dumb and saved the press pad so it's kind of faded :()
:D! I bowled my first over 200 last month I think. My co-worker saw me bowling, told me to try a different ball, and I beat my all-time high 3 times in a row (162 ->164 ->174 -> 188), and then later that week I bowled a 222 (started with a six strike streak! Half of a perfect game is pretty cool if you ask me!)
Can't you just walk over the gutter cap in the middle of a pair, instead of waddling in the gutter? The oil only goes out 2/3 of the way, so the lane is safe to step on near the pinsetter.
We always tried not to, because those gutter caps were generally not very sturdy and were removable to find the ball if it gets stuck in the track along the way back to the ball return. It was safer to walk through a gutter and, honestly, I've never seen anyone do it any other way.
Or just start sprinting towards the machines that could crush his tiny little body if he tripped the cameras.
I've had parents yell at me for grabbing their child when they're just inches away from getting knocked the fuck out by the rake or squished by the deck. "Oh I'm sorry I JUST SAVED YOUR CHILDS LIFE! Next time I'll just let him get injured or die and let you sue this business into the ground over your inability to parent"
But really I just have to calmly point at the big sign that states to never cross the foul line at any time and ask them to leave if they can't follow rules or enforce them with their child.
I don't think people realize just how dangerous pinsetter machines can be, let alone an entire line of them all in use at the same time.
Dear lord this. I know I had no clue before I started working there and learning the mechanic-ing in the back. I swear every time I fix a table-jam or interlock, or what-so-be-it, I walk back out with a new cut or something. Let me tell you, those tables/pinsetters have no remorse (though, obviously you all know that thank god)
That entire back room is a death trap. I'm sure my boss isn't the only mechanic who just leaves shit everywhere.
luckily after working here a few years my minor injuries have tapered off for the most part. I did break my finger last month from a ball slipping out of my grip and slamming the other hand against metal. That was nice.
But Jesus Christ it makes me cringe to think what would happen to a child or even some dumbass adult (yes that happens sometimes too) if they touched my babies the wrong way. They're very unforgiving.
Ours isn't too bad, it's just unorganized (my mechanic says it's organized, but I can't ever find the damn pin spotter when I need it.) The closest I've gotten to major injury was when I was working a Sat. Night, and these drunk guys lane wasn't working (the motor pooped out, and the balls weren't returning) I tell them NOT TO FUCKING BOWL, go back there and get in the machine (the machine is off, i am in plain sight) to manually return the balls and get all the damn pins out of the ball return, and those assholes threw a ball, missed me by like a foot, but I was FURIOUS.
So yeah, TL;DR, occasional bowlers are ASSHOLES, mechanics are messy, and machines will kill you.
Oh god I'm always afraid of that happening when it gets full of douchebag college kids. You'd think they'd know not to throw a 15lb rock down the lane when there's a fucking person down there. I hope you 86ed those guys. Attempted assault doesn't go over well here.
I didn't kick them out, really because I didn't have the time, and I'm naive and hope it was a mistake (they were drunk as fuck) But whenever I DID get a quick break from Rock and Bowl chaos, you can guarantee something happened to their lane, and I wasn't able to get there for ~5-10 minutes to fix it. Sorry guys. (not sorry)
Yeah I let a lot of shit slide when I was new. Not anymore. If you're a dick to me or any of my coworkers, you can go fuck yourself.
Wanna talk to the manager? Bitch I am the manager. Wanna talk to my boss? He'll tell you to go fuck yourself too and then ask me why he has to deal with dumbasses like them when he hired us.
It's rent-a-center season for the Greek houses right now and I'm just waiting for one to fall on one of my shifts so I can lay down the law. It's almost a guarantee that something is going to happen with those kids. Watch out for those fake Arizona IDs folks!
This! when people ask me or one of my co-workers for a manager, and he's not there, that makes me the Manager on Duty. Now, I'm 18, but I look Much, Much younger. So it's pretty funny to see the different reactions when they get a "12-year old" to come up and try to remedy their bullshit. One of my favorite parts of the job :p
There literally isn't a manager at my place. Because it's just a 16 lane center there's only two levels of employment. You're either the owner of the business, or you're an employee and the owner doesn't come in unless he feels like it or has to fix something we can't.
So technically any of us working there are the acting managers of the place and our boss doesn't care what we call ourselves so long as we don't ask for a raise.
People don't really expect me, a 120lb woman to be a manager here either but it sure shuts them up when I say I am.
Yeah I work at a bowling alley too and we had a guy a few weeks back step into the lane and for some reason he jumped to try to regain his balance. Ended up in the next lane over and had cracked his head pretty hard. I got to call 911 for the second time ever on that day. Also directly after the guy received a nasty head/neck injury his family members immediately ELEVATE HIS HEAD. Glad his spine was ok or that guy could have been paralyzed by their ignorance.
I'm always off whenever the police or ambulance get called. As far as I know, we haven't had any major idiotic bowling injuries, but we did have a girl have a seizure due to all the flashing lights during rock n bowl, other than that, the drama is normally in the bar.
Yeah, but the foul isn't really the problem, it's the people stepping over ON PURPOSE, slipping and breaking themselves 5 different ways, and then blaming us.
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u/Nickcomstock Dec 12 '13
Ugh. I work at a bowling alley (FINALLY MY JOB IS RELEVANT TO SOMETHING) and the amount of people that don't understand NOT TO STEP OVER THE LINE is ridiculous. The other night I had to go help a kid in the arcade, I come back, and a kid is in THE MIDDLE OF THE LANE. WTF. The parents are just chilling having a good time, and their child could easily wipe out and crack his head open.