DrOcktagon
03-06-2013, 08:12 PM
Reading the thread about commom courtesy got me thinking. It amazes me sometimes just how stupid and/or uninformed the general public is about bowling safety, rules, and etiquette. Not knowing about lane courtesy is one thing, and honestly doesn't usually bother me too much, but seemingly having no common sense about safety just boggles my mind.
I've worked at a couple bowling alleys over the years - unfortunately I don't currently - and have seen some pretty stupid behaviour.
One thing that happened constantly was people not understanding that there is oil on the lane. Do they think it's just really shiny wood that the ball magically glides down with almost no friction? Countless times I saw little kids throw a ball that stops after a few feet, so the parent would just walk down the center of the lane to retrieve it, and then get mad at me when I "yell" at them for putting themselves at risk for injury. Common sense - not to mention the signs posted at literally every bowling alley in the known universe - should tell you not to step onto the lane.
Another one is kids playing around the ball return. I was working the desk when I was 17 or 18, and there was a school group bowling with a bunch of little kids. All of a sudden I heard one of the kids screaming bloody murder, along with adults yelling in my general direction for help. I ran down to the lane and this kid had gotten his arm stuck in the ball return up to his elbow. I had to hit the emergency off switch, pop off the cover, and pry this crying kid's arm out of the machine. Luckily he was okay, just some bruises, but that could've been a really bad situation. We've all seen "Kingpin"; this kid almost got Munsoned. But really it was the adults' fault for not paying attention and allowing the kid to stick his arm into a machine with visibly spinning mechanisms. >>>slow clap<<<
And then there's people using every ball in the house, as if it will make a difference. Personally, I really like bowling alleys that don't just leave house balls sitting around for anyone to grab. You should have to check them out at the front desk. Numerous times, usually during Friday and Saturday night Cosmic Bowling, we would have a group of idiot college kids who would throw a ball that doesn't return, so naturally they go and grab another ball, which also doesn't return, and so on and so on until they run out of house balls. Usually, we would only find out this was happening because our mechanic would run out from the back yelling at them to stop bowling because the balls are literally flying out the back of the lane. We must've pulled 40+ balls out of this one pair of lanes. The balls were stacked end to end from the ball return all the way to the back of the pin deck. That was fun. I've always wondered what they must've been thinking, maybe that they had stumbled into some Twilight Zone-esque scenario where their balls were being transported to another dimension whose sole gateway existed exclusively behind their lane and their lane alone? Could be...
And then there's the people who thinks it's just the funniest thing in the world to see how far down the lane they can loft the ball. That's just idiotic and disrespectful to the bowling alley. And let's not forget those that don't seem to understand the simple concept of solid matter not being able to pass through other solid matter, so they just throw the ball without waiting for the pin sweeper to lift out of the way. Brilliant.
I know there are many more things I could add, but I've probably ranted far too long for most of you to still care about what I'm saying. Feel free to add to this thread if you have any other examples, or if you just want to call me a pretentious bowling snob who expects way too much from your average non-bowler.
I've worked at a couple bowling alleys over the years - unfortunately I don't currently - and have seen some pretty stupid behaviour.
One thing that happened constantly was people not understanding that there is oil on the lane. Do they think it's just really shiny wood that the ball magically glides down with almost no friction? Countless times I saw little kids throw a ball that stops after a few feet, so the parent would just walk down the center of the lane to retrieve it, and then get mad at me when I "yell" at them for putting themselves at risk for injury. Common sense - not to mention the signs posted at literally every bowling alley in the known universe - should tell you not to step onto the lane.
Another one is kids playing around the ball return. I was working the desk when I was 17 or 18, and there was a school group bowling with a bunch of little kids. All of a sudden I heard one of the kids screaming bloody murder, along with adults yelling in my general direction for help. I ran down to the lane and this kid had gotten his arm stuck in the ball return up to his elbow. I had to hit the emergency off switch, pop off the cover, and pry this crying kid's arm out of the machine. Luckily he was okay, just some bruises, but that could've been a really bad situation. We've all seen "Kingpin"; this kid almost got Munsoned. But really it was the adults' fault for not paying attention and allowing the kid to stick his arm into a machine with visibly spinning mechanisms. >>>slow clap<<<
And then there's people using every ball in the house, as if it will make a difference. Personally, I really like bowling alleys that don't just leave house balls sitting around for anyone to grab. You should have to check them out at the front desk. Numerous times, usually during Friday and Saturday night Cosmic Bowling, we would have a group of idiot college kids who would throw a ball that doesn't return, so naturally they go and grab another ball, which also doesn't return, and so on and so on until they run out of house balls. Usually, we would only find out this was happening because our mechanic would run out from the back yelling at them to stop bowling because the balls are literally flying out the back of the lane. We must've pulled 40+ balls out of this one pair of lanes. The balls were stacked end to end from the ball return all the way to the back of the pin deck. That was fun. I've always wondered what they must've been thinking, maybe that they had stumbled into some Twilight Zone-esque scenario where their balls were being transported to another dimension whose sole gateway existed exclusively behind their lane and their lane alone? Could be...
And then there's the people who thinks it's just the funniest thing in the world to see how far down the lane they can loft the ball. That's just idiotic and disrespectful to the bowling alley. And let's not forget those that don't seem to understand the simple concept of solid matter not being able to pass through other solid matter, so they just throw the ball without waiting for the pin sweeper to lift out of the way. Brilliant.
I know there are many more things I could add, but I've probably ranted far too long for most of you to still care about what I'm saying. Feel free to add to this thread if you have any other examples, or if you just want to call me a pretentious bowling snob who expects way too much from your average non-bowler.