Bowling on a work league

[Phonetek]

I bowled on the Thursday night trio league tonight. I've come to the conclusion that there is no way I can possibly take bowling seriously on ANY league at work. It's the ultimate distraction. In the middle of my first game I had to go fix the scoring cameras on a pair for open bowlers. It didn't take long, only a few minutes. Then third frame of the second came I had to fix my own lane. I had to replace a broken spotting cell. That was a good 20 minutes on my back. Then the third game I had to deal with someone on the phone who prefered to speak to a manager to set up a birthday party, another 20 minutes.

Don't take it that I'm angry about having to do these things because I'm not. The only problem is trying to separate work and fun. I don't even know my scores, that's how distracted I was. LOL All I know is I had a fistfull of cards and a 4 of a kind in the poker hand, and won 30 bucks. I obviously had a lot of strikes but that's all I know. I think I need to go talk to the boss and tell him, when I'm at work I'm at work...when I'm bowling I'm NOT at work. If a lane breaks, call the other mechanic or start training the pin chasers better.

[fordman1]

A work league is a league where everyone works at the same place. Not a league you bowl in while you are working.

I would not put up with a bowler who wasn't there when it was their turn. You should bowl in a different house.

[Phonetek]

A work league is a league where everyone works at the same place. Not a league you bowl in while you are working.
You're correct poorly worded title, my bad.


I would not put up with a bowler who wasn't there when it was their turn. You should bowl in a different house.

Nobody bowling cared in the least. These are all guys who all could care less about that. For them it's a night out away from home, the later they get home the better. Heck, me and one other guy were the only ones who were there when practice started on the entire league. Everyone else showed up at least 15 minutes late. LOL I asked them if all 11 teams drove in the same car?

More to the point was trying to make was having to do work while I was bowling. If I wasn't there it makes me wonder how those lanes would have gotten fixed? I opened yesterday and worked until 5. Went home, relaxed, ate dinner, showered and went back by 8 to bowl. I already worked my shift, I didn't expect to be working while I was bowling let alone fixing my own lane. Off the clock no less.

[fordman1]

Find a new league. Make it in another house.

[boatman37]

Find a new league. Make it in another house.

Either that or when you are off the clock you are off the clock. I know that's hard to do so you might have to do as Fordman said and just don't bowl at your house.

[Tony]

I have bowled with quite a few guys that worked at the center, but none of them ( other than the pro shop guy who actually doesn't work for the bowling center ) ever
worked and bowled at the same time,
The attitude they had was either they were on the clock and working or they were off the clock and not working, just bowling like anyone else.

Does your boss expect you to do repairs while you are there bowling in a league or open bowling or do you just do it ?

If he expects it, tell him you expect to be paid, clock in when you get there and stay clocked in, or (as others suggested ) quit bowling in that house.

If you just do it , STOP it's not your job, call the counter / or have a teammate call it in / just act like a customer . because you are !

[boatman37]

Good point by Tony. Do you pay the same fees each week to bowl as your teammates? Then you are a customer. Either way you are a customer but if you are expected to fix things then you shouldn't have to pay the centers portion of the fees. Even that still wouldn't make it right but you get my point.

[fordman1]

My teammate is the center manager We bowl at 8 on Friday night. On a rare occasion he will go in the back and help the mechanic fix a machine. With his experience and knowledge a 30 minute break down is 5-6 minutes. It might happen once a month. Last year we had to wait 25 minutes and he bought both teams a round. It is a 24 team 5 man league bowling in a 24 lane house.
He gets up set when asked about stuff when he is bowling and says go to the counter.

[Blacksox1]

Phonetek is this a what would you do thread? I will respond, if you say yes.

[Phonetek]

So many comments to reply to, instead of quoting everyone I'll just go one at a time. First I'll say to Boatman, I agree. If off the clock off the clock. Problem was I guess with the repairs is that they didn't have anyone there at the time who knew how to fix it. Our house has one main mechanic, I'm the number 2 who eventually will be taking over, he wants to retire pretty soon. Then we have pin chasers who are trained with "basic knowledge". Things like, how to fix an out of range, get a stuck ball, fix a pin cup, clear a pin jam and spot pins that fell or got swept away. They don't really know the meat and potatoes of the machines. The pin chasers also turn over more than others because it's mainly 16-20 yr olds, still in school and such. The ones who did learn more have moved on to college or other pursuits.

It's only a 12 lane house so how many actual mechanics SHOULD they have? Blacksox1, please feel free to comment anyway but let me clarify the situation I was faced with at the time. When my lane broke down and the spotting cell failed I had three choices at the time. Call the main mechanic, 40 minutes away on his day off at 10 pm to come in. Move to a pair on the other end next to open bowlers to finish our games and inconvenience both teams and the rest of the league with the poker game. We'd have to run down to lane 3&4 to get a card after each turn. The final choice, fix it myself and get it over with. I knew what the problem was from the settee area and told the pinchaser he had to replace a spotting cell for the 6 pin. He looked at me like a dog staring into a ceiling fan. So clearly was to do it myself so we could keep bowling. If I didn't fix it then and there I'd would have just had to do it when I came in the next day anyway. The other thing is, everyone on that league knows that I can fix the machines, I would have felt like an *** to ignore it.

I did address this with the GM and told him what had happened and I wasn't happy about it. I was there to enjoy myself, not work on pinspotters. The solution we came up with is that we are going to start to train the pin chasers a little more in depth on the machines. Of course not everything is a quick fix and certain things are still well beyond me to be able to fix. As the number 2, I know a lot more than the pin chasers but a LOT less than the number 1. Had this been a catastrophic failure moving pairs would have been the only option and we would have had the main mechanic come in the next morning scheduled or not. Replacing a spotting cell is not a catastrophe though. Pin chasers should be trained on this and other things like finding a carburetor linkage that fell off, making sure the dizzy arm is in sync, swapping a sweep or table motor and replacing broken sweep bushings. All fairly minor repairs that can be done in 5-10 minutes or less.

Boatman, yes I pay the same fees for league as all the other bowlers. Leagues are leagues so I get no special treatment for being an employee besides free soda and 1/2 price food for myself and family that happens to be with me. Open bowling I pay 50 cents a game and free shoes if I didn't have my own.

As far as the scoring cameras, those people should have just been moved to a different lane and the problem could have been addressed later. The phone call, the counter person should have just said to call back the next day to talk to a manager. I guess in those to instances I was at fault for addressing them. Maybe in the back of my mind if I don't swoop down and save the day I feel it will reflect poorly on me when in reality it shouldn't. As a early Gen X'er I think we are of the last to have that hardcore "Always do what needs to be done whatever the cost, always try to go above and beyond" work ethic. I have to learn to say "NO!, right now I am a customer!" as Tony said, but it's so difficult. Next Thursday I'm going to try very hard to ignore the counter at all costs. If a lane breaks then either fix it or move us.

I can tell you first hand that the majority of this current generation only does what they are told when they are told to do it and nothing more ethic. They play on their cell phones until then. Plus they expect an atta boy for each task that actually accomplish. If they go above and beyond one time they get angry if they don't get a reward out of it. They "expect" rather than "earn".

[boatman37]

Have to agree with that last part for the majority of young kids....lol. I do what needs to be done and don't care who was supposed to do it and don't care if I get credit or not. When I started this job I would get everything done I had to do then go around to my team members to see who needs help. Our team leader at the time said I wouldn't be able to get credit for anything I did that wasn't assigned to me. Told him I wasn't concerned about getting credit. That caught on pretty quick and now our whole team helps each other out. We have gotten so dependable that our whole team works from home now and nobody questions what we do. I am now the asst team leader and my guys get their jobs done with no management watching over us. They now trust us that much.

[Phonetek]

See, that's what I'm saying. You and I are close in age and in that same generation. You know what I'm talking about.

[boatman37]

See, that's what I'm saying. You and I are close in age and in that same generation. You know what I'm talking about.

Yep. My daughter is 24 and like me. She hustles. Owns her own house and 2 others. Definitely the exception