Quitting my job at the bowling center =( New Journey

[Phonetek]

Agreed, generally not this extreme. LOL I'm on pins and needles with anticipation. I'm not a guy who likes to wait nor wonder. In this case I have no choice. Unfortunately watching the pot isn't making it boil. I am just anxious to move forward and simply cannot wait to get the heck out of here. I'm very confident but in the back of my mind I have to also realize nothing is written in stone just yet. I'll have to give it a couple more days and if I don't hear anything I'll reach out again. I definitely don't want to be a pest and chance ruining it. On the same token I have to continue to correspond so they know I'm serious. It's a fine line to traverse.

[Aslan]

You lost me at 'fuzzy spider'...I'd have died of fright and the motel manager would have found me dead in the morning...no story because I couldn't go online to update everyone.

Bowling center knowledge is a good thing...not very many qualified people out there. And, a lot of centers will have staff that aren't very good...but they can't afford to let them go or they'll be nobody to help fix the issues. Finding a waitress or a person to work the cash register isn't difficult...but a person that can work the scoring system, work the lane controls, and knows their way around the machinery in the back...is valuable.

[Phonetek]

You lost me at 'fuzzy spider'...I'd have died of fright and the motel manager would have found me dead in the morning...no story because I couldn't go online to update everyone.

Bowling center knowledge is a good thing...not very many qualified people out there. And, a lot of centers will have staff that aren't very good...but they can't afford to let them go or they'll be nobody to help fix the issues. Finding a waitress or a person to work the cash register isn't difficult...but a person that can work the scoring system, work the lane controls, and knows their way around the machinery in the back...is valuable.

That really just boils down to a couple things. Working at a bowling center is not a high paying job which goes without saying. That said, your not going to find too many over 21'ers with families that are going to take it on and be too serious about it. Unless you get into the higher positions it's nearly impossible to support a family and even then it's a struggle. So, if they aren't going to take it seriously then they aren't going to try to learn the systems and such. They are going to just learn the minimum to get their meager paycheck and that's that.

That comes down to work ethic as well. I mean, for me no matter what the pay was I went wherever it was and did whatever I had to do to do the job right. That's just me and how I am. Everywhere I went there was always "that guy, or those people" who did squat and made the same as I made. Fair? Of course not but it's just the way things are. Still, I continued to work hard and hope management took care of the slackers.

At a bowling center, even at my current one we try to push the people to work. We try to teach them, it goes in one ear out the other. More times than not they are more interested in what's playing on the TV's or glued to their cell phones meanwhile their is a line of customers forming at the counter they are oblivious to. Again, we try to motivate them but on the same token it comes back to the pay. Most start at minimum wage and are part time. All we can do is write them up which I have done.

Firing them is not often an option because it's not like we have a stack of applications waiting for candidates to replace them so we are stuck with them. Trust me, some of them I refuse to work with anymore. I have the GM schedule them on days I don't work. Their lack of ambition and customer service costs ME money because tips are definitely lower when I work with them. Another thing these people don't get. When your in the hospitality industry "customer service" is EVERYTHING! The better you serve the more tips you get, end of story!

One thing I have learned since working at the bowling center is just how to make tips, I'm actually pretty damn good at it. LOL It's not all about being quick and serving tasty drinks. Yeah that helps, you may get $5 tip for that. Talk to the people, come around to them at the lanes and joke around and get to know them, now your talking $10-15. My favorite thing to do is when the come to close their bar tab before they leave....As they are signing the receipt THEN crack a joke. Say it's a couple that came to bowl. I'll ask "So who won?" if the man says "I did" then I'll say "Dude, SERIOUSLY? <shaking my head in disappointment> You didn't let your lady win?? I hope you enjoy the couch cuz that's where you're gonna be tonight!" Just doing that I've watched them scratch out their previous tip and double it right there. It works and they remember you! From that point on, every time they come back you're getting whatever that tip was again at the minimum!

It's really not that hard but you have to like dealing with people and you have to like your job. If you do, it shows and the customers see it. If you walk around like you're at a funeral and watching the clock like you cannot wait until your shift ends then you aren't going to make anything. You're gonna make the tips that jingle rather than the ones that fold. If you don't have fun and enjoy yourself then how can you expect your customers to? I see this and understand it but unfortunately the vast majority of my subordinates don't.

Okay so there, I've been waiting a long time to provide an Aslan length reply to an Aslan comment. To this point I've seemed to miss him and we haven't crossed paths yet in all this time. LOL

Oh and as far as the spider? Well...I've dealt with them all my life. Where I used to live next to a river we had some that were so big that if you smacked them with a boot they'd grab it from you and smack you with it. They don't really bother me. As long as they aren't poisonous I really could care less. Black widows and brown recluses then we have a problem Houston. Since the wife wasn't with me, the fuzzy spider was something the cuddle up with in bed at least for a short time. However, I still only paid for a room meant for one and I the spider wasn't the one. =)

[Phonetek]

I did want to post an update but I had to comment on Aslan's comment first. So... these guys down there are dragging their knuckles a bit too much for me in their correspondence among other things. They aren't understand the urgency of my situation. Therefore I was forced to go to plan B. I got online and found every bowling center within an hour of where we are going. I went to each website and contacted every single one of them. I basically sent them an introductory but brief email outlining my qualifications and told them what I was looking to do. Within 20 minutes I had two replies and more later.

End result is that I have to go back down there next week and meet this one owner in person and it's a done deal. I don't want to get into too many details because the fact remains that this is the internet and you never know who's reading this. I don't want to ruin any opportunity. Although I'm pretty sure that not many proprietors have the time to be farting around reading posts on bowling boards (no offense to bowling boards of course) or any other forums but I'm not taking the chance. Suffice it to say I found what I was looking for. If it turns out not, from the other replies I am pretty confident that I have more than one backup just in case.