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Thread: Slobs and disrespectful idiots

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    High Roller Phonetek's Avatar
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    Default Slobs and disrespectful idiots

    Today I had a group of teens on a pair of lanes that I think set a worlds record on how quickly they could trash a pair of lanes. They weren't there 10 minutes and had popcorn and gummy bears all over the place and stuck to the floor. Shortly after they spilled 3/4 of a pitcher of lemonade on the floor. To top it all off and we didn't notice because the place was packed. They were throwing 6lb balls down the lane. One got stuck somehow below the floor before the end of the ball return. Instead of calling the counter they kept getting more and more balls which also got stuck because the first one blocked them.

    When they finished I cleaned up the mess. We were unaware of the ball return issue until the next people took the lanes and of course their ball didn't come back which was their own. I took the covers off on the ball return down the lane to clear up the ball jam. There were a total of 28 house balls caught in there. We couldn't believe it, nobody ever seen anything like that before. What kind of morons do this?

    If a ball gets stuck the solution is to just get a new ball for every shot? After all the balls were cleared we tested the ball return with balls of various weights including 6lb balls and it worked perfectly. We can only surmise they were screwing around and must have jammed one back down and in to make it get stuck because we couldn't duplicate it. As much as it shouldn't shock me it does that people could be so stupid and disrespectful. Needless to say, they are no longer welcome to return.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Phonetek View Post
    Today I had a group of teens on a pair of lanes that I think set a worlds record on how quickly they could trash a pair of lanes. They weren't there 10 minutes and had popcorn and gummy bears all over the place and stuck to the floor. Shortly after they spilled 3/4 of a pitcher of lemonade on the floor. To top it all off and we didn't notice because the place was packed. They were throwing 6lb balls down the lane. One got stuck somehow below the floor before the end of the ball return. Instead of calling the counter they kept getting more and more balls which also got stuck because the first one blocked them.

    When they finished I cleaned up the mess. We were unaware of the ball return issue until the next people took the lanes and of course their ball didn't come back which was their own. I took the covers off on the ball return down the lane to clear up the ball jam. There were a total of 28 house balls caught in there. We couldn't believe it, nobody ever seen anything like that before. What kind of morons do this?

    If a ball gets stuck the solution is to just get a new ball for every shot? After all the balls were cleared we tested the ball return with balls of various weights including 6lb balls and it worked perfectly. We can only surmise they were screwing around and must have jammed one back down and in to make it get stuck because we couldn't duplicate it. As much as it shouldn't shock me it does that people could be so stupid and disrespectful. Needless to say, they are no longer welcome to return.
    One of the biggest issues I see is that either no one knows how, or no one cares to teach bowling etiquette anymore. Too many times I've seen a house turn into romper room because parents think it's a McDonald's playground. Lots of proprietors don't do anything for fear of running off business. It's few and far between I see a set of parents (which is an anomaly nowadays anyway) that keep their kids in check. I've actually gone out of my way to congratulate a few of them when they do. Here and there I've seen a manager or two that will go out and "correct" ill behavior, but even that has risks if the group decides that just because they paid for bowling, they own the joint.
    Old guy with power (15.5-16; 325). Current arsenal--Storm Summit, RotoGrip Idol Helios, Storm Phaze III, Storm SureLock (retired), Storm IQ Tour Nano and Motiv Rebel tank (spare/dry). High sanctioned game - 300 (4). High sanctioned series - 856. A.V. 300-s - 8. Longest string - 25.
    2023/2024 YTD highs--High game-289; high series-739

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    Quote Originally Posted by Timmyb View Post
    One of the biggest issues I see is that either no one knows how, or no one cares to teach bowling etiquette anymore. Too many times I've seen a house turn into romper room because parents think it's a McDonald's playground. Lots of proprietors don't do anything for fear of running off business. It's few and far between I see a set of parents (which is an anomaly nowadays anyway) that keep their kids in check. I've actually gone out of my way to congratulate a few of them when they do. Here and there I've seen a manager or two that will go out and "correct" ill behavior, but even that has risks if the group decides that just because they paid for bowling, they own the joint.
    When I hand out lanes and it's younger people or they have little kids I do make a point to tell them to make sure to look at the lanes on each side. If someone is up there ready to bowl to wait until they walk back before they go. I tell them it's polite and for their own safety so they don't get konked with a ball or kicked. Most people tend to comply. If I do see bowlers give the people on the next lane the stink eye I'll go down and say something. 99% of the time they didn't realize they were doing anything wrong.

    I'm not a jerk about it though, very polite and usually both lanes thank me and everyone is happy. I haven't been there all that long so I haven't had anyone give me any grief YET but I'm sure the day is coming. I know the other employees didn't do that before but it seems I'm rubbing off on them, now they are doing the same thing. I get a gold star. LOL The only reason those teens got away with what they did today is because one we were slammed. Two it was cosmic so it was dark and three because the boss was out getting supplies. He watches with an eagle eye when he's around.

    There are cameras in every inch of that place. Earlier today he tossed out some teens that were just hanging around in the game room. If they weren't eat, drinking, playing pool or video games then there was no reason for them to be in there. Or they could have gotten a lane. Just sitting around for the sake of sitting around they get the boot!

    We have monitors behind the counters to see all the cameras and so does the boss. Only place there are no cameras is the bathrooms of course and by the pinsetters. There is outside the pinsetter rooms door though.

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    Yeah unfortunately lots of teens today just have no respect for anything. They probably thought it was funny seeing the balls get stuck and wanted to see how many they could get jammed in there.

    Too many parents don't keep their kids in check unfortunately. I once had 2 kids run through my lanes on the approach and they were 5 lanes over from me.

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    High Roller Phonetek's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JasonNJ View Post
    Yeah unfortunately lots of teens today just have no respect for anything. They probably thought it was funny seeing the balls get stuck and wanted to see how many they could get jammed in there.

    Too many parents don't keep their kids in check unfortunately. I once had 2 kids run through my lanes on the approach and they were 5 lanes over from me.
    The teens in this post were just there in a group, no parents this time. Good point though, that was probably their plan. Since we have their name and credit card info, good thing they didn't break anything. Could have easily busted them with the cops and nailed them for vandalism. In this case, I'm sure these guys probably have little respect for anything or anyone. For sanity I choose to have faith that they don't represent the majority.

    We had a catholic school come in last week, boys and girls, today was boy scouts. Between the two I have never seen a more well behaved group of kids. The catholic kids even segregated themselves, girls on lanes 1-6, boys 7-12 it was kinda funny. I got on the intercom and got them fired up. I was telling the boys that the girls were whooping their butts. I also said any kids that out bowl their teachers get no homework next week. Unfortunately I had to take that back.

    Anyway, when they left there wasn't a ball left on the returns, they put them all away. Not a cup or wrapper to be found and they all brought their bowling shoes up to the counter. You wouldn't have even known there was 70+ kids there after they left. So they all aren't troublemakers and vandals.

    I figure it was only right to tell about the good kids too, not just the troublemakers.
    Last edited by Phonetek; 03-03-2018 at 12:33 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Phonetek View Post

    I figure it was only right to tell about the good kids too, not just the troublemakers.

    That's why I mention it to parents when I see them with well behaved kids. I remember what it was like taking my kids to the lanes, and having a manager come up and tell me it was nice to see a family who's kids knew how to behave at a center. It's hard enough to raise good kids, and to hear you're doing a good job is great!
    Old guy with power (15.5-16; 325). Current arsenal--Storm Summit, RotoGrip Idol Helios, Storm Phaze III, Storm SureLock (retired), Storm IQ Tour Nano and Motiv Rebel tank (spare/dry). High sanctioned game - 300 (4). High sanctioned series - 856. A.V. 300-s - 8. Longest string - 25.
    2023/2024 YTD highs--High game-289; high series-739

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    Quote Originally Posted by Timmyb View Post
    That's why I mention it to parents when I see them with well behaved kids. I remember what it was like taking my kids to the lanes, and having a manager come up and tell me it was nice to see a family who's kids knew how to behave at a center. It's hard enough to raise good kids, and to hear you're doing a good job is great!
    Oh with those groups we make a point of telling them that. I admit I don't say it to every well behaved kid just the bigger groups but I do make sure I ask every customer if they enjoyed themselves and if everything was okay. As a courtesy some employees put the names in on the lanes for people. I personally don't unless they have issues, it's bad enough not many people already don't know how to keep score. I think they can figure out putting in their names. When I assign them a lane I just tell them to follow the directions on the screen, it tells you exactly what to hit. They do it for leagues too, even putting in average and handicap. To me that's the team captains job, what else do they really have to do besides collect money and fill out the sheets at the end.

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    Unfortunately these kids act like this because they are either not disciplined or have not been taught how to act in public places. Parents take the blame on this one. Respect level is way down and it's sad.

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    Very sad situation these days with people. If I had acted this way and my dad found out I would have been dealt with appropriately. Inevitably I tend to loose my patience at times on the lanes with teens around. I try and think back and remember if I was that obnoxious as a teen. I usually wonder why the management is not dealing with it but I suppose I do not realize that it must be hard to keep track of what everyone doing or be hesitant to say something to people. I like the idea of setting a good example and trying to kindly help people out in understanding proper etiquette when possible.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bdpeters View Post
    Very sad situation these days with people. If I had acted this way and my dad found out I would have been dealt with appropriately. Inevitably I tend to loose my patience at times on the lanes with teens around. I try and think back and remember if I was that obnoxious as a teen. I usually wonder why the management is not dealing with it but I suppose I do not realize that it must be hard to keep track of what everyone doing or be hesitant to say something to people. I like the idea of setting a good example and trying to kindly help people out in understanding proper etiquette when possible.
    Oh I was obnoxious as a teen but not at the bowling alley. Then again I'm just as if not more obnoxious now. I hate to sound like a typical adult and use the played out phrase "It was different back then" but it was. Most of the kids on my league were pretty serious about bowling but on different levels of serious. We of course had the team of goofs but the worse thing they did was crank up a boom box which management quickly squashed.

    Back then music being played at the bowling only took place in the pub section not on the lanes. For the most part everyone was trying to compete or do the best they could including the girls. I think bottom line is any kid that's willing to wake up early on a Saturday morning to bowl every week wasn't gonna be nimrods. The nimrods would probably rather sleep in. LOL Another reason that kept everyone in check is most kids had their parents bowling there on leagues and management knew them. My mom was a bartender there so rest assured she'd find out if I was acting like a fool.

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