Here we go again...

[Ryster]

The virus is aggressively working its way through our bowling center. Employees, bowlers, etc. coming down with it at an accelerated rate. Even contact tracers for the county have been warning people to avoid spending too much time at the bowling center.

The center has been very lax the past few months with cleaning. They no longer cleanse chairs, tables, consoles, or house balls after each group leaves. They also no longer offer hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes for customers to use. Mask use is non-existent by employees (including kitchen staff) and very few customers are wearing them.

It has seemed safe there the past few months, but now it is very concerning. I will be taking disinfectant wipes with me moving forward and wiping down the tables, chairs, and console at my lane on league night. I don't plan on going there at all other than my one league night each week. Also going to go back to wearing a mask the whole time until the latest surge calms down. I don't want to have to do any of that, but at least if I end up getting the virus I will know I made efforts to try to avoid it.

Everyone stay safe!

[boatman37]

Seems to be hitting our area pretty hard too. Luckily not much more than sniffles and sneezing but seems to be more common now that at any other time. I am against the vax mandate but not necessarily against the vax itself. For me just not enough data yet to trust it. Don't want to start any arguments here so I'll just leave it at that. I know many that have been vaxxed and that is their decision and I'm fine with that. I have been vaxxed (2nd shot of Pfizer was 11/10) because I was forced to either do it or end my career. That doesn't sit well with me but it is what it is. My son was also forced to get it although he wasn't as against it as I was but did wait until he was required by his employer. That said, I haven't felt 100% since getting my 2nd shot. In fact, after my first shot I felt much worse than I did what I had COVID and it lasted longer. Since my 2nd shot I have felt sluggish, no energy, sneezing like crazy, runny nose and a headache every few days. My son is 28 and got shingles a couple months after his 2nd shot. Dr told him it was likely caused by the vaccine as their has been a link between them. His wife is about 5 months pregnant and her employer was forcing her to get the vax. She was completely against it (rightfully so). She works from home and agreed to get it as soon as the baby is born but they held firm so she got a religious exemption somehow. I work from home too and haven't been in my building in over 3 years. Additionally we were told if we had side effects from the shot we could have time off. I mentioned to my employer how bad I felt after getting my 1st shot and they said too bad. They said the federal gov't is giving all employers the option of giving their employees paid time off if they have sided effects. This whole fiasco is a mess with changing stories every week. I got my shots and will not get any more after this. It has been almost 2 months and I have never felt this bad for this long. Granted I'm not bed-ridden but feel about 90% but it has been 7 weeks now.

Rant over...lol. Just be careful out there and hopefully this thing goes away soon.

[Phonetek]

We haven't been all that laxed per se. We have all been wearing masks as employees for months. Getting customers to comply is another story. All we can do is remind them they are required, if they do or not I'd out of our hands. We cannot refuse service or ask them to leave. We do sell them in our vending machine, some people but them, others just ignore it.

We do announcement every hour saying "Masks are required in all the common areas, unless you are actively bowling, eating or drinking. If you leave the common area or it's not your turn to bowl please put your mask back on."

Now in the city of Chicago they are making it mandatory for business to ask to see vaccination cards and ID for entry. Since we after in a different country it may not happen to us. If it does I do not see how it's going to be possible to enforce.

We do not have the manpower to station someone at all 4 entrances checking that stuff. Not only that, there have been fake vax cards around since they started. How is anyone supposed to know the difference? Bar tenders can't even spot every fake ID let alone something paper that isn't standardized. If they had bar codes and readers for them maybe but they don't.

This is really getting out of hand and the government wants to force restrictions that businesses can't really possibly enforce. Send us people and technology to ease the burden. Come up with something please!

FYI, in addition to masks, we are behind plexiglass barriers still which we have to scream through. Seats, control pads and tables are still sanitized. House balls are not. Shoes of course are still sprayed like they always have been. It's all a pain in the *** and I wish it was all over with but it's obviously here to stay for a much longer time than we ever expected. 🙄

I am getting tired of customers telling me "Hey! They aren't wearing a mask!!" I mean seriously, what the hell do they expect me to do? I can't tackle them and duct tape a mask to their face. It is what it is, I'm not law enforcement and besides it's a "mandate" not a "law". Even if it was, I'm a citizen not a cop. I can't exactly call in the swat team. I can't isolate everyone to their own corner even with the large amount of lanes. Eventually someone is going to have to bowl next to a stranger.

[RobLV1]

In Nevada we have a mask mandate and, many places take it very seriously. Thankfully the casino where the bowling center where I bowl is one of them. When people refuse to wear a mask, security is called, and the bowler is escorted from the building. While the mask mandate is a pain in the butt, we have one of the lowest infection rates. When I was a kid, I had Chicken Pox, Mumps, Measles, German Measles and just about any other childhood illness that is now gone because of vaccines. I knew of children who got Polio, and I remember when we were all given the Sole vaccine at school. No one complained. When I had the Measles, my fever climbed to 106 and I almost died. I am fully vaccinated, including booster. I really don't understand why anyone would choose not to be vaccinated. Just my 2 cents.

[Phonetek]

I'm with ya Rob, a couple of shots is not a big imposition. It's all about how entitled people feel they are now a days. If they are so entitled where they can't get a shot then they are entitled to get the virus and not get free healthcare they enjoy while they are at it.

[Phonetek]

It’ the BS is starting. Today I had 3 separate lanes coming up and complaining that the people next to them weren’t wearing masks. I had No place to transfer them to either.

I seriously don’t know what they expect us to do? We are specifically told we cannot refuse service or kick people out for noncompliance. YET! If they aren’t actively eating, drinking or bowling THEN I can say something. If they are then there is literally nothing I can do. They need to call the Governor of Illinois and yell at him, not us. Protect yourselves and the heck with what everyone else is doing or not doing.

Boatman, wanna come out here with ol’ Bessie’ and have a job doing armed mask enforcement? God this is so annoying!

[boatman37]

It’ the BS is starting. Today I had 3 separate lanes coming up and complaining that the people next to them weren’t wearing masks. I had No place to transfer them to either.

I seriously don’t know what they expect us to do? We are specifically told we cannot refuse service or kick people out for noncompliance. YET! If they aren’t actively eating, drinking or bowling THEN I can say something. If they are then there is literally nothing I can do. They need to call the Governor of Illinois and yell at him, not us. Protect yourselves and the heck with what everyone else is doing or not doing.

Boatman, wanna come out here with ol’ Bessie’ and have a job doing armed mask enforcement? God this is so annoying!

lol. I'll pass. Had to deal with some tough issues before but wouldn't want to even try to tackle this issue...lol

[Phonetek]

Illinois just announced that law enforcement will not be enforcing the new mask mandates coming forth because it’s a mandate but not a law. It would be a violation of human rights for them to do so.

However, they will heavily fine any business that isn’t enforcing it. Umm… WAIT!…WHAT? How does that even make sense? It’s not a law or even an ordinance which of course you can get fined for both. A mandate is essentially a policy, when did it become legal to get fined for policy especially when it’s not backed by law?

Am I missing something? Boatman, you obviously have experience in the law, does this make sense to you? Please explain this if you can because my brain just exploded. This state is going to kill every business!

[boatman37]

Illinois just announced that law enforcement will not be enforcing the new mask mandates coming forth because it’s a mandate but not a law. It would be a violation of human rights for them to do so.

However, they will heavily fine any business that isn’t enforcing it. Umm… WAIT!…WHAT? How does that even make sense? It’s not a law or even an ordinance which of course you can get fined for both. A mandate is essentially a policy, when did it become legal to get fined for policy especially when it’s not backed by law?

Am I missing something? Boatman, you obviously have experience in the law, does this make sense to you? Please explain this if you can because my brain just exploded. This state is going to kill every business!

Well let me start by saying I am not an attorney and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...lol. I also was not a 'police officer' but was a State Constable. The difference is I didn't patrol or write citations (tickets))(although we are/were sworn law enforcement with statewide jurisdiction). I served warrants (criminal and civil) and transported prisoners. The difference here in PA is that police cannot enforce civil matters. That falls on the Sheriffs dept or constables. Not sure that a mandate would fall under civil though? I would think it would be more of a 'health violation' type thing like not properly cleaning your kitchen in a restaurant? For that I would think the health dept or code enforcement would be the ones to enforce that? All that being said, I don't see this gaining much traction. It will be too hard to regulate and I think too easy for businesses to fight in court and win. Just my opinion and this has nothing to do with my opinion on the topic, just my opinion on my knowledge of law and the court system. But yes, many businesses have shut down and business owners have lost everything (including their houses) over these policies. In PA our governor even kept the county next to me closed one extra week as punishment for the county DA announcing he would not prosecute any business owner that violated the governors mandate. We still have businesses around here that are still closed. Many due to worker shortages. A few local Dunkin Donuts closed all indoor service cause they couldn't get enough workers (and that came from my former bowling teammate that is a manager at the local Dunkin).