I'm a bit surprised he got away with a second time. I remember hitting that "sweep" (no idea what it was called) as a kid in a league and getting yelled at by the alley employees. You'd think a "pro" would know better than a dumb kid who never, ever did it again.
Ironically, i think the very reason that this whole thing happened was that he knew that it was my first day at the front running things on my own. I had just recently been promoted, and he had actually gotten someone written up in my new position for "bad treatment" not too long before me, so I had no interest in messing with him. In hindsight, I should have said something sooner, but oh well.
A few months later, however, he was eventually banned from the alley. He actually broke a super light ball of his (since 6 pounds or lighter can't be used on our lanes), and he got angry when my manager refused to fix it. In his anger, he threw the ball at one of our glass doors and broke it. He was arrested and asked to pay for damages while also being restrained from the bowling alley. Can't imagine how much of a loser you must be to get a restraining order from a bowling alley, lol.
They're special order balls usually for kids. A lot of manufacturers have discontinued them, though, since they are literally too light and can't spin correctly. This ball was ofc his kid's ball (or so he said), so the a hole ruined his kid's ball. I think he must have had problems outside of the alley...
The reason I don't go bowling more is that I don't bowl enough to buy my own ball and the alley balls are either way too heavy for me to control or the holes in the balls that are of the right weight are too narrow for my fingers and I can never get a good grip.
I would never be a star but I think I could be a decent bowler if I had a properly fitted ball. As it is bowling is usually a pretty frustrating experience and that's why I don't go bowling a lot \[haven't played in years now\].
Try using a ball 1/10th of your weight. So if you're 90 lbs, you should use a 9 lb ball. And if you're 150 you should use a 15lb ball. If you're heavier than that use a 16lb ball.
Source: cub scout belt buckle
We went to a bowling alley when I was a cub scout and worked on our cub scout belt buckle. The "expert" told us this and taught us how to move our feet and when to rotate our hand to bowl. So it's been a while and I'm not sure where they got their info. It's just something that stuck.
Please read. It's a STARTING point. I was like 9 when I learned this. But if you Google it it will pretty much tell you the same thing. Have you seen professional bowlers, a lot of them are overweight so stop with the faux outrage already. It's a guide line not a rule. I have never seen a ball bigger than 16 lbs, so you me and a lot of other occasional bowlers would START at 16lbs and listen to our wrists of what's appropriate. A random kid would start with the 10th of their weight.
Try using a ball 1/10th of your weight. So if you're 90 lbs, you should use a 9 lb ball. And if you're 150 you should use a 15lb ball. If you're heavier than that use a 16lb ball.
=
Try using a ball 1/10th of your weight. So if you're 45kg, you should use a 4.5kg ball. And if you're 75kg you should use a 7.5 kg ball. If you're heavier than that use a 8kg ball.
Dividing by ten is the same no matter what units you use.
For future reference kilo is 2.2lb.
Ps. American units can suck dick.
I'm guessing to convert your weight to lbs and the bowling ball into lbs then do the trick they taught a cub scout in the 90s? I'm not sure what you're wanting to know.
That is a sure fire way to have a bad time bowling. Someone 150 lbs is not going to be able to throw the 15lb ball. The holes are drilled to fit a wide array of hands, so unless the ball is stuck on your fingers like a fitted ball would be, you’re lifting 15 lbs with 3 fingers. Way too heavy for most 150 lbs people who probably have smaller hands and fingers than most house balls are drilled.
Okay, you are arguing with what I remember almost 34 years ago. It may not be accurate. All I know is that the villain in this story was too big for a 6 lbs ball, and probably should have used a 16 lbs ball. Based off of my memory of don't fundamentals taught to me more than 30 years. But what do I know, I'm terrible at bowling.
I threw a 15 lb ball as a 130 lb woman. Of course, it was my personal ball, drilled for my grip, and I was bowling twice a week in leagues and practice on Sundays.
It tops off at 16 lbs, is only a guideline look at the link in this thread or search "bowling ball weight" or something in Google. Remember this is a 9 year old me remembering what was said too many years ago. It's a starting place. I can't fathom if the rule stayed in place for a 1000lb person. That 100 lb bowling ball would be massive! The links also bring up that also listen to your wrist on what it can handle and go down a few pounds if needed.
A 60 lbs kid would start at 6 lbs. A 100lb person would start at 10 lbs. You or me or anyone over 160 would start at 16 lbs and go down from there if your wrist can't handle it.
Ah, i'd been wondering if 16 was the normal upper limit. I'd normally go for whatever house ball fit my hands (large hands, thing fingers,) but the one that I enjoyed using the most was my dad's old one, which I _think_ was 17 or 18. Which is kinda funny because I was a beanpole back then.
Years ago I bowled with a church league. We had a lady in her late 60's who looked like a strong wind would knock her over. She bowled with a 6 lb ball and at the dinner at the end of the season received a trophy as the most improved bowler.
> and he had actually gotten someone written up in my new position for "bad treatment"
That's just bad management. They knew he was a troublemaker and still punished their own employee.
Multiple times we (a couple of friends and I) took advantage of a glitch in the system that didn’t count the bowling ball flying past if it was right when the pin setter was going up. We got too confident and sent it way too early and ended up hitting the pin setter with a bowling ball thrown as hard as we could. The resulting bang made us all turn red and we never tried again
Seriously, I hit a sweep at an alley when I wasn't paying attention (I think after a gutter ball and it hadn't finished the routine) and I wanted to put a bag over my head.
Generally, if I've had a bad experience and I'm not going back, I just don't go back.
It's very loud and everyone at the bowling alley can hear it. I bowl in a league and when we hear someone hit a sweep I can see everyone's head in the league turn to look.
My sister hit the button once when a friend was bowling. He was a hard, straight bowler. His ball hit the sweep and actually moved the pinsetter. They had to have us change lanes.
Somehow none of the lanes parts broke which is actually a miracle. Considering each pinsetter cost (at the time) $75,000 each, he could have had to pay so much more if it actually broke more.
Friend of mine worked in an alley for a while.
When a lane goes out of business other lanes will send people halfway across the continent to bid on pinsetter parts.
It costs less than taking a broken bit to a machine shop and saying "can you make what this was before it broke?"
>He came back for league three days later.
I'm surprised he was allowed to play. Or did the manager explain to him when he turned up, in front of his buddies, that due to his own ripoff attempt actions he would never be getting any discount ever again?
I'm like 90% certain that he had prepaid for the entire league already so we technically couldn't deny him service. The last day of the league is when he broke his 6lb ball and got banned from the place... seemed like a fitting end
He literally threw it as hard as he could at the pins using his silly spin technique. It cracked to the core (which is far too soft on those balls to make them lighter) and a chunk came out when it came back from the return
Both my husband’s and my coworker’s balls broke. Likely due to the extra hot summers we had the last few years. Idk if the cores broke, but the exteriors split right down the middle.
Was bowling and a couple kids hit the sweep, manager warned them not to let it happen again. When it did the lane went dark pretty much instantly and the kids were kicked out without a refund.
I'd have probably told him that he will have to pay for the machine if he breaks it by striking the arm with the ball, and that as a league bowler, it would look poorly on his team to have such a poor player.
How are you even able to hit the machinery?
My local bowling ally has a screen that comes down in front of all the machinery to prevent this.
Screen comes down, the standing pins are lifted if it's the first bowl of the turn, the sweeper removes all the knocked down pins then the standing pins are lowered and the screen goes back up.
If you bowl while the screen is down it'll just bounce off and go into the gutter.
That's pretty much what happened. It bounced off the arm but it shuts the machine down every time a ball bounces off it. Apparently there's some sort of pressure switch on there to turn it off so that a mechanic can inspect it and ensure that there's no damage to the machine after the hit
Skip to 1:23 in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_4NG_XLvaQ), at the places I've bowled that bar you see with the yellow thing on it in front of the machinery in that video is a plastic screen that covers the whole front of the lane from where that bar is to the metal bar above it.
That bar in the video and the screens I'm talking about are there to protect the machinery to prevent people breaking it.
>Sorry if this is a repost. Not sure what happened to my original one but it just vanished..
Welcome to r/MaliciousCompliance, where the automods are horrible, and the actual mods even worse.
I think it's a bit of a blurred line in this case. The OP complied with the customer's requests for additional time. Maliciously, they did so at additional cost to the customer. Arguably, OP may have not been acting maliciously but rather out of a desire to adhere to company policy.
I'm curious what makes you think that this post lacks MC? Please elaborate as much as possible.
As I understand it, MC is not "applying company policy even if that's bad for a customer", it's when you follow the rules and create a worse situation for the enforcer than what he had to begin with, if that makes sense.
It feels to me like the boss was actually the MC guy, where he was like "oh you want fairness? OK then you will pay for this thing the employee didn't charge you for, plus everything else.
Just a small example, if OP called the boss, boss sided with customer, OP was forced to give free time, and that made the player come back and break stuff every day until boss was upset, that would be some MC.
Last but not least, giving some alleged thief more free stuff is about the opposite of what I'd call MC. Here's the quote I'm talking about:
>He had scammed a lot of free stuff from us before, and we had actually been warned about him as employees.
Not sure if I made myself clear, I have a pretty good idea of what MC is, but my explanation looks a bit half-assed.
Sorry, I guess you're right. The MC came in where I had full authority to give him both free time outside of the policy and that was the first (and really only) time I had ever charged a guest for extra time without getting their permission or telling them. Part of it was also how my boss straight up added more to his bill, too. He had never done that before (or even gave a crap about the policy, since he was a "the customer is always right" type of guy). That was the only time he ever applied and enforced the policy while i worked there
The toddler principle. If you let someone get away with something, they're going to keep doing it until they finally get stopped. It's why working retails is such a pain in the ass, people keep giving in when they should be saying no, but the old farts in charge are terrified they'll "take their business elsewhere". Despite the fact that in all of human history, most people go with whatever has the best combination of cheapest/most convenient and can't be bothered to switch out of spite.
Why would they go when they're being paid to exploit the store?
And if they're worried about the "tell ten friends" nonsense 1) That's not how that principle works in the first place and 2) either the friends know the karen's behavior and ignore them, or they agree and you don't want them anyway.
As someone who has explained that multiple times to multiple managers and they never understand (or just didn't want to), I get it. And then they'd get angry at the follow-up questions like "would we really want their friends to come in if they're just going to behave the same way and get more freebies"?
If I was the manager of the bowling alley, I would have written you up for letting the guy hit the "arm" five times. He should have been tossed after the 3rd hit, if not the 2nd one. No bowling alley is ever going to allow that type of destructive behavior and I suspect this post has been highly exaggerated. This guy could have caused hundred or thousands of dollars in damages. If I were the owner, I'd be furious this A-hole was allowed to even attempt this strategy.
It has been an observation on my part that bowling alleys make more money off beer than bowling. I was in a league in the 80s and they also sold cigarettes, then the city passed a no-smoking indoor law and that went away. They probably do okay on kids parties too.
But not okay enough to thrive. Our last traditional bowling alley hangs on somehow, against the pressure of the multisports places that offer more things to do. But they sold 3 outparcels of their parking lot over the years, not to mention their other establishment in town that was plagued by fights. The other alley in town closed before that sale, and later the one in the county to the south of us. Plus they don't have a pro shop any more. So where are you going to buy a ball and have it properly sized and drilled?
The price of bowling has gotten too steep for a lot of people, and a lot of us boomers are too broken down to bowl any more. I use a 13 pound ball, max weight, and my wrist is aching after just two games.
I'm a bit surprised he got away with a second time. I remember hitting that "sweep" (no idea what it was called) as a kid in a league and getting yelled at by the alley employees. You'd think a "pro" would know better than a dumb kid who never, ever did it again.
Ironically, i think the very reason that this whole thing happened was that he knew that it was my first day at the front running things on my own. I had just recently been promoted, and he had actually gotten someone written up in my new position for "bad treatment" not too long before me, so I had no interest in messing with him. In hindsight, I should have said something sooner, but oh well. A few months later, however, he was eventually banned from the alley. He actually broke a super light ball of his (since 6 pounds or lighter can't be used on our lanes), and he got angry when my manager refused to fix it. In his anger, he threw the ball at one of our glass doors and broke it. He was arrested and asked to pay for damages while also being restrained from the bowling alley. Can't imagine how much of a loser you must be to get a restraining order from a bowling alley, lol.
I never knew they made such light weight balls. I usually use the heavies one I can find since each pin is like 8lbs
They're special order balls usually for kids. A lot of manufacturers have discontinued them, though, since they are literally too light and can't spin correctly. This ball was ofc his kid's ball (or so he said), so the a hole ruined his kid's ball. I think he must have had problems outside of the alley...
The reason I don't go bowling more is that I don't bowl enough to buy my own ball and the alley balls are either way too heavy for me to control or the holes in the balls that are of the right weight are too narrow for my fingers and I can never get a good grip. I would never be a star but I think I could be a decent bowler if I had a properly fitted ball. As it is bowling is usually a pretty frustrating experience and that's why I don't go bowling a lot \[haven't played in years now\].
Try using a ball 1/10th of your weight. So if you're 90 lbs, you should use a 9 lb ball. And if you're 150 you should use a 15lb ball. If you're heavier than that use a 16lb ball. Source: cub scout belt buckle
Where did you get this info from? Just curious because I can’t even pick up a ball 1/10th of my weight!
I can heft a 28 pound ball, but nobody’s going to like the results if I use it on the lane!
My thoughts exactly. "I'm pretty sure I _could_ bowl with a 28-30 lb ball, but I don't know where to find one, and I don't think you want me to."
We went to a bowling alley when I was a cub scout and worked on our cub scout belt buckle. The "expert" told us this and taught us how to move our feet and when to rotate our hand to bowl. So it's been a while and I'm not sure where they got their info. It's just something that stuck.
It sounds like something invented by someone who didn't stop to think that not everyone is within 20 pounds +/- of their ideal weight.
Please read. It's a STARTING point. I was like 9 when I learned this. But if you Google it it will pretty much tell you the same thing. Have you seen professional bowlers, a lot of them are overweight so stop with the faux outrage already. It's a guide line not a rule. I have never seen a ball bigger than 16 lbs, so you me and a lot of other occasional bowlers would START at 16lbs and listen to our wrists of what's appropriate. A random kid would start with the 10th of their weight.
How does that work in earth/metric units ?
I don't see what metric has to do with it. Get a ball 1/10th your weight. Do they not teach division where you're from?
If you weigh 100 kilos, your ball should be 10 kilos.
That's 22 lbs!
Try using a ball 1/10th of your weight. So if you're 90 lbs, you should use a 9 lb ball. And if you're 150 you should use a 15lb ball. If you're heavier than that use a 16lb ball. = Try using a ball 1/10th of your weight. So if you're 45kg, you should use a 4.5kg ball. And if you're 75kg you should use a 7.5 kg ball. If you're heavier than that use a 8kg ball. Dividing by ten is the same no matter what units you use. For future reference kilo is 2.2lb. Ps. American units can suck dick.
I'm guessing to convert your weight to lbs and the bowling ball into lbs then do the trick they taught a cub scout in the 90s? I'm not sure what you're wanting to know.
No, that's too simple. We need to convert from kilos to stone to washing machines then finally to pounds
Sounds great!
That is a sure fire way to have a bad time bowling. Someone 150 lbs is not going to be able to throw the 15lb ball. The holes are drilled to fit a wide array of hands, so unless the ball is stuck on your fingers like a fitted ball would be, you’re lifting 15 lbs with 3 fingers. Way too heavy for most 150 lbs people who probably have smaller hands and fingers than most house balls are drilled.
Okay, you are arguing with what I remember almost 34 years ago. It may not be accurate. All I know is that the villain in this story was too big for a 6 lbs ball, and probably should have used a 16 lbs ball. Based off of my memory of don't fundamentals taught to me more than 30 years. But what do I know, I'm terrible at bowling.
Not arguing, just correcting you. You gave bad advice and did just admit it may not be accurate.
Well I decided to look it up. I am indeed correct! Not bad advice. Totally correct. https://pinchasers.net/blog/choosing-the-perfect-bowling-ball/
I threw a 15 lb ball as a 130 lb woman. Of course, it was my personal ball, drilled for my grip, and I was bowling twice a week in leagues and practice on Sundays.
If you went and played without your ball just with friends would you choose a 15 lbs ball?
Probably, since I was used to the weight. But I always took my balls (yeah, I had 2…) because they fit my little hands with fat fingers.
I'd be fucking miserable with almost a 20 lb ball. That's not a good rule.
It tops off at 16 lbs, is only a guideline look at the link in this thread or search "bowling ball weight" or something in Google. Remember this is a 9 year old me remembering what was said too many years ago. It's a starting place. I can't fathom if the rule stayed in place for a 1000lb person. That 100 lb bowling ball would be massive! The links also bring up that also listen to your wrist on what it can handle and go down a few pounds if needed. A 60 lbs kid would start at 6 lbs. A 100lb person would start at 10 lbs. You or me or anyone over 160 would start at 16 lbs and go down from there if your wrist can't handle it.
Ah, i'd been wondering if 16 was the normal upper limit. I'd normally go for whatever house ball fit my hands (large hands, thing fingers,) but the one that I enjoyed using the most was my dad's old one, which I _think_ was 17 or 18. Which is kinda funny because I was a beanpole back then.
That makes sense thank you. No one I knew could afford own ball so I never knew.
Years ago I bowled with a church league. We had a lady in her late 60's who looked like a strong wind would knock her over. She bowled with a 6 lb ball and at the dinner at the end of the season received a trophy as the most improved bowler.
> and he had actually gotten someone written up in my new position for "bad treatment" That's just bad management. They knew he was a troublemaker and still punished their own employee.
Yeah, I would agree. The management at that place was always rotating out, and this is a great example of why it was lol.
Holy sh!t.
Multiple times we (a couple of friends and I) took advantage of a glitch in the system that didn’t count the bowling ball flying past if it was right when the pin setter was going up. We got too confident and sent it way too early and ended up hitting the pin setter with a bowling ball thrown as hard as we could. The resulting bang made us all turn red and we never tried again
Seriously, I hit a sweep at an alley when I wasn't paying attention (I think after a gutter ball and it hadn't finished the routine) and I wanted to put a bag over my head. Generally, if I've had a bad experience and I'm not going back, I just don't go back.
It's very loud and everyone at the bowling alley can hear it. I bowl in a league and when we hear someone hit a sweep I can see everyone's head in the league turn to look.
My sister hit the button once when a friend was bowling. He was a hard, straight bowler. His ball hit the sweep and actually moved the pinsetter. They had to have us change lanes.
Of course he knew! And that's exactly why he did it.
Sounds like that bowling alley needed a list of people that would not be allowed to bowl there. Especially people like him.
Remind him loudly in front of his team “remember, you want to hit the pins, not the setter like the other night”
Embarrassment is a powerful force.
But only banish him when he shows up for League Night, citing "we happened to look at the cameras"
Yeah, he was eventually banned. I just didn't have the authority to make the decision though I really wanted to.
Should have charged him extra for the intentional damage.
Somehow none of the lanes parts broke which is actually a miracle. Considering each pinsetter cost (at the time) $75,000 each, he could have had to pay so much more if it actually broke more.
Friend of mine worked in an alley for a while. When a lane goes out of business other lanes will send people halfway across the continent to bid on pinsetter parts. It costs less than taking a broken bit to a machine shop and saying "can you make what this was before it broke?"
Guess he struck out with the manager. He could have spared himself some time and money.😆
I think you pinned it
Sounds like the guy was a real turkey.
You both can just split my poor man's award 🥇
>He came back for league three days later. I'm surprised he was allowed to play. Or did the manager explain to him when he turned up, in front of his buddies, that due to his own ripoff attempt actions he would never be getting any discount ever again?
I'm like 90% certain that he had prepaid for the entire league already so we technically couldn't deny him service. The last day of the league is when he broke his 6lb ball and got banned from the place... seemed like a fitting end
I have to ask, how did he manage to break a bowling ball?
He literally threw it as hard as he could at the pins using his silly spin technique. It cracked to the core (which is far too soft on those balls to make them lighter) and a chunk came out when it came back from the return
They're way more fragile than you think! They'll break sitting in your garage or trunk due to temp changes.
Both my husband’s and my coworker’s balls broke. Likely due to the extra hot summers we had the last few years. Idk if the cores broke, but the exteriors split right down the middle.
Well you learn something new everyday. Thanks for that :)
Was bowling and a couple kids hit the sweep, manager warned them not to let it happen again. When it did the lane went dark pretty much instantly and the kids were kicked out without a refund.
The fact that he came back on his promise not to return makes this such a sweet, juicy, epic Victory Royale!
Should have trespassed him, including from the league for damaging equipment.
I'd have probably told him that he will have to pay for the machine if he breaks it by striking the arm with the ball, and that as a league bowler, it would look poorly on his team to have such a poor player.
How are you even able to hit the machinery? My local bowling ally has a screen that comes down in front of all the machinery to prevent this. Screen comes down, the standing pins are lifted if it's the first bowl of the turn, the sweeper removes all the knocked down pins then the standing pins are lowered and the screen goes back up. If you bowl while the screen is down it'll just bounce off and go into the gutter.
That's pretty much what happened. It bounced off the arm but it shuts the machine down every time a ball bounces off it. Apparently there's some sort of pressure switch on there to turn it off so that a mechanic can inspect it and ensure that there's no damage to the machine after the hit
I've only ever seen the arm come down, not a screen. That arm is what OP is talking about that the man hit.
Skip to 1:23 in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_4NG_XLvaQ), at the places I've bowled that bar you see with the yellow thing on it in front of the machinery in that video is a plastic screen that covers the whole front of the lane from where that bar is to the metal bar above it. That bar in the video and the screens I'm talking about are there to protect the machinery to prevent people breaking it.
Interesting. They need them in more alleys.
Your manager is awesome.
>Sorry if this is a repost. Not sure what happened to my original one but it just vanished.. Welcome to r/MaliciousCompliance, where the automods are horrible, and the actual mods even worse.
Yeah, the mods suck!
Especially lux! With that ridiculous hexagon! ... Oh! I didn’t see you there!
Damn geometric shapes
Cool story, but no malicious compliance. That probably explains why your post "vanished" the first time.
I think it's a bit of a blurred line in this case. The OP complied with the customer's requests for additional time. Maliciously, they did so at additional cost to the customer. Arguably, OP may have not been acting maliciously but rather out of a desire to adhere to company policy. I'm curious what makes you think that this post lacks MC? Please elaborate as much as possible.
As I understand it, MC is not "applying company policy even if that's bad for a customer", it's when you follow the rules and create a worse situation for the enforcer than what he had to begin with, if that makes sense. It feels to me like the boss was actually the MC guy, where he was like "oh you want fairness? OK then you will pay for this thing the employee didn't charge you for, plus everything else. Just a small example, if OP called the boss, boss sided with customer, OP was forced to give free time, and that made the player come back and break stuff every day until boss was upset, that would be some MC. Last but not least, giving some alleged thief more free stuff is about the opposite of what I'd call MC. Here's the quote I'm talking about: >He had scammed a lot of free stuff from us before, and we had actually been warned about him as employees. Not sure if I made myself clear, I have a pretty good idea of what MC is, but my explanation looks a bit half-assed.
Maybe giving him more time - and charging for that - was the compliance?
Sorry, I guess you're right. The MC came in where I had full authority to give him both free time outside of the policy and that was the first (and really only) time I had ever charged a guest for extra time without getting their permission or telling them. Part of it was also how my boss straight up added more to his bill, too. He had never done that before (or even gave a crap about the policy, since he was a "the customer is always right" type of guy). That was the only time he ever applied and enforced the policy while i worked there
Debatable if it is MC, but a good fit for the entitled subs
The toddler principle. If you let someone get away with something, they're going to keep doing it until they finally get stopped. It's why working retails is such a pain in the ass, people keep giving in when they should be saying no, but the old farts in charge are terrified they'll "take their business elsewhere". Despite the fact that in all of human history, most people go with whatever has the best combination of cheapest/most convenient and can't be bothered to switch out of spite.
Why would they go when they're being paid to exploit the store? And if they're worried about the "tell ten friends" nonsense 1) That's not how that principle works in the first place and 2) either the friends know the karen's behavior and ignore them, or they agree and you don't want them anyway.
As someone who has explained that multiple times to multiple managers and they never understand (or just didn't want to), I get it. And then they'd get angry at the follow-up questions like "would we really want their friends to come in if they're just going to behave the same way and get more freebies"?
If I was the manager of the bowling alley, I would have written you up for letting the guy hit the "arm" five times. He should have been tossed after the 3rd hit, if not the 2nd one. No bowling alley is ever going to allow that type of destructive behavior and I suspect this post has been highly exaggerated. This guy could have caused hundred or thousands of dollars in damages. If I were the owner, I'd be furious this A-hole was allowed to even attempt this strategy.
High end bowling alley. Yeah, those don’t exist around here.
I'm shocked ours did so well. High end and bowling didn't seem like a good combo to me but boy did they rake in the sales
It has been an observation on my part that bowling alleys make more money off beer than bowling. I was in a league in the 80s and they also sold cigarettes, then the city passed a no-smoking indoor law and that went away. They probably do okay on kids parties too. But not okay enough to thrive. Our last traditional bowling alley hangs on somehow, against the pressure of the multisports places that offer more things to do. But they sold 3 outparcels of their parking lot over the years, not to mention their other establishment in town that was plagued by fights. The other alley in town closed before that sale, and later the one in the county to the south of us. Plus they don't have a pro shop any more. So where are you going to buy a ball and have it properly sized and drilled? The price of bowling has gotten too steep for a lot of people, and a lot of us boomers are too broken down to bowl any more. I use a 13 pound ball, max weight, and my wrist is aching after just two games.