For 6 weeks now, I have been complaining about the House that I bowl in. I had a talk with the new Manager last week, and he explained the lane machine problem. I also told him that I am seeing many bowlers leaving or threatening to leave for various reasons. the Mon nite Mens league folded and was absorbed into ours. The Tues womens league has dropped form 24 to 18 teams. The Fri nite mixed that I sub in has gone from 20 to 14 teams, and some teams are half filled.

Tonight, the Asst Mgr who I blame for some of the oil problems, did not bowl in our league. Seems, he bowled while he was on the clock as the night Mgr, and the new Mgr put a stop to that. It is either work or bowl. The Office lady who also coaches Juniors was let go. Seems she was responsible for calling and filling the house with leagues. Well, the house is NOT filled. There was no one working the concession, so the second bar tender had to fill in.

I asked the other lady who collects the the score sheets for input, and she said the House reduced all work hours from 800 to 500 weekly. Some people have been let go and others will quit due to fewer hours to work, including her. This was her last night.

I guess if you don't take care of your customers, you get axed.

sorry to hear this, I hope the lanes won't shut down.

If you lose too much staff at once then everyone is new and they all run around not really knowing what to do.

The lady that calls around trying to get people to join leagues. I feel for her. I did that one summer for the Jr program in one of our centers. And it was nothing but cold calling day after day. Putting notes by names, calling them the next day etc....... Its really not her fault if no one is interested. What the center really needs to find out is why people are not interested in coming back. Is it customer service? League play didn't seem like a level playing field? They didn't understand handicapping? There's no snack bar, or the bar itself is closed when they are bowling. Center is located in a bad part of town that puts personal property in jeopardy. It all depends. But the person doing the calling really has to dig to find out why people are not rejoining. And based on my experience, more then 75% of the people I called were not even home. Based on the pay level of this call person, they may or maynot do a lot of digging.

Sounds like your center is running on a string and its a thin one. Add a bad house shot and hopefully its not a death knell. Bowling centers are not known for their generous pay. So going beyond the call of duty to statisfy customers is not going to happen unless the center manager is on hand to do so him/herself. If a manager does not quickly earn the respect of their employees then there will be no extra effort.

Erin

I believe, only the bartenders have gone untouched. Since, the new guy took over, about the end of last season, there has been almost a complete turnover of workers.

There is such a difference between the 2 Brunswick Houses near me. The other is closer, about 2 miles away. The desk people are mature, clean in appearance, and uniformed, and always 2 or more behind the desk. The second level of people have some longevity at the center, and do have a full time job in the office or the concession, with somewhat of a decent pay. Then there are the kid grunts, who clean, put away balls, sweep the carpet, and menial tasks. And, there are only a couple of those.

My Center runs on the 17 year old part time kids from school out til closing. They have no allegiance, dedication or interest in their jobs. They do their homework at the counter while working. They don't even clean their B labeled shirts. They are often dirty and wrinkled. That comes from the neighborhood.

My idea is that this all starts at the top. Not the new Manager, but the assistant Mgr, who I have had words with, and who screwed up the lane oil. The kid hires all worked for him, and frankly, they followed his example, in dedication and neatness.

I feel sorry for the calling lady. I have mentioned her to you since she was a Bronze Coach, and named Erin too. Nice person who really took her job seriously. She was there all the time and ran the youth groups which will suffer from this. And, it was NOT her fault that leagues and people left the Center.

Sounds like a situation when things need to get worse before they get better, but hopefully these turnovers are a step in the right direction. Hope it all works out and the center improves its reputation. The lady, Erin you said, sounds nice.

Just came from the other Brunswick House that is closer to my home. They are also going through cutbacks in worker hours. Their leagues are not down as much as the first house. But, they do mention open bowling is way down from previous years. They cite the economy as the cause.

Just goes to show how important leagues are to a bowling center. Man, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, or preaching to the choir at the very least.