R
*RiggS*
Where have all the Experienced mechanics on both 82-70s and A to A-2s gone in Western Australia. Im a young and upcoming mechanic from Perth and ive had to travel to USA to get the training needed to get better at my job.
Odin_Tech
Bowl Tech
I agree, working in the tenpin bowling industry doesn't pay very well.
speedwaystar
No BrakesNo GearsNo Fear
Mate you went to america :wtf1: There's still a few oldies around that could teach you a thing or two.82-30's and 70's aren't that difficult to work on you'll pick most of it up as you go.But yes i agree bowling centres don't pay near enough for what works involved because these days you don't just work backend,you work everywhere.
Phluff
Member
We choose to be techs because we love the friendly nature of league bowlers, responsible attitude of social bowlers, respect given by co-workers and generous pay rates offered by management.
We are excited by doing plumbing, electrical, plastering, painting, carpentry, gardening, cleaning, furniture removal and security work along with customer service and regular machine maintenance.
We don't need praise when everything runs well, we don't need incentives to work harder, we love being told we aren't doing enough after working a 60hr week but only being paid for 40hrs and we are happy to move a box from A to B when you are chatting to your friends.
We accept that everything that goes wrong with a bowlers game or the centre or even the country is indeed our fault and we are sorry and promise to try harder next time.
We are excited by doing plumbing, electrical, plastering, painting, carpentry, gardening, cleaning, furniture removal and security work along with customer service and regular machine maintenance.
We don't need praise when everything runs well, we don't need incentives to work harder, we love being told we aren't doing enough after working a 60hr week but only being paid for 40hrs and we are happy to move a box from A to B when you are chatting to your friends.
We accept that everything that goes wrong with a bowlers game or the centre or even the country is indeed our fault and we are sorry and promise to try harder next time.
speedwaystar
No BrakesNo GearsNo Fear
AMEN to that Phluff!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe some of the owner/managers should read what phluff said and do something about it,so that when we're bowling we don't have kids and untrained fools to deal with.
Maybe some of the owner/managers should read what phluff said and do something about it,so that when we're bowling we don't have kids and untrained fools to deal with.
tonx
New Member
Phluff
Member
want to learn how? Simple...
1. Climb into the pit of a pinsetter, ensuring the sweep is down
2. Begin cleaning with a solvent based cleaner such as "Brunswick Automatic Pinsetter Cleaner".
3. Breath heavily as you work.
4. Ask some friendly locals to bowl balls into the sweep when your back is turned for extra supprise.
5. Have the helpful front counter staff page you and ask you to come up the front.
6. Climb out of the machine, make your way up the front and show the front counter staff where the "On" button on the photocopier is.
7. Go back to your machine and climb back in and continue cleaning.
8. Repeat steps 5 - 7 four or five times.
9. Finish cleaning and return to workshop.
10. Trip over rubbish the casual tech forgot to take out, bang your hand on the bench because you're high from the solvent fumes and all depth perception has gone, grab your smokes and head outside into the rain because you're not allowed to smoke down back anymore.
11. Finish the shift only 3 hrs after you're ment to be at home, grunt bye to the snotty cafe girl who earns the same as you yet still cant work out how to take her own rubbish out, drive home fighting the urge to get out at the lights and beat up the guy in front of you who thinks 40 is a good speed in a 70 zone and have yourself a nice pint of Jack daniels with a dash of coke for colouring.
Take this every day for 19 days, chuck in a couple of school groups and a birthday party for 40 5 yr olds who think sliding on the lanes is fun, and then you too can rant with the best of them
And don't forget, when you tell people you work in a bowling centre and they say "Oh that must be so much fun! You get to bowl all the time!!" you have to get a slightly psychopathic look in your eye, rub your hands together and just say "yes....fun...so much fun......love children....so nice...." The odd eye twitch works well too!
1. Climb into the pit of a pinsetter, ensuring the sweep is down
2. Begin cleaning with a solvent based cleaner such as "Brunswick Automatic Pinsetter Cleaner".
3. Breath heavily as you work.
4. Ask some friendly locals to bowl balls into the sweep when your back is turned for extra supprise.
5. Have the helpful front counter staff page you and ask you to come up the front.
6. Climb out of the machine, make your way up the front and show the front counter staff where the "On" button on the photocopier is.
7. Go back to your machine and climb back in and continue cleaning.
8. Repeat steps 5 - 7 four or five times.
9. Finish cleaning and return to workshop.
10. Trip over rubbish the casual tech forgot to take out, bang your hand on the bench because you're high from the solvent fumes and all depth perception has gone, grab your smokes and head outside into the rain because you're not allowed to smoke down back anymore.
11. Finish the shift only 3 hrs after you're ment to be at home, grunt bye to the snotty cafe girl who earns the same as you yet still cant work out how to take her own rubbish out, drive home fighting the urge to get out at the lights and beat up the guy in front of you who thinks 40 is a good speed in a 70 zone and have yourself a nice pint of Jack daniels with a dash of coke for colouring.
Take this every day for 19 days, chuck in a couple of school groups and a birthday party for 40 5 yr olds who think sliding on the lanes is fun, and then you too can rant with the best of them
And don't forget, when you tell people you work in a bowling centre and they say "Oh that must be so much fun! You get to bowl all the time!!" you have to get a slightly psychopathic look in your eye, rub your hands together and just say "yes....fun...so much fun......love children....so nice...." The odd eye twitch works well too!
speedwaystar
No BrakesNo GearsNo Fear
Mate, On Fire,It's a shame theres only a few of us who really know what you mean and feel your pain
auenf
"Crap Bowler"
So that's why the head tech at macarfar has a top score of 80 and an average of 90want to learn how? Simple...
1. Climb into the pit of a pinsetter, ensuring the sweep is down
2. Begin cleaning with a solvent based cleaner such as "Brunswick Automatic Pinsetter Cleaner".
3. Breath heavily as you work.
4. Ask some friendly locals to bowl balls into the sweep when your back is turned for extra supprise.
5. Have the helpful front counter staff page you and ask you to come up the front.
6. Climb out of the machine, make your way up the front and show the front counter staff where the "On" button on the photocopier is.
7. Go back to your machine and climb back in and continue cleaning.
8. Repeat steps 5 - 7 four or five times.
9. Finish cleaning and return to workshop.
10. Trip over rubbish the casual tech forgot to take out, bang your hand on the bench because you're high from the solvent fumes and all depth perception has gone, grab your smokes and head outside into the rain because you're not allowed to smoke down back anymore.
11. Finish the shift only 3 hrs after you're ment to be at home, grunt bye to the snotty cafe girl who earns the same as you yet still cant work out how to take her own rubbish out, drive home fighting the urge to get out at the lights and beat up the guy in front of you who thinks 40 is a good speed in a 70 zone and have yourself a nice pint of Jack daniels with a dash of coke for colouring.
Take this every day for 19 days, chuck in a couple of school groups and a birthday party for 40 5 yr olds who think sliding on the lanes is fun, and then you too can rant with the best of them
And don't forget, when you tell people you work in a bowling centre and they say "Oh that must be so much fun! You get to bowl all the time!!" you have to get a slightly psychopathic look in your eye, rub your hands together and just say "yes....fun...so much fun......love children....so nice...." The odd eye twitch works well too!
Enf...
Tiger
Active Member
want to learn how? Simple...
2. Begin cleaning with a solvent based cleaner such as "Brunswick Automatic Pinsetter Cleaner".
3. Breath heavily as you work.
10. Trip over rubbish the casual tech forgot to take out, bang your hand on the bench because you're high from the solvent fumes and all depth perception has gone, grab your smokes and head outside into the rain because you're not allowed to smoke down back anymore.
11. Finish the shift only 3 hrs after you're ment to be at home, grunt bye to the snotty cafe girl who earns the same as you yet still cant work out how to take her own rubbish out,
Take this every day for 19 days, chuck in a couple of school groups and a birthday party for 40 5 yr olds who think sliding on the lanes is fun, and then you too can rant with the best of them
And don't forget, when you tell people you work in a bowling centre and they say "Oh that must be so much fun! You get to bowl all the time!!" you have to get a slightly psychopathic look in your eye, rub your hands together and just say "yes....fun...so much fun......love children....so nice...." The odd eye twitch works well too!
First class!Actually some of those points remind me of when the late Rodney Radcliffe and I used to have to clean and do other maintenance work at the 'old' Moonah Bowl prior to it being gutted and renovated.
Point 10 reminds me of when we had to unbolt all the settee area seating and strip the floors with some high grade stuff to clean the rust, filth and other muck out from under the steel feet.
I felt like I'd been punching out cones for two days after I'd finished and had a mishap outside of work hours a few hours later as a result of that, which still is problematic to this day and caused me to have to end up getting out of that line of work.
Even the poor counter ladies were a bit blurry that day.
Point 11 reminds me of the time we had a visit from the Phantom Aboriginal Finger Painter (I won't go into detail) which required us to hose, disinfect and scrub the entire mens toilets down, walls, fittings and everything.
Once we'd worked for a couple of hours to fix it, we copped it from some little counter bellend, whingeing because the tiles were still wet in there
Needless to say, neither Rodney's nor my response was the slightest bit polite.
Keep up the good work - great post!
Phluff
Member
Tiger: I always thought a tech would be great in pollitics... we have to smile in the face of problems, be polite in the face of stupidity and lie through our teeth in the face of questions "It's on the list... am due to do it tomorrow... I left a message and am waiting for a reply... It was fine when I left, some bowler must have done it"
The biggest problem for techs is that we are human and do like to have our ego's stroked a little now and then. Repeatedly being belittled by bowlers and casual counter staff as "The guy who sits on his ass all day down the back" does have an effect after a while. When was the last time a bowler said "Gee you guys have done a great job! The machines ran well tonight, the lanes were good even if I bowled badly and the centre looks well maintained." Instead, you get the abuse for every little thing (including the weather) and any praise goes to the company.
A perfect example of this is with the new oiling machines some centres have recieved. Every bowler has taken the time to say "Well done to XXXX for spending the money and buying a new machine." I bet not one of them has at any point stopped to say "Well done to the techs who have worked wonders over the past years keeping the old machine running and laying the best possible condition." They don't realise that with a wicking machine you're dealing with technology that was surpassed 10 yrs ago. You can't put down the same patterns that centre XYZ down the road can with their new Ion or A-22. The techs that have to work with the old bullet, magnum, phoenix or even the newer crossfire machines are limited by the technology in what they can achieve. Just be greatfull if most of the lanes in the centre play the same way!
Try being a head tech these days. You have to make sure you don't go over budget yet still keep improving performance for everything. You have to try and fix the problems created by the last guy who worked there who didn't really know what he was doing and thought a hammer / duct tape / bit of wood and lots of grease would do the job. You have to try and find new staff who will actually do the job properly and not spend all night chatting up the girl in the cafe. You have to try and keep the the old staff who do a good job but are thinking of leaving. You have to create an oil pattern that is high scoring for the novice/intermediate bowlers but not too easy for the high end bowlers, and you have to do it all yesterday because today you're busy unblocking a toilet or answering the phone.
"It's on the list... am due to do it tomorrow... I left a message and am waiting for a reply... It was fine when I left, some bowler must have done it" The biggest problem for techs is that we are human and do like to have our ego's stroked a little now and then. Repeatedly being belittled by bowlers and casual counter staff as "The guy who sits on his ass all day down the back" does have an effect after a while. When was the last time a bowler said "Gee you guys have done a great job! The machines ran well tonight, the lanes were good even if I bowled badly and the centre looks well maintained." Instead, you get the abuse for every little thing (including the weather) and any praise goes to the company.
A perfect example of this is with the new oiling machines some centres have recieved. Every bowler has taken the time to say "Well done to XXXX for spending the money and buying a new machine." I bet not one of them has at any point stopped to say "Well done to the techs who have worked wonders over the past years keeping the old machine running and laying the best possible condition." They don't realise that with a wicking machine you're dealing with technology that was surpassed 10 yrs ago. You can't put down the same patterns that centre XYZ down the road can with their new Ion or A-22. The techs that have to work with the old bullet, magnum, phoenix or even the newer crossfire machines are limited by the technology in what they can achieve. Just be greatfull if most of the lanes in the centre play the same way!
Try being a head tech these days. You have to make sure you don't go over budget yet still keep improving performance for everything. You have to try and fix the problems created by the last guy who worked there who didn't really know what he was doing and thought a hammer / duct tape / bit of wood and lots of grease would do the job. You have to try and find new staff who will actually do the job properly and not spend all night chatting up the girl in the cafe. You have to try and keep the the old staff who do a good job but are thinking of leaving. You have to create an oil pattern that is high scoring for the novice/intermediate bowlers but not too easy for the high end bowlers, and you have to do it all yesterday because today you're busy unblocking a toilet or answering the phone.
speedwaystar
No BrakesNo GearsNo Fear
Try the old C100(oiling machine) born on the 10th of June 1980.:rimshot: :thumbup:
Damn your posts should go down as posts of the year,Hey jase any awards for this
Damn your posts should go down as posts of the year,Hey jase any awards for this
K
kermie07
well in answer to your question, " where have they all gone"!
My darling cuz Lee who was the head tech and installation in aust/asia, has recently gone back to england with wife Lou (ex cannington manager). Well pointed out Phluff, sometimes it suxs being multi skilled, myself being weekend centre manager/ 2ic cafe' and 2 shifts as night tech, (brunswick A2)yeh its tough and you ask urself everyday why u do it, Cos it beats sittin on our arse doing nothing, and you know you've made somebodies day, by just being helpful, and giving them 2mins of your time, That they actually pay for. I dont think there is to many female centre employees out there that do rostered shifts down the backend.
My darling cuz Lee who was the head tech and installation in aust/asia, has recently gone back to england with wife Lou (ex cannington manager). Well pointed out Phluff, sometimes it suxs being multi skilled, myself being weekend centre manager/ 2ic cafe' and 2 shifts as night tech, (brunswick A2)yeh its tough and you ask urself everyday why u do it, Cos it beats sittin on our arse doing nothing, and you know you've made somebodies day, by just being helpful, and giving them 2mins of your time, That they actually pay for. I dont think there is to many female centre employees out there that do rostered shifts down the backend.
down and in
revically challenged
reading this post makes me feel like im still at work.... doesnt matter which centre you work at, or which machines you have to deal with, or even which country you are in, i think all of us techs can relate and totally agree with everything you have said phluff.
jason_doust
The Bowling Geek
I always remember Chris Henry, a mate of mine who single-handedly pulled a pit board and curtain out of an 82/70 from a courtesy lane (remember those..?), then hauled it across the back to back centre on his shoulder and installed it on another lane in the middle of summer in Parramatta so the Sydney Premiership Pennants could continue playing. When he came up to the front end for a well deserved drink, Steve Mackie, then AMF National Promotions Manager, commented (not rudely, but with pretty bad timing) "I'd heard you were having trouble with the machines here." Chris gave the perfect response. Still panting, he said confidently "Well Steve, we can only weld the parts so many times." Too much short term budget focus and not enough long term operational thought had led to management making some poor decisions.
As for lane conditions, well it's impossible to please high end players and guys who can't keep it out of the gutter without the laneman's generous assistance.
Good on the backend boys (and girls). They don't get it easy.
Cheers,
Jason
PeterB
Elite Armchair Athlete
want to learn how? Simple...
1. Climb into the pit of a pinsetter, ensuring the sweep is down
2. Begin cleaning with a solvent based cleaner such as "Brunswick Automatic Pinsetter Cleaner".
3. Breath heavily as you work.
4. Ask some friendly locals to bowl balls into the sweep when your back is turned for extra supprise.
5. Have the helpful front counter staff page you and ask you to come up the front.
6. Climb out of the machine, make your way up the front and show the front counter staff where the "On" button on the photocopier is.
7. Go back to your machine and climb back in and continue cleaning.
8. Repeat steps 5 - 7 four or five times.
9. Finish cleaning and return to workshop.
10. Trip over rubbish the casual tech forgot to take out, bang your hand on the bench because you're high from the solvent fumes and all depth perception has gone, grab your smokes and head outside into the rain because you're not allowed to smoke down back anymore.
11. Finish the shift only 3 hrs after you're ment to be at home, grunt bye to the snotty cafe girl who earns the same as you yet still cant work out how to take her own rubbish out, drive home fighting the urge to get out at the lights and beat up the guy in front of you who thinks 40 is a good speed in a 70 zone and have yourself a nice pint of Jack daniels with a dash of coke for colouring.
Take this every day for 19 days, chuck in a couple of school groups and a birthday party for 40 5 yr olds who think sliding on the lanes is fun, and then you too can rant with the best of them
And don't forget, when you tell people you work in a bowling centre and they say "Oh that must be so much fun! You get to bowl all the time!!" you have to get a slightly psychopathic look in your eye, rub your hands together and just say "yes....fun...so much fun......love children....so nice...." The odd eye twitch works well too!
Ah the memories. Good times lol.
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