A disappointment and a distraction

Everett and I won’t be bowling with the Tuesday night league anymore, we submitted our two week notice yesterday and to my knowledge we’ve received no response yet from the President or Secretary. It sucks, because I like bowling, I didn’t realize how much until I knew I wouldn’t be doing it anymore this seaason, however it’s worth it to get away from a cowardly barely-managed league staff. After even more information about the incident was finally revealed to us, it turns out that the complaint was made to the league by the bowling center on behalf of either a customer or an employee, we still don’t know which. As Ev noted in the car on the way home that night, if we were in DC, they couldn’t do this, but the alley is in Virginia and while a legal battle isn’t out of the question, you really have to pick your battles. I told Ev that even if he wanted to go through with that, I know from experience that a hostile environment doesn’t stop being hostile just because they’re forced to accede.

So no more bowling and seeing as it’s National Coming Out Day, I believe that I shall come out against US Bowling, 100 S Pickett St, Alexandria, VA for their transphobic discrimination.

A bowling alley isn’t the place to expect grand customer service, even when you’re paying through the nose at a place like Lucky Strike, however some alleys manage to be polite and attentive when possible. AMF alleys do a great job of this, especially after a recent facelift of their design and food service menus. When you walk into an AMF, it’s getting to be like Starbucks, they’re all the same, which isn’t a bad thing. And frankly most alleys have the same feel to them, but where a bowling alley can fail a customer is in counter service and lane service. In my experience with US Bowling, they don’t get high marks, they’re more concerned with getting people in the house, on the lanes and out the door. They do attend to lane issues for the league players, but when the lanes persist in giving trouble, after a while an attitude starts to come out that almost makes the league player feel like they’re the ones at fault for the lane malfunction instead of the bowling center. The manager seems like a nice enough guy, except he only has one volume setting: yell… even when he’s standing right next to you. And the food service is… interesting, to say the least. The kitchen’s run very mom and pop, prepackaged pizzas, burgers and fries, beer and wine, but the woman in charge of it is just a little too friendly for my taste. She calls everyone “honey” or “sweetheart” – and even if I bowled someplace every week for 5 years straight, that’s a level of familiarity I’m just not comfortable with.

I won’t say that if you go to US Bowling, you won’t have a good time, or you won’t be treated well. You may have, as Everett and I did, many many good and fun experiences bowling there. But as October 3, 2006 I can say…

Don’t bowl there.

Now for something a little more on the light side, if not a bit disturbing: cooking4models. I’m firmly convinced this is a joke, and only went there via a real cooking blog I read, but I couldn’t help but laugh, even moreso when I got to the October 9th entry. It seems like someone’s trying to take the piss out of perceptions of modeling, and if not.. if it’s real.. like I said, disturbing.