Behind the lanes

It’s tough not to notice how varied the atmosphere of a bowling alley can be. Between the deadest and liveliest of times, the place can be crawling with one or 100 customers. It’s a roller coaster ride that our editors wanted to share for a morning with the people who see it every day.

As part of our morning with the employees of Lilac Lanes, we had the opportunity to see what daily tasks go into the operations of a bowling alley. And while it may not seem so, there are several aspects to running the lanes that make your trip fun, worry-free and worthwhile.

The workers at the front desk are the first people you will come into contact with during an outing to bowl. To assist you, they get you set up with shoes and a lane, but ideally, they also set you up to have a good time.

“We’re the first person they come into contact with and we want them to have a good experience coming to Lilac Lanes,” said Jim Allen, who has worked at area bowling establishments in Deer Park and at North Bowl for over three decades.

When he isn’t getting people prepared to bowl a string of games, Allen is taking care of several tasks for the establishment, including cleaning used rental shoes, counting deposits from the casino and getting the pull tabs ready for the day, while also fielding calls, again as the first person come into contact with by a potential customer.

Open bowling times are much busier for the front desk staff than league times, because once league bowlers are set up, they’re good to go, while there is so much interchange during open bowling hours that the front desk is continually on their toes. The desk has to collect money and give out shoes and a lane during open bowling hours, but it also gives the staff a chance to connect with people, just by knowing something as simple as somebody’s shoe size.

“They feel like they’re part of the place,” said Allen.

Allen, though, is just part of the team that helps accommodate people to Lilac Lanes.

In the background of the operation is the maintenance crew, which is in charge of the upkeep of the establishment, both behind the lanes as well as in the open.

Mike Leatherman represents part of crew that patrols the back, keeping an eye out for any of the 32 lanes that may need to be fixed should a problem arise.

“It’s very loud and there’s a lot of upkeep,” said Leatherman. “With 32 lanes of pinsetters and two of us here, if we get the call, we have to get on it as quickly as possible. “League bowlers are a little bit less forgiving,” Leatherman added.

That half of the operation is who helps you when a pin needs to be respotted, a pin is on your lane or in the gutter after a sweep or if your ball doesn’t return.

At times, though, especially when Lilac Lanes is close to empty, it can be slow. However, the crew finds ways to stay busy, as there is plenty to do when not helping the customers.

Cleaning and dusting off oily machine parts, refreshing the oil on each lane and replacing the ball shoot twice a week are just a few of the jobs Leatherman has when the house is slow.

And it keeps him active, as he has to jump on, slide through and maneuver his body on the machines in the back to fix pins and keep each lane running optimally.

Leatherman is also a jack-of-all-trades-type employee, who, in addition to his behind-the-scenes duties, also deals with computer maintenance and electrical equipment at the establishment, such as hanging up the projector screen in the Spare Room.

He’s usually into work by 8 a.m., to fix the oil machine if it’s down, set the oil pattern if necessary and then run it down each of the lanes, which takes about 45 minutes in itself to do, between stripping off the old oil and reapplying the new pattern 32 times.

It’s not easy work and definitely isn’t glamorous, but the work that the employees put into their job is the reason your trip to the bowling alley is seamless and enjoyable.

Story by Dylan Kitzan. You can reach him at dylan@htsports.org.