stupid calls

[Coors]

im syre we all have desk people which amuse and irritate us by calling back stupid things...anyone care to share some stupid calls. in one center no matter what the problem was they would call back..."sweep down 36" and that's it...no clue as to whether it was a PJ, OOR, or anything else. i also love the ones that call back...need the 2-4-1-7-5 on lane 6...and help me out by reminding me they need it on second ball. one of my better desk people keeps me amused by sayin "lane 7 threw a shoe"...he's an older guy. any other stupid calls anyone cares to share?

[Guest]

Re: stupid calls

Not too many called on me, but I like keeping the new pinchasers on their toes.

Pinjam on lane 39. We are only a 36 lane center. I enjoy watching them run halfway, then figuring out they have been duped! I actually had one run back and ask me where lane 39 was! Lots of initiative. He is my B mech now.

keeks.

[Coors]

Re: stupid calls

LOL...one of the most memorable calls was when one of the new desk girls told me one of the lanes was tilted and needed leveled...the reason for the call was a parent got pissed watching her son's six pound ball always hook into the gutter... another pet peave call of mine is "raise the rack on..." what does that mean?...lol...did someone drop a billiard rack on the lane?

[Guest]

Re: stupid calls

Hey Coors,

I don't expect most desk people to and don't encourage them to call anything but sweep down, spot..., or ball jam. I DO EXPECT THEM TO GET THE RIGHT LANE AND SPOTTING CALL!!! (THIS CAN BE DIFFICULT WITH SENIORS!!)

If the mechanic can't figure it out in a snap he (or she) doesn't belong there.

Our desk personal is way to busy to try and do our job by over analyzing a minor problem. Although they try: Pin in the drapes(?)....on your..... left hand side.

I've worked in to many houses were the PA sucks, and the less said, the easier it is to understand.

On the lighter side: If you want to work on a machine, just drop the sweep (or rake for you brunswick guys) and the desk will put somebody on both sides of ya!!! I ask them why?... So you don't have so far to go... My reply: How many calls so far? NONE.

TECH

[This message has been edited by Tech_Mech (edited 08-19-1999).]

[KL Kevin]

Re: stupid calls

For the stupid call scenario, I'll give you the best one I've had lately.

Just started glow bowling for the night. BALL ON 14. Ok fine, go down back, no ball. Back up front, power lift turning. Shine the trusty mag-lite down the subway, nothing. Ask customer to describe ball. F/T hammer with grips. Look on rack, find hammer, show ball to (somewhat intoxicated, came in that way) customer. Thass not my ball. Ask customer if ball fits his hand, says yes, but thass not my ball. Finally take customer and ball into bar (where white lights are still on) says "gee, thass my ball"

This one really belonged in the "stupid customer tricks" thread, but I figured it would brighten someone's day, and i offer it as further proof that alcohol never made anyone any smarter!

Happy wrenching:

Kevin

[Guest]

Re: stupid calls

I have a way of shaking up new chasers.
We bought our pinspotters from a place going out in Wyoming.The machines had the lane numbers on the pinwheels.
In our house,the lane numbers are on the wall ABOVE the machines.
When we installed these machines,we just grabbed one that was handy,so the numbers on the pinwheels are all mixed up.
I'll tell a new guy "5 pin on 7".
Every time,they set it on the lane that's got "#7" on the pinwheel.I'll go down back & scream "not THAT #7---the OTHER #7 "!!!

[Guest]

Re: stupid calls

for KL Kevin,

Here's what I do now & then...
Grab a ball as it comes to the top of the lift...take it 2-3 pair away & let it go back.
you'll get a ball call,just tell the counter person there isn't a ball down back---let the customer "hunt" for a while.
I like to do this during league play if there's a ball that's brightly colored!
Or just wrap 10 yards of black tape around the ball before you send it back- if you want to be a little mean,a little spray silicone in the thumbhole,etc,etc.
Ther's a lot of ways to "get even"!! Entertains some folks-ticks a few off too, you gotta watch you who can mess with & who you can't,but,I say "Screw 'em if they can't take a joke"!!

[Guest]

Re: stupid calls

my pet STUPID CALL>

counter calls down,"# 5"s broke"!!

OK,it won't cycle......mess around with it-come to find out-counter person bumped the switch to instruct-o-mat !!

This one always "lights me up"!

(I loved the old #1 curcuit board-you could see quickly if the counter had put it on 'practice'.)

[Coors]

Re: stupid calls

tech-mech,
yeah i know we can all figure the calls out...im not complaining about bein stumped, i just thought this would be an interesting topic.

harv,
you're mean....LOL...i'll do that to my friends tho..

and for the rock 'n bowl guy,
i've had that happen too...to sober people....LOL they see their ball under the black lights and swear up and down its not their's..lol. on one of my better customer's balls who did this to me...i used a UV pen...the kind they use at HersheyPark...and wrote his name on it several times...he can only see it during rock 'n bowl...lol. tho its slowly getting smeared and faint...lol

another stupid call i've heard is "belly up on 15....belly up on 15"...it was a pin upside down caught between the front roller and bounce plate...dont worry the pit has since been rebuilt...lol

[Mreessr]

Re: stupid calls

Hey Kevin, this ones even better. same team,different guys two weeks in a row.they call a ball return and I can't find it anywhere.It was on the ball rack the whole time and their teammates had to convince them it was their ball.I've learned to expect anything and every kind of aggravation but I try to take it in stride.I'd be in a mental institution by now if I didnt.

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[craigchandler]

Re: stupid calls

gees this ones been raking my brain for a week

the out of order pin call always annoys me, like the 5-7-2-8-4 on lane 7, as well as the restand the 10 on 8, when it should be the 8 on 10

the thing (meaning sweep) is stuck down on lane 6

then i used to have a guy that just thought he knew it all, he would tell you, you had an interlock, when a pin jammed the sweep in the gutter, or a table plug had came out, when it was an off spot

then i sit and have lunch with the owner and have to try to keep a straight face when he tells me the pins fell over on spotting, when a light ball knocked a couple of pins over but didn't reset the machine, i saw it, but hey, he's the boss, and the boss is always right

used to get a lot of silly calls from a centre i was at which had odin machines, but hey, who wants to know anything about them bloody disasters

[Coors]

Re: stupid calls

craig,....tell me about odin machines....never heard of them... another idiot call i love is when they call back need the 10 on whatever lane....naturally i see the true call (10 pin fell over while spotting a full rack) but decide to be mean...so i set up the just the 10....and of course a few minutes later its called back they need a full rack....by then im on my way to the bar to have a beer...so i politely hit the tenth frame button for them...

[strike300-R]

Re: stupid calls

We have old AMF 82-30 machines and (mostly during open bowling) we occasionally get a call for "180 on lane X". I have to resist the urge to go tell the person that we don't have Brunswick equipment.

Also, once a sweep got hit by a ball and was completely knocked off it's track. The manager came running to the back to crank the motor while I put the sweep on track. There was a new girl at the control desk and about 10 seconds into the operation, a call came back "The roof caved in on lane 40". I started laughing so hard that I couldn't do anything but sit there for a couple of minutes under the masking unit in full view of the bowlers. I can only imagine what the bowlers were thinking, considering they couldn't hear the call behind the lanes.

(As it turned out, the corner of a ceiling tile had come loose...that was the "cave in")

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Jason

[Guest]

Re: stupid calls

I cannot begin to talk about stupid calls! Where I work that's basically all you hear. I'm so used to them though that I've learned to filter out the garbage and get to the true nature of the problem. We have this girl that has been working at my job for iguess, three years and she tried to give you the answeres but she does more harm than good. She even goes further as to tell you (with no authority) "sit behind lane such and such it's broken" she htinks she IS a mechanic. I hate desk people like that.

[Guest]

Re: stupid calls

You know. I feel soo much better knowing that I'm not the only mechanic that has to deal with stupid calls. I mean, all of the calls i've read about in this forum has happened to me or the others I've worked with one time or another (with exception to different machines like brunswick or amf and different series of machines). We have cosmic bowling on saturdays (black lights) and there are all kinds of crazy things going on then. Not only stupid calls. It is a wild house!!! People seem to overgo a series of transformations when the black lights come on. It starts out as the crazy frenzied excitement and goes into the drunken stupor! LOL