The Annoying Family

[customersruinmylife]

Argh! A few friends and I decided to go bowling. Little did we know we would end up bowling next to quite possibly the most annoying family I have ever seen.

There were a lot of them, two sets of grandparents, four adults, two teenagers and a toddler, all sharing the same lane. The grandparents weren't playing, just watching the toddler as it tried to play.

The youngest of the two teenagers was the problem. She looked about 14 and she was taking photographs of the whole occasion, taking a shot as each family member made their shot. The problem was that she discovered the best angle to take the photographs was directly IN FRONT of our lane.

The first couple of times we didn't mind, especially when she was taking photographs of the toddler. I thought there was no harm in letting them document the kids first time bowling. Boy that proved to be a mistake! It got to the point where she was standing in front of our lane EVERY time we tried to take a shot. We said excuse me a few times, but she remained completely oblivious, as did her family. They were WATCHING her stand in front of our lane, as a friend of mine hissed "EXCUSE ME!" at her several times. She still remained oblivious.

And then, finally, the enevitable happened. I was taking my shot, and as I did my run up, she ran directly in front of me!! I let out a huge "WOOOAH FUCK!" and just managed to stop myself. The girl was still fucking oblivious! She took the photograph, and while still standing in front of our lane, she started looking through all the other photos she had taken. I lost it and walked up to the parents.

"Excuse me, I know you're trying to have a good time, but if she's not careful *I point to the girl* she's going to end up with a bowling ball in the teeth! I'm not threatening you, this is concern, because someone is going to bowl right at her."

The mother spoke to the girl.

"Come here sweet heart! This man wants you out of the way!"

She tried to run in front of our lane a couple of times more, but we gave up caring and just bowled right at her.

[Becks]

After all the "excuse me"s didn't work, I would've asked to be switched to a different lane.

But that's just me.

[Shabo]

I would have bowled her over and not stopped if she ran in front of me. If she's stupid enough to do that, she deserves to get hurt. Course, it wouldn't have hurt her too much since she probably weighs what I do... I'm not a very big person.

[customersruinmylife]

After all the "excuse me"s didn't work, I would've asked to be switched to a different lane.

Unfortunately that was not an option, the place was packed and we had to wait an hour and a half for a lane. We should have really booked the lane in advance, but we didn't have an exact number

[ReverendBSB]

After the first time I would have just bowled right into her. Knocked her on her dumb ass, then said oops, sorry.

[Emrld]

I would have gone to managment . . .most bowling alley's take etiqute/ rules rather seriously . . .such as alternating when approaching.
Plus it puts the place of business at risk if a patron gets hurt . . .not necessarly the one with the bowling ball or the one hit by it.

Of course I am also the type that would say in the loudest voice possible "I am sorry you must be confused that is your lane their that you paid for . . .if however you would like to pay for my lane also please continue to stand where my ball is about to go"

[Lace Neil Singer]

I would have gone up to her and told her to off or get a bowling ball in the face... and if that didn't work, I'd have gone to the desk and complained. Just as I did the time this brat kept running in front of my and my boyf's lane when we were trying to enjoy a night at the bowling alley. Said brat was returned to its family who were told to keep ahold of their kid or else be booted out.

[blas]

My dad was in bowling leagues in his late teens and early 20s. He still proudly dusts his trophies from 1978-1984 on the shelves at my parents' house.

But I digress. My dad got me started bowling at an early age and taught me bowling etiquette.

I don't bowl anymore because I lost my "talent" (I can't expain it, but I can no longer keep the ball out of the gutter. On the rare occasion I do bowl, my friends call me "gutter slut". None of them believe I could ever bowl an entire frame all strikes.)

Anyway, my dad always taught me that you never interfere with another bowler. Wait until they go, then you go. It will distract your concentration if you can see someone in the corner of your eye. And you never take pictures while someone else is trying to bowl. Lots of people would fuck up during bowling leagues because of the flash of cameras.

[BookstoreEscapee]

My dad was in bowling leagues in his late teens and early 20s. He still proudly dusts his trophies from 1978-1984 on the shelves at my parents' house.

I have bowling trophies in the basement...I bowled on a league for 4 years (ages 12-15) with my parents and my brother. A couple of the trophies are for the team winning 1st and 3rd place. One of them is for most improved bowler among the kids...not a hard feat considering there were only 4 kids on the league

Last time I bowled I got 123 and 111, which for me is not that great (my high game is 196). However, the lane we were on had a pillar to the left of the end of the lane (in other words, right next to where I was standing when I let go of the ball), and I approach from the left side, too, so I was literally about 6 inches away from it. So that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

If I were in the OP's situation, I would have let the girl take the first picture, and the second time said something to her, and if she continued I'd have had management say something.

I went bowling once and there was a family with 2 little kids who were in stocking feet and *throwing* themselves and sliding across the floor. They're just lucky they didn't get in front of our lanes or they probably would have gotten run over. (Leaving aside the fact that it was somewhat late and they should have been home in bed!)

[sarahj]

I could add a million stories of toddlers who require like 3 people to help them bowl, thus blocking our lane and making us want to scream, but I won't. I used to bowl once a week, now it's more like once a year. I can't stand annoying bowlers!!!

[mariamousie1]

I would have definitely gone to the management and complained. How annoying!
Anyway, here's my bowling story: I once went bowling for the first time ever on my brother's birthday, I threw the ball, it went down the middle of the aisle and somehow went between the pins without knocking any over. I still have no idea how that could have happened! We still laugh about it.

[draftermatt]

I once had a "former pro bowler" threaten to take me outside and whip my ass when I was all of 16 because I wasn't bowling properly.

I forgot to clear the dead wood on a duck pin lane, and first he said something nicely. The next time I forgot (I really did forget) he got all uppity and started to threaten me. I never understood why bowling gets people so uppity.

[Nekojin]

I forgot to clear the dead wood on a duck pin lane...

I used to be a scorekeeper for a few bucks a few times a week when I was a teenager (sadly, most lanes have gone to automated scorekeeping now), and I have no idea what you said there.

Are you saying that you knocked pins out of the cleanup arm's reach, and didn't fix the issue?

[draftermatt]

On the east coast there is a bowling called "Duck Pin" it uses small balls and pins. The lanes aren't automated so if all the pins don't get knocked into the back out of the way you have to push a button to move them out of the way. It's a pain in the ass, and a big reason why don't do Duck's anymore.