Only in America
A few weekends ago, Kelly and I attended her company "Holiday Party" at Long Wong's (on Bluemound Road). You may think that I want to talk about the name of the restaurant, or the fact that this party was intentionally delayed so that it would not be associated with Christmas, or that I wore a pink t-shirt (with the words "Only real men wear pink" on it) to the event. While I did make a point to say "Merry Christmas" when I was introduced to people, there was something far more blog worthy about the night.
The restaurant had a two lane bowling alley. The lanes looked like they'd been used to test jack hammers recently, and there didn't appear to be a ball return. We discovered that the lanes were MANUALLY operated! A guy stood at the end of the lane and set the pins up after each frame. Then, he put the ball on a ramp and sent it back. Once or twice, I even saw him nearly get clipped because someone bowled too soon. I even tried to take a picture of his feet dangling over the pins while the ball came at him, but it didn't turn out very well.
The thought that occurred to me was, "here's a job that's WAY out dated. Yet, there's still someone doing it." I've never seen a manual pin setter in my life! I would've thought that I'd meet a real-life candlestick maker long before I met a pin setter. This truly is a great country. You can be anything you want when you grow up, even if no one really needs you to do it.
The restaurant had a two lane bowling alley. The lanes looked like they'd been used to test jack hammers recently, and there didn't appear to be a ball return. We discovered that the lanes were MANUALLY operated! A guy stood at the end of the lane and set the pins up after each frame. Then, he put the ball on a ramp and sent it back. Once or twice, I even saw him nearly get clipped because someone bowled too soon. I even tried to take a picture of his feet dangling over the pins while the ball came at him, but it didn't turn out very well.
The thought that occurred to me was, "here's a job that's WAY out dated. Yet, there's still someone doing it." I've never seen a manual pin setter in my life! I would've thought that I'd meet a real-life candlestick maker long before I met a pin setter. This truly is a great country. You can be anything you want when you grow up, even if no one really needs you to do it.
4 Amendments:
Of course you know that Richard Nixon had bowling lanes installed at the White House.
His daughter was married in the Rose Garden
He had a dog named Checkers . I don't remember what kind of dog but it was a cocker spanial or some kind of setter. I'm also not certain why he got the dog but it was most likely to fertilize the rose garden, divert the nation's attention, or be a pin setter.
Gotta love that dog Checkers...
"You can be anything you want when you grow up, even if no one really needs you to do it."
I already knew that. I'm a writer.
Nobody really needs me to deliver the paper either the whole darn thing is on the internet.
I've seen pin setters before, but it was for duck pin bowling.
It was still pretty cool though...and the one guy DID take a duck pin in the petella. It was slightly humorous.
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