Thumper Thinks Out Loud

Grumble Alley

Most Sundays for the last few months the Spouse Thingy and I have gone bowling on Sundays. The base bowling alley has a Family Day special—3 games, a slice of pizza, and a small drink for $6. Well, they include shoe rentals, too, but we have our own. It’s a decent deal, it saves about $10 overall (if you usually get the shoes), and since we really like bowling (because, after all, we are bowling gods. Quit laughing), it’s a bargain.

I see the same people there week after week, so we’re not the only people who seem to like it. I wonder, though, about the people who are there every Sunday with their kids in tow, kids who clearly do not want to be bowling. At $6 it really is a good deal—if you like to bowl. If you don’t, it’s like spending $6 to torture yourself. Or in the case of people dragging the kids along, it’s $6 to torture each of the kids.

It adds up. You have 3 kids and you’ve spent $18 for something they not only don’t want to do, but you’ve spent $18 to torment everyone around you. Face it, kids are kids, and if they don’t want to do something, they let the whole world know. For the $6 you spend on each of them for bowling, you could take them to a matinee at the multiplex.

There’s one family that’s there pretty much every Sunday. They have 4 kids. For the six of them, that’s what, $36? No one is having any fun—they spend most of the time chasing one or more of the kids, yelling at one or more of the kids, comforting at least one child in tears, and they wind up pissed off at each other because the kids are upset and not having a good time.

And face it, the people playing on the lanes to either side of them aren’t happy, either.

So why torment the kids? Why torment themselves? Why torment the people around them? Yes, the $6/person is a good deal, but not if everyone hates it.

I don’t get it.

Now Spouse Thingy and I, we love it. Or at least we love it when we’re playing well. Yesterday was a sweet day for me, I started off with a 205. Ooohyeah. I followed that with a 188. But we don’t need to discuss my third game… Nope.

Sadly, the Sunday Family Day ends at the end of April, and the bowling alley will be closed on Sundays until Fall. I don’t know why, I just know it’s gonna suck. Dammit, if it’s Sunday, I wanna bowl!