Nothing will change until the 60,000 to 80,000 manager salaries with bonuses go away, and the staff and the counter people get a pay increase . Maybe then all employees will care about a job and able to live a good life .
Many people look at a person's salary and immediately deem it worthy or not based on a personal experience. If that experience was bad, then they make too much. If it was good, they don't make enough.
Unfortunately, I guess, you have to pay more to attract better employees. Perhaps AMF did a poor job of hiring. We have all heard many a story of some manager that "just doesn't get it." Perhaps BowlMor will do a better job. And perhaps the salary will have to go up even more to attract the right person for the job.
People need to realize that a higher salary for a position like general manager can give you a much larger return of investment. We have all seen what a good GM can do for a bowling center; and we have seen the opposite true from a poor GM. In fact, if one looks at the position in this way, you can justify a very large salary if the right person is hired.
I also didn't like the way AMF provided bonuses for GMs for particular goals. Goals are great to use as incentives, but when you give incentives for keeping labor costs low, you only hurt the people you are trying to keep happy, your customers. Providing incentives for mystery shopper scores, snack bar and bar efficiencies, and the all important performance against previous sales. Just don't cut customer service and give a reward for it.
And when it comes to the desk person, it is already been made apparent to me that during leagues there won't be a dedicated desk person. If true, that makes BowlMor's beginning very rocky.
In the end, the customer will be the one who determines if this merger is successful. If it is going to cost $6 a game and $5 for shoes, then it will cost a group of four about $16 each (shoes and two games) for an hour and half to two hours of entertainment. That price is still comparable to a movie so the price will probably work.... for now. Used to think being a league member meant something but even our league lineage is close to $4.50 a game.
