Jim decided he wanted to go bowling Saturday night so he texted a few friends to see if anyone was interested in meeting us at the (fairly) new Brunswick Zone XL (don’t know what the XL stands for) and Debbie was the only one available. She called me in the afternoon and I told her to meet us at 7:00 and she told me that she wanted to eat a good hamburger at the bowling alley because everyone knows that bowling alleys have the best burgers.
Jim & I got there a little before 7:00 and were quite impressed with the “Dave and Buster’s” –like atmosphere. We went to the bowling counter and told the guy that we had 3 people wanting to bowl & rent shoes. He threw us off when he asked us how long we wanted to bowl and when we looked baffled, he said most people take an hour, so we said okay. He handed me a form to write the bowlers’ names on, rang us up and told us that someone would bring the shoes to us. We went to the lane he assigned us and that’s when I looked at the receipt. I said to Jim, “Holy shit, we haven’t even started bowling yet and we’ve spent almost $40”.
Debbie came, we all put our shoes on & started bowling. The waitress took our drink order and Jim wasn’t very happy that beers cost $4.25. The waitress came back and took our food order – 3 cheeseburgers with fries and, I must say, they were excellent. We continued to bowl in between bites of food as our time was ticking down. We all did terrible, not even breaking 100 points. I haven’t been bowling in a couple of years since JCI had a team-building event, and Jim & Debbie hadn’t bowled in longer than that. We got in 1 and 1/3 games in one hour. We left at a little after 8:00 and our bill was $82.91.
The breakdown:
1 hour bowling $25
3 shoe rentals $10.47
4 beers $17
2 Sprites $3.20 ($2.20 for the first & $1 for a refill)
3 cheeseburgers w/fries $22.47
So with tax & tip it cost the three of us $94.91 to speed-bowl for one hour, drink a couple of beers (luckily I thought ahead and brought my little flask with vodka to mix with my Sprites), and eat burgers & fries. It seemed expensive to us and we questioned how young people could go on bowling dates at those prices when we looked at the two young couples bowling next to us and noticed that they had no drinks, snacks or anything. They were just bowling. I guess that’s all they could afford at the Brunswick Zone XL.
Oh, I’ve come up with the meaning of XL -- Xpensive Lanes. I think we’ll stick with Wii bowling – we’re better at that anyway!
2 comments:
I commented on the same issue when Stephanie said she took her girls bowling after Christmas (in her blog). I think bowling is outrageous and it burns me up that I had/have to pay for Elizabeth. We went last Summer when Elizabeth was 2 and had to pay for her. When I questioned the cashier and told her that she was only 2, she quickly responded, "everyone who bowls has to pay". You don't even have to pay at the movie theater until your child is 3! What a rip off! We love to bowl but think that going to a movie is a much more cost effective family activity...it's cheaper, even including the snacks, and it lasts longer. We continue to make bowling a once a year event, and we never order food. But now you've got me thinking about those hamburgers!
Next time, go for a FREE facial!
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