I've had a poolroom for 23 years. We try real hard to keep our tables and cloth in as good a condition as possible to the extent that we don't allow customers to eat food they've ordered here from the grill while they are playing, and most everyone is very understanding of this rule. We had all our tables covered in new Simonis 3 months ago. I am very discreet about approaching customers and nicely informing them if they are breaking a rule which could cause damage to the tables / cloth - such as setting drinks on the table, beginner players trying to show off their masse shots or their digging under the cue ball scoop jump shots to their buddies, etc.
Tonight during our weekly 9-ball tournament, I'm playing a match on a table and I'm seeing ugly dark smeared streaks on the table I'm playing on - unlike I've ever seen before. I comment on it and two other players playing on another table comment that I should check out their table - which is far worse with numerous similar marks, which we then determine is dried blood marks smeared in to the cloth. Another player comments that those marks were not on that table when they played on that table in a match earlier tonight.
It didn't take long to find the culprit - a 70 year old regular whose been playing in our weekly tournaments in here for nearly 10 years, whose extremely dried and cracked hands/fingers had dried blood on them. Well, I basically lost it and called this guy out in front of the other roughly 20 tournament players in here and a few other customers who happened to be in here. I asked him how in the heck could he do this on numerous tables without even realizing he was doing it? You darn right I was upset, and still am. Everyone that plays on those tables for the next 8-10 months will have to look at those unsightly blood stains on our Simonis tournament blue cloth.
I can even expect and possibly somewhat forgive this kind of thing from a recreational player coming in here, but for a regular player whose played pool for nearly 60 years, a solid "B" level player, who plays in our weekly tournaments for numerous years to do this I find to be completely unacceptable to me. I realize he certainly didn't do it on purpose, but I have an extremely hard time accepting that as an excuse/apology. Do I have a right to be this upset for his negligence resulting in numerous permanent blood stain streaks on at least 3 tables? And lastly, does anyone have any suggestions how best to remove blood stains from Simonis cloth?
Tonight during our weekly 9-ball tournament, I'm playing a match on a table and I'm seeing ugly dark smeared streaks on the table I'm playing on - unlike I've ever seen before. I comment on it and two other players playing on another table comment that I should check out their table - which is far worse with numerous similar marks, which we then determine is dried blood marks smeared in to the cloth. Another player comments that those marks were not on that table when they played on that table in a match earlier tonight.
It didn't take long to find the culprit - a 70 year old regular whose been playing in our weekly tournaments in here for nearly 10 years, whose extremely dried and cracked hands/fingers had dried blood on them. Well, I basically lost it and called this guy out in front of the other roughly 20 tournament players in here and a few other customers who happened to be in here. I asked him how in the heck could he do this on numerous tables without even realizing he was doing it? You darn right I was upset, and still am. Everyone that plays on those tables for the next 8-10 months will have to look at those unsightly blood stains on our Simonis tournament blue cloth.
I can even expect and possibly somewhat forgive this kind of thing from a recreational player coming in here, but for a regular player whose played pool for nearly 60 years, a solid "B" level player, who plays in our weekly tournaments for numerous years to do this I find to be completely unacceptable to me. I realize he certainly didn't do it on purpose, but I have an extremely hard time accepting that as an excuse/apology. Do I have a right to be this upset for his negligence resulting in numerous permanent blood stain streaks on at least 3 tables? And lastly, does anyone have any suggestions how best to remove blood stains from Simonis cloth?
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