Do I have a Right to be Upset - Blood Stains on Cloth?
- Thread starter ChrisinNC
- Start date
I hear you Chris! As a long time poolroom owner myself I can relate. I've had to clean up blood (after a wild fight between two girls which I had to break up myself. I went a little crazy but it worked :wink
, puke, beer and food stains of course. There usually is a way to do some cleaning, but it will never be perfect again. On brand new cloth I would be doubly pissed, just like you were. He could have covered his fingers with something (how about a band aid!). I know damn well that I would never allow myself to damage a table that way and I'm over 70. I would have probably taken him up on his offer and accepted enough money to cover my time and material used in cleaning the cloth. I wouldn't have let him off the hook completely.
I wouldn't worry too much. Sounds like everybody got the message! I'm like you, regular customer or not, some things are just not acceptable.
I have my own GC at home and yeah I would be pissed. But here's a consideration. I'm 69 and the skin on my hands is getting very thin. I bruise easy and cut and gouge without ever knowing. I have three motorcycles that I am always working on. It's what I do for fun. It's a rare time that I don't find myself picking up a tool only to find blood dripping from the latest accident.
I make no excuse for my geezer brother but for some of us this shit happens.
I make no excuse for my geezer brother but for some of us this shit happens.
I have done it more than once
Not on pool tables but I have seen a blood stain all over the workplace and wondered who the hell was doing that only to find I was the one doing that! For those that work with their hands or have issues that cause bleeding it is easy to not notice bleeding. Sharp wire, razor sharp tools, soaked with sweat in very hot weather which causes blood to thin both inside and outside your body, shit happens. I can ruin quite a few hours of ornamental wood turning with a few minutes of not noticing a leak.
My opinion, since it was accidental and you made an ass out of yourself, you owe an apology, a public one. Your deliberate attack was a far greater wrong than accidental damage.
I have owned a double handful of businesses over the years and had to eat some pretty expensive mistakes that had nothing to do with me including a truck totaled that was vital to one business and would take weeks to rebuild or replace. One of those things, the driver responsible didn't have a pot to pee in or a lid to cover it up with. My driver had next to no chance to avoid the accident and didn't even get his ass chewed much less fired. Cost me thousands but I had to write it off. Could have claimed insurance but it wasn't worth the rate increase for three years. I had been nailed with a 50% increase once already!
Human nature to be angry, now you have to do your best to make amends. I would do it in front of the same crowd that saw the initial incident, aside from being the right thing to do it can minimize impact to your business which might be a lot more than cleaning or recovering the tables.
Cold water is excellent advice as is calling in professionals in stain removal. The less said around your place about blood or other body fluids on the tables the better.
I have had to smile and make nice when I wanted to twist somebody's head off as I suspect pretty much all business owners have. The blood was a done deal, your coming unglued was another matter and it made things worse plus I'm sure everyone in the place was aware of blood on multiple tables by the time you finished.
Hu
Not on pool tables but I have seen a blood stain all over the workplace and wondered who the hell was doing that only to find I was the one doing that! For those that work with their hands or have issues that cause bleeding it is easy to not notice bleeding. Sharp wire, razor sharp tools, soaked with sweat in very hot weather which causes blood to thin both inside and outside your body, shit happens. I can ruin quite a few hours of ornamental wood turning with a few minutes of not noticing a leak.
My opinion, since it was accidental and you made an ass out of yourself, you owe an apology, a public one. Your deliberate attack was a far greater wrong than accidental damage.
I have owned a double handful of businesses over the years and had to eat some pretty expensive mistakes that had nothing to do with me including a truck totaled that was vital to one business and would take weeks to rebuild or replace. One of those things, the driver responsible didn't have a pot to pee in or a lid to cover it up with. My driver had next to no chance to avoid the accident and didn't even get his ass chewed much less fired. Cost me thousands but I had to write it off. Could have claimed insurance but it wasn't worth the rate increase for three years. I had been nailed with a 50% increase once already!
Human nature to be angry, now you have to do your best to make amends. I would do it in front of the same crowd that saw the initial incident, aside from being the right thing to do it can minimize impact to your business which might be a lot more than cleaning or recovering the tables.
Cold water is excellent advice as is calling in professionals in stain removal. The less said around your place about blood or other body fluids on the tables the better.
I have had to smile and make nice when I wanted to twist somebody's head off as I suspect pretty much all business owners have. The blood was a done deal, your coming unglued was another matter and it made things worse plus I'm sure everyone in the place was aware of blood on multiple tables by the time you finished.
Hu
Coming from a guy who's fingers tend to crack and bleed. He may not have known he was bleeding at that time but he knows/knew that his fingers can bleed at any time and he needs to be prepared.
Whenever I have league/tournament I always check my fingers on the way out the door.
Whenever I have league/tournament I always check my fingers on the way out the door.
WinnerBreaks
Registered
You sure you own a pool room?
You come off as a recreational player who sees things happen in his local pool room and then come on here...and pretend to own said room.
Pathetic.
I wouldn't consider the way I handled as unglued and uncalled for as you may be assuming, or as bad as I guess I made it seem it my initial post - just a bit out of character with how I normally would handle situations with complete tact and discreetness. The only people in the poolroom at that time were the regular tournament players - all who know him well and generally all who felt it was an egregious and completely unexcuseable, particularly that he still didn't even notice it after ruining 3-4 different tables. Another poolroom owner who plays in our tournaments was here, and I asked him how he would have felt and handled it if this gentleman had done the same thing in his poolroom, and he said he'd prefer not to comment on that, but I know it would likely not have been as well as I handled it. I've already talked to this gentleman - we've both apologized and we're moving on.
My only question is how did you sanitize the cloth?
If you have food there and someone reports you, I assume you would get fined (if the "proper" cleaning methods weren't done). And since you (as you stated) made a "public issue" of it, someone might have been upset with you and do the reporting.
I would suggest making sure the old dodger is good with you, how you handled it, and everyone present knows and is on point with it just in case.
If you have food there and someone reports you, I assume you would get fined (if the "proper" cleaning methods weren't done). And since you (as you stated) made a "public issue" of it, someone might have been upset with you and do the reporting.
I would suggest making sure the old dodger is good with you, how you handled it, and everyone present knows and is on point with it just in case.
I wish there was a way to clean Simonis. Blood, dirt, oil tobacco powder, it all ends up in the cloth after a few weeks. Maybe Simonis HR is the answer.
He's in Boone, nc. I'd be surprised if there are 2 rooms there. I am definitely stopping thru when I get down his way.
And Chris: I think you had every right to be upset. One would expect a reasonable person could realize he was dripping on multiple tables.
You acknowledged you could have handled it better and would be apologizing and I think that goes a long way for your relationship with that dude.
Tough situation to have to deal with. I think it would help if you make sure everyone knows the guy did offer to pay for the damage - that shows some integrity on his part.
I am surprised nobody else noticed the problem prior to 3- 4 tables getting spoiled. Nobody else played on those tables right after the gentleman?
As stated before - only use cold water.
Same with a red wine spill.
Had a customer recently punch a hole in the wall. We all knew who did it. He didn't admit to it on his own. That's the part that upset me. Still he's a good customer and I am a wiz at drywall. So life goes on.
Had another guy get pissed and intentionally assaulted my trash can. Broke it partially. After paying me some tax he was permitted to return to play. Players gotta know they don't call the shots.
I am constantly dealing with repairs, clean up ECT from what could be characterized as oblivious customers. All part of working with the public. Especially with the wild crowd and serving alcohol. You just can't take it personally. Good insurance and security cameras go a long way.
Had another guy get pissed and intentionally assaulted my trash can. Broke it partially. After paying me some tax he was permitted to return to play. Players gotta know they don't call the shots.
I am constantly dealing with repairs, clean up ECT from what could be characterized as oblivious customers. All part of working with the public. Especially with the wild crowd and serving alcohol. You just can't take it personally. Good insurance and security cameras go a long way.
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"Do I have a Right to be Upset - Blood Stains on Cloth?"
Sure, you can be upset. But I think you handled it poorly. I understand you may have been angry in the moment, but publicly berating the guys, especially considering his age, and his status as a long term customer, was not cool.
For the record, it's quite possible to bleed, even profusely, and not know it. I was once injured on the subway, cut in the leg with a razor knife, and didn't know it until another passenger pointed out that my white slacks were soaked with blood.
It's quite likely the man didn't know he was cut, and didn't know he was soiling the tables. Once it came to light, it would have been best to tell him, ask him to stop playing until the bleeding has stopped, and then go about shutting down the affected tables until they can be properly cleaned. As for how he didn't notice, nor apparently anyone else, I don't know. Perhaps he's a blue blood?
It's big of him to have offered to pay for the cleaning or repairs. Good for him. He was a bigger man than you, at the moment! You show class by declining his monetary offer.
I would contact my insurer to see if they want to see the damage. Beyond that, clean and disinfect. Ask the customer to voluntarily fill out a health questionnaire, regarding blood-borne disease, just to cover your ass. If the insurance company settles you may just be paid to re-cover the tables.
(You might also want to clean and disinfect the balls and cues involved.)
Finally, you might apologize to the guy for the public rebuke and accompanying potential embarrassment and humiliation, and as a show of good faith, give him credit for some play, or something.
I confess I don't know why I'm replying to this, maybe it's like a car wreck, where you can't look away; maybe it's social media withdrawal from having shut down my Facebook account a while ago. But whatever, there's my take.
Sure, you can be upset. But I think you handled it poorly. I understand you may have been angry in the moment, but publicly berating the guys, especially considering his age, and his status as a long term customer, was not cool.
For the record, it's quite possible to bleed, even profusely, and not know it. I was once injured on the subway, cut in the leg with a razor knife, and didn't know it until another passenger pointed out that my white slacks were soaked with blood.
It's quite likely the man didn't know he was cut, and didn't know he was soiling the tables. Once it came to light, it would have been best to tell him, ask him to stop playing until the bleeding has stopped, and then go about shutting down the affected tables until they can be properly cleaned. As for how he didn't notice, nor apparently anyone else, I don't know. Perhaps he's a blue blood?
It's big of him to have offered to pay for the cleaning or repairs. Good for him. He was a bigger man than you, at the moment! You show class by declining his monetary offer.
I would contact my insurer to see if they want to see the damage. Beyond that, clean and disinfect. Ask the customer to voluntarily fill out a health questionnaire, regarding blood-borne disease, just to cover your ass. If the insurance company settles you may just be paid to re-cover the tables.
(You might also want to clean and disinfect the balls and cues involved.)
Finally, you might apologize to the guy for the public rebuke and accompanying potential embarrassment and humiliation, and as a show of good faith, give him credit for some play, or something.
I confess I don't know why I'm replying to this, maybe it's like a car wreck, where you can't look away; maybe it's social media withdrawal from having shut down my Facebook account a while ago. But whatever, there's my take.
I do not blame you for being extremely unhappy. I cut myself daily, often without knowing, but i quickly find out if I leave a blood stain behind. I dont understand how neither the offender or any of his opponents did not notice blood stains while playing?? For some reason people in our area like to use dark grey or black chalk I seem to notice immediately if there is a single speck of dark chalk on the table I am playing on.
I seem to notice immediately if there is a single speck of dark chalk on the table I am playing on.Yes, I love camel / gold Simonis as an awesome color to play on. We had it once in our poolroom and I loved the way it lit up the table and contrasted with the balls, but never again. Reason being - players that would come in with their own personal chalk (usually but not always blue) who fail to have the common sense to realize that their chalk will permanently discolor the camel cloth. Nowadays, way more people use their own personal chalk, so it would be even worse than it was 10+ years ago.I do not blame you for being extremely unhappy. I cut myself daily, often without knowing, but i quickly find out if I leave a blood stain behind. I dont understand how neither the offender or any of his opponents did not notice blood stains while playing?? For some reason people in our area like to use dark grey or black chalk
How do you not see blood on your hands? Does he have a chalk less cue? How do you not notice blood on the table/multiple tables?
Price of business blah blah blah. Poolrooms aren't known to make big $$$ and a $1,200 - $1,500 hit can be the difference in paying the Bill's and not paying them.
Jason
Price of business blah blah blah. Poolrooms aren't known to make big $$$ and a $1,200 - $1,500 hit can be the difference in paying the Bill's and not paying them.
Jason
This is the 2nd cloth. First one... had a relative bleeding hand. Nose running. I wanted to burn the table. I could not say anything.
Attachments
Upset: Yes
Talk to the person about it privately: Yes
Yell at him in public: No
I'm sure approaching him privately he will be embarrassed enough. I do think you should say something to him as it wasn't exactly soda or something like that. It was blood. That's just nasty. You would have to come up with a solution with this guy so that he doesn't do it again. If it happens again I would ban him from the poolhall.
After that situation is handled I have no clue how you would handle the rest of the evening and next couple days going forward. I can tell you as a player that I am not putting my hand in someone else's dry blood stain. You shouldn't expect people to either. I guess I would hope that it is in my budget to be able to recover the stained tables (and possibly the rest while you are at it depending on how long it's been since they have been done).
Sorry if you already said some of your plan. I didn't read the whole thread yet.
Talk to the person about it privately: Yes
Yell at him in public: No
I'm sure approaching him privately he will be embarrassed enough. I do think you should say something to him as it wasn't exactly soda or something like that. It was blood. That's just nasty. You would have to come up with a solution with this guy so that he doesn't do it again. If it happens again I would ban him from the poolhall.
After that situation is handled I have no clue how you would handle the rest of the evening and next couple days going forward. I can tell you as a player that I am not putting my hand in someone else's dry blood stain. You shouldn't expect people to either. I guess I would hope that it is in my budget to be able to recover the stained tables (and possibly the rest while you are at it depending on how long it's been since they have been done).
Sorry if you already said some of your plan. I didn't read the whole thread yet.