deputy manager

assistant manager

general manager

unit supervisor

maintenance associate

Tenpin

Let's start from the beginning, shall we? I'm 17. I just dropped out of college and was looking for a job. My first ever job. I applied for every retail and customer service job in my area. I applied for Tenpin as a "Customer Service Assistant". I filled out the application form and there were so many spelling errors, I couldn't even make sense of some of the questions, so I had to write "I don't understand the question" to some of them. I was invited for an interview that lasted a literal 5 minutes and was told I had a trial shift on the Sunday coming up. I didn't see the point in calling me in as it was a complete waste of my time and my money, they could've just rung me. As I'm not 18, I was told I had to be a party host as that's the only position I could do, which was fine with me. On the day of the trial shift, I had one of the other party hosts "train" me. He's a decent guy, but he didn't really know anything himself and I was left unattended for the most part. I was called the following day to be told the next day I had an induction, which was very short notice. I went for my induction, I sat in the manager’s office while they added me to the pay roll and everything. They discussed pay with me and tried to underpay me at first. They said the pay was £4.35 (minimum wage) but from asking the other party hosts about pay on my trial shift, I knew fine well it was £5. I argued with them about it for a little before they finally gave in. I didn’t get a shift for a whole 2 weeks after that. My contracted hours were 4 hours per week. The only shifts I could possibly do were Saturday and / or Sunday at 10am - 2pm, as that’s the only time they held parties. If I was lucky, someone would call in sick and I had the chance to do both Saturday and Sunday. The average wages I got a month was £80 and that isn’t enough to live off. I’m not sure about all Tenpins, but my one didn’t even have a clock in system, so you only got paid for what they saw you doing, which isn’t good way to go about it at all. A lot of the time they paid you wrong and it was always less. The managers and colleagues always tried to push me around, whenever I was on shift, at the end of the parties I was always the one made to take out every single one of the bins and put them in a broken trolley that was too difficult for any single person to push alone. The bins were quite a far distance to travel with that trolley and it was frustrating. The staff are so unorganised, in the morning when we had to prepare for the parties it was always a case of “do whatever needs doing”. There was never a set rota for everyone to take turns doing something different every shift, whether it was making balloons or squash, taking out the bins or sweeping. All the older party hosts gravitated towards the easier jobs that took minimum effort and just sat on their phones for the rest of the time and left all the newer ones to do the dirty work, or the older ones would simply just do nothing. If a new party host was seen on their phone during work, the older ones would never hesitate to run off to the managers and complain, even though they were being hypocritical. There was definitely favouritism in this particular Tenpin, especially because the general managers children worked there. The managers expected us to have equipment that should be provided to us. For example, we write a happy birthday message on a pin for the child to take home and if us as party hosts didn’t bring our own sharpies in, there was no way we could do it. There was one occasion where I was put on the rota, I went in but there was 1 party booked in and they already had a party host to do it. The girl that did the party is one that was favourited by the managers. I was made to clean the entire arcade by myself and wasn’t even aware that’s what I was doing until I arrived, it was 100% a decision that had already been made beforehand too. I had to scrape gum from everything, scrub all the foot wells and dust everything. I’m not a cleaner, I’m a party host. I should’ve had the choice to do this, not made to. I had an argument with the managers this day, I asked why I was made to do this, and they said, “The arcade hasn’t been cleaned in months, so someone had to do it.” I also asked why they couldn’t have put me with the other girl doing the party as they sometimes allow multiple party hosts to take care of just one party. They said to me “The other girl is much more capable than you are and will take care of the party better than you can.” That’s a disgusting way for a manager to speak to their employees, under any circumstance. The girl that was supposed to be taking care of the party kept approaching me and asking me for favours. “Can you get me this from the kitchen?” “Can you tidy this?” “Can you put this in the bin?” All I said to her was “Do I look like a cleaner to you?” She said “Yeah, you really do.” And started laughing. I walked out of Tenpin and went straight home. I never returned to Tenpin after that as it was my breaking point. This wasn’t the first time one of my colleagues had spoken to me in that manner, especially this girl. The staff are so rude, lazy, unorganised and heartless. If a child fell over, it was never written in an accident book, to be quite honest, I’m not even sure if we even had an accident book. The training was all online and unnecessary, there was too much, it took me 7 hours to complete and all of it had nothing to do with my role. There was no hands-on training or anything actually helpful. I was always put down, degraded and bullied on every single shift and couldn’t take working there anymore. The job itself is amazing, I loved the children. I loved putting smiles on their faces, dancing with them and giving them the best birthday party I could. Even when I didn’t show up to my shifts for weeks, nobody contacted me. I got a letter from the manager blatantly lying and saying they were going to terminate my employment. Good!! This Tenpin is corrupt, I wouldn’t even want my worst enemies to work here. If you want to keep your dignity and don’t want to made feel worthless, please don’t work here. I only worked here for 2 and a half months which was just 10 shifts. I hope they sort their company out, it’s shockingly how terrible it’s run. It’s beyond awful, there isn’t even a word to describe it.

At Tenpin, I found that myself and most of the colleagues were completely rushed off their feet non-stop. Working at Tenpin is a lot of work for not a lot of pay. I found myself consistently stressed and unhappy working here, and when speaking to a lot of other colleagues here they felt the same. 

The members of the Tenpin team themselves were, for the most part, very nice people and I made a lot of good work friends there. Unfortunately, that did not make up for the many things I thought (and still think) require change at the establishment. 

The place is always very understaffed, especially during the holidays. I believe that is one of the main reasons people dislike working here and why the staff turn over is so high. The amount of stress bestowed onto the workers during these times is horrific, with some members of staff constantly doing double shifts (that's 14+ hours a day!). The place gets completely overrun with customers that it is simply not possible to cope. I believe it would be wise to get a much bigger team or to have a maximum capacity for the building so everyone would be able to cope much better. 

As previously mentioned, I think the pay is unfair for the amount of work the staff here actually have to do. The pay is minimum wage based on age, but every staff member (CSAs) do the same job, so I don't think it's fair at all for the younger workers to be paid much less than the workers over 21 when they are doing the exact same job. In addition to that, I don't think the amount of money reflects the amount of work that is expected of you at Tenpin. A lot of the time, you will find yourself doing lots of different jobs at a time regardless of what department you are assigned to. The managers are completely rushed off their feet most of the time as well, so it is difficult for them to manage and support their staff. 

Sometimes the place is so busy that managers cannot afford to give their staff members a break, or take on themselves, despite being legally entitled to one. I have worked many busy shifts where I have not had a break because it was simply too busy to take one. Again, this comes down to how badly managed the amount of customers there are in the venue at one time. 

It is very common to work until 2, 3 or even 4 a.m. The later closes are due to the fact that no one is allowed to leave until the whole place is cleaned, tidied and locked up, even if they have finished on their own department. I am aware that working late is part of this job as the establishment closes late, especially at the weekend where it closes at 12:30am. However, I think it is very unfair that myself and everyone else on close shifts had to wait on other people to finish their departments before being allowed to go home. I am all for helping people out when they are behind and I was always grateful when colleagues helped me finish my department when they had already done theirs, but when it comes to 3 or even 4 a.m. it was more important to me to get some sleep to look after my own health and wellbeing, yet I was still not allowed to leave. This happens to everyone at Tenpin who works closes, and I think it is really sad because I know how much this can affect mental and physical health. 

The rota for the upcoming week is only released 5 days before the start of said week, which makes it almost impossible to plan other life commitments around work or simply maintain a social life. This was especially troublesome for workers trying to book doctors/dentist/etc. appointments because we did not know what we would be working the next week until around Thursday. As for social events, it was also difficult to plan to see family and friends due to this as well. 

It is unusual to me that the online training courses that have to be completed during the probation period are not classed as paid work. There are a lot of these courses and they must be done at home/in your spare time. They are very time consuming, sometimes taking hours, and yet we do not get any pay for them. 

Finally, I think a lot of unnecessary negativity was/is given in regards to calling in sick. When calling in sick, myself and other staff members would be met with negativity, almost as if we should have felt guilty for being unwell - something no one can control. On one occasion, a colleague calling in sick about their mental health was met with negativity as they were told the manager was "counting on them" to come in and how disappointed the manager was they would not be in. On another occasion, a colleague who had vomited was still made to work because they were "too understaffed to send them home". Another colleague was told their "excuse" for not coming in wasn't a very good one. A colleague who had been badly hallucinating the night before was told they had to come in. A member of staff who refused to work a close after working their shift was told by a manager that they would "make sure they were put on all closes for the next week" as a punishment. Lastly, a staff member who was beaten up and had experienced a concussion and broken nose had to go to the hospital, to which they were asked by a manager if they would come back to work after they had been to the hospital. I think it was obvious they would not be coming back to work that day.

All of these happenings seem to suggest that the idea that work comes before health is very prominent at Tenpin Stoke, which I find to be extremely upsetting. It is so important for everyone to take care of their health. Individual people are more important than work or how useful they are to a business. I think it is important to show more empathy to workers. This makes them feel valued as people and that they are supported. If workers are met with little sympathy and empathy, then it is likely they will leave the job, which I believe is why Tenpin Stoke's staff turn over is so fast. 

In summary, I think change is desperately needed at Tenpin Stoke so that the workers (both CSAs and managers) feel more valued and happy to work there. It makes me very upset seeing how burnt out the workers become at the establishment. 

  I used to enjoy working at Tenpin but for the past year since the lock down restrictions have been lifted I found myself absolutely dreading going in to work there and I am not the only one. High staff turn over. Constantly understaffed, leaving the remaining team extremely under pressure and stressed trying to keep the place afloat.
 
 If you are working a close you are forbidden from leaving until everything is done and cleaned even if it takes until 3am or longer (say goodbye to a regular sleep routine!). Breaks come off your shift if you work 6+ hours automatically and are not paid for, sometimes you are too busy to have a break. The rota is regularly changed at short notice and released 5 days prior to the start of the next week so unless you book holidays it is almost impossible to make plans.

 I do not feel COVID safe here anymore ever since restrictions were relaxed as customers do not wear masks, do not socially distance or do track and trace and there are no limits to how many customers can enter the building so we are often overwhelmed with many bookings being at the same time. You are often rushed off your feet and pulled into multiple different tasks as the same time, it is easy to forget to sanitise your hands especially when in a rush to clean lanes.

  Often when staff are isolating or confirmed having COVID-19 the rest of the staff are not informed even if they have been on the same shifts them. Recently new staff are being thrown on busy shifts without any training. When the cleaners have been off isolating customer service assistants are made to clean after working long busy shifts at night at times cleaning up vomit and feces. 

 There are some benefits such as free meals when you are on your break if the kitchen isn't busy and you manage to get a break. There is a voucher reward for being employee of the month but often winners are not announced. With permission from a manger when it is not busy you can get free bowling but overall at least at the minute the cons out weigh the pros. 

  The company priorities profit over the staffs well being and the customer experience. Very often staff, including the managers are overworked, stressed and have break downs on bad shifts (which is sadly very often right now).

 If the company had a reasonable limit on how many people are allowed into the building/able to pre-book, spent the necessary money repairing the dishwasher/ice machines when needed, hired more staff and valued the team they have Tenpin would be a much more enjoyable and worthwhile place to work. The amount of stress and work you do here is not worth minimum wage. 



My experience at Tenpin was dreadful.

There's an awful old school culture which permeates the whole company. Heavily reliant on bureaucratic admin procedures (still cashing up with pen and paper!), it's an organisation which puts process ahead of purpose.

I was a GM and have been in various companies throughout my career and I've never worked in such an toxic environment. And you know what? My team were great, my boss was great, but the people running the company have created a horrible, old fashioned, curmudgeonly organisation where short term money grabbing and penny pinching comes before anything else ( except a bizarre adherence to processes that were outdated in the 1990s).

I was working 70- 80 hour weeks because the 'structure' didn't allow for extra managers to assist.  I was met with sympathy and the words, 'it's unsustainable', but nothing changed.  The expectations were ridiculous, and particularly if you work in Scotland, where you're treated like second class citizens within the organisation. 

Like most in hospitality, we were in the middle of a staffing crisis after returning from lockdown, but Tenpin thought it would be a good idea to slim the recruitment department down to ONE PERSON. So any requests or pleas for help were ignored. It took 5 months for a  new deputy to be hired and I had to hire over 20 team members by myself while running a shift , or keeping n eye in the barat the same time since there was no-one else until I hired new people! ).

I burned out during my time with Tenpin. I got very little support from anyone at Head Office. 
I actually only met a couple  in person at my site.  The fact most people there leave within a year tells its own story; and the old school long timers are very cliquey.  I've never worked for such an unsupportive organisation. My last day included the highlight of being sworn at down a Teams call by the Ops Director because he went into ...*checks notes* ..another site that wasn't looking its best 

The pay is good and they introduced a decent bonus scheme, and like I said, my line manager was such a good guy, but honestly, the stress, the burnout, the feeling of fighting against a tide of unreasonable demands and toxic work patterns isn't worth it. 

Even on days off you're expected to be 'present', whether that's answering calls, being on remote meetings or being available to attend alarm calls alone in the dead of night. 

So if you value your personal time, weekends, or even just your mental health, I wouldn't join this company.

There is no such thing as a 'typical' day at work. One day it could be quiet so you're cleaning all day/night and the next it could be heaving leaving you to jump from one department to the next in order to help to keep things running.

There are some members of management who will go to the end of the earth and back for you. They will jump in to help when things get busy and they will always be there for you to try and sort any problems you may have. However, there are other members of management who will only see you as a staff member and not a human being. They will expect you to give up your entire life in order to Tenpin, and if for whatever reason you cannot do that, they will make sure you pay the price for it.

The hardest part of the job is what is expected from you. You are expected to be able to work whenever they want you to and will kick up fuss if you can't. You are expected to run about like a headless chicken from one department to another with nothing else but a smile on your face. Your hard work and effort will very rarely, if at all, be recognised or commended by management, and it definitely will not be reflected by your pay. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is getting to work with the people you meet through Tenpin. You become almost like a family and this is something that would be hard to find elsewhere. Tenpin has the best people and you quickly make the best friends with people from your team.

As a student this job seemed to tick all the boxes for me, the staff were lovely and the company were very fast and efficient with the interviewing and hiring Process so I was very excited to start. Though it would be minimum wage the job as a whole seemed very easy going and worked with stuff I had already done before so I wasn’t at all worried. Initially I did a training day which only lasted an hour but was helpful and let me get to know the staff and the place a lot better. Already staff had begun asking if I had met a certain manager yet and I was being warned about him. Every new person I met would warn me about him, tell me not to let him get to me and to be ready for him to yell at me if he became stressed.
Fast-forward a few days and I was working my first real shift, I wasn’t properly trained and I didn’t know what I was doing. This manager introduced himself and seemed nice enough, until it started to get busy. I could hear him ordering people around and getting involved in everything and anything over the headset, I walked over to the bar (just to bring dirty glasses) and he starts screaming at me to help behind the bar, I reply telling him that I hadn’t been trained behind the bar as it was my first day and he responds with “well why don’t you just stand over there and look pretty”. All the customers at the bar were staring at me as my face turned red and I’ve honestly never felt so low. I continued to work here for a few weeks but it really didn’t get much better, he would just embarrass me and make me feel 2ft. Tall. Not to mention him telling us to ‘push sales’ which means asking customers to order a drink every 3 minutes until they eventually leave because they are sick of being harassed. I would recommend this job if you’re 7ft tall and want to put a small, angry, Scottish man in his place, if not, run for the hills!!

I got a job at Tenpin before the first lockdown, and then I was furloughed on and off in accordance to the lockdowns -- being furloughed was the highlight of my career which is a testament to how draining being a Tenpin employee actually was. It is definitely my least favourite job, and a place I don't feel like I could return to even as a customer.
During my time at Tenpin, I almost never got a break which I was entitled to. I would constantly see other staff members told to go on break, but I was constantly left out of this which only served to make me feel I was not liked and the breaks were only given to staff members they valued. As the shifts often got very busy, with very minimal staffing, I would constantly be rushed off my feet cleaning and sanitizing lanes and the staff on the reception desk would often get impatient and frustrated if a lane was not clean quick enough for them despite never being offered any help when staff members were free -- considering it is a 24 lane venue, one person being expected to clean sometimes 5 or 10 at once was impossible. The loudness and the bright lights mixed with the heat and the fact I was not given breaks meant that I would leave my shifts with severe headaches and unable to eat due to the severity of them.

After I had handed in my notice because I had got another job I actually enjoyed, my manager accepted the resignation letter and I had another staff member tell me that the manager was actually annoyed by the fact I had resigned -- probably due to me resigning before half-term and they wouldn't have someone they can run ragged down on the lanes whilst they had the easier jobs.

Your face definitely has to fit in Tenpin, and if you don't meet their standards or expectations then please do not be surprised if you are made to feel like an outsider during your time there.

Started at Tenpin 7 months ago after being made redundant from my job in a local Nightclub. I knew roughly what to expect as I have worked in hospitality for many years before in numerous roles. 

That means lots of work, lots of sweating, and sometimes lots of stress. The caveat to this is that unlike most similar businesses Tenpin staff are very much a family. People are there when you need it through both work and home life and hospitality is a very stressful sector to work in. I feel tenpin handles this very well. 

The progression within tenpin is clearly a very thought out process. In the time I have worked there I have seen many people progress to new roles or trained on more areas within their respective role. I started on bar but before long was getting stuck in with all areas of the business.

The pay at tenpin for CSAs is minimum wage however I do feel this is fair. The responsibilities given are fair for the pay and in many other hospitality businesses you will be asked to do much more for the same level of pay.

Given I was experienced in the industry already my training was kept to a minimum but I know from my experience working there since that everyone is given lots of support starting out. One of the best examples of this is new starters being informally assigned with an experienced member of team or the Training Champion who will help guide them through the training process. 

After losing my old job I thought I’d never be happy working anywhere else again. Tenpin have changed that perspective and I enjoy going to work everyday. 

If your hard working, willing to learn and like moving around and trying new things, tenpin might just be the place for you 

A typical day at work can go one of two ways, you come in and the place is empty or you come in and the place is heaving. There's very rarely an in-between. My day consisted of standing at reception ready to take bookings, phone calls, orders or deal with customers enquiries. It's so much more than just being a receptionist though. You have to keep in contact with all of your co-workers or your day can fall apart. Management keep us all in shape when its quiet by giving out jobs to do, or lend a hand when its busy. They're lovely - I'm not lying. The hardest point in my job was being called in on a Sunday night and expecting a few lanes on and the building to be moderately busy. This was not the story. I came in to a heaving bar, heaps of food orders and to top it all off, 24 lanes on with a 2 hour wait. Needless to say, there was not enough staff on shift. It wasn't the fact the building was busy, it was the fact that for tonight I was the only float (runner). I juggled my time with taking food and drinks orders, serving food and drinks, lending hands on reception when my co-worker was off sorting out other problems, keeping in contact with the technicians to make sure everything was in working order mechanically and in-between all that, making sure that I still delivered a high standard of customer service. The most enjoyable part of my job was making someones day. If a customer came in with a frown and left chuckling then I knew I'd done my job well. I loved interacting with customers and making sure I gave it my all. Childrens parties were another highlight. My motto of a weekend morning was "It's their birthday - make it their best one".

I was a party host, customer service and also serving at the bar. I would have to get to work at 9:15am to get the side barriers up, make squash for children, blow up balloons to decorate the bowling tables and also making sure the place is clean. 

Party host:
- Balloon modeling
- Write children's name down, what they would want to eat, shoe size
- cater foot to the children 
- after singing to them happy birthday i then have to cut the cake for the children
- I would have interact with the parents and children whether they are playing bowling or not
- Make sure everyone enjoys there day

Customer service:
- Answer everyones questions as in I had to know all the answers to the everyday questions
- Make sure the customers are happy
- Help out the customers with their problems

Reception:
- Booking people in for bowling
- Using the till
- Getting customers there shoes
- Writing the customers names on bowling screen

Bar:
- Serving the customers drinks and food
- Using the till

Working at tenpin has gave me many experiences such as excellent customer service, being a receptionist and also serving at the bar which I have never done before. It made me confident talking to customers and making them happy. It has also made me realise that I am a fast learner as I have learnt reception and bar in 4 hours. 

The hardest bit of the job was interacting with the kids while they were bowling and interacting with the parents when they are busy. I only worked for 4 hours which was not enough even though I have asked for more shifts and hours. 

The enjoyable part of the job was there was a few staffs always there for me and supporting me and also helping me out.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Deputy manager 85 salaries reported	£34,481 per year
Assistant manager 92 salaries reported	£32,772 per year
General manager 31 salaries reported	£48,144 per year
Unit supervisor 47 salaries reported	£13.15 per hour
Maintenance associate 69 salaries reported	£13.11 per hour

Working at Tenpin: company overview and reviews

Tenpin

Tenpin ratings

Popular jobs at Tenpin

Salary satisfaction

Jobseeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected