Andrew Maderios, the jovial general manager and co-owner of Bowl-O-Rama Family Fun Center in Portsmouth, has been making a name for himself in social media.

His multitude of public mentions, however, come from an incident he dreads. Now he’s pleading for patrons to consider the way they treat business employees.

A viral Facebook video post from the long-running Lafayette Road bowling alley on Aug. 29 called out unruly customers who lashed out at his staff. This came after a group of people disputed the cost of a bill with one of them crumpling up a receipt and hurling it at Maderios.

Bowl-O-Rama posted a surveillance clip of the interaction between the group of customers, which ended with Maderios telling the people to leave.

In an interview, Maderios said after the group of patrons left, he turned around to several members of his staff, feeling “dumbfounded” by what had just occurred.

He knew that they didn’t know what to say and simultaneously recognized that, over the last several months, they’d been dealing with a number of disrespectful customers, too.

“I said, ‘We’re going to take a stand,’ and they were thrilled,” Maderios said.

Uploading the video to the Bowl-O-Rama Facebook page at 5:30 p.m. last Saturday, Maderios typed out a lengthy post calling out “rude, belligerent, and frankly abusive behavior.”

The post almost immediately received over 30,000 views on Facebook, with over 120 shares and over 150 comments expressing an abundance of support for Bowl-O-Rama. Maderios has been overwhelmed by the amount of supportive messages and comments he has received.

Rude customers make up about 1% of the clientele, Maderios estimated, but they’re enough to leave a mark. “If there’s enough eyes on it and enough people speaking out and noticing that it’s happening and noticing that we need to make a change, I’m hoping that that 1% will stop and think twice or slow down and think about the way they act,” he said.

Bart Maderios, Andrew’s father and coowner of Bowl-O-Rama with his wife and Andrew’s mother, Mary-Lynne, noted Bowl-O-Rama prides itself on customer service and staff members feel like extended members of their own family.

“The community support has been great because we are a community-based operation here, and we work hand in hand with the community,” he said. “But to get that kind of behavior is unnecessary.” — IAN LENAHAN/ PORTSMOUTH HERALD