I've been wanting to determine my PAP for a while now, but been too lazy to look up how to do it, and do it myself, but this morning, I got done with practice, and saw the pro shop was open, and thought maybe I could have it done right while I was there.   I asked if the pro shop operator would mind doing it real quick, and he said "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know how to do that."  Is that that surprising, or in this day and age do less and less pro shops know some of the more "basic" things of ball drilling?

Knowing how to find a bowler's PAP and what it means is pretty basic stuff.   If you're in the pro shop business it's something you'd better learn.

Is that person just a worker helping out? He can't be the owner/PSO of that shop, there's no way. If he doesn't know how to find a person PAP, he shouldn't be in business. I'd ask him why he's in business and tell him to shut down lol

Or,
a. you're not a regular customer and he didn't want to be bothered to do it.
b. he profiled you as a customer, decided you were probably not buying today so he gave an excuse.
c. honestly doesn't know how to do it, which I seriously doubt.

I can tell you if you randomly walked into my shop and weren't a regular or someone I was "working with", I would charge you to do it or tell you I would do it when you bought a ball.

Just doing it for you would rank right up there with measuring someone's hand and giving them the measurements so they can order and have a ball drilled from the internet.

Give you a bit more info on the conversation, he was on his way out to the lanes to bowl with someone else, but he did take a couple minutes to draw the grip and mid lines on the ball, and said he thought it had something to do with a line tangent to the ball track, and a plastic ball would be a better ball to use to help find it

On a flip note, after studying the technical side of the game and educating myself about PAP, tilt, and dual angle layouts, my game has improved significantly. Before I knew about the PAP I used to buy a ball and struggle trying to learn how to throw it because I was trying throw a ball according to how it was drilled even if it wasn't drilled to support my style of play. Now that I lay my own balls out I have them drilled to the way I throw the ball which means more comfort, more consistency and more confidence in my game. Trying to throw the ball drilled for someone else's style of play was holding me back.

Ahh, so it's better I leave his shop thinking he's an incompetent ball driller than giving me a "quick freebie"? 

anything that is free, but provided by someone incompetent is not worth it.  a free ball drilled wrong by an incompetent driller will eventually be thrown out or re-drilled by someone that knows better; and if the issue is FIT, could leave you with an injury.

In todays day and age, knowing how to find a bowlers PAP, and use it for laying out a ball should be a basic function for any pro-shop and PSO.  I wouldn't expect every bowler to know this stuff; but once you are taking money to provide a service, then you should know all the basics and intermediate level knowledge.

With him saying he doesn't know how to find PAP, then yes, I would find a new shop.  for me, that is unacceptable. 

You have to decide for yourself.

Yeah, I would have went into total salesman mode. Offer to find it for $10, or mention it would be included with your next ball purchase for free.