we kept it simple, baseball cap turn it backwards every one knows some things up
where i was its dark its a flash light its in your hand flash em hit em its a reaction move with a flashlight
day time it was considered a weapon
I own this light, which seems to be suited well for bouncing. It is quite strong, quite bright and has a nauseating strobe feature that I will probably use at some point.
Are you allowed to have a pvc baton or something similar in the cloakroom or somewhere in case of shit hitting the fan?
We have access to a wide spectrum of force.
Here the law even dictates the materials and length of the baton we are allowed to use and retractable metal batons are restricted only to security guards, police and the military police.
I carry the opinion that my fellow man is a dick and an asshole until proven otherwise. Thatâs kind of the same, isnât it?
What makes your P.O.S. guy dangerous is not his black belt in Kempo, but his willingness to be vicious from the get go. Just my humble, no bouncer experience opinion of course.
If you have any control over it, get all the door and floor staff wearing something that indicates they work there. A staff shirt serves a couple purposes. One you can tell where your coworkers are and you can see the " friendly jerseys" when you need help. Two if you have to go âhands onâ with a patron you will be able to tell the cops the bad guy knew you worked there.
A common statement to the cops by bad guys is âthis guy grabbed me so I defended myselfâ. If you are not wearing a staff shirt that is an alternative theory to your statement that he knew you worked there and decided to fight with you.
A statement to the police, when you find yourself explaining using force, could follow a pattern of " I used the minimum amount of force needed to protect the property, patrons, and myself".
Remember a bar is private property with public access. Nobody has âthe rightâ to be there. Except the owner, who has legal standing.
Be careful with using force. Two bouncers in the town I live in âchoked a guy outâ. The unfortunate side affect was they could not revive him and he died. No way to justify deadly force to evict a patron from the bar.
Get to know the local cops. You want them to give you the benefit of the doubt when you are involved in a fight.
A second flashlight less bright than the one you carry is good for checking IDs. Reading IDs can take some time. To get quick check the date, weight and photo. If somebody gets by with a fake ID it is difficult to prosecute you if a reasonable person would have thought ID was legit.
1 Like
As mentioned work on your verbal skills. Talking to drunks takes some skill and a lot of repetition. They are drunk so sometimes they do not get what you are telling them.
If some one is giving you attitude at the door it is best to turn them around there. Once inside it will only get worse.
Do not wear expensive pants or shoes they will get ruined.
If working in a bar turns out to be your thing try to move in to the bar tending role. The money is better. The girls flirt with the doormen but go home with the bartenders.
This looks like an overlooked business opportunity in America. Someone should jump on the idea of starting a bouncer certification course. Seems like a low overhead startup. If your a bouncer with a decent amount of experience, youâve got a buddy who is a cop and you work in a club that will allow you to use it as an off-hours training site, youâve got the nucleus of a low overhead business startup that taps an unfilled vacuum in the nightclub business. This is something that could grow into a multi-million dollar business.
probably only would work in this country if you are able to remove some or all Liability from the night club
the club owner i worked for would say âi hire little guys i get medical bills,hire big guys i get lawsuitsâ
Here the restaurants canât employ security directly. They have to be working for another company which then makes a contract with the restaurant to supply security. Then the responsibility for the actions of the bouncers lie with the company that employs them and the bouncers themselves, not the restaurant. Also if you start racking up battery charges, youâll lose your license pretty damn quickly. Just one is enough if itâs severe enough.
Bounced for a few years when I was younger. Seriously injuring someone leads to lawsuits and loss of patronage. A club that gets a rep for heavy handed bouncers will lose money and attract a lot of trouble. Groups of guys will come in to see whoâs tougher. You may be tough but how many fights do you want a night?
Iâll add a few more few things to whatâs already been said.
Donât walk around with your ass on your shoulders and try to intimidate everyone. A good bouncer stays mostly unnoticed. You donât want to stand out and make people nervous but let them see you and just know youâre around.
Always know where the other bouncers are so you can back each other up. If all you do is try to be a pick up artist and donât pay attention find another gig. Youâre no use to anyone.
Wear steel toed shoes. If you have to take a drunk down a quick painful non-crippling kick to the ankle or shin will usually stop them fast.
Women fighting are worse than men. Step in to break up men and the usually still try to go after each other. Step in with women and 99% of the time they will decide to team up and go after you. I always kept pitchers of ice water behind the bar for breaking up fights between women. Works great.
If a fight starts around the pool tables watch how they swing the cues. If theyâre holding on to the thin end they havenât been in many bar fights. Holding on to the thick end, if they break it, they still have a club plus the way a cue breaks they have a nasty spear. 3 or 4 piece cues can be nasty. Watched a guy unscrew the bottom piece on a cue and start hitting the other guy in the stomach. The piece had a heavy woodscrew about 2" long that held it together. The guy died laterâŠall over a $20 game.
Always know where your tools are set along the bar if you need to get to them.
was this in Massachusetts?
no. it was in Arkansas. has probably happened in a lot of places. easy access nasty weapon.
my brother was in a bar in mass. friend of his poked a guy with pool stick got prison time for it
seen some bad stuff go down in bars. watched a few people die and had some close calls myself.
All these replies are reinforcing my reasoning for staying the fuck out of bars period.
I would imagine it would be agood idea to bus tables when you have a minute. Not only is it a teamwork move for the business, but that way you would have a chance to interact with the patrons beyond the âim the asshole who asked for your id, and might tell you to leave if youâre too drunkâ role.
Well part of the job involves giving bad news to people, but I have been trying not to be an asshole about it and it is working out well so far. Most of the job is, as noted, being a friendly guy. Being large also seems to help.
To keep things in perspective, this is a 70 year-old local bar in small-town Maine with two connected rooms, capacity 50. Thereâs nowhere to really hide either, so I can see the whole place easily. Iâve been going there for years, the food is great. Fights are not common and nothing serious has ever gone down there, at least not recently.
And thanks to @silverblood and @hkd for the helpful replies! I am glad I started this thread it has given me plenty to think about.
Worked door for a while, ran it occasionally.
hkd had some really good stuff.
Iâve worked in rougher and friendlier places, but mostly in larger bars.
Be thankful youâre big. It makes life a lot easier. If youâre smaller (like me), you have to be the guy who has a reputation that youâre not someone to fuck with.
Lots of guys (especially above posters) will tell you new school is the only way to go, and others will strongly advocate old school. Donât listen to anyone who advocates one way too strongly. Iâve noticed that most new school lovers tend to choke when shit hits the fan. 95+% of your job may be peaceful, but itâs how you handle everything else that determines whether you are competent or not. Conversely, old school fanatics tend to be a liability for both themselves, others, and the bar. A mixed approach is best. Try to use talking/trickery first, but if that doesnât work, never EVER hesitate to do what has to be done.
Related to that, have firm boundaries in your mind. Donât be the asshole, but also donât be the guy who gets a reputation that patrons can walk all over him. Listen to what your patrons have to say and consider it, but never show weakness.
When you donât think you can talk someone out, trickery is a good option. For example, I might talk to the person, pretend to be friendly, and ask them to come for a smoke with me. When I get them out the door, I tell them that they canât come back in. Also, using their friends to get them out is really useful in avoiding unnecessary conflict.
Trust the other doormenâs judgement calls, even if you donât necessarily agree with it in the moment. Solidarity is vital. Remember that if shit does go down, you have to be able to trust that you have each othersâ backs.
Do frequent bathroom checks. Drugs are reeeeeally common.
Be good to regulars and give them a little (but not a lot) more leeway than other patrons. They are your barâs lifeblood. This goes double if theyâre patrons that throw around more money than most.
Stay out of bar drama if you can avoid it.
Always keep your safety in mind. Itâs a fun job for a little while, but itâs really not worth risking your neck/criminal record over in the long run, especially if you have better prospects.
Itâs an easy job to do, but a hard job to do well. IMO, 90% of bouncers are incompetent/unsuitable. Hope you find these basic tips useful. Thereâs a lot more to know to be a good doorman, but I think this is a good start. Might follow up later with some stories if anyone else has anything interesting to share.
1 Like
I did the bouncer thing for a year and a half. Not sure I have much to add that hasnât already been said. Also, I was in a downtown restaurant/bar with an indoor capacity of 400ish and a rooftop patio with a capacity of 500+, and we ostensibly catered to the corporate crowd. I also donât like fighting and did what I could to be posted where I wouldnât see any trouble during the night. Our head door guy called me too nice on a number of occasions. I dunno if I have any good stories, but Iâve got a few memories . . .
Met Derek Poundstone once. He was in town for some police/fire games thing or something. That man is imposing as all hell in person. He was real friendly too, up until our head door guy pissed him off right at the end of the night. He left peacefully but he was rather vocal in his anger. The head door guy didnât know he was one of the top 5 strongest men in the world.
Second biggest guy ever came in was a gangster; Hells Angels I think, but I never found out for certain. Hardest handshake Iâve ever had before or since. There was a group of 5 or 6 of them that came down periodically, almost always very polite and never caused trouble. The one time they started to get a little drunk and rowdy was on a Sunday night when we were otherwise dead. All of a sudden the gang suppression unit is fanning out onto the patio and the head bouncer and all of our managers have disappeared. They left peacefully; well the one guy (not the huge one) headbutted me in the chest on the way out. Not hard, and he yelled âGoldberg!â as he did it. I made a joke about not being tough enough to handle that shit, we shook hands, and he left.
There was an NHL player in one night, canât remember his name, but his guest list was huge. I remember seeing him at the end of the night telling some girls he was a professional bullrider. Cheeky fucker.
Had a girl come in drunk for dinner one night before the place clubbed up. Should have turned her away; somebody found her an hour later passed out in a bathroom stall in a puddle of piss and puke. Later that evening, we were trying something different, having a second DJ playing some different music in one of the side rooms. That DJ was found in a bathroom stall with one of her girlfriends, passed out and fucked up, theyâd ODâed on something. Had to call the ambulance both times. One of the DJâs friends was freaking out after they found her, he was in and out the front door trying to do something, I canât remember. Bumped into my partner at the door a few times. This particular guy was normally really good but for whatever reason this irked him badly and the two started having words. I could see it escalating and at the first opportunity I put a hand on his shoulder and told him to take a walk. He went twenty feet off to the side to cool down while I talked to the patron to cool him down. Sometimes trusting your team means letting somebody else step in so cooler heads can prevail.
Oddly enough, when the patio addition was built, they had to get a separate liquor license for it. This meant no open liquor could go between the inside and the patio (there was no license for that stairwell/hallway). It was fun watching people slam drinks when I told them they couldnât take it upstairs; amassed a full table of half empties as well.
Had a bottle service group in one night from out of town. They werenât happy with their service for whatever reason and stuck around long after last call. I got tasked with walking them out. The leader of the group was polite enough, I treated him with respect and I got it back, though I had to keep refusing his requests to let him break something because it would apparently make him feel better. He especially wanted to destroy one of our TVs. When one of his cronies started piping up to snap at me though, he shut them up and kept them in line. Made it to the door without incident, we shook hands, he thanked me for being professional, I thanked him for not breaking anything, and we all went home in one piece.
The place was located on the second and third floor of a downtown mall, with a staircase inside connecting the two and taking you up to the patio. Everybody coming in had to take the mall escalators up to cover charge though. One night we had a guy go over the side of the escalator between the 2nd and 3rd floor. I was up on the 3rd floor in the hallway and didnât see him go over but I heard him hit the ground. They pulled the plug on him a week or two later. He was an industry guy who had come in to get fucked up on his night off and most of our managers knew him. Bit of a somber mood for a while, and we had to be real cunts about people not playing on the escalators from then on out.
I dunno if anybody will find any of that very interesting. Mostly I spent a lot of time being bored. I quit drinking shortly after I started working there, and I have less game than a homeless person (I think that job got me laid once in a year and a half). Contrary to what has been suggested above, I wore black dress pants and a black shirt every night, but I was rarely, if ever, fighting so it wasnât a big deal. I was almost as much a host as I was a bouncer. Probably just as well because despite my wrestling background Iâm just not that aggressive. Probably could be taller too (5â11, ~240 at the time though). Height counts for a fair bit I think, so long as youâre not lanky as all get out.
Fuck, I think thatâs enough rambling for one night.