Bouncing - Looking for Info

Off Topic
41

[quote]silverblood wrote:
get a nice looking dress pair of steel toed shoes. when the problems start talking shit or fighting a quick kick to the shin or ankle will stop most people fast and you won’t really hurt them and you won’t scare off customers. a bad rep can ruin a bar fast.
never get between women fighting. they’ll pull a knife faster than a man and unlike most men they’ll stop trying to get to each other and team up on you. I always kept several pitchers of ice water behind the bar. it’s amazing how fast a fight stops when you dump it on someone.
[/quote]

haha, I used to do the ice water thing too. I can’t tell you how many fights stopped because I’d toss a glass of ice water on the guys. It’s a brilliant tactic.

42

[quote]silverblood wrote:
I always kept several pitchers of ice water behind the bar. it’s amazing how fast a fight stops when you dump it on someone.
[/quote]

Genius. Telling all my bouncers.

43

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
If you are thinking about working in a bar, why on Earth would you voluntarily bounce when you can probably bartend? Or is working up your goal?

Seriously.

I’m as much a meathead as 90% of the people here, but bouncing? Why? That was a work-up position for bartender in about 90% of the places I worked.

Bartending is a lot more money, and you always get the chicks.[/quote]

You have to work up to that shit, especially in college towns. Everyone who works there wants to bartend and they hire from within first (unless you have experience, then you can go straight to bartending). If you’re lucky you can start out barbacking and you’re only 1 step away from tending.

44

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
If you are thinking about working in a bar, why on Earth would you voluntarily bounce when you can probably bartend? Or is working up your goal?

Seriously.

I’m as much a meathead as 90% of the people here, but bouncing? Why? That was a work-up position for bartender in about 90% of the places I worked.

Bartending is a lot more money, and you always get the chicks.[/quote]

You have to work up to that shit, especially in college towns. Everyone who works there wants to bartend and they hire from within first (unless you have experience, then you can go straight to bartending). If you’re lucky you can start out barbacking and you’re only 1 step away from tending.[/quote]

Disagree with this. First of all bartenders are there to promote. If someone is already working in the bar hypothetically their friends are already coming in. Bars are more inclined to bring in fresh bartenders because they’ll bring fresh entourages.

Also depending on the system sometimes barbacking ensures you’ll never bartend in that bar. You become too knowledge of the inner working of the bar. So the manager doesn’t want to lose you as a barback, and he also may not want to trust you with the money. So you may have to move onto another place.

Depends on the bar though, some places it is a stepping stone. However, at my bar I would consider bartending a step down from barbacking.

45

[quote]MementoMori wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
If you are thinking about working in a bar, why on Earth would you voluntarily bounce when you can probably bartend? Or is working up your goal?

Seriously.

I’m as much a meathead as 90% of the people here, but bouncing? Why? That was a work-up position for bartender in about 90% of the places I worked.

Bartending is a lot more money, and you always get the chicks.[/quote]

You have to work up to that shit, especially in college towns. Everyone who works there wants to bartend and they hire from within first (unless you have experience, then you can go straight to bartending). If you’re lucky you can start out barbacking and you’re only 1 step away from tending.[/quote]

Disagree with this. First of all bartenders are there to promote. If someone is already working in the bar hypothetically their friends are already coming in. Bars are more inclined to bring in fresh bartenders because they’ll bring fresh entourages.

Also depending on the system sometimes barbacking ensures you’ll never bartend in that bar. You become too knowledge of the inner working of the bar. So the manager doesn’t want to lose you as a barback, and he also may not want to trust you with the money. So you may have to move onto another place.

Depends on the bar though, some places it is a stepping stone. However, at my bar I would consider bartending a step down from barbacking.[/quote]

Bartending is pretty damn hard to get into once you’ve worked at that spot for a while, you get pigeon holed like crazy like MM said. I worked at this bar for 3 years and expressed my interest in bartending, the owner was for it but the head bartender kept saying stupid shit how I wouldn’t fit behind the bar, they would keep running into me etc etc. I know that was because I had developed a friendly relationship with so many regulars over the years I would be taking some of her business and she made up that crap.

But yah, bartending makes the most money but you can’t really walk in and say you want to bartend, you have to have experience and getting that experience, especially in a college town, is pretty difficult bc all bars want to hire experienced bartenders.

46

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:

[quote]MementoMori wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
If you are thinking about working in a bar, why on Earth would you voluntarily bounce when you can probably bartend? Or is working up your goal?

Seriously.

I’m as much a meathead as 90% of the people here, but bouncing? Why? That was a work-up position for bartender in about 90% of the places I worked.

Bartending is a lot more money, and you always get the chicks.[/quote]

You have to work up to that shit, especially in college towns. Everyone who works there wants to bartend and they hire from within first (unless you have experience, then you can go straight to bartending). If you’re lucky you can start out barbacking and you’re only 1 step away from tending.[/quote]

Disagree with this. First of all bartenders are there to promote. If someone is already working in the bar hypothetically their friends are already coming in. Bars are more inclined to bring in fresh bartenders because they’ll bring fresh entourages.

Also depending on the system sometimes barbacking ensures you’ll never bartend in that bar. You become too knowledge of the inner working of the bar. So the manager doesn’t want to lose you as a barback, and he also may not want to trust you with the money. So you may have to move onto another place.

Depends on the bar though, some places it is a stepping stone. However, at my bar I would consider bartending a step down from barbacking.[/quote]

Bartending is pretty damn hard to get into once you’ve worked at that spot for a while, you get pigeon holed like crazy like MM said. I worked at this bar for 3 years and expressed my interest in bartending, the owner was for it but the head bartender kept saying stupid shit how I wouldn’t fit behind the bar, they would keep running into me etc etc. I know that was because I had developed a friendly relationship with so many regulars over the years I would be taking some of her business and she made up that crap.

But yah, bartending makes the most money but you can’t really walk in and say you want to bartend, you have to have experience and getting that experience, especially in a college town, is pretty difficult bc all bars want to hire experienced bartenders.[/quote]

Actually yeah it’s been a few years and I forgot some things. I do remember now that the better you are at bouncing, the more they want to leave you there because good help is hard to find.

Like way said though, it’s still hard to get a bartending job right off the street. You need experience to get hired as a bartender, and you need to bartend to get experience… it’s tough to break the bartending ranks in a college town because it’s such good money that the people who do it tend to stick around for more than a couple years. It’s an addicting lifestyle.

Most of the bartenders at the two bars I worked at were done with school.

IMO you are more likely to move from barbacking to bartending than from bouncing to bartending… at least that’s how it was when I worked at PSU. You have more knowledge of the bar etc.

edited

47

Bartending is very hard to get into in most towns. I did it in college and it was CRAZY trying to get in the door get established somewhere. As a hot chick no less.

48

If you guys were young (19, turning 20 in late February), inexperienced and small (5’9"), how would you convince the owner/whoever that you would make a good bouncer?

I communicate well, I get along well with people and I can fight. Would it be a good thing that I know almost every athlete on campus? Or would that just make them think I would do them favors?

49

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
If you guys were young (19, turning 20 in late February), inexperienced and small (5’9"), how would you convince the owner/whoever that you would make a good bouncer?

I communicate well, I get along well with people and I can fight. Would it be a good thing that I know almost every athlete on campus? Or would that just make them think I would do them favors? [/quote]

You might know how to fight, but at 5’9’’ and 165 pounds, you won’t be able to forcibly remove a 300 pound drunk ass out of a bar that doesn’t want to leave. Fighting is a last resort, unless you enjoy getting sued. If you are a scrappy little dude who likes to fight, get into MMA. It pays alot more than bouncing does.

50

[quote]SquatDeepHomie wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
If you guys were young (19, turning 20 in late February), inexperienced and small (5’9"), how would you convince the owner/whoever that you would make a good bouncer?

I communicate well, I get along well with people and I can fight. Would it be a good thing that I know almost every athlete on campus? Or would that just make them think I would do them favors? [/quote]

You might know how to fight, but at 5’9’’ and 165 pounds, you won’t be able to forcibly remove a 300 pound drunk ass out of a bar that doesn’t want to leave. Fighting is a last resort, unless you enjoy getting sued. If you are a scrappy little dude who likes to fight, get into MMA. It pays alot more than bouncing does.[/quote]

Ha 165 was a long time ago but I’m still not too large either. I just think it would be a good college job that I would be great at. No advice at all aside from sticking to something else?

51

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:

[quote]SquatDeepHomie wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
If you guys were young (19, turning 20 in late February), inexperienced and small (5’9"), how would you convince the owner/whoever that you would make a good bouncer?

I communicate well, I get along well with people and I can fight. Would it be a good thing that I know almost every athlete on campus? Or would that just make them think I would do them favors? [/quote]

You might know how to fight, but at 5’9’’ and 165 pounds, you won’t be able to forcibly remove a 300 pound drunk ass out of a bar that doesn’t want to leave. Fighting is a last resort, unless you enjoy getting sued. If you are a scrappy little dude who likes to fight, get into MMA. It pays alot more than bouncing does.[/quote]

Ha 165 was a long time ago but I’m still not too large either. I just think it would be a good college job that I would be great at. No advice at all aside from sticking to something else?[/quote]

You’d make a better barback if you aren’t big. Barbacks make more cash too, at least where I worked.

52

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:

[quote]SquatDeepHomie wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
If you guys were young (19, turning 20 in late February), inexperienced and small (5’9"), how would you convince the owner/whoever that you would make a good bouncer?

I communicate well, I get along well with people and I can fight. Would it be a good thing that I know almost every athlete on campus? Or would that just make them think I would do them favors? [/quote]

You might know how to fight, but at 5’9’’ and 165 pounds, you won’t be able to forcibly remove a 300 pound drunk ass out of a bar that doesn’t want to leave. Fighting is a last resort, unless you enjoy getting sued. If you are a scrappy little dude who likes to fight, get into MMA. It pays alot more than bouncing does.[/quote]

Ha 165 was a long time ago but I’m still not too large either. I just think it would be a good college job that I would be great at. No advice at all aside from sticking to something else?[/quote]

You’d make a better barback if you aren’t big. Barbacks make more cash too, at least where I worked.[/quote]

waiting tables.
SRSLY.
You can walk with your hundo a night and be happy.

53

Lol feels bad. Everyone’s shitting on my college dream because I’m 5’9". I’ll show you all! =)

54

Honestly man it really is more about diffusing the situation verbally than fighting most of the time. Being big and bouncing is a double edged sword. On one hand people will listen to you because you’re bigger than them and they don’t want to have to fight you but on the other hand they want to see if they can knock down the top dog and make a name for themselves in front of their friends and the bar crowd.

The turnover rate at these places is fucking ridiculous, especially college bars. They are almost always looking for fresh blood. In 3 years I’ve seen probably 40 guys come and go, I don’t even learn names anymore unless they’ve been there for a few months.

55

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
Lol feels bad. Everyone’s shitting on my college dream because I’m 5’9". I’ll show you all! =)[/quote]

I bounced in college. Great job while you’re in undergrad. Your shifts are outside of class hours, you meet lots of impressionable young women who value knowing you for various reasons, and you make decent (to excellent) money for a short night’s work. As far as your stature, if you know how to fight, box, do jiu jitsu, or can handle tense situations in a calm manner, you will be fine being a bouncer. You may not be able to drag a shitfaced offensive lineman out the back door by yourself, but that’s why you have other guys working with you and looking out for you. One of the best reasons to bounce or work in a bar while in college is the fact that instead of going out on the weekends and spending money at the bar, you work at the bar and are making money instead. And sometimes they will even let you drink on shift!

I say go for it, as long as the bar you’re applying for is in a college town with kids as the clientele. Fights will be infrequent, and mostly will be dudes shouting at each other in order to posture up. You will get fed up with the idiocy you see on a regular basis. You will have to clean up vomit, shit, blood, drugs, and will endure hazing from your coworkers. As long as you don’t get sucked into alcoholism and partying you will do fine. Big city bar with serious crimes in close vicinity? Don’t work there.

56

QFT, which is why everyone is called by their nicknames. Some of the ones I remember were Bones, Big Sexy, Gump, Mr. Incredible, Bertros Ghali, Thunder, Spicoli, and 4-5(dude claimed he could run a 4.5 40 yard dash, he was also a fat drunk, so…improbable)

Edit: also, Pony Boy, Opie, and Mean Dog(he was an asshole)

57

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Honestly man it really is more about diffusing the situation verbally than fighting most of the time. Being big and bouncing is a double edged sword. On one hand people will listen to you because you’re bigger than them and they don’t want to have to fight you but on the other hand they want to see if they can knock down the top dog and make a name for themselves in front of their friends and the bar crowd.

The turnover rate at these places is fucking ridiculous, especially college bars. They are almost always looking for fresh blood. In 3 years I’ve seen probably 40 guys come and go, I don’t even learn names anymore unless they’ve been there for a few months.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s why the first things I wrote were that I communicate well and get along with people. I’m an intelligent guy, I know that being able to talk people down when they’re drunk and looking for trouble is better than just being able to fight. I have plenty of confidence in what I can do. If I were to get a job, I would be in Norman, Oklahoma, OU’s college town. I wouldn’t be dealing with anything too bad, I’m not tempted to drink on the job and I know a whole lot of people so I don’t think I’d have trouble keeping the peace and having them listen to me.

I’m underage though (19) and short for a bouncer. Is that going to keep people from hiring me? What can I do to make them want to hire me despite those negatives?

58

[quote]Most Major wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
Lol feels bad. Everyone’s shitting on my college dream because I’m 5’9". I’ll show you all! =)[/quote]

I bounced in college. Great job while you’re in undergrad. Your shifts are outside of class hours, you meet lots of impressionable young women who value knowing you for various reasons, and you make decent (to excellent) money for a short night’s work. As far as your stature, if you know how to fight, box, do jiu jitsu, or can handle tense situations in a calm manner, you will be fine being a bouncer. You may not be able to drag a shitfaced offensive lineman out the back door by yourself, but that’s why you have other guys working with you and looking out for you. One of the best reasons to bounce or work in a bar while in college is the fact that instead of going out on the weekends and spending money at the bar, you work at the bar and are making money instead. And sometimes they will even let you drink on shift!

I say go for it, as long as the bar you’re applying for is in a college town with kids as the clientele. Fights will be infrequent, and mostly will be dudes shouting at each other in order to posture up. You will get fed up with the idiocy you see on a regular basis. You will have to clean up vomit, shit, blood, drugs, and will endure hazing from your coworkers. As long as you don’t get sucked into alcoholism and partying you will do fine. Big city bar with serious crimes in close vicinity? Don’t work there.[/quote]

Yes! Those are exactly the reasons why I think it would be a great job for me. Convenience, I save money, I still get to be social, networking, all of that. I’m a levelheaded guy and I feel like I could do well at it. Thanks for your response!

59

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:

[quote]Most Major wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
Lol feels bad. Everyone’s shitting on my college dream because I’m 5’9". I’ll show you all! =)[/quote]

I bounced in college. Great job while you’re in undergrad. Your shifts are outside of class hours, you meet lots of impressionable young women who value knowing you for various reasons, and you make decent (to excellent) money for a short night’s work. As far as your stature, if you know how to fight, box, do jiu jitsu, or can handle tense situations in a calm manner, you will be fine being a bouncer. You may not be able to drag a shitfaced offensive lineman out the back door by yourself, but that’s why you have other guys working with you and looking out for you. One of the best reasons to bounce or work in a bar while in college is the fact that instead of going out on the weekends and spending money at the bar, you work at the bar and are making money instead. And sometimes they will even let you drink on shift!

I say go for it, as long as the bar you’re applying for is in a college town with kids as the clientele. Fights will be infrequent, and mostly will be dudes shouting at each other in order to posture up. You will get fed up with the idiocy you see on a regular basis. You will have to clean up vomit, shit, blood, drugs, and will endure hazing from your coworkers. As long as you don’t get sucked into alcoholism and partying you will do fine. Big city bar with serious crimes in close vicinity? Don’t work there.[/quote]

Yes! Those are exactly the reasons why I think it would be a great job for me. Convenience, I save money, I still get to be social, networking, all of that. I’m a levelheaded guy and I feel like I could do well at it. Thanks for your response![/quote]

You’re welcome. Some bar owner may be reluctant to hire you because you’re smaller, but if you demonstrate control over potentially hazardous situations (when the time comes, don’t go looking for trouble) you will be fine. Also, learn how to choke someone out quickly from behind. Be friendly with the local police. Another huge advantage: get the business card of some big shot in the OU athletic department and/or football coaching staff and keep it in the bar at all times. If some athletes come through the door looking for trouble, pull out the card and shove it in their face. The thought of losing a scholarship for a drunken fight should bring them around. One more thing, watch out for rugby teams. They like to drink and fight.

60

[quote]Most Major wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:

[quote]Most Major wrote:

[quote]165StateChamp wrote:
Lol feels bad. Everyone’s shitting on my college dream because I’m 5’9". I’ll show you all! =)[/quote]

I bounced in college. Great job while you’re in undergrad. Your shifts are outside of class hours, you meet lots of impressionable young women who value knowing you for various reasons, and you make decent (to excellent) money for a short night’s work. As far as your stature, if you know how to fight, box, do jiu jitsu, or can handle tense situations in a calm manner, you will be fine being a bouncer. You may not be able to drag a shitfaced offensive lineman out the back door by yourself, but that’s why you have other guys working with you and looking out for you. One of the best reasons to bounce or work in a bar while in college is the fact that instead of going out on the weekends and spending money at the bar, you work at the bar and are making money instead. And sometimes they will even let you drink on shift!

I say go for it, as long as the bar you’re applying for is in a college town with kids as the clientele. Fights will be infrequent, and mostly will be dudes shouting at each other in order to posture up. You will get fed up with the idiocy you see on a regular basis. You will have to clean up vomit, shit, blood, drugs, and will endure hazing from your coworkers. As long as you don’t get sucked into alcoholism and partying you will do fine. Big city bar with serious crimes in close vicinity? Don’t work there.[/quote]

Yes! Those are exactly the reasons why I think it would be a great job for me. Convenience, I save money, I still get to be social, networking, all of that. I’m a levelheaded guy and I feel like I could do well at it. Thanks for your response![/quote]

You’re welcome. Some bar owner may be reluctant to hire you because you’re smaller, but if you demonstrate control over potentially hazardous situations (when the time comes, don’t go looking for trouble) you will be fine. Also, learn how to choke someone out quickly from behind. Be friendly with the local police. Another huge advantage: get the business card of some big shot in the OU athletic department and/or football coaching staff and keep it in the bar at all times. If some athletes come through the door looking for trouble, pull out the card and shove it in their face. The thought of losing a scholarship for a drunken fight should bring them around. One more thing, watch out for rugby teams. They like to drink and fight.[/quote]

Haha I feel like your ideal midget bouncer! E-thug time: I have choked out a 6’8" D1 basketball player in a street fight. I go to church with OU’s 2nd in command football S&C coach, but I also know a lot of the players personally so I don’t expect them to cause me issues because they all party together so at least one of them should know me. Rugby teams…I got nothing. lol