Anyone every Bounce?

[bighital]

Back in 1995 I had a bouncing job just on the weekends, a friend of mine that work with me at a company in Upstate NY, knew I was a boxer so came up to me and ask if I could help him out.At that time I was 25 in good shape, but I lasted 6 weeks, I seen to much shit happen and guy's getting hurt, it was not worth the $100 a night..

[skinnyhb]

I bounce/manage a nightclub pretty much full time. A lot of bullshit, and I got really calloused to customers and society for a while because as a bouncer you get very little respect. And the respect that you think you have is generally only there because people want stuff from you. I'd really like to get out of the business, but the job market is pretty shitty and I can't really find anything else.

[Viking_makt]

I saw that some discouraged you from Bouncing because "it's a hassle", but the truth be told, there are "hassles" in any/every vocation, career or job. I've bounced in bars and nightclubs, and I am not a large man either. I come in at a whopping 170 cms and 90 kgs, or 5'7" and 198 pounds. I am athletic and have been "gifted" with absolutely freakish strength since I was a child. I also knew technique would go a long way as well, so I had since the age of 19, gotten into karate, taekwondo, kickboxing, aikido, and jujitsu.

Bouncing is like any other job, you require certain tools to get the job done, and it is always far better to have to many tools than not enough. I've thrown out all shapes and sizes of patrons that got out of hand. The largest I have thrown out was 6'8" and 280 pounds, and the smallest was perhaps 5'4" and 170 pounds.

Not all bars and clubs are the same, some have a lot of money to put to their security while others cut cost and corners everywhere they can. I have been working at bars where I worked alone. I have worked bars where I worked with one and sometimes two other guys. I have also worked nightclubs where we communicate with radios and flashlights and I had 15 other Bouncers backing me up, too. I started the hard way, by myself in a bar, but I did well. I think if you can do well in the most difficult areas, the rest will be a breeze.

If you can size a person up, that helps; if you have a strong understanding of the human psyche, or human nature, that helps. I have worked for bars that want us to try to talk with the transgressors and a lot of times it works, but a lot of times it does not work either. I have worked for bars that wanted us to make an example out of anyone who screwed around to show others what would happen. One such bar, the Br******d had a reputation for just that. I remember throwing out an East Indian male who punched the towel dispenser in the washroom, and as I threw him out the front doors, I heard a guy outside talking to another person, saying "You don't f*ck with those guys, man, you just don't!".

I prefer to give everyone an honest chance, people to f*ck up, especially on their birthdays. Life is shorter than a midget well-digger's rear end, so if this job for whatever reason is a fantasy of yours, then you have nothing to lose by pursuing it. I would suggest that you start out in a larger club where you get the support of other Bouncers and learn from their experiences as well.

While you are learning, try to sign up for practical self-defense or martial arts classes. I once had the "privilege" of fighting an Elite British Special Forces SAS soldier and I'll be willing to bet that even my co-workers did not understand some of the nuances of the positioning and defense, counter-attack positions I was vying for during that fight. The SAS guy (Cameron) during the fight, when I used my deltoid to pin into his carotid artery while manipulating his arm would say in his British accent "You fight very well!" and I figured that was merely a ploy to attempt to throw me off psychologically. I said "Thank you very much" and kept at it until the end.

One write here mentioned that now in most cases you have a lot of back up, and that is true, but I always like to be as prepared as possible. One Bouncer I work with at the club, also a smaller guy at 5'8" and 200 pounds is one guy I respect enormously. I would rather walk into a fight against 10 guys with one Josh than to walk into a fight against 10 guys with 10 of my Supervisor, Steve(s). Josh is very strong and also has great technique, and I have seen him put a violent guy to sleep in 4 seconds, and we carried his dead weight up the stairs and out the side doors to the street.

If you have a passion for this type of thing, then I say go for it. If you find it to be a hassle, I suggest you don't. Your passion is your fuel and motivation. The thing about Bouncing, you will also find hot women who will for no good reason want to kiss on you, hug on you, love on you, they're very much like what groupies are to rock stars, but for whatever reason, they want Bouncers. Depending on the club, you can also create angles to make yourself some "free enterprise" cash, which is what I like about that job.

If nothing else, you will come out with a book worth of stories to write or tell about.

[got test?]

I saw that some discouraged you from Bouncing because "it's a hassle", but the truth be told, there are "hassles" in any/every vocation, career or job. I've bounced in bars and nightclubs, and I am not a large man either. I come in at a whopping 170 cms and 90 kgs, or 5'7" and 198 pounds. I am athletic and have been "gifted" with absolutely freakish strength since I was a child. I also knew technique would go a long way as well, so I had since the age of 19, gotten into karate, taekwondo, kickboxing, aikido, and jujitsu.

Bouncing is like any other job, you require certain tools to get the job done, and it is always far better to have to many tools than not enough. I've thrown out all shapes and sizes of patrons that got out of hand. The largest I have thrown out was 6'8" and 280 pounds, and the smallest was perhaps 5'4" and 170 pounds.

Not all bars and clubs are the same, some have a lot of money to put to their security while others cut cost and corners everywhere they can. I have been working at bars where I worked alone. I have worked bars where I worked with one and sometimes two other guys. I have also worked nightclubs where we communicate with radios and flashlights and I had 15 other Bouncers backing me up, too. I started the hard way, by myself in a bar, but I did well. I think if you can do well in the most difficult areas, the rest will be a breeze.

If you can size a person up, that helps; if you have a strong understanding of the human psyche, or human nature, that helps. I have worked for bars that want us to try to talk with the transgressors and a lot of times it works, but a lot of times it does not work either. I have worked for bars that wanted us to make an example out of anyone who screwed around to show others what would happen. One such bar, the Br******d had a reputation for just that. I remember throwing out an East Indian male who punched the towel dispenser in the washroom, and as I threw him out the front doors, I heard a guy outside talking to another person, saying "You don't f*ck with those guys, man, you just don't!".

I prefer to give everyone an honest chance, people to f*ck up, especially on their birthdays. Life is shorter than a midget well-digger's rear end, so if this job for whatever reason is a fantasy of yours, then you have nothing to lose by pursuing it. I would suggest that you start out in a larger club where you get the support of other Bouncers and learn from their experiences as well.

While you are learning, try to sign up for practical self-defense or martial arts classes. I once had the "privilege" of fighting an Elite British Special Forces SAS soldier and I'll be willing to bet that even my co-workers did not understand some of the nuances of the positioning and defense, counter-attack positions I was vying for during that fight. The SAS guy (Cameron) during the fight, when I used my deltoid to pin into his carotid artery while manipulating his arm would say in his British accent "You fight very well!" and I figured that was merely a ploy to attempt to throw me off psychologically. I said "Thank you very much" and kept at it until the end.

One write here mentioned that now in most cases you have a lot of back up, and that is true, but I always like to be as prepared as possible. One Bouncer I work with at the club, also a smaller guy at 5'8" and 200 pounds is one guy I respect enormously. I would rather walk into a fight against 10 guys with one Josh than to walk into a fight against 10 guys with 10 of my Supervisor, Steve(s). Josh is very strong and also has great technique, and I have seen him put a violent guy to sleep in 4 seconds, and we carried his dead weight up the stairs and out the side doors to the street.

If you have a passion for this type of thing, then I say go for it. If you find it to be a hassle, I suggest you don't. Your passion is your fuel and motivation. The thing about Bouncing, you will also find hot women who will for no good reason want to kiss on you, hug on you, love on you, they're very much like what groupies are to rock stars, but for whatever reason, they want Bouncers. Depending on the club, you can also create angles to make yourself some "free enterprise" cash, which is what I like about that job.

If nothing else, you will come out with a book worth of stories to write or tell about.

Well said. I bounced at a few places for a couple years here in central florida. Central FL is rough and one of the places "my first place" which I was at for a year had a hip hop night.. You could be assured that there would be AT LEAST 3 fights break out a night. Especially when the fight songs played. It was FUN, I'm a pretty physical guy. LOVED it, LOVED the girls too. What I don't love, is the fact that most people carry weapons around here. I was always very aware of my surroundings.
That particular club had to change policy because we were known to have a LOT of fights so they blamed us for being too physical when in fact, we just try breaking them up. Anyway, long story short, we had to actually radio in for PD before we were able to actually put our hands on someone. Needless to say, I left that place shortly after. It all boils down to lawsuits though in the end. Club owners get probably dozens of lawsuits per week, whether it be under-aged drinking, fights, whatever. I guess the FIGHTS are where that particular place wanted to focus on.

If you wanna do it. go for it, it's fun. Just be careful because no matter how good of a talker you are (which i am), there's usually no reasoning with a drunken idiot!!