Bouncers, let's hear your horror stories!

[fit4life]

We've heard from waiters, waitresses and bartenders, now let's hear from the bouncers and security folks!

I used to work as a bouncer in a pool hall.

The law in Illinois states that if you're in an establishment that serves alcohol, you have to have a valid picture ID with your birthdate on that ID. So I carded EVERYONE, no matter how obviously old they were.

I had a guy come in and all he had was his work ID. Go figure, it was with the BATF. I explained to him that his ID didn't have his birthdate on it and he couldn't come in. He started getting mad, and stated it was obvious he was over 21, and that you had to be 21 to be employed by the ATF. I told him I could tell he was over 21 and that wasn't the problem. The ID he presented was not allowable as proper ID to be in a drinking establishment. We went around and around over the issue and I finally got tired of it and told him he could either come up with a proper ID in about 10 seconds or he had to leave. He said I couldn't throw him out and started to try to walk by me. I proceeded to demonstrate to him that I COULD throw him out, and pretty roughly at that. :)

He came right back in and tried it again, but by now a couple of off-duty state troopers had come over and backed me up. He decided not to take on three of us, and left, all the while yelling about how he was going to get our liquor license pulled and I was going to jail for battery on a federal agent, blah blah blah. I never saw or heard from him again.

[meegbear]

1. Had a street person trying to come in ...

he showed up dirty and not wearing a shirt so I told him he couldn't come in. He wanted to know why, so I said, because you don't have a shirt. He gives me this huffy look and leaves.

About 5 minutes later, he comes back with a zippered sweatshirt. I looked at him and said you're not coming in. "Why?" "Because I said so". As I'm saying that, I look down and see he's not wearing shoes. I start yelling "You don't even have any shoes. Get outta here."

He looks at me and says "You like picking on little guys, don't you?" "Get out." As he leaves, he says, "I'm gonna get some shoes and I'm coming in!" He never came back.

The bar is a gay bar, so I have to make sure that people know where they are, as well as keep people like above out. Dance music's blaring, so people will walk in. I check their IDs and say "Do you know what type of bar this is?" I tell 'em and they say thanks, and leave. One guy kept insisting on getting in. I'm asking him the question, he's saying "I'm cool. Wanna search me for weapons? I'm cool." I tell him it's a gay bar. He just looks around for a couple seconds, then says "fucking faggots" and leaves.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. I have one:

I was bouncing in a busy bar one night and a barely-21-year-old in a tie-dyed Tshirt walks up to me and tells me he is having problems with another patron. I inquired as to the nature of the problem and he says that the guy put a semi-suto large frame pistol(turned out to be either a Beretta or Star 9) into his stomach 4 times. I asked him to point out this guy and he pointed out a very drunk, small individual in a fringed black leather jacket.

I asked him if he wanted the cops. He said yes.

We had only State Police coverage at that hour, so response time was slow. I was on pins and needles during the wait. The guy got wind of the stateys coming and walked out to his pick-'em-up truck and took off his shoulder holster, wrapped it around the weapon and put it behind the passenger seat.

The stateys came. They sent this fat sergeant who was just riding out to retirement. The fat guy spent talked a bit with the principals and them started harassing the victim.

Turns out the malefactor was a highly-family-connected East Orange police officer. They take care of their own: nothing happened to him. Nothing. They even let him keep his gun and drive away.

Then there was the time that I broke up the 5 on 1 fight in the parking lot and got broken ribs from the kick...:eyes:

[Bunny]

3. I was a bartender in a local bar during my college years.

Occasionally, I was required to sit at the door and card people as they came in. In no way was I a bouncer, though. Nowhere near big enough! :)

Anyway, one night a guy and his buds tried to get in. They had no ID, so I told them they couldn't come in. They were incredulous, but I held my ground. Until my boss came running over, saying "it's OK, Bunny! They can come in!". So, in they came, where they were warmly greeted by my boss. I had no idea who they were.

Turns out that the big guy was a local college football player named Jim Haslett. He went on to be a defensive end for the Buffalo Bills for a few seasons, and a coach on several NFL teams, including being the Head Coach of the New Orleans Saints.

But what did I know about football? :shrug:

[fit4life]

4. That sucks doesn't it?

I tangled with the owner a few times over him letting friends in without proper ID. I wouldn't care if it was just him or the bar getting fined, but I get fined too. I always told him that he was paying my fines if he wanted to do that shit.

[BigMcLargehuge]

5. I have a million of them...

well maybe not a million, but plenty of good ones.

I worked the door at an all ages club named "The Kerfew" in NEw Bedford, MA. The owners were drunks, and I mean asleep at the soundboard, passed out in vomit every night drunks. We made deals with bands that they would get a cut of the door, and very rarely, if the band had a good following, a cash payment atop that, usually something like $50 or something. With the owners being shit-faced at the end of the night, every night, there was lots of bands that tried to talk their way into getting a cash payout or outright robbing the owners.

One particular night I was there as a patron, I was asked to do a spoken word performance before a popular local band. I am sitting at the end of the bar reading through my set. A scuffle breaks out behind me as two members of a death metal band are dragging one of the owners out the front door.

He's BOMBED and can't even keep his balance as these two guys are yanking on him. they are all screaming about money. I drop all my gear and head outside after them, shove to the two guys off the owner and tell them to fuck off.

One takes a swing and clips my jaw, I meanwhile, whirl around and land a nice fist right into his friends face, nose and just under the eye. He goes down. The first guy grabs me but I'm able to spin out of his grip, elbow his ribs and back, then throw him against the wall, face first, of the bakery beside our club. The second guy recovers and, gets his arm around my neck, and shows me a box knife. I grab the hand with the knife and squeeze it until I hear the bones breaking. He pulls me down, I drag him over me and wriggle out just as the cops pull them both off the top of the pig pile.

I got a fat lip, the first guy had three broken ribs and a separated shoulder, the second guy had a broken hand, nose, and eye socket.

Good times...

[fit4life]

6. Ah, good times!

One of my first nights working by myself I had a couple of punks squaring off against each other over a pool game. I got in between them and told them to knock it off. One kid pushed me so I wristlocked him and took him down to the floor. I looked up just in time to see his buddy coming at me. From my position on my knees I nailed him high in the gut with a side kick and dropped him in his tracks. Once again the off-duty state troopers (did I mention this place was about 1/2 mile from the state police academy barracks?) jumped in. I took care of the one I had on the floor and they took care of the one I kicked. They both came back the next night and apologized. They were actually good friends that just got a little drunk and a little heated. All was well.

About a week later, the little asshole tried to make the bar pay the bill for his doctor visit (the kick left him with trouble eating for a few days). The owner told him to go to hell and sue if he wanted, but I guess he didn't.

I'm really starting to miss those days!

[micrometer_50]

7. Never been a bouncer, but

a friend of was for a while. He says one thing to remember -

clip-on tie.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. No we haven't really heard it from waitresses

if you want to find out the real story, "Nickel and Dimed" paints a true picture of how hard the work is.

[Skittles]

9. lol

I'll never forget the time I waited at the bar for a friend and this leery drunk started pestering me. The bartender silently nodded to the bouncer, a HUGE GUY named "Tiny", who came over and just stared at the guy. He promptly left! :thumbsup:

Another time a guy was hassling women coming out of the ladies room and Tiny dragged him away in a neck lock. I love bouncers! :D

[Bunny]

10. If you're a huge guy, is it mandatory that you be called Tiny?

We had one of those too! A very nice guy, he was.

[fit4life]

11. Not always.

I had a coworker who was around 6'9", and weighed well over 400 pounds. His name was Ben, but those of us who saw him in action preferred to call him "Sir", or whatever else it took to stay on his good side. lol