Bouncer Chronicles - 5- Listen to the jungle sounds

Listen to the jungle sounds.

It was three months since we opened Michael's Place.  We had gotten the kinks out and the nightclub was really cooking.  We were off to a great start.  Anyone who did not arrive before 9 pm usually had to wait in line to get in, we were that kind of busy.

Being a new club we had the drinks flowing, the music blasting  and the crowd was revved up.  Week after week we had picked up steam and business did not seem like it could not get any better.  The dress code was keeping the clientele civilized and we met so many nice people.  And just then my college roommate who was also bartending jinxed us.

"You know we have been open for three months and we have not had even one fight yet"

 And then it just exploded.  Across the room a crowd of patrons had come together in a close group.  With the darkly lit atmosphere and the loud music we had not seen the conditions change.  The crowd in that area appeared to sway back and forth kind of like a school of fish darting back and forth.  We then noticed the animated movement, then the fists started flying.

By the time we had made our way over it was a full out brawl.  Five or more people were exchanging blows and people had stepped back from the melee.  We started ripping people apart and throwing them to the ground.  As soon as we did that the action stopped.  That was our baptism into bouncing at the new bar.  This was always followed by an after action meeting on how we could have done it better.

The key takeaway.  Keep scanning your environment for a change in the rhythm.  Just like in the jungle, when it gets quiet a predator is near.

Stay safe!

Mike Bogdanski

Bouncer Chronicles - 4

In some of these chronicles it may seem like things got a little rough.  They really weren't.  Although... 

One rainy dark Sunday night we were closing the bar, the doors were locked and there was a knock at the door.  There were double glass doors and someone was asking to come in and use the phone because his car had broken down.  This was way before cell phones but there was a payphone at the diner next door.     

I politely refused him and directed him to the payphone.  He argued with me and even kicked the door once because he was mad.  He eventually stormed away.  We had plenty of cash for the day and I was wary of this guy.  I kept thinking, all he had to do was pull out a gun, point it at me and demand to come in.  I would have been at his mercy and felt totally vulnerable.

The next week I bought a gun. 

Bouncer Chronicles - 3

Once I got settled in as the solo bouncer I devised ways to keep myself safe in my role.  New Britain had a mixed population of gangs, bikers and offbeat characters and I never knew who was going to show up.  I kept a quarter over the payphone in case I needed to call the police and in the eventuality things went bad quickly, I hung my jacket by the door.  I kept a pair of nunchaku with one piece down the sleeve and one piece hanging out so I could retrieve it quickly.

Things kept fairly calm at the bar.  I made friends with the football team and they became my backup in case things got out of hand.  It is easier to be a bouncer when you have a couple of 250 pound linebackers standing behind you.

Little did I know that at the end of my graduate career I was going to postpone returning back to my old high school as a counselor and get into the nightclub business where bouncing took a more serious track.

Just when I got the hang of working the college crowd I was introduced to little old Northeast Connecticut.  At the time (the 70's) it was like going back to the fifties!

Bouncer Chronicles -2

Being a Black Belt does not make you a bouncer. 
Fighting in tournaments does not make you a bouncer.
Knowing martial arts does not make you a bouncer.

Learning on the job helps make you a bouncer.

Most of the time when people were unruly in the college bar we just had to break up fights, cool people down and then kick them out.  It became a matter of restraint rather than a brawl (although I will go over those episodes too) and we had to keep people safe in spite of themselves.

One night during a busy night there were three very big college football guys drunk at the door.  I had stopped them from entry because they were already drunk.  We began to argue and knowing that the odds were against me I came up with an effective strategy. 

                                      I closed the door and held it shut.

The door knob was small so only one person could grip it to try and open it.  After several minutes of frustration they left.  No fight, no fuss, no muss.  This is what Bruce Lee must have meant when he said "The art of fighting without fighting"

Bouncer Chronicles -1

Attending college as a Black Belt and needing a part time job, it was only a matter of time before applying to the local college bar as a bouncer.

The bar was a local restaurant and prominent college student hangout.  The drinking age was 18 so every weekend students flocked to Elmers Place for lots of fun.  The first night I was there the owners had friends show up to visit.  They invited me to sit down with them and plyed me with drinks.  At the end of the night I told them I would quit the job if that was to be the standard. Drinking and bouncing is not a good idea.

I was the solo bouncer in a crowd of one hundred and fifty patrons!  No backup, no one to cover my back, another lack of planning because I had not thought much of it.  About two weeks in, it was alumni weekend and the school was populated by an extra thousand people visiting and that Saturday night they all wanted to be partying at Elmers.

There was an unruly group of alumni in the dining room.  One of the guys was sitting in his chair and driving it around the room like it was a car.  I tapped him on the shoulder and asked that he refrained from the activity so as not to possibly injure anyone.  He stood up, reached out and grapped me by the shirt and raised his fist.  I hit him so hard he flew back with my shirt still in his hand.  He had ripped it completely off of me.

After throwing him out, I asked the bartender (a biker guy) why he didn't help me.  He responded " I wanted to see what you could do"!