How to work a door

Firstly I wouldn't dream of saying I can teach you how to work a door because the truth is I can't, the only person who can know if you can work a door is you, and you won't know that until you're tested.   It's all very well saying you can look after yourself and to comment on how easy the job looks a lot of the time, but could you really do it?  Many people comment that all we do is stand around and talk to people all night. Well for one its our Job to stand around and increasingly it's also our job to represent the venue by chatting to customers so we appear more approachable and put people at ease more.  This is all well and good but it takes years of practice to look at a room and read the people in it, and even then you miss things, I've also been told by an old school doorman that it is indeed a skill in itself to be able to chat away to people whilst still looking around and monitoring the area.

That brings us to my main point, the kickoffs, when a proper fight starts and people are trying to hurt each other it's your job to stop it, and how you deal with it and the injuries you sustain whilst doing so will determine whether you can keep coming back and doing it again because when its real and in your face very little can prepare you for the anger and aggression heading your way. 

Size means nothing and it does become a case of, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.  

Plenty of young lads get their licence and then think its fun times and easy money ahead, a great deal of these guys have never stood in harms way before and must genuinely believe that drunken customers will show them respect and do as they are told, oh what a shock some of them get!   

It's not a requirement of being a doorman but it sure helps if you have had some sort of physical training, I mean what makes people think they can physically stop someone or fight someone if they have to with no experience at all?  Military experience is of course the best as you can't get much more real life than that and receive serious hands on training as well as being physically fit.   

Rugby is one of the most common sports doormen used to play as its pretty close to how a scrap on the door can go down and involves plenty of hands on grappling and struggling against others body weights.

The martial arts offer vital instruction on self defence and a wide array of techniques that can assist you on the door but be wary, a tiny slip can be in some cases lethal so unless you practice a move so much your body knows how to react I wouldn't bother, you'll only end up in court defending yourself after being charged!