Tools of the trade?

No I don't mean weapons that's not allowed although I have seen my share of knuckledusters and gloves with sand filled knuckles!  

I'm referring to the items you can buy to make your job a little easier and safer, from the top down there's the obvious hat in winter if you're allowed to wear one because believe me it gets chilly at 5 am on a winters night!   Then of course there's as decent earpiece as you can afford, preferably an in ear type as there's less chance of background noise, there are skeleton type earpieces and over the ear types but I'd only use one of these if I was going to be outside all night.

Venues should also provide earbuds and in some places I'd say wear them all the time as I'm sure some of the noise levels are crazy high and you do tend to spend a lot of time very close to speakers as these are typically situated to provide good sound coverage, this also means chances are high they are also in good visual vantage points of a venue.  There been plenty of times when I've been home for hours and my heads still been banging with the noise of the club I've been in earlier!

Never wear sunglasses on the door, for one if you get hit you're likely to damage your eyes, for another you look totally unapproachable, and like a tit.

Clip on ties are a must and should be provided by your door company or if you freelance then make sure you get one!  It's a lot harder for someone to grab and choke you with your own tie if its not attached to you!   This also brings a little humour every now and then when someone grabs your tie near some stairs ...... The pause of realisation as their face registers the fact that they're gonna fall is quite comical! 

Thermals, top and bottom in winter if you're outside because again it's bloody freezing sometimes! 

Overcoats, 3/4 length "crombies" are fantastic for keeping warm in winter and I think look very smart over a black suit too, make sure you get one that fits well and you can still move quickly and freely in it if necessary!   Unless you happen to actually be Wesley Snipes never, ever wear a 3/4 or full length leather jacket on the door, you are not Blade and you look like a tit!

Gloves, I prefer long leather ones to minimise the wind coming up your sleeves in winter but make sure again you get a pair you can actually grab someone in if you need to, there's nothing worse than losing grip on someone to have them run away or worse, hit you!

Footwear,  I tend to get into the same habit of looking after my feet, after all its rare for a doorman to get a sit down at work so you can spend long periods of time walking or standing in one spot so a good strong pair of boots with ankle support is highly recommended, ankle support particularly so as its easy to jar or sprain your ankle when dragging someone to the door who doesn't want to leave!   I prefer to wear 2 pairs of socks, a thin and then thicker pair to keep warm and allow my feet to breathe, if its going to be a long hot shift I quite often use a foot powder in my socks first, may sound strange but after 6-8 hours in a hot club in boots I'd rather have dry rather than sweaty feet!

On top of this there's a few things you can get to help you, first and foremost?  A pen and notepad, when an incident happens if you write the details straight down it makes reports and dealing with things easier and looks more professional to the public and police alike.

A UV light on a keyring, cheap as chips and perfect for checking ID's for the "watermark" only visible under Ultraviolet light.

A torch, a mini maglight will do nicely and makes it easier to check ID's and check areas of the floor when someone inevitably loses something!

There are other little bits n pieces I've seen over the years but these are the ones I've stuck with myself as they've helped me out, there is one final item I'd like to mention I just hope no one ever needs to use it, a stab vest, there are certain areas and venues which are extremely dangerous and if you're working or thinking of working in one of these then definitely give it some consideration, there are many types out there and I myself have worn one on many occasions after being stabbed in the arm and hand, it's not a nice thought but its very little financial outlay for something which could potentially save your life.

A bit of a bio and why I do this job!

That's a question that the answer to has changed quite a lot over the years.

At first I was angry, I mean really angry, I'd had a hard childhood with a father who'd mentally tortured me for years as well as beating the shit out of me when he deemed necessary, couple that with days spent at school in Scotland being from England by birth meant the hatred was pretty deep from a lot of people and bullying was rife, including some of the teachers!  I started doing martial arts but to be honest the hold my father had on me was so strong I didn't stand up for myself for many years.  I tried to move away but that didn't work so in a fit of rage walked into the recruiting office of the local infantry regiment and joined up! Not the best move given my mental state but I'm old fashioned in a lot of ways and I still think military service should be mandatory in this country, I mean look at the Scandinavians, they still do it with exceptions for university and certain jobs etc, they seem to be a pretty happy, and definitely prosperous group of countries and more importantly, the people are nice! 

But I digress, I'd been away from home for a while at this point and still hadn't faced up to my father but I'd changed into a very angry young man, I didn't stay in the army which was probably for the best although I've wondered a few times what would have happened if I'd made a career out of it.   I moved back to Newcastle where I'd made a few friends and met a girl who's family had connections to nightclubs and a door company, there's a blog entitled my first night on the door where I basically got the shit kicked out of me but because I'd got stuck in to help another doorman who was on the ground, I was in.  This was my new family as there's a bond between doormen, more so the older school guys.  The guys really were your brothers in arms in the real world where we could say and do pretty much what we liked, and did.  

So then I loved it, fighting every weekend and getting all my adrenaline out and seeing my fathers face with every guy I hit.  And I'm ashamed of myself for that and have been for quite a while.  

I came home from work one night early and caught my girlfriend in bed with my flatmate, I may have done something violent, to him not her and called her dad who I was friendly with to come get her.  I decided to move back to Yorkshire having last lived here when I was 10 and wanted a fresh start and also wanted to see my grandma who I missed very much being the only family member I ever felt close to, I think it was her influence that first led to me stopping wanting to fight all the time and look for something else instead.  Unfortunately if you're a doorman it's a hard job to give up sometimes when the phones ringing and money is on offer, so it wasn't long before I was back at it in Leeds but this time not so in the mood for a fight, I'd started to see what happens to people when they got hurt and it had started to sink in what I'd been like before.  I still enjoyed the job but almost treated it like a day at the office for years with people being amazed at the situations I found myself in, but as the saying goes its amazing what you can get used to!  

So by this time I was a career doorman rising area manager level and being head doorman pretty much every place I worked.   Bizarrely this period in my life was probably the worst for me personally so I threw myself into my work, running doors first in Scarborough then Brighouse then Scunthorpe.  It was here I reached my limit with certain doormen and as I had moved around so much I felt very unsettled so took a break from the doors for a while to try and get myself back on track.

That phone always rings though and I soon found myself back on the doors but this time with no interest in being a head doorman anymore, by this point I'd seen and experienced first hand some of the nastiest things that can happen to and around a doorman so my perspective changed quite a lot.  I discovered that when I helped people, as I'd always tried to do when possible, I really got something out of it, as in it made me feel good to help someone or protect someone who needed it.   There's no better feeling than stopping a bully and throwing him out or helping a girl who's been grabbed inappropriately,  they don't always thank you but when they do or their friends come up to you remembering how you helped them its truly an amazing feeling.  

That's the answer now to why I do this job, cos believe me I actually hate it these days and know I'm coming to the end of my run but what keeps me going?  Helping people who can't or are too scared to help themselves, that's what.  Why do I put myself in harms way every week?  Well if you've ever known someone normal and nice who's got hit on a night out for no reason then that's why I try and help, if they get hit it may mentally scar them for quite a while so better me taking a knock than them, after all with no sense there's no feeling! 

Does being a bouncer affect your social life?

Well that's another one of those questions I've been asked many times over the years.  The short answer is Yes! Of course it does!

Before anyone starts or decides to keep working as a doorman for any length of time you need to remember the strain that comes along with working such late, unsociable hours.  Sure many doormen make the most of it but you do find yourself socializing mostly with people in the same industry as yourself due to lack of options as when you finish work at 04:30 am you're kinda limited for the social aspect and nearly everyone is mortal drunk except for the other people who've just finished work too!   

It's not just the late nights either as making plans for the following day means the mornings are usually a write off too.  So be under no illusions this line of work means you'll be regularly going to bed when its daylight and getting up in the afternoon!

Leading on from this though is the strain and toll being a doorman can take on your relationships too, I'm 35 and still single with no kids and although I can't blame it all on the doors it has certainly been a major part of why I'm still on my own!   Sometimes it's ok when you start dating someone and they don't mind you being a doorman, but quite often girls realize quickly that you're gonna see and speak to, other girls!   Shock and horror there and the questions begin, only once have I ever dated a girl who never questioned me about the doors and wow, I'd got so used to having to answer questions that when they didn't come I almost wanted to check she was ok!   Then there's the gossip which, for me at least, has destroyed several relationships I've had, sadly the gossip in my case came from other doormen who knew nothing about my personal life but still decided to stir and spread rumors.  That's something that's happened to more than one doorman I've known, and even after you hear it if you do anything about it at all, you'll be in the wrong, I had to tell one guy I knew "ten men Ben" to come get in the ring or shut his mouth as after a while it kinda gets to you and he'd done it twice over several years causing me no end of hassle talking about stuff he knew nothing about!  

Then there's the stress of taking the job home with you, I knew one doorman who used to watch Disney films to wind down and play Judo to get the aggression out, worked for him but I'm still trying to find my outlet! 

Of course a lot of doormen haven't done the rest of us any favors by being complete and total womanizers their entire career, and yes whilst having a wife and kids at home!  We're not all like that of course but sadly it's a stigma that gets attached to you as long as you do the job, I mean I've had people saying to girls I've dated that because I'm a doorman, it'll never work.  Great thanks for that!  And people wonder why we get angry sometimes, maybe it's just because we hear the same shit all the time regardless of whether we've done anything or not!