How I became

I'm feeling quite neglectful of my blog at the moment, not because I keep forgetting it exists but because I don't have anything anywhere near interesting enough to write about, or at least, that i'm ready to write about. So i've decided to write about how I became this doorman.

I used to be behind the DJ booth at nightclubs, mixing the tunes, watching the dancefloor, making sure that everybody in the venue is raving away, dancing happily, drinking shit loads and ensuring that the dance floor is rammed so my wallet is rammed. When I was at Uni the first time I worked at pretty much every venue in town, and was a fairly known DJ in the right circles. I always used to find myself scanning the dancefloor for that thrilling moment when I can jump on the mic and shout 'security to dancefloor!'. I used to find the 'bouncers' fascinating, the fact that they weren't in your face, were only really part of your night if you wanted them to be.

When I left that Uni and moved back to my hometown for a year, I did my SIA, as I had just turned 18, didnt particularly want to continue DJ'ing in clubs for various reasons, and I fancied the thrill of being a doorman.

When I did the course, there were so many other people similar to myself, some experienced doormen who have worked for years and needed to get the badge (I believe when I did my badge, it had just come in) others who were fresh faced and wet behind the ears (like myself.). The course itself, when I did it, was a complete pisstake, basic law, then a test on the second day, of which the lecturer read out the answers with the questions, not too hard to pass!

My first shift on the door was at a fairly busy luminar venue, and for any of you who know what sort of venues luminar like to keep, you'll know this isn't going to be a terribly rough door, but equally not exactly all-bar-one. I used to find it so difficult to walk around the nightclub, trying to read body language, trying to read faces, trying to consider if he's going to punch him, or if he's actually friends with him. Now, years and years later, I can walk around a nightclub without even having to consciously consider, I can tell fairly accurately (not perfectly of course, people flip very quickly when intoxicated) whether or not somebody will be making a swift assisted exit, its amazing how we develop as doorstaff; some doorstaff do not, they take their first beating, and then decide its game over. One day, when I have a particularly quiet time - i'll write about my first loss...