Memoirs of a bouncer part One

A post by neenaw, bought back a memory, which I commented about, which in turn led to a post by Steve .Well Steves post bought back another memory of my days as a bouncer. For those reading who are now thinking, ' Thought she used to be a nurse' well yes I did !! I have done a variety of jobs, and another day I will do a post all about my working life !

Going back to my bouncing days, I can remember one night in particular, when I was working on a pub door. The pub was in a row of 'licensed premises' in a town centre. Friday and saturday nights could be quite busy, sometimes busier , sometimes not so busy ! One thing I did learn though was, NEVER SAY THE 'Q' WORD. ( Q=Quiet !!) because the moment you said 'Oh its quiet tonight' you could guarantee it would all kick off. One of the 'safety' measures we had was the 'Pubwatch' radio. A radio system linking all the town centre pubs and clubs. If someone got kicked out of a venue, the doormen on that venue would call on the radio letting all the other venues know. That way troublemakers could be kept to a minimum. If a major kickoff occured, then the doormen could shout '5-5' if they needed one or two extra bods. Or if it was a major, full on , kick-off it would be a 10-10 call. 10-10's were the ones I loved most. Sad I know but it was the adrenaline rush of haring off, along with every spare doorman in town to wherever we were needed. usually the sight of thirty odd doormen hammering round the corner was enough to quell any trouble, the combatants usually taking one look and running for their lives. But it did not always happen like that !!

One night in particular springs to mind. There I was standing on the pub door, mug of cappuchino in one hand (we had very good managers on that venue), gossiping to my oppo, watching the doormen on the door to the left of us, competing to see how far they could flick their cigarette butts. All of a sudden the radio blasted into life. '10-10 LT ' ( LT is my code for the name of the venue ;) ) . So throwing my cup in the general direction of my oppo, I went belting down the road. A virtual riot was occuring outside the venue in question, several dozen men brawling, 3 women desperately trying to get out the way, doormen jumping in, trying to seperate the combatants. Blood was flying, literally flying up in the air. A very very odd sight believe me !

I helped another doorman to seperate two lads, and we both sat on our respective captives, suddenly another doorman shouted to me, a pregnant woman had been hit in the melee, hurting her head , she had fallen and was now in pain. Apparently the fact I am a female means I automatically know how to deal with all things relating to pregnancy and babies lol.He dragged the poor lass over to where I was still sat on the brawler so I could deal with her. I found a mobile being thrown at me, with the instruction. ' 999 NOW'. So one hand comforting the pregnant girl, my knee in the mans genitalia, and my elbow pinning his neck, I called for asissitance. Within three or four minutes the ambulance was on scene. But because there was still a fight going on, the paramedics stayed put. I began to worry, I was pretty sure the woman was showing signs of labor, and certainly needed checking urgently. Yet could I blame the paramedics for staying put? No to be honest I couldn't. Two reasons, firstly, they are not paid enough to put themselves in that level of danger. Secondly, on a purely practical level, if they got out the ambulance and got injured in the melee, who would treat the injured ?

Fortunatly the police were quickly on scene, arrested an incredible 27 men, and the ambulance carted off the pregnant woman, further ambulances and a police van carted off another 14 men who had varying degrees of injury to the hospital.

Its a sad reflection on society though that the police have to be called just to get paramedics to treat the injured :( Especially when the injured person (well one of them anyway) was completely innocent.

Later transpired the fight was between two rival gangs of Eastern Europeans. it had begun in the pub, spilled out onto the street and had taken 40 doormen and tweleve police officers to quell. Certain venues, who for obvious reasons, will remain nameless, banned all eastern Europeans as a result. It wasn't int he official 'door policy', but the doormen were told that they must find a reason to refuse entry to them.

Oh what fun that job was !! One day I will share more tales of the fun and games that working the doors bought!

Incidentally the pregnant woman was fine, she spent a night in hospital for observation, was back out in town a week later and delievered a healthy baby girl six weeks later :D