Bouncers, staff deserve better

Ialways remember the story of a small-town pub, not far away. This pub employed a bouncer to keep out the riff-raff and control the biffo. It was an easy job interview; to get the job you had to knock out the existing bouncer. Thus, everybody knew that the hardest bastard in town was manning the door.

Thankfully, times have changed and door staff have gone from being thugs looking for a scrap to being certified professionals.

Doormen have a tough job. They hold responsibility for the tone of a bar. They choose who to let in, who to exclude and, when push comes to shove, they’re the ones who deal with the shoving.

Last summer, we had an almighty barney at my family’s pub.

A woman who’d arrived with a skinful had been told she could stay with her group if she drank water and had something to eat.

Well, the woman decided to start drinking anybody’s drink that she could get her hands on and, when asked to leave, immediately resorted to violence.

Round one – ding-ding-ding.

The two guys she was with waded in and started beating the snot out of everyone in sight. Such was the superhuman strength the men were displaying that nobody could control the situation.

One man, either clever, or carrying priors, scarpered up the street.

By the time the cops arrived, the other was standing over the woman roaring like a maniac. Even the police couldn’t control him.

We asked for him to be arrested and the cops said no. They wanted us to think about it. ‘‘You know he can charge your staff with assault as well . . .’’

In my opinion, they couldn’t be bothered with the paperwork.

So they sent him on his way.

It was only through me relentlessly pursuing the issue over the following weeks that they eventually laid charges.

The guy who ran off up the road – clearly visible on the CCTV – well, nobody even tried to find him.

My feeling is that, as an employer, I have a responsibility to pursue charges against people who assault our staff.

Well, I’m pleased to announce that recently the two scumbags were convicted. They had to pay the grand sum of $200 to security and to write the most insincere apology letters I’ve ever seen.

Quite why assaults on hospitality staff are OK, I don’t know. I reckon if these thugs had done what they did to, say, a policeman trying to do his job, then I’m sure they’d have spent some time in a cell and not have been sent up the road with a smug smile on their stupid faces.

I know it hasn’t felt like it, but summer’s just around the corner and, year on year, I’ve seen it getting harder for door staff.

Meth, the rise of guys well trained in mixed martial arts, the removal of the ability to use certain techniques that work – it’s become harder to control people who are out of control.

And I can say from experience that the majority of problems I have seen non-door staff having to deal with happen when cutting people off from alcohol. That’s the point when staff are doing what’s required of them by the law.

Next time you encounter security, stop and have a chat; it might surprise you to learn that they’re normal people trying to get by in this messy world the same as the rest of us.

And neither security staff, nor bar staff, should have to worry about being victims of violence in their workplace.