Worst club I ever worked in Australia was in St Kilda, Melbourne. Full of young Irish lads, fights everywhere. Bouncer who worked there before me was hospitalized.
out of interest - which venue? I'm going to take a guess it was the elephant and wheelbarrow based on the amount of irish blokes there. I did it as a second job for close to 20 years. As far as st kilda goes, I've worked at the palace (back in the early to mid 90 when they had 'twister' there and before it was moved to the front room of the venue, I've also worked at the prince of wales and the greyhound. I've worked a bunch of other places around melbourne too. I got out of the industry around 2012 and am actually (in my mid 40s) going to go back to it, just picking up a fri/sat night because an old friend who is still in the industry has asked me to come and work with him again.
General comments - definitely bartenders and 'good' DJs are the ones having the most luck with the women, but it definitely helps you if you're a bouncer. I'm in all seriousness ugly enough to be (in the words of gunnery sargeant Hartman) 'a modern art masterpiece' and it definitely was the reason for a few of the relationships I've had over that time. I don't think it's so much due to any status symbol. nobody perceives you as a badarse (or badass for you US guys) - if anything working in that industry that long is a cry for help
. My guess as to why it helps with hooking up with women is that you end up getting into conversations with them because they'll come up to you if they are bored, and in a sense the fact you are working there makes them feel like you aren't going to be the creep that tries to slip something into their drink or assault them or whatever, so in a sense it sort of gets you past the initial job interview phase of any conversation with them.
On the drugs side of things, I'd respectfully have to agree to disagree with the strategy mentioned by El Diablo Blanco of taking money from big dealers, or having any involvement in the drug trade at all. It's likely such endeavours could get you hurt because the last thing you want to do is give criminals, especially more organised (which really just means they have larger numbers) ones leverage over you. Not to mention you'll be in greater trouble (at lease it's the case in Aus) if you get a drug conviction and were working as a bouncer at the time. and additionally not to mention, if one of the crew I worked with was accepting money from them, and then someone else in the crew got hurt when one of the 'official' dealers fucked up (as they inevitably will) and was thrown out and then the ones getting them out are descended upon by a big crew of them not knowing who to look out for) well the person in the crew that was taking the bribes would be the one taken to task for the other person on the crew getting hurt and it wouldn't go well for them.
As for war stories, sure I've got a few, some of which included known criminals here and there (but Melbourne isn't a big palce so that's not really saying that much) and a few injuries - including permanent brain damage (incased anyone is wondering what drew me to getbig forums in the first place
) that thankfully doesn't have any impact on me of any significant degree (mostly my memory and in particular the way I process/remember/recall some visual images and colours) If anyone is considering doing it, try and avoid places that are supplied staff from a private company unless they have those staff on at that venue permanently and aren't constantly putting new/different people in there. Otherwise they never get to know the crowd and there will tend to be more dramas there in general as they don't build any rapport with the patrons. Most people are creatures of habit and tend to stick with regular venues (over time they come and go but tend to stick around for some time at least) and knowing them means they are actually far less likely to screw up there . And on the same topic, also get areally good 'take' or read or assessment (call it what you will) on the quality of the crew that works there. The right group of blokes will likely save your life and working with the wrong bunch can potentially cost you your life.
