Bouncers on NYE...

[M@]

Last night was good, I really enjoyed myself. The only major downer was the bouncers on the door! I couldn't believe my ears when they were charging a quid to get in, which was on top of my ticket price. Fair enough I completely understand the bouncers having a tips, and I would be more than happy to donate, but forcing this on people, and taking advantage of their situation was very disappointing to see. I do appreciate that this was not chibuku’s fault in slightest, but did this piss off anyone else?

[satellite]

I told them I'd already paid because I went to the wrong queue. :p

[funk_engineer]

probably already on triple time, thats why i don't like NYE, best having a house party with good friends, although i was in bed last night still dying from pressure @the arches on friday night and the 2 day carry on after it!



NYE is the most over-rated/over-priced night of the year. mates of mine paid 50 quid for 2manydj's, kate lawler and some hed kandi dj in edinburgh, then after it paid 150 quid to a taxi driver to take them 2 miles to get back to their car as you could not get into edinburgh city centre and had to park it outside the exclusion zone. wtf,

i was just saying to them when did you have mug tatooed across your forehead.

[dingaling]

Bouncers take the piss. I work in a bar in town and the bouncers have had a bucket on the door over Christmas and New Year for 'donations' but its not really a donation because most of them force people to pay or make people feel very intimidated if they dont cough up. At our bar the bouncers were told by management the bucket would strictly be for donations but they still forced people to pay, some members of staff and our DJ were stopped and told they had to pay a quid to enter when we had a new bouncer one night!!!

I feel that if people have made a 'donation' on the door they are less likely to tip the in house staff who in my opinion work a hell of a lot harder than some big meathead standing by the door all night openly mugging people. The bouncers at a bar near ours made £600 one night by having a 'donation' bucket. Did the barstaff see any of that money? Did they bollocks! Bear in mind that most bouncers get paid around £11per hour anyway whilst barstaff earn around £6per hour if they are lucky. 'Donation' buckets piss me right off, next time you see one take a shit in it and dump it on the stupid bouncers head!!!

[badman]

Bouncers take the piss. I work in a bar in town and the bouncers have had a bucket on the door over Christmas and New Year for 'donations' but its not really a donation because most of them force people to pay or make people feel very intimidated if they dont cough up. At our bar the bouncers were told by management the bucket would strictly be for donations but they still forced people to pay, some members of staff and our DJ were stopped and told they had to pay a quid to enter when we had a new bouncer one night!!!

I feel that if people have made a 'donation' on the door they are less likely to tip the in house staff who in my opinion work a hell of a lot harder than some big meathead standing by the door all night openly mugging people. The bouncers at a bar near ours made £600 one night by having a 'donation' bucket. Did the barstaff see any of that money? Did they bollocks! Bear in mind that most bouncers get paid around £11per hour anyway whilst barstaff earn around £6per hour if they are lucky. 'Donation' buckets piss me right off, next time you see one take a shit in it and dump it on the stupid bouncers head!!!

RELEASE...THE FURRYYYYYY!!!!!!

[sp3nny]

Fully agree with all this dingaling. Fucking bouncers were taking the piss. The ticket price should cover wages on any night of the year. If it doesn't then the organisers are not 'organising' properly.

I'm not sure how this sort of event is run - how much control Chibuku have over the actual running of the event on the night (as opposed to booking the dj's and running promotion/advertising). I'd suggest that someone needs to take a look at the way things are done though. At least, that's if they actually give a shit (i'm afraid that its my cynical opinion that they don't)

[sp3nny]

Any Mods or representatives of Chibuku going to reply to the NYE criticisms? I'd be interested to hear the other side of this (if there is another side)

[Laurent]

does it really matter?

it was NYE after all, it could have been worse

[Coakley]

I got into a confrontation with one of the bouncers on Boxing night when I was TOLD (not asked) in an forcefull manner "Put a quid in on the way in".

I just replied "No chance mate"

Fucking murder ensued until one of the other bouncers, a bloke I happen to know, asked "What's the problem?" and I politely told him " Everythings fine mate, I'll put a few quid in if i'm asked nicely and not TOLD". The original fella refused to ask again in a more polite manner (looked at me like he wanted to rip me apart) so I walked in (i'd already paid online so I went to be entered).

I genuinely wasn''t trying to be a hardman OR be a little snot....I just won't be spoke to like that by anyone, and no-one else should.

I'm not arse licking here but I don't hold the promoters reponsible for the rudeness of doormen. Most doormen are knobheads, are rude and are thugs. Sorry but thats a fact. The men on the masque are no different. I know a few blokes on the doors in Liverpool who are resonable people, but they are an exception to the rule.

I had an absolutely magical night, the music was fantastic, the resident DJ's were off the fuckin' chart (specially Lewis & Yos) and had the time of my life.

No complaints here, quite the opposite.

[Coakley]

....and by the way the only reason I post this is to second the original poster and to bring it to Richard's attention, that it wasn't an isolated incident, it happened to others as well.

[richchibuku]

Hi.. jsut getting online here now.. going to speak to the club and post back.

Rich

[richchibuku]

see other thread.

[a black midget gem]

Just say no, or tell em you haven't got change.

[RikiOh the Average Joe]

I just said i didnt have any change on me, mates threw in tho'...same thing happened on boxing night had a bit of banter with on of the doormen sayin was 20..30 pence enough...he didnt find me amusing.

[richfurness]

I cant believe so many people are flipping about this....it was a fucking quid they were asking for, not the use of your wife for the night and your car keys....jeeesus

[badman]

I cant believe so many people are flipping about this....it was a fucking quid they were asking for, not the use of your wife for the night and your car keys....jeeesus

innit. theyre working new years eve, i'm sure they'd rather be out of the cold, snuggled up in front've the telly with their slippers and nighty on drinking some horlicks

http://k41.pbase.com/v3/64/556764/1/47661576.Andrewscupoftea.jpg

[muzka]

thats crazy. i'm sure they were already getting double time. i was working on nye and no way would i go round with a bucket demanding a pound of each punter.

[Coakley]

I cant believe so many people are flipping about this....it was a fucking quid they were asking for, not the use of your wife for the night and your car keys....jeeesus


I understand what you're saying and I agree a couple of quid is not a problem to me at all. The point is the MANNER in which it was "asked" for....which more than one person found intimidating.

I happened to have friends come up from Colchester, with me that night. Not the best image of the club or the city (both of which I love and wanted to show off) and i'm sure this isn't the image Rich wants given off of his night (not that I am in any way suggesting he's responsible for their rude behaviour).

Thankfully (and again I don't mean to brownnose) the people inside, the DJ's and the organisers made them feel very welcome and the friendly atmosphere of the punters mroe than made up for it.

If there is an issue though Rich wants to know about it so he can sort it. Which it seems he's investigating.

[funk_engineer]

probably on triple time

and yeah if they don't wanna work NYE then don't be a doorman.

i think what most people are complaining about is the manner in which they were TOLD to stick a quid in the bucket, maybe send the doormen on a collage course in common courtesy.

[Ted]

Why is it that everybody seeks to attack the doormen? Is it pure jealousy that they're doing a job that you know, deep down, that YOU just couldn't handle? All the doormen I know are kind, considerate and look after the customers in bars. It's a thankless job as the only bit of comment seems to come from small-minded individuals who have nothing better to do with their time than create stories and exaggerate circumstances.

Yes, we all know of a friend of a friend of a friend who once got thrown out of a bar or couldn't get in. Does that make the doormen all power-crazy thugs? What the people (so-called victims) don't tell you is that they were in the wrong. Rather, suffering from the intoxication of overindulgence of alcohol, they were completely innocent and 'didn't do anything.'

The term 'bouncers' went out in the 80s. Today's doormen are all registered with a professional organisation and trained in conflict management; members of the barstaff are trained on the job. All doormen have to go through training on the job as well as their initial training.

What makes you feel you deserve to be paid the same as a doorman? Have you ever been stabbed, bottled, attacked, spat at, shot at, followed home? Working behind a bar the chances are quite slim. The difference between the two jobs is that most doormen could work behind the bar if they chose. How many of the bar staff, though, could change roles and work on the door one night? Could you stand there listening to drunken idiots or coked-up psychos? You might say you do behind the bar but, let's face it, if they annoy you who do you get...? Then it's the doormen who have to put up with the grief. And nobody ever says 'I'm gonna come back and shoot that barman.' Their alcohol-fuelled anger always focuses on the doormen.

You're quick to say: 'some big meathead standing by the door' yet the minute there's a problem they become so valuable.

Moreover, do you share your tips all year with the doormen? I think not! So why should they share what little they make only once a year? Barstaff get tips ALL year round and managers get bonuses. People forget that the doormen get nothing and on many bars buckets are not even allowed. I know a lot of people who work behind a bar and many of them take money off drunks and short change them? So, do I categorise you in that bracket? Or am I not as narrow minded?

And you talk about stupid 'bouncers' but you're the one going to work for around half their hourly rate. How stupid are they now?

[JohnAztec]

I think bouncers / security are supposedly under the control of the venue rather than the promoter/s of the night. But regardless, a certain element will always be a law unto themselves no matter who's in charge.

[nt]

Ted,

Whilst some of your argument is valid, some of it is flawed. Are you suggesting that bouncers are never in the wrong?

How bizarre.

My friend had a birthday night out ruined at the Masque because someone was knocked back for being a 'scally', because "its a student night", despite this person being a regular at the time and not being dressed like a scally at all. They've all pretty much sacked it off since.

Quite embarassing, given we'd raved to people who hadn't been time & again about how good the doorstaff were.

I've had the doormen at the Masque be very indulgent to me when I've been rotten drunk (for which I'm thankful!) and actually quite abrupt when I've been completely sober.

It happens. I remember a year or so ago there was a changeover at the weekend or something and there were loads of complaints, then the week after it was back to normal and it was a good bunch of lads again.

You get dickheads everywhere, customers and staff.

[Coakley]

Why is it that everybody seeks to attack the doormen? Is it pure jealousy that they're doing a job that you know, deep down, that YOU just couldn't handle?

Here's an eye opener for you mate. Only a matter of a couple of years ago I used to work on both the doors and the internal security for Nation, doing Medication and Cream events.

I've seen it from both sides.

Nobody's created stories or exaggerated mate. A number of people were asked in a forceful and intimidating manner to hand over money which they found an unpleasant experience....a VERY small proportion of them have bothered to make it known to the promoters....how many others have remained silent and thought "might not bother next time".

The last thing buku's promoters want is to be in a situation where the crowd starts dwindling because of stuff like this and they end up with a bad reputation. Hence why they wanna know whats happened and take stuff like this seriously....which I respect them for.

....and don't think it can't happen like that with Circus/buku. On boxing night I spoke to a group of 4 or 5 lads who told me they used to do Cream EVERY Boxing Day and could never envision a time when they wouldn't go. They'd decided to not bother with Cream on Boxing Night because of the intimidating atmosphere. We all know Nation/Cream is getting an awful rep unfortunately. I wonder how many other people were at the masque that night with the same story.

A cautionary tale of how quickly things can descend.

[scottyboy]

I think a lot of it is down to perception. I wasn't there on NYE but i was on Boxing day for Circus. As we walked in, the doorman said a general "Stick a pound in the bucket on your way in eh lads." That was it. It wasn't directed at any one of us in particular. There was 4 of us in my group and another group of lads and girls in front. Everyone just stuck a quid in. It didn't even register to any of us.

I'd much rather put a quid in a bucket at Circus/Chibuku, than pay £3 to get into a shitty bar in town that's usually free, before moving on to another, where you have to pay £5 'entry fee', again when it's usually free and so on.

Obviously, some people felt intimidated and it may well be a different doorman doing the 'intimidating', but i can honestly say that it wasn't a problem for us.

[gavin]

christ, it's almost next new year's eve. let's talk about tiesto or something

[scottyboy]

christ, it's almost next new year's eve. let's talk about tiesto or something

Fuckin tiesto... wanker.

That's better. :rolleyes: