Uniformed cops outside the clubs is a bad idea, too, for the same reason that a lot of places don’t search people at the door for weapons. If you got a nice place, a nice clientele that comes there, you know, affluent people, if you start searching them, they’re not gonna come. They don’t wanna be treated like that. If you convey the image that this is the type of crowd that you expect, that’s what you’re gonna get. If people start thinking ‘Wow, this is the kind of place where people with weapons come!’ then that’s what’s gonna happen. A place like The Tunnel was known as a violent place. The bouncers that worked there used to have to check these kids’ mouths because they were covered with razor blades.

But, yeah, some bouncers are goons who escalate situations, whereas a person could very easily be placated and talked out of the club. When people are drinking, it’s easy to challenge their manhood and their ego. So if I’m working at a club, and a guy is acting up and he’s drunk, what I try to do is show him some degree of dignity. What I try to do is show I’m respecting him, as a man, and I give him the opportunity to maybe leave without making a scene. I’ll say something like "Hey, listen, buddy, you’re a little out of line right now. You might not realize it yourself, but you know, everybody has their moments, I’ve had mine." I try to identify. More often than not, they’re grateful that I’m taking that approach, not embarrassing them, not overreacting, escalating or getting physical.

A lot of times people get thrown out because they think they’re being funny. One of those guys that gets too festive. You got different kind of drunks: you got your festive drunk, you got your nasty drunk, you got your weird psycho Twilight Zone drunk. When it’s time for a festive goofball drunk to get thrown out, it’s because they’re doing something stupid, or they get too friendly. They’re just bothering everybody around them. They’re uncontrollable, they’re over-celebratory. They’re standing on furniture, stepping on people or whatever. Like let’s say they’re standing next to a total stranger, and they get too familiar too fast. They start joking, and let’s say the stranger takes offense, then right away you’ve nearly got a fight. When that kind of thing happens, I’ll pull the guy aside and I’ll say "Man, you know, you gotta understand, not everybody has the same sense of humor. What you might think is hilarious, this guy might think is an insult. And gotta keep that in mind when you’re in a situation where you got all different people coming together – everybody sees things differently, you know." It’s all a question of breaking things down in a way that people can understand.

The best bouncers are the ones that really watch the people, interact with them, let them know they’re there. Especially in these clubs that got a lot of little nooks and crannies. That’s usually the places where people get up to no good, you know. They start doing drugs, having sex. They vandalize shit. People do the stupidest shit when they’re drunk.