![]() Jen: There’s a wise sentence which says doing the bouncer jobs means avoiding the work for later. Some people have a list inside their head, like check one, check two, check three or what- ever. Killa: I think everyone has their own personal style in selecting and saying no. I know a lot of people are looking for it, but there isn’t a golden key! Then if you have a queer positive night then the whole briefing for the team changes to attract a different kind of crowd. We also have special club nights like what used to be House of Red Doors, now House of Lunacy, which is a sex positive costume party, and if you’re not dressed up it’s going to be a no. Xenia: Yeah if people are already swaying, like obviously already super drunk or intoxicated. Jen: Everyone wants to know! Yeah, that guy’s not getting in… (All laugh). How do you decide who gets in? The loud drunk guy at the back of the queue isn’t getting in right? Usually I check in at about 22:30 and I’ll be there through to six or seven the next morning. Xenia: I find an eight-hour shift boring, I always like a 10-hour shift, I need time to warm up! (Laughs). The other thing is that if you have restricted hours then you need to split shifts and so double the amount of staff. A lot of us work day jobs, which means working during the day and then again at night which extra challenging and exhausting. Jen: With the right hours it makes sense, but it needs to be practical. It’s a big challenge now actually, getting people to come back and providing them with good enough working conditions. A lot of them went to work in vaccination centres, or just found other jobs, because they just realised they could make more money or have better conditions. It was really hard during Corona, most night workers lost a vital source of income. On the other hand I think it’s a good sign that politicians are thinking about us and making rules to keep us safe. When I was younger, people worked 24 hours or longer, because some people really needed the money. Killa: I think there is a new law, you can’t work more than eight hours in one go. If it’s getting wild around me, I just get really calm inside. Killa: I try to be like the rock in a storm. ![]() It can always happen, you never know what people’s trigger points are, maybe it’s the third club they got rejected from, you know? You just have to keep calm. You tell people no and some are completely chill and all’s good, then they ask some follow-up questions and suddenly it turns aggressive. You can’t always read people, these kinds of things happen. ![]() Xenia: Just recently, completely out of the blue, this guy came up to my colleague and threw a drink at her and just walked away. Then it’s good to have the skills to do it as least painfully as possible, and fast. There are always situations where people are totally in their world, they’re not listening, maybe they’re under the influence, then you need to get rid of them because you need to make sure the club is safe and that the guests are safe. Jen: It’s part of the job, but the more skilled you are at communication, the more likely you are to solve the situation without violence. Xenia: …Yeah, or that we’re under-fucked and that’s why we always say no, something a man would never hear…Īre violent confrontations part of the job? People project this “angry woman” thing onto us… Everyone has their own personal style, how to select or how to say no, but in this role you have to be really empathetic. Killa: I’d also say it’s about soft skills. I never really got rejected from a club, I started clubbing when I was 16, and okay, if someone’s got the eye for how to get into a club and who should be in, it’s me! It was a bit of a dream job. When I started working at a bar in Berlin I began to think about how I could have more influence on what is happening inside the club and how I can help generate a good crowd and everything. You need a vision, it’s about what kind of atmosphere you want to generate. Xenia: It’s not necessarily about personality, it’s about why you want to do it. What type of personality do you need to do the job? There aren’t so many women in your line of work.
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