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Interview with Club Security

Rex Racer

By | August 27, 2009

Bouncer at night club entrance in buenos aires argentina

Bouncer at night club entrance

No matter where you are, club security is notorious for being conducted by large, intimidating and ill-tempered men. They are often viewed as being lenient with a select few, harsh and discriminative with others. LandingPadBA.com interviewed the head bouncer for more than 10 Buenos Aires clubs, in order to reveal the secrets of this profession and to explain the reasons of why they won’t let some of you in the club.

For legal reasons, the head of security asked that we keep both his name and club locations anonymous. This interview was conducted in Spanish in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has been translated to English by the LPBA staff.

Let’s get right to it, why won’t you let some people in?
If a person is inebriated, and it’s obvious, we can’t let them in. This is a public place with lots of people and we are here to prevent anyone from getting hurt. If they are drugged up, same thing.
Every club is required to have a sign that says, “18 years old and up only.” If you suspect someone of being too young, then they have to show their ID. And there are places that say you have to be 21 or older, or in some cases 25 and older, 30 and up exist also. It all depends on the ambiance of the club or location.

Generally people can’t come in wearing flip flops because if there’s broken glass they are going to slice their feet open. Flip flops in a dark club, often times combined with wet floors make for bad scenarios.

Naked people or half naked people wearing leather are not allowed in. This really happens. Generally people have to fit the ambiance of the club. Obviously someone that is dirty and that smells bad can’t come in.

What’s your reasoning for kicking someone out of a club?
To get kicked out, the person has to be in a state where they could hurt someone, or if the person is really “heavy,” really drunk or drugged up. We will escort them out because we don’t want them hurting someone else or causing trouble. You really have to pay attention, especially with the girls. Everyone is drinking and drinking and you have to watch carefully.

How do you judge whether a person is too drunk or doped up?
That’s a tough one. It’s difficult. You have to see if they understand when you speak to them first, look at their eyes and make a judgment. If they are too messed up to understand you, then it’s time for them to leave.

If things are getting a little rough for whatever reason, we will intervene and remind them that they are here to have a good time and not to make trouble, but the second they start throwing punches they are out. If they are really violent we’ll kick them out and call the police.

When escorting someone out, if you hit them or they hit you what happens?
There are definitely penalties, obviously for getting too physical with someone without probable cause. The truth is we are never trying to hurt anyone. You’re trying to make sure no one gets hurt. If a fight calls our attention we are there to remove them without anyone getting injured. We don’t want the people fighting to get hurt either because it’s the same as any other patron getting hurt.
There have been times when that simply has not been possible. The guys that are fighting and throwing punches, you have to use force to remove them. They won’t stop and that’s what you have to do. We are there to prevent that from even happening. If someone is drunk and violent, we are trying to avoid broken bottles, broken glasses- to prevent someone that is too drunk to understand what is going on, too drunk to recognize that you are security that could cause physical harm to himself or someone else.

Craziest thing you’ve ever seen?
The really drunk girls will do some crazy stuff here. I’ve seen plenty of sex or sexual acts in clubs where it is not the place for stuff like that. These are not swingers clubs and you’ll see naked girls dancing or having sex on the dance floor. We usually have a female on the security staff and we will send her in to ask the girls to put their clothes back on or to stop doing what they are doing. Some of these girls just don’t care. They don’t have any shame about it. Crazy fights, we’ve seen it all.

Cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, what’s the deal?
The reality of the matter is that these drugs are everywhere especially in clubs. Some of these clubs its just everywhere. It’s a complicated situation. If we see someone openly smoking a joint in the club we will ask them to leave because it’s illegal. If the police were in there they would be arrested, but generally we ask them to leave the club.

Foreigners vs. Porteños, how do they measure up?
The foreigners, they bring different habits. Here in Argetina, there is always a party or something going on. It’s nothing new. You have clubs open everyday, at almost all times of the day. The foreigners arrive and they like to drink. They prefer to drink a lot more than the typical porteño. The porteños like the vibe of the club, the music and the foreigners you’ll see them at tables full of bottles. Bottles of vodka, rum- just really drinking. The porteños like to jump around and dance where the foreigners generally are a bit more withdrawn.

The custom here is that the porteños will pre-party before going to the club, show up and dance and party. The club will close and they will go to an after hours club at 9 in the morning. And if they want there are still clubs that open up in the middle of the afternoon! You have a cycle of parties and clubs if you want.

You had to fight a lot over the years?
Oh yes, not so much in these clubs, but yes. It really happens more often in the open air parties, the places with a ton of people. These types of parties have a lot more blow going around, a lot more of everything going around. The guys are messed up and something breaks out you have to separate them and sometimes you can’t so you have to use force. They are so drugged up and get their adrenaline going that they stop being able to distinguish between the person(s) they’re fighting, their friends and us. They can’t tell who is who. We have to remove them and it’s not fun….

[A medium build foreigner begins to make a fuss in the lobby area as he is being escorted out at this moment in the interview. A couple of bouncers stroll in and begin intervening. Evidently he was having a loud argument with his girlfriend inside and was causing a commotion. He begins to push one of the bouncers trying to get back in. The head bouncer calmly enters the lobby area and assists in removing the obviously intoxicated gentleman. The drunk patron struggles and is simply overpowered by the bouncers, without any punches or kicks. I am surprised at how efficient and careful they are at getting him to the other side of the fence. Being sober for the first time while observing this type of act I sympathize more with the bouncers and their high tolerance of dealing with this drunk. He simply does not give up; he heckles the bouncers for a bit and hangs about in front making a few meek attempts at entering. His girlfriend joins him and his drunken protest. He begins to kick the fence drawing the attention of a nearby police officer. It is then that he calms down and leaves.]

Does the mob have any influence with the clubs here?
Here, you don’t really see the mafia types. They aren’t going to advertise it. They exist, but they aren’t exactly going to announce it. They’re not going to make it public knowledge.

Out of your potential clients would anybody make you nervous?
Hmm, I suppose the really famous people, when they show up it causes a stir: when the president’s daughter or son shows up, famous football players, ambassadors- someone that is respected. They are really the same as anyone else and we are here to make sure everyone is safe.

In comparison to a lot of the English-speaking nations, there are far fewer fights here in the bars and clubs. Why is that?
The government here is very strict when it comes to a club. You have to have a qualified security team, a medic, a fire Marshall all on staff and inside the club while patrons are there. The staff is trained to deal with people and to treat them well. The training teaches you to use psychology and other techniques to calm people down and to help change their minds about fighting. That is a reason why there are less fights. There are obviously things we can’t control like people drinking too much and getting out of hand, but we do our best to minimize any bad situations. About 5 years back there was a terrible accident at Cromagnon and since then the rules and they have been strictly enforced. There are regular inspections to make sure that the clubs are safe. In any place, something bad could happen and that’s why we try our best to make sure nothing does.

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