Patience

You need an awful lot of patience to do this job. You need to be patient with other team members, managers, bar staff and external bodies like the police and ambulance service but this isn't usually too bad. They've all got jobs to do and they all get them done in a fashion.

The big need for patience is the punters. When you've asked them to do something don't expect them to hop to it. They won't understand what you've asked of them. They won't understand why you've asked it of them. They won't immediately recognise what they need to do to satisfy your request. Then they'll have a long time thinking whether or not to do as you ask. Then if they do decide to do as you ask, they often do when I ask, they'll take a while to figure out what they have to do to satisfy your request. This can take some serious time. You need patience, and even more patience. If you don't have enough patience you'll end up wrapping a punters arms up their backs and making an enemy you needn't have. Too little patience and this job becomes a battle every night.

If I'm on the door, I'll be patient, but the longer I'm patient waiting for a person to get the message the nastier the message gets. If you stretch my patience too far I won't hesitate to make your night a mess. Well I'm not really that nice when you've shown me the disrespect to try my patience to its end.