Get Out Of Jail Free Cards and Unnecessary Violence

Last night's Manager Meeting was a long one. There was much discussion about the incidents with "Kim" and "Mariah", as well as an incident that happened Wednesday night at shift change.

Mr. Boss Man, the owner of the club, made the decision not to fire "Kim". I wasn't at all surprised, as Mr. Boss Man is known for giving people 2nd chances, especially Entertainers. After all, none of us would have a job there if it weren't for the women willing to take off their clothes for money, right? "Kim" has been an Entertainer at our club for almost 4 years and has never behaved in the manner in which she behaved Sunday night. Mr. Boss Man sat down with "Kim" and spoke with her for over an hour, to find out what's been going on in her life that would bring her to act out in such a violent manner, in the club she thinks of as her 2nd home.

Apparently, "Kim" has been going through a lot of personal issues recently and was using alcohol to escape the stress and depression in her life. I won't go into all the dirty little details but suffice to say, she's got a whole lotta shit on her plate. Of course, the bouncer staff is pissed off to all hell that she's still allowed to work there but they're just going to have to get over it. They've all used their "Get Out Of Jail Free Card" at one time or another, so they need to give her the same understanding that everyone has given them. "Kim" has agreed to give Jack* and Rick* money to replace their torn vests and she has already apologized to everyone involved, including me. It's over, as far as I'm concerned but if it ever happens again, Mr. Boss Man has agreed that she will be out the door for good.

The outlook for "Mariah" is considerably less positive. Mr. Boss Man has yet to make a final decision concerning her actions. As I said in the last post, we have an extremely big weekend this week and need all the Entertainers we have to work. However, as of last night, "Mariah" has not shown her face at the club since Sunday night.

When I walked into the offices last night, our GM Greg*, called me into his office to show me video surveillance from an incident the previous evening. What I saw, from the grainy black and white footage of our camera facing outside from the front door, made me sick.

There were 2 guys, semi-regular customers, talking to 3 others about 10 feet away from our front entrance. Greg found out later that the 2 semi-regulars had accused the other 3 of stealing one of their cell phones. I could see on the video that the argument was rapidly escalating, when suddenly it turned into a brawl. Well, not a brawl so much as an attack by the 3 guys on the 2 semi-regulars. I had to avert my eyes at one point, because the horrific violence was just so incredibly disturbing. They beat the 2 semi-regulars into unconsciousness, then continued to kick both of them in their heads, as they lay there out cold, then ran away before anyone inside knew anything had happened. Greg walked out the front door a few minutes later to have a smoke and was stunned to see 2 men laying in the walkway, unconscious. It wasn't until later, after paramedics and police arrived, that Greg was able to get back to the offices to review the events on our surveillance system.

The 2 semi-regulars were seriously injured. They both suffered fractured cheekbones, concussions, lacerations to their faces and many lost teeth. No one knows the 3 guys who did it and watching that video made me want to throw up. Incidents like this are usually few and far between, but lately it seems like everyone has lost their damn minds. What if just one of those guys had a gun in their car? It happens at other clubs in town. We've been lucky that we've never had a shooting but that doesn't mean we are safe. Too many times to count, I've watched the news to see yet another shooting at one of the clubs in the city. It's usually the bouncers and managers that get shot in the parking lots.

A couple of years ago, at a rival club, an angry drunk who had been kicked out, stormed the front door and began shooting at anything that moved, inside the club. One of my favorite Entertainers had been a dancer at that club when it happened and she was on-stage dancing when the shooting began. Two of her friends died that night and needless to say, she never danced there again. I don't like to think about stuff like that, but I have to in order to stay always vigilant when I am manning the ship on my shifts.

I won't be working my shift tomorrow because of my continuing high level of pain, but I will be there for the duration of my 16 hour shift on Sunday. I for see that the first 6-8 hours of my shift will be extremely slow, due to the Super Bowl, but I imagine we will be inundated with post game revelers from 10:00 pm and on. I can only hope that the weirdos will be too drunk to leave their homes and my shift will go on without incident. I can hope, can't I?