My work life

[gr4h4mc00k]

corporate events

Nothing quite lives up to seeing how the other half live…. I’ve had my fair share of hospitality gigs and even once managed to stand next to a Prime Minister. This time however I had the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time and managed to bag myself a night working with the bosses of Heineken. To be fair I knew it was going to be an easy night but I couldn’t have imagined just how easy my night was going to be considering corporate gigs are normally a no-no for door staff. For starters I was given a coffee and introduced to the VIP guests, this isn’t something that usually happens. The next thing left me speechless. there was a seat put out for me at the dinner table, for once I was actually going to be sat at the big table and treated as a guest rather than the person who was responsible for keeping the public outside the venue. I was in shock as this turn of events took me completely by surprise and now I had about half an hour to pull myself together and look relaxed in my rather fancy surroundings completely outside my comfort zone. As luck was clearly on my side I thought it best to just stay quiet and go for looking the part rather than try sound like I belonged there, this was the wrong choice as the older gentleman I was seated beside decided to engage in conversation about the local nightlife and a general interest about why I choose my job and how I found it after so many years. After a little while and a few chuckles from the gentleman, he was summoned by the host to give a speech. Turns out the gentleman was the head of Heineken for Europe, in all fairness to him I have to admit that he is the one out a hundred. I have never met someone that has such a huge influence be so down to earth and humble, it made me start thinking that maybe the other half aren’t so different after all.

[gr4h4mc00k]

Bonfire night

Remember, remember the 5th of November …. I love bonfire night, the way the sky lights up with fireworks and sometimes if your lucky the street may look like it’s a scene from a Harry Potter film with people shooting fireworks at each other. I have to admit it’s a rather good perk of my job that every year I am able to get paid to enjoy this night, yes, I may have to argue a fair amount with angry drivers not being able to understand that a road is closed and yes, I will also inevitably have to spend most of my night freezing and stuck to a particular road or car park. In the end though its so worth it to have the best view in the house to see the magic that takes place in the sky and for a split second forget about the fact I am at work and just be able to sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

[gr4h4mc00k]

Cop 26

Saturday was very eventful to day the least, just like any other Saturday I got on the bus to work then half an hour later I got off the bus, only this time I could’ve swore somewhere on the journey the driver took a wrong turn and landed us in the middle of a riot. Central station where I walk through as a shortcut was total pandemonium, having no idea what the hell was going on I decided to brave it and also be a tad nosy as to what caused this commotion. As I walked through and up to the main platforms my eyes were met by a sea of green jackets and black hats of the police, all of a sudden, my interest peaked big time and curiosity got the better of me. I decided I could be late for work and blame it on this disruption so I could hang around to see who or what could warrant this police presence. As it turned out the answer was who could warrant it, and it was none other than Greta Thunberg the world-famous climate activist. As soon as she made her way off the train the noise was deafening. I decided then that I best make my way to work before I got caught up in any more excitement. On my walk to work I started to think about who else that I might bump into the next few weeks or if any famous person would walk though my door and I would be the usual star struck idiot or for once be the cool guy and just play it off that there’s a famous person nearby.

[gr4h4mc00k]

Halloween

I love it when its Halloween weekend, everyone dressed up, loving life not having a care in the world. Standing in the freezing cold with purple fingers watching everyone from still game to the spice girls with a touch of Queen in between, to me it doesn’t get much better. I must admit though that it’s the only night of the year that I get away with some unofficial perks of the job, since I can’t give any sweets out and really the only treat that I can offer is to let them inside out the cold, I do randomly choose some unsuspecting groups to show me their trick or treats. Sometimes you get a good show, for instance this one guy dressed as Beetlejuice decided he was going to bet me a pint against no entry for him that he could make his lighters label disappear then appear again in the same spot. I’m thinking this is easy there’s no way this guy is walking in past me he’s clearly at it. Oh, how wrong was I… after 20 minutes my head actually hurt thinking about how this label kept appearing and disappearing, even when he made my hand make it appear and disappear I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how this kept happening and unfortunately I never will as Beetlejuice decided it was hilarious not to tell me as he made his way in to enjoy his winning pint.

[gr4h4mc00k]

My First Friday

 My first shift at my current bar, when I found out it was a Spanish rave night I can’t say that I was excited at all. There is nothing worse than heading to work knowing you are not going to enjoy your shift, it’s literally the worst feeling in the world when your job is dealing with the public. I feel like after nearly a decade I’m in the same position as when I first started as my first ever Friday shift I had the same gut feeling heading to work, I hate my job and I might just get off the bus and walk home.

Fortunately I was extremely wrong back then and I am glad that I stayed on that bus till my stop and forced myself to walk to the club as brave as I could look and tell them I was there for my first shift, If I never done that I wouldn’t have had the utmost pleasure to have worked at my first Spanish rave last week and found out that the Spanish community in Glasgow has some of the most passionate yet hilarious people I have had the pleasure of working with.  The Street will be silent then all of a sudden you can hear the shouts and laughter then you will see the flags and banners waving around with the carriers dancing along to their own little beat. Once they get inside past my grin you can see how they dance to the music, it's up there with the most intense movie scene you could imagine. Outwith not understanding a word of the music they play its up there with some of the most fun nights i have had at work, mostly down the way they included me into their night and refused to call it quits when the night finished as they danced their way back to their houses and flats with the same enthusiasm as when they turned up. As for myself  It’s the exact same feeling I had all those years ago after My first ever Friday shift.

[gr4h4mc00k]

My first Blog

Hi, my name is Graham, I am writing this blog to give some insight into what happens during a normal night at work. I work as a doorman in Glasgow and have done so for the last nine years touching on ten, I have collected a lot of memories, some will stick with me to the grave and some I will pass on in this blog. For some background as I said I am a doorman, this basically means I work every weekend at various bars and clubs around the city centre in Glasgow and I have done my fair share of festival work at the start of my journey when I was a lot younger and fitter. The next few weeks I am based at the one bar so my blog will be about what’s going on at the bar and how it compares to my first few weeks all those years ago, I also want to speak about how the public’s perception of doormen have changed and how my own perception of the public has changed as well over the years.