History Main / Bouncer

In truth, most real-life club bouncers have far more prosaic duties; their job consists primarily of checking ID, tossing out rowdy, annoying, or overly drunk customers, calling cabs for patrons who are too drunk to drive home, watching for signs of trouble to come (be it the beginnings of a [[BarFight possible fight]], patrons who are far too intoxicated for their own good, illegal activity being conducted, sexual predators [[DateRape getting ready to make their move]], and other things of that sort), making sure [=VIPs=] are able to enjoy their evening without annoying paparazzi or crazed fans mobbing them (and often politely ushering the drunker celebs out when their behavior grows sufficiently unacceptable). Their job may include ancillary duties such as acting as the bar's janitor. The "not on the Guest List" part usually only comes up when the club is reserved for private functions or when people attempt to bullshit their way into [=VIP=] events for free by claiming that they were guestlisted.

If they work at a strip club, they will also be in charge of enforcing tipping rules, as most strip clubs require patrons to tip if they're sitting at the "tip rail" or "perv row" and give the dancers and bartenders the authority to report cheapskates to the bouncers, who can then either inform them of the rules or throw them out if they're rude or have already been warned; furthermore, they also have an incentive to skip the "warning" part when dealing with grabby or creepy customers, as clubs that are perceived as being "creep-friendly" will attract more bad customers, lead to high turnover among dancers, and will attract more desperate or low-quality dancers who can't get work anywhere else.

That said, some clubs in New York City do use bouncers to screen incoming patrons for subjective reasons. The practice started with {{Disco}} club Studio 54 in the 1970s, when the owner empowered his bouncers as doormen and made admission to the discotheque arbitrarily selective based on style and hipness (for non-celebrities, at least). This was an intentional ploy to build up the mystique of the club, and it worked like a charm. It was subsequently copied by clubs all over the city and beyond, and the entire practice has become rooted in pop culture as the "usual" way things are done.

Which it isn't, of course, since most night clubs can't afford to be arbitrarily picky about their patrons as a whole based on coolness, but bouncers are still required to screen for and refuse entry to prospective patrons who are underage, visibly intoxicated, rude or aggressive, [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels openly displaying]] [[GangBangers gang affiliation]], [[PersonaNonGrata known troublemakers]] and those who don't meet {{dress code}} standards or are wildly different from the normal clientele -- for example, letting a bunch of rich preppy types into a biker bar or metal night is likely to cause issues.

In RealLife, in contrast to the fictional depiction of bouncers as rough and tumble bruisers with a DarkAndTroubledPast, the bouncer field is becoming increasingly professionalized. More and more jurisdictions are requiring police checks and training on legal knowledge and security. Bar owners are realizing that well-trained, disciplined bouncers can prevent injury lawsuits and protect the reputation of the venue by keeping out drug dealers and creeps. Another development is the increasing use of female bouncers, both to patrol female bathrooms and because women bouncers are sometimes better able to de-escalate tensions with aggressive male patrons, because male patrons are less likely to try to fight with a woman staffer.

* Some such takes care of the protagonist for getting a little too grabby with the BellyDancer at the end of the song "Stop! Stop! Stop!" by Music/TheHollies.

* ''Franchise/TheSims''