Tuesday night: Skeeps, Thursday night: Skeeps (though Rick’s is getting increasingly popular due to their weekly Ladies Nights…), Friday night: Rick’s. Saturday post-gameday: Skeeps.
Everyone has the same idea, and we all get annoyed when those lines are longer the lines outside Target on the midnight before Black Friday. But did you ever think of what it was like on the administrative side of those lines? Here’s an interview with a Rick’s bouncer, Jon Bain, for a bit of a different perspective on the Rick’s line.
Her Campus: How long have you been working at Rick’s?
Jon Bain: 11 months
HC: What made you want to be a bouncer or work at Rick’s?
JB: I needed to make money at school because I pay for a lot of my own stuff. I heard it was pretty lucrative in hours and tips–and it has been.
HC: Are you a student?
JB: Yeah, I’m a junior in the Ross School of Business.
HC: What’s the training process like?
JB: Bouncers have different positions. For IDs/door guys, training usually comes from looking at fakes of friends in the beginning and someone who already knows fakes will tell you what to look for and little tricks. I would say this takes the longest amount of time and happens over a long period of time. Other door guys take cover and handle complaints or questions. For the line men, there is no training – we just make sure people don’t cut and find a way to not be mean about making them wait in the line. Bar service doesn’t really have training but it takes awhile to get right. You basically have to learn when to bring side and back bar cups, ice, and more alcohol. Bouncers don’t get to do this really unless they’ve been there for a while. Most new guys only clean up cups and watch out for issues with customers or do the line.
HC: Do you actually care when people cut the line?
JB: I mean, yeah. We get in trouble if we just let it happen and people behind them can get mad, which is annoying for us.
HC: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen in line at Rick’s?
JB: The line usually isn’t that crazy. Most of crazy stuff happens on the inside or outside at the end of the night.
HC: Have you ever seen or had to break up a fight outside of Rick’s?
JB: Yeah–usually it’s just an individual who we deem unsafe to themselves or other patrons. They can get aggressive with us but it’s not a fight, more of us just restraining and guiding them out or carrying them in super bad situations. Our goal is always to keep people safe and happy.
Other times, fights start when we aren’t involved and we have to step in. I’ve gotten punched once and that was when athletes from a different university started a brawl. One of the fighters’ arms got loose as all the bouncers who were not working at the door got him out along with his friends. I’ve seen other bouncers get choked or hit, but we usually don’t have to worry about it.
The worst experience I’ve ever had though was breaking up a brutal fight at 2:05 in the alley. It was between a pro hockey Michigan alumni and some other alumni and random guys. The hockey player was covered in blood on the ground as a couple guys hit him in the face and others fought around him. I had to run into the middle of it and scream at everyone to stop being idiots and they all kind of separated. I called 911 and the guy got help.
HC: What’s the longest you’ve ever seen the line go until? How long was the wait for that?
JB: I don’t know, really long. I can’t really count. The line goes all the way down the parking garage sometimes.
HC: Do you have to wait in line when you want to go out there?
JB: Nope, and I get a plus two!
HC: Where’s your favorite place to go out in Ann Arbor?
JB: Rick’s, 100%!
Photo courtesy of http://3.bp.blogspot.com.