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I've been hosting karaoke at this bar on a Friday for 2 years now. When I started they were very slow and karaoke has pretty much taken them from <$200 nights to $600-$1100 nights. Now I don't consider the bar rough but I suppose it can be... There seem to be a couple of really bad fights a year with one last year ending in the cemetery (that's Darwin for you). I know of two other occasions when people have been beaten really badly.

This past Friday was a strange night, almost no regulars in the bar. A semi regular couple of girls come in (who seem to attract trouble). About a dozen non regulars who I later learned were from a less than pleasant part of town. One regular who gets too much bravado when he has too much to drink.

I saw the individual elements of this storm in the making... the girls, the strangers and then the regular announced he was really drunk. A perfect storm was created!

Sure enough there was some fight around the other side of the bar that I couldn't see, I was instructed to cut the music and the bar night was over! I kept myself to myself as any sensible person does in these situations but unfortunately my car just insisted in getting in the way! One of the strangers grabbed a flag pole and put a nice dent in the hood and fender before smashing the rear window of the car beside mine and denting the trunk.

I kind of still need the money that these two nights a week make me but this does make me question if it's worth it. The other bars I work at are far more sedate but one is still only in it's infancy for karaoke. I could get someone else to cover the show for me using my second rig but since he was hit on the back of the head with a bottle for 'trying to help stop the fight' I'm less keen for him to be associated with my equipment.

I dunno, I'd kind of like the bar to accept some partial responsibility, or do something to reduce fight potential. We talked about it after the last fights (Jan, Halloween) but not much seems to have been done. I'm using about 360 of their CDGs vs 840 of mine. They let me use their discs in my other shows too.

One problem is people know the average response time for the Sheriff and that the fight has a 99% chance of being over and everyone gone before they arrive.

What would you do.....here's my random thoughts!

Ask the bar for a raise...'danger money' if you will!
Quit the bar with notice.
Get someone else to cover the show so I still make some money.
Quit the bar with no notice so they feel my loss too.
Insist the bar make security changes (cameras with recording, improved exit routes) for my show to continue.

Body work appointment at 2pm, deductable is $500!

-Jonn

Personally if they didn't hire someone for security I'd be outa there. An old fashioned bouncer. No other option.

We used to have fights at my bar at least 2-3 times a month. The bar owner hired one of the regulars to be a door guy, and the fights stopped for the most part. All the door guy really does is check IDs and scan the bar once in a while to preemp some of the hot-heads.

The owner also found, as a side effect, that people stopped stealing bar glasses for the most part.

He pays the guy $50.00 plus a few free post-shift beers to work from 10 p.m. to 1:30 on Friday and Saturday nights, and says he saves about $30.00 a night in bar glasses, so everyone wins.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

so... $1200 in damage !

They do have a guy checking IDs and scanning the bar. The fight was over really quickly (about 30 seconds or so) but it was the ejected people who then got angry with inanimate objects outside.

I've never been on the receiving end of a bar punch, nor have I ever thrown one. Moving on to bigger and better things (venue wise) was always part of the longer term plan so I'm wondering if I should take this as a sign!

- Jonn

I had a problem with fights in the beginning. Then the bar owner hired a bouncer and put cameras through out the bar and parking lot. The problem pretty much disappeared.


I'd say if you already have bouncers and the problem still exists things aren't going to change.

Only you can decide if it's worth it to stay. I personally I would not want to stay in an enviroment where I'm worried about my equipment getting damaged, my car being damaged and possible worse, me getting damaged. But if you decide to stay I'd talk to the bar owner about paying for any damage that may occur from now on.

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I did a one nighter in a bar I'd never been to before last Fri. There was no security. No fights, but people got so rowdy that I was afraid for my gear. In my home room the offenders would have had a serious talking to from the security/door and larger bartender.

It was a reminder why I never knowingly do a room without security. I won't go back to this room.

Security at door & throughout. We have security in the parking lot as we had a rash of breakins in the beginning of the year, cameras inside & out. We rarely have any kind of trouble, and when we do, it's typically broke up within a minute or two & the instigators are 86's for 30 days, if it happens again with the same person, 60 days & after that if it happens you are history & the cops are called for trespassing!

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