{"id":171,"date":"2018-07-27T10:30:09","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T10:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.get-licensed.co.uk\/licensed-life\/?p=171"},"modified":"2025-05-07T10:22:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T10:22:36","slug":"johnathan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.get-licensed.co.uk\/get-daily\/johnathan\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnathan – \u201cMy doorman days were memorable…\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

People often ask, ‘is what I do dangerous?’ And I tell them, ‘depends on the postcode.’<\/p>\n

I believe certain areas attract certain types of people. Like, the rougher the neighbourhood, the higher the chance of trouble. But it\u2019s people\u2019s actions that can tarnish a town\u2019s name, not the other way around. People are always saying stuff like, \u2018Lewisham is rough, or that they wouldn\u2019t be seen dead walking the streets of Tottenham late at night.\u2019 But everyone seems to forget that an area is only as bad as the people who live there. The same can be said of Croydon. Sure, it\u2019s hardly the safest place on Earth and it frequently grabs the headlines, but it\u2019s also my place of work and the area I grew up.<\/p>\n

a lot of my friends would rock up outside and assume I could get them in<\/h2>\n

Before working in security, I had a job in retail, working as a sales assistant.<\/b> I did it full-time to keep my head above water. I\u2019m a father of two adorable kids who like to have all the latest things, and while I did my best to give them everything they wanted, I realised how overworked I was and craved fulfilment. For a while I felt a growing desire to do something different, to challenge myself both mentally and physically. I decided then, a job in security would be it.<\/p>\n

I chose not to quit my retail job at the time because I didn\u2019t know how things would pan out. So, I started out working just two nights a week over the weekend. It was tiring juggling two jobs, but well worth the investment.<\/p>\n

My first gig was a pub in Putney, south-west London. I worked on the doors and often witnessed many fights. The venue boasted a humongous LCD 98\u201d TV screen that would showcase all major sporting events. This, inevitably, would attract many die-hard sports fanatics and on some of the busiest nights, the place would get jam-packed. I remember, around the time I started working there, a lot of my friends would rock up outside and assume I could get them in and serve them free drinks! I\u2019d jokingly turn them away and tell them to get lost.<\/p>\n

Unlike most jobs I had worked up until then, door work proved the most unpredictable. Some nights I would break up fights, others, I\u2019d guide punters safely into the backseat of cabs, to ensure they got home in one piece.<\/p>\n

I felt a responsibility to help those around me, and I became the eyes and ears of my surroundings, forever watching, forever vigilant. But as with any job, complications would arise. One night, for instance, there had been a major rugby game playing and a group of ex-rugby players, the size of ogres, started getting rowdy and kicked up a fuss.<\/p>\n

Tables were overturned, and bottles started flying everywhere. The crazy thing is, while all this chaos was unfolding, I was completely unaware. My back was turned and the radio in my ear had stopped working. Next thing I knew, I felt something hard shatter against the back of my head. When I turned, I saw the shocked faces of my colleague\u2019s rush towards me with concern.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, I was fine. I had inflicted a gash just above my neck that needed stitches, nothing more. I wasn\u2019t concussed or anything. But when I touched my wound and saw how bloody my hand was after, it dawned on me how lucky I was. My boss insisted that I go home or at the very least get my head checked out at the A and E, but instead I settled for running it under a cold tap and \u2018firmed it\u2019 as they say in cockney slang.<\/p>\n

My doorman days were memorable, but I\u2019ve since settled for a slower pace of life<\/b>. I have gone full circle now. I\u2019m back where I started, only this time not working as a sales assistant, but\u00a0working as a security guard<\/a>\u00a0instead. I still work in Croydon<\/b> and yes, the job can be dangerous at times. But I think no matter where you find yourself, doing a job like this, there will always be risk, no matter the area. The fact is, humans are unpredictable and where there are humans, there is always potential threat.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re like time-bombs in a way, slowly ticking away, and I like to think I\u2019m there at the ready when the time comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tiring juggling two jobs, but well worth the investment\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People often ask, ‘is what I do dangerous?’ And I tell them, ‘depends on the postcode.’ I believe certain areas attract certain types of people. Like, the rougher the neighbourhood, the higher the chance of trouble. But it\u2019s people\u2019s actions that can tarnish a town\u2019s name, not the other way around. People are always saying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-licensed-life"],"yoast_head":"\nJohnathan - \u201cMy doorman days were memorable...\u201d - Get Licensed Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Real People | Real Stories - Read about Johnathan's journey as a Door Supervisor and how getting his SIA licence was the best thing he ever did.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.get-licensed.co.uk\/get-daily\/johnathan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Johnathan - 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