George Bass, a full-time security guard, chronicles his frontline experiences in his book, "What The Bouncer Saw." The memoir offers a candid look at the incidents he encounters while protecting students and patrons from themselves and others, often in a university setting.
Bass describes a life characterized by rough-and-ready humor, a coping mechanism for the often-difficult situations he faces. He notes that violence is seen as a failure by security guards, with de-escalation through conversation being the preferred approach. However, the book also recounts instances of aggression and intoxication, such as a student who became enraged when asked to move a car parked illegally.
Incidents detailed in the book range from students engaging in disruptive parties to more serious situations requiring medical attention. Bass recounts responding to a flat where a student had fallen and knocked herself unconscious after a night of drinking. He also describes intervening in a drunken altercation between two students in their room, providing water and guiding one to a taxi rank.
The memoir highlights the unique jargon used by security personnel, with Bass finding the term "horizontals" particularly illustrative of the situations they attend. He also shares an anecdote about a student threatening a guard with violence, only to discover the guard was from the same area the student claimed to be summoning help from. The student subsequently complied and turned down his music.
Bass's work, detailed in his book published by Corsair, provides a stark contrast to more conventionally themed literature, offering a raw and incident-packed perspective from a profession that operates at the fringes of everyday life. The book is priced at £22 and contains 304 pages.