"Oh, None of our guests are like that......"

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd put this one out there....

The whole customer meeting thing - I try to cover everything during the hour I have with them regarding their function and one of the things I mention towards the end of the meeting (rightly or wrongly?) is the fact that week in, week out I / We / Us lot...go into the unknown really.
Usually whenever you go to a club or bar where there is music and alcohol there will be door staff. In our situations there aren't door staff 99.999% of the time and therefore we are on our own. We don't know what the guests are like once they've had a few sherberts inside them.

I guess if you kept thinking about it all the time you'd be a nervous wreck wondering what could happen. I don't tend to worry at all and I always ask for the Best Man's name or someone else who I can not only co-ordinate with (first dance is running late, let the DJ know type of thing) but also use them as a 'go to' should I need them to have a word with someone etc...

9 times out of 10 the staff in a hotel will disappear once they've done their bit (in my experience anyway).

I've heard of lots of horror stories over the years and I have read somewhere on one of the forums a few years ago (possibly this one?) where things have got nasty at weddings for one reason or another. The DJ has feared for his safety and things have gone boobies up!

Hence the title of this thread - When I explain this during the meetings (not the horror stories I might add), the customers will always say "Oh, none of our guests are like that...." and they are usually right.....HOWEVER I have had a couple of instances over the years (they are VERY rare) where I have had to use that 'go to' because if I hadn't, things may have escalated....

Have you ever had any examples where someone has pushed it, taken things a bit far etc?
What did you do about it?

As I said, I don't tend to get any problems but I have had a couple of instances which I'll mention below. I am not 6ft 7in and built like a brick outhouse. I can look after myself but should you really have to go into work as we do ready and prepared for any trouble?

The first example was a wedding a few years ago at a lovely venue for a really nice couple who'd travelled down from London with their guests for an 'Alternative' wedding.
(Don't worry, I'll cut it short).... Everything was going really well during the evening. Guests were loving it and all into it........apart from one guy. First of all he came over with a half full (or half empty?) pint of lager. He leant over the decks so I did the usual and asked him to come round to the side. He gave me a dirty look and when I leant over to ask him what he was after he said "What's with the attitude?".... I was confused, told him there was no attitude and asked him again what he was after.... He shouted at me and swore saying "You haven't :Censored:played YMCA yet....sort it out!" - I told him I didn't appreciate being sworn at and then showed him my DJ sheet which said clearly "No Cheese".... He stormed off ranting and raving.
About 10 minutes later he came over again and once again shouted at me. The Groom was stood up against the wall nearby as he was knackered and hot and sweaty from dancing to almost every song. He asked if I was ok and I nodded and told him not to worry about me. The YMCA guy was in my face quite a lot as the dance floor was packed out. I remember that he had a pint glass in his hand that was nearly empty and Reef - Place Your Hands was blaring out to a packed dance floor. He went and barged his way into the middle of it and started singing "Y M C A" really loudly. He looked like a proper idiot and he raised his hands in the air and the remains of his beer splattered over people. Nobody was impressed. I saw the Groom leg it on the dance floor and grab him by the neck and 'escort' him towards the exit doors with some others. He wasn't allowed back in the venue. The bloke was an idiot but it got me thinking afterwards how easily he could have (a) ruined the equipment with his beer and (b) ruined me with the glass..... quite worrying.

The second example (and thankfully there aren't any others that I can recall) was again at another wedding.
Again the Groom and some others had to kick someone out because of their actions. On this occasion the guy was the Groom's best friend and best man!!!
He was absolutely bladdered and found it hilarious trying to use the speaker stands with my (new at the time) Mackies on top as poles to pole dance. I remember looking up and seeing the one nearest me heading towards the floor. It was a guy who was dancing that grabbed it and saved it from being ruined. I thanked him as the drunk guy stood there laughing in my face. He also swore at me and as soon as I was back behind the decks he was back doing it again. If I remember rightly he was a fireman like the Groom.... I actually joked afterwards to the Groom as the guy was outside the venue on the floor covered in his own sick that how would he like it if I kept sliding up and down his pole and then did a massive OOPS! that sounds very dodgy!

Again, the bloke was chucked out as he simply couldn't be trusted. That was after he'd tried to get at me for some reason?
On both the occasions above the customers couldn't apologise enough.
When they say "None of our guests are like that...." I think "I hope not but do you really know your guests that well?"

So, over to you.... epic over!

[Nakatomi]

Wow I don't think I've ever met anyone quite as keen to hear YMCA!

Earlier in the year I had one guy give me a really hard time - he'd been tanked up from the start of the wedding, being overly matey with the manager, the DM, the other staff - and later he turned his attention to me. He was a bit of a fan of Fuse ODG (Fuze? meh) - in that he'd have been happy to have every track by that artist one after the other. I managed to placate him initially by working one in, but he kept coming back, and back even wanting the same tune again in the space of half an hour. I put my foot down nicely & he went away. When he eventually came back he put both arms around my laptop & started staring at me. Right, that was it. I almost snapped but managed to get him off my gear. I'm not having anybody threaten to take the show down on a whim. He got bored winding me up & started on the wedding guests. It all came to a head when he harassed the bride. She had a quiet word with somebody, who I shortly afterwards saw having a slightly less quiet word with him & he was a pussycat after that.

The only other time that springs to mind was a bride's mother who introduced herself when I arrived by saying "Ah, you de dj den? Ye better make sure ya play loads of :Censored: 70s then or I'll set the :Censored: IRA onto ya". Charmed, I'm sure.

Aside from mobile gigs, I used to get serious threats for not following people's musical whims on a regular basis when I was a club DJ. Easy to think 'just get a doorman to chuck em out' - except when the idiot IS one of the doormen.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

The club work was / is a totally different story mate. Seeing as you mention it though......I did have an incident (one of many unfortunately) that stands out big time, head and shoulders above anything else and I'll never forget it.
I was DJing at an Alternative night slap bang in the centre of town. It was a free entry night but obviously a specific genre of music and seeing as there was a Yates's bar opposite and a few other bars of that type in the same area playing totally different music, we were pretty much full of people week in, week out that loved the music. It was very rare that you'd get someone venture in purposely to cause trouble. I knew the doorstaff very well. One of them was actually a long time friend of mine (still is).

I know I should remember the year but I try to forget it. It may have been 2007 but it was the year that Liverpool beat my beloved West Ham in the FA Cup final. I'd watched it during the day and thought "Sod it" and went out to DJ that evening in my West Ham top. Hindsight tells me that it was a bad move but I was proud of my team seeing as we were the underdogs and we'd done well (not well enough!).

Anyway, it was at some point in the night when a rather large bloke came over to the DJ booth. I was elevated so I always had to lean down to hear what people were asking for. I did the same for him as I thought he was requesting a song but he wasn't. He shouted some expletives in my ear about me and West Ham and as I pulled away from him he went to punch me. I dodged him and moved back. He opened up his jacket and underneath was a Man Utd top. I couldn't understand why he had a problem at all but he did. Within seconds the door staff were on the case and 'escorted' him out of the venue. Unfortunately (for him!), one of the doormen was a bit of a hot head and loved his job more than anything in the world or so it seemed so if there was any opportunity for him to give someone a bit of a pasting, he'd take advantage of it (even though we all know that it is supposed to be restrain and not kick the crap out of the punters).

That shook me up a bit and for weeks after the doorman who was my mate stood by the DJ booth to keep a close eye on things.

[ckpr2]

Its part of the job having to deal with drunks or people getting brave after a pint or two.

I had a woman screaming at me one night because I didn't have her favourite Lilly Allen track.
She just went on all night about it shouting abuse.
On one side of the room they kept shouting "turn it up"
On the other side I got complaints about the noise upsetting hearing aids !

Had lads fighting and knocking one of my speakers over.

I just try not to escalate matters by being nasty.
"Sorry but I don't have the song you want but I have thousands of other tracks you can choose from."

Keith Richards has the best idea, if they jump on the stage hit them with your guitar !

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Its rare but happens.

Once in the bad old days of pub agency work bottles started flying by 9 o clock. I packed my stuff up, left and phoned my boss on the way hone to say I was never playing their again.


A month or so ago I was booked for a fundraiser which I soon realised was probably an 18th, gigs that I never usually touch.

One little prat who's gone to the whole effort of wearing a t shirt and trainers wouldn't stop hassling me for some :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored: he wanted played. He got disrespectful to the point I cut the tunes and asked the bouncers ( a wee hint that I'd clearly been booked for an 18th) to come and remove someone within the next 60 seconds or I was packing up then cracked on.

They dragged him away and all was good until the "fundraisers" dad came over all apologetic asking if the lad could stay. I explained what had happened and that I wasn't going to be mugged off by some little dick who shouldn't legally be in the venue but agreed to carry on with him in the venue if he kept his distance.

5-10 minutes later he made towards my booth, I shook my head and pointed to the bouncers but he held out his hand and looked apologetic.

I went to shake it and he swiped it away then turned to his pals to show off.

Music cut - "wee man if you wanted to your bed early you could have got me to phone your mum to get you a lift home - door, get him out of here"

Johnny bawbag was unceremoniously chucked while his peers laughed at him - I spend my 9-5 trading banter and insults with high school kids, it's going to take someone of a higher calibre to get the last laugh on me at a gig.

[Corabar Steve]

I once got surrounded by a bunch of underwear showing, baseball cap wearing (& this was their staff Christmas party, no effort made at all) Asian lads demanding R&B, when it clearly wasn't having a good effect on the dancefloor (a lot of the guests were 50+). They got quite intimidating. I responded by saying I did quite a lot of work for various Motorcycle clubs, including the Outcasts & Middlesex HA & it was going to take a lot more than a bunch of wannabe gangstas to intimidate me. I told them they were welcome to keep standing there if they wanted, as long as they didn't get in my way, but they'd probably have a lot more fun if they went to the bar & enjoyed what I was playing, which would include some of what they wanted, but wouldn't be dominated by it.

No bother the rest of the night & I played a grand total of about 2 R&B tracks.

Just remembered another.

At a pub residency, this bloke was getting right in my face about the music (it was what I played every week in the venue & was very mixed). It got to the point he said that he's "do me" at the end of the night. I saw red & said something along the lines of why wait, let's go now, & headed for the door closely followed by the numpty. When we got outside I turned to the doorman (who was also a mate of mine) & said "Keep this little turd out, he's giving me grief" never saw him again.

[ukpartydj]

I don't tend to get many violent threats and when I do they don't really bother me, usually because they are pathetic and I doubt their ability to be able to do what they threaten.
Only the once I felt a little worried, when a well built Irish (and obviously quite drunk already) man type came over and said "play this song next for my sister (the bride)" about 10 mins after I set up. I was a little baffled by his attitude (especially so early on), I had no issues playing the song soon as it fitted well enough but I decided to play another track before his track as I didn't want him to think he could get his way straight away all night. Of course he comes back shouting at me, leans over and puts his hand on my shoulder and offers some voilent threat if I don't comply. I was obvouisly feeling brave as I told him not to speak to me like that and if he was to ask nicely I wouldn't have an issue. The Groom notices the issue and asks me politely once he walked away if I could just play whatever he wants at any point to keep him happy. I got the feeling he wasn't very keen on him either.


At a pub residency, this bloke was getting right in my face about the music (it was what I played every week in the venue & was very mixed). It got to the point he said that he's "do me" at the end of the night. I saw red & said something along the lines of why wait, let's go now, & headed for the door closely followed by the numpty. When we got outside I turned to the doorman (who was also a mate of mine) & said "Keep this little turd out, he's giving me grief" never saw him again.

I once had a man of around my age say he'd "do me" at the end of the night.
Nothing like your bloke though! This one wasn't at all angry, had no complaints about the music, in fact he seemed very interested in my job, softly spoken and seemed very friendly...