If a bouncer makes me wait without due civility, if he lets someone in before me from farther back in the queue — if he generally annoys me in any other way, I will leave and go to another bar. These guys are the face of the bar. They represent the handshake between being outside and inside the bar. Yet, for some reason, owners and customers alike endure far more from bouncers than should be tolerated. Okay, they have a job to do, but their job, more than almost any other factor, dictates what impression of the establishment you will leave with.

A good bouncer will not make his presence unduly felt. A good bouncer will, if required to check for age or make you wait, tactfully word it, maybe involve you in an inclusive joke, an apology even, and generally appear affable and sided with you. If I see people slipping money to a bouncer, and him accepting it, it casts huge doubts as to just what the bouncer is willing to do - or not do, as the case may be - with a little cash incentive. Afterall, my well-being is to some extent in his charge.