Taking Drugs if you work in club or at events - whats the etiquette?

I've always assumed that the bar staff at a club/event must take something, at least speed to make it thru the night and to enjoy the night themselves . . . so i'm wondering do they??
Does anyone here work in the industry and take drugs while working?
Do you think it enhances or hinders your performance?
And whats the etiquette . . . like does the manager of the club know/encourage/condone whats going on?
Or is it kind of taboo, everyone does it but no one talks about it kind of thing - like say a line before you start and maybe one in the break??
Just wondering as i'm about to start work in this situation and kinda wanna know what my bounderies are . . .
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Let me be your light . . .

as a guy who's run a bar, and has done the lighting at many an event.... NO, unless you have to.
generally its just work, not fun. i try to keep drugs as being part of the fun part of my life, and if you are working, thats what it is; work. blur the line and you end up spoiling both.
this is just my point of view, and i'm not saying i'ma saint, i've slippe on occaisions, but that's how i feel.

i don't work in a club, but i do work in a customer service job where i'm up all night every night. my line used to be "i'm a recreational drug user, and work ain't recreation". i let that line blur for a while, and as jb said, it spoilt both the work and the recreation. so these days i'm sober at work, and out of control when i go out. i do do the occasional line when i'm really seedy, but i try not to let that happen at all. it's a last resort. so get enough rest to get you through the night, and enjoy the times when you do go out and partake in 'leisure' activities.
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I want to fly away with you,
I want to fly into your sky,
And I want to fly, away with you,
With you...

i know people in various hospitality jobs and a few of them like getting bent and the game is still being able to pull it off without giving the game away...it sounds wierd but they seem to like it and reckon its trippy hearing people say/ask for wierd things....
-Night Vigilantes...Attack!-

i work in hospitality and i've turned up to work tipsy (only a little bit) once.... bah, never again - made everything so much harder and even more unenjoyable. i've never been to work bent but there was one chef who never came to work straight. sure he could still function quite well and make damn good pizzas but whenever there was a fuck-up he'd absolutely jump down the waitresses' throat...... even tho it was usually him that has stuffed up. i haven't ever really had to need to do a line or anything before work - i try to make sure i'm not working the next day if i have a big night out. i just have a coffee, a V or maybe a sudafed (try not to take these too often..... but hey, my nose IS hell blocked atm!!)
the worst case i've seen was at a rave, dec '99 - this dude was off his head (i mean not just speeding but that too) and serving at the bar. he'd take about 3 peoples' orders, take their money then give people the wrong drinks and change. so when i asked for a bottle of water i made him serve just me so i made sure i got my water and my change.
hmmmmm, was quite amusing watching people try to sort out their fucked up drink orders and change but (IMFHO) this guy should NOT have been serving.....
bk
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.... if only i'd have found you sooner, maybe you'd have found me saner ....

At one club I went to in Melbs, the bar chick was fairly farked (I'd say on MDXX and maybe some speed, but that is just my guess). Her eyes were very dilated and she was bouncing around behind the bar all night. She was the best bar person though, all happy and bubbly, she didnt make any mistakes that I saw (not that I was really watching, just when I was at the bar waiting) and she said something nice everytime you went to buy something.
I'm not saying that I agree with staff being on anything, but on this occasion it was good. Most times the staff seem to be straight (and sometimes a little grumpy).
P.s. It was not only me that suggested this, all the other ppl I spoke to there agreed.

At tattou, my friends used to sell to the bouncers...they used to be off there heads more than the people inside. One certain bouncer that used to walk around upstairs used to be on a least half a gram of lui and coke...he used to rock, but i felt sorry for him cause its not like he could relax or go out and dance, but also the people behind the bar, you can just see they are farked...
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<<*plur4eva*>>
"*LOVE like you've never been hurt, WORK like you don't need the money and DANCE like NOBODY'S watching!*"

I don't work in hospitality myself, but I *can* say that on two occasions at Sydney's Metro, the girls with the door list have been totally fucked beyond being able to read/speak coherently.
I don't mean the ones that work for the Metro but the ones that work for the promoters. After watching them scan a page of names 6 times when you can clearly see where ur name is (upside-down and a metre away) it's like "Give me that fucking thing and let me in goddammit!!"
Anyway, at least *they* were having a good time.

If you haven't found drugs before you work in a club, you soon will after.
A lot of my friends that work in hospitality, don't do many drugs at work, but it is not uncommon to be speeding off your dial if you couldn't stay awake.
I've worked at events before (Big Day Out, Livid, etc) and everytime i have been off chops! I was only doing basic clean-up (well really i was watching bands/boiler-rooming it but telling the bosses that so i figured i was justified in my debauchery.
Personally, if i was working in a club with cool people, cool crowd, music, etc i don't think i would need drugs to work, i don't need them to go out, so i shouldn't need them to work.

I do customer service for an internet service provider, and i got to say that there is only 5 people in the whole company that don't take chems. My general manager and marketing manager rack up coke and speed all day which i think is pathetic, because they walk around thinkin they are king shit, when really there nothing.
But i gotta admit i have racked up speed at work before. It makes you wanna talk to customers and makes you more alert.. and its fun especially is your working on a Sunday Or Saturday.. where there are no managers at all.
Back to topic.. i would say alot of the staff at HOME sydney are racked up on a few drugs when they work behind the bar. Especially the grrl working behind the bar upstairs at Gatecrasher.

I'd suggest its a bad idea. Knew a bloke that was speeding at his day job - bar manager at a rugby club - ended up that he started skimming money from the till and pokies to support his "need" - I mean if u have to be on at work - when are you going to be straight - 40 hours a week smashed on the job ain't going to do much for u>

I've previously worked for a total of 10 years in various hospitality jobs. In some you come across it openly, in some its hidden, and others its just not there. It's a case by case thing I guess.
I know a story of a manager/owner of a certain Canberra nightspot so coked out of his head he was caught by the other staff out the back dancing with a mop.
Oh, and a P.S. to that story is his GF was out the front of the club wondering where he was. She wanted to dance with him, but he was happy with the mop.
Names have been removed to protect the guilty
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MDMA-4-ALL

A friend of mine was a run around at plastic in sydney.. ( casual nightclub for you guys that are out of state , bexta and the likes play there)
His main job was to grab all the empty glasses and do little errands..
He told me when he was working there that an employee would give him speedy pills to eat on the night..
I didnt really follow it up at the time because i thought of it as common practice throughout most clubs..

it's pretty accepted that alot of the bar staff do some drugs, I mean, staying up till 6am is pretty bloody hard if your not on chems and you aren't nocturnal.
Biggest thing is to keep it under control, and less is more. a little Speed would be the preferred option as you are alert, awake and happy without looking off your face

it definitely does happen, in areas throughout the hositality industry. put together a group of young, casual workers doing totally fucked up hours, and how you expect it to not occur?
shite, i work in a goddamn leagues club, and the amount of times i've either turned up to work off my head or seen others at work doing drugs is far too much to count.
you've just gotta watch yourself, because it's like the unspoken thing, best to keep it to yourself. oh, and watch out if the sniffer dogs come in, because you don't want the damn dog to sit down next to the glassie, then the bartender, then the manager and then you on the way out!

a friend of mine just started behind the bar at BAY 33 (sydney). her boss said to her on the 1st day -
"NO DRUGS ! using, dealing, anything drug related."
she told me that it does happen. but only when the barstaff are *really* exhausted. the boss's policy seems to keep it to a minimum.
tony
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is breaks, is good.

I work in a largish club three nights a week until 4am in the morning. I take drugs before work if they're around. It makes work more fun. It puts me in a better mood. The music will be cranking, I'll be happy, the patrons will be happy. I worked NY's on a point of speed, and a kelly white. I was the only one in the bar, because everyone was drinking water, everyone was on it, and I was on the same wavelength. If the customers are happy, and you haven't fucked up, then you've done your job. Normally I don't need any drugs to get high, a lot of times the music lifts me and i'm high as a kite, and everyone reckons I'm on it. Half the time I feel like I am as well. But bottom line is: happy bar staff, happy patrons. It adds to the atmosphere, which is why some clubs do better than others....atmosphere. Music, people relaxing, happy staff, all adds to the atmosphere of a place. If you've got bar staff walking around the bar with frowns on the faces all night and treating patrons like shit, then you've got a fucked club. If your bar staff are happy, smiling, and easygoing, then the atmosphere lifts, the club does better. Too many people I work with complain about the patrons, and the job they have to do. If you don't like your job, leave. But i'm off the topic aren't I? If you HAVE to take drugs to enjoy your work, then you shouldn't be there. Don't let your life be taken over by them. I enjoy my work behind bars, and I love ecstasy, sometimes I combine the two, most times not. Besides, bosses usually condemn it.

ok....just a couple of anecdotes....a good friend of mine has just started working as a glassie in a club...screwed hours like 9pm-4am or 10-6 whatever, and the manager sells all his staff goey really cheap to keep them all awake!! hmmm....
also, another friend used 2 work at a club in oxford st and it was expected that all the bar people would sell from behind the counter as well as take...
thats my 2.2c....food for thought...