Usually you would need a reasonable fear of physical harm to make that case if hands aren't being thrown. One thing I learned quickly from years of kickboxing was when you're safe vs when you're not. So I would never allow an angry patron within a cheap shot range of my face. Being 6'4 my reach was farther than most, so if I was in an argument I would stand back farther than my own reach. If they tried to close the gap I would literally stiff arm them in the chest and ask them not to come closer to me. If I could take a step back I usually would. It's all about deescalation in that job, and a lot of bouncers think they'll just get to fuck people up and want that instead. That's the difference in professional club security and some bullshit bouncer.
Also a big concern outside was I was always armed. Dealing with the rap community we had tons of gang and drug activity in the club, and several shooting incidents in the parking lot. So if I was working inside, I would leave my firearm in my locker, but outside I carried concealed. I can specifically remember this time two guys tried to jump me because I stopped one of them from pissing on my door. I ended up backed into the staircase to funnel them and had to draw my weapon. I yelled that if they didn't back up I was going to pop them and they ran off. The last thing you want is to be in a physical altercation when you have a weapon on you. If it slips out of the holster or someone gets a hold of it, then big problems for everyone are about to happen.
Tons of big brawls on the inside. Tons of shooting and stabbings on the outside. Several coworkers were shot at, a few killed, and tons of injuries. I'm very much glad to be out of that life now.
