WORKING -- Sean Donegan

--Story by Deepa Bharath; photo by [tk]

HE IS

Making sure people are having fun -- without getting out of control

PEOPLE SKILLS

Sean Donegan has worked in a bar since he turned 21. He knows he is

not like other bouncers, not big enough to intimidate, at 6 feet and 175

pounds.

“That’s why I use my brain more than I use brawn,” said the

33-year-old Newport Beach resident, who works as a part-time bouncer and

bartender at Class of 47, a bar near the Balboa Fun Zone.

“I try to talk to people and reason with them,” he said. “Some people

actually listen.”

While it is human interaction that attracted Donegan to his part-time

avocation, handling people is also the tricky part of the job, he said.

“It’s something you learn on a trial-and-error basis,” he said. “You

also learn a lot from experience and sometimes, no matter how much

experience you have, you can still make mistakes. I am human after all.”

OUTSMARTING FAKE IDs

After more than nine years of tending bar and working as a bouncer,

Donegan has seen a lot. But nothing has changed as much as the technology

of manufacturing fake identification cards, he said.

“They get better every time,” Donegan said. “That is definitely the

biggest challenge I face on the job.”

Taking a three-hour class held by the Alcohol Beverage Control League

has also helped him weed out underage wannabes, he said.

Donegan learned the art of tending bar from his father. His first job

was at Tale of the Whale near the Balboa Pier.

“My first problem was with this guy who got drunk and started

harassing females,” he said. “I tried talking to him, warned him twice.

But he wouldn’t listen. So I escorted him out.”

THE ART OF INTIMIDATION

It isn’t always easy to intimidate people, Donegan said.

“You always come face to face with guys who are much bigger than you

are and can intimidate you,” he said. “There have been times I thought,

‘OK, my face is going to cave in now.’ But at times like that, you have

to think. You try to talk logically and sensibly. I even tried yelling

really loud once and got everybody’s attention.”

But the last thing Donegan wants is to get into a physical fight, he

said. His technique is defensive rather than offensive.

“I do my best to make sure I don’t manhandle people,” he said. “The

last thing I want to do is hurt people.”

When he is not working in a bar, Donegan is in the business of

installing and fixing heaters and air conditioners.

He said he enjoys working in bars because it is good money and he

enjoys communicating with people.

“It makes me feel better when I’m down and out because I meet people

worse off than me,” he said. “At the same time, when I meet someone

really happy and cheerful, that rubs off on me too.”