May Week is incredible. It’s also damned expensive, which is why working at balls can be a lifesaver. The average ball costs £130. This goes up to £150 for the likes of Magdalene and John’s, and even if you have the money unless you’ve got the connections, honey, you ain’t getting a ticket.  Security at balls is tough. The perimeters are closely watched, wristbands cut off and removed when a guest leaves the ball early and some colleges even paint the walls with green paint that stains would-be crashers’ clothes. Unless you’re a nightclimber or good friends with a security guy, you’re probably not getting in. As a guest at least. If you’ve missed the proverbial boat, trying out as a worker could be the way forward.

Every ball has its own system for workers, but as a general rule the duties fall into six different categories: food and drink, security, ents, general, set up and clear up. Prepare yourself for a less than ideal task however. Last year at John’s a friend was delighted to be assigned to the Shakeaway stand only to spend the night washing up used glasses. Conversely, having accepted the same job title, I had a great time serving Baileys to drunk ball guests. You can’t be proud if you’re going to work a ball. The jobs can be dull, the guests rude and the shifts long. You’re likely to have attended a ball the night before and working through the night is testing.

A tip from those who’ve worked before is to read the small print. Not all balls allow workers to attend as guests. At Queens’ workers have to spend their breaks in a designated area, away from the ball. Jesus is no longer operating a policy that allows workers to attend the ball for the part of the night they are not working. However, there are still some balls which allow you to attend as a guest. This may be on a half-on, half-off basis. For instance last year at John’s, workers worked for two hours, then had two hours off and were free to enjoy the ball, alcohol consumption excluded. No pay, but attending the ball in that capacity was effectively your pay packet. Others have two shifts for workers, and you only work one of them, enjoying the ball as a guest for the other. Again, those working the second half of the ball won’t be able to drink and note that some balls, notably Clare and King’s, don’t allow second-half workers to attend the ball during their first half. They will instead get paid for their second-half shift. It’s up to you what you would prefer to do, but is worth thinking about. What you want to do may depend on the ball itself. Some, like King’s Affair, are incredible to go to as a guest, but as a worker you can’t drink. If you’re attending the second half of the Affair, it is worth bearing in mind that the decorations aren’t as good as other balls and King’s isn’t known for good food. Whereas if you have half an evening at Clare you get to see a beautifully decorated college, and if you’re at Trinity you get the pick of some excellent cuisine.

Second part of the small print relates to money. If you just want to get paid, then Emma may be the best way forward, offering £6 per hour. Not all balls have released information on workers’ pay yet, but bar workers do 30p an hour better than set up workers  at King’s, and if you want to work and not attend a ball, choose Jesus over John’s to earn an extra £25. Checking these finer details is a good plan before signing yourself up to anything. Something else to remember is the deposit. The amount on the signed cheques you have to hand over varies per ball, as does the circumstances in which those cheques will be cashed. So double-check this to avoid a nasty surprise.

The final official bit: the finer details of what you’ve agreed to actually do. Some balls like breaks more than others do. Queens’ gives you two hours of breaks in a twelve hour shift; Jesus allows you two thirty minute breaks in a nine hour shift. Lastly, check your call time. John’s workers last year had to be there at 5.30pm so the college could be turned into a fortress with you on the inside. Jesus expects workers to be there at 6pm for shifts starting at 8pm.

From previous ball workers the consensus is that the more organised the ball, the better it is to work. Where ball committees hired too many workers, people found themselves with ‘non-jobs’ for hours on end. If organisation isn’t up to scratch, you’re the one left to deal with angry may ball guests. Sidney might have made a canal last year but behind the scenes things weren’t nearly so pretty. Food began to run out before midnight and the tea and coffee stall ran out of tea, milk, sugar and, at one point, electricity. To replenish these rather essential elements the committee member with the key to the refrigerated truck had to be tracked down. He had a tendency to wander off and no one ever knew where he was. One girl I spoke to was on the bar at King’s Affair at 3am when the alcohol ran out. Compare this to John’s, where upon the dropping of a tray of glasses, the ‘emergency response team’ was immediately radioed and everything sorted out within minutes. These are the kind of things that can make all the difference to your night.

Warnings aside, working a may ball is a fantastic way of seeing it without coughing up enough to put a deposit on a house and can be a lot of fun, so get applying. Quickly, as application dates are passing as we speak.

ESSENTIAL INFO

 

FRIDAY

Robinson

Half-on, half-off

Set up: paid

 

SATURDAY

Hughes Hall

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SUNDAY

Emma : Work during: 2 shifts- 8-1, 1-6. Half-on, half-off

Set up: 10am-4pm, 3pm-7pm. Clear up: 6am-10am. Both £6/hour

 

MONDAY

Clare

Can work first half and attend second; cannot attend first and work second

Jesus

Workers cannot attend ball. £65 for entire ball work – 8pm-5am

2 x £75 deposit cheques

During: 8pm-5am (must arrive 6pm), pay £65. Two 30min breaks included

Still open!

Trinity

No more worker spaces

 

TUESDAY

Downing

Half-on, half-off possible

Recruitment closes 20th Feb

Queens’

During: 7pm-7am. Two hours of breaks. Paid £75. Must spend breaks in designated workers’ area

Set Up: £5.80/hour

Clear Up: £35

John’s

Complicated. Basically a ‘right to buy’ system

During: 2 shifts – 8pm-2am, or 2.30am-7.30am. Can purchase ticket for £85 and attend one half of ball. If you don’t want to attend, pay is £40 for first half and £50 for second half. Second-half workers must attend a meeting at 8pm

Set Up: 8am-3pm, or 3pm-8pm, both including a one-hour break. Option to buy a ticket for £125, or payment of £40 for either shift

Clear Up: 6.30 am-noon, for £40 payment

 

WEDNESDAY

King’s Affair

During: two shifts – 9pm-1am, 1am-5am, including two 20 minute breaks. Fire wardens paid £5.40 per hour, bar workers £5.70 per hour. Workers can work first shift and attend second; not possible to work second and attend first

Clear Up: 5am-8am, paid £5.40/hour

Magdalene

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Pembroke

Can’t attend. 2 x £110 deposit cheques

Trinity Hall June Event

Half-on, half-off.  (3 hours work, 3 hours free)

Set up: 9am-noon, noon-3pm

Clean up possible: £40 for 4 hours work, option to extend to £10 per hour if see fit

 

THURSDAY

Homerton

Workers section ‘coming soon’

 

FRIDAY

Corpus Christi

During: 5 hour shifts, two lots. Competitive rate of pay. Potential to have half-on, half-off

Clean Up: half-on, half-off plus an extra £25

St Edmund’s

Shifts during: 6pm-8am. Half-on, half-off, or payment.

Set Up: 8am-5pm.

Clear Up: 7am-noon (can’t attend ball before)

Wolfson June Event

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BEST DEALS

Pay per hour: Tit Hall clear up: £40 for 4 hours work, option to extend for £10/hour if necessary

Shortest shift (‘during ball’ work): Tit Hall, 3 hours on, 3 hours off

Most breaks: Queens’ and King’s both work out at 10 minutes off for every hour worked. Queens’ have a 12-hour shift with two hours of breaks; King’s has a four hour shift with forty minutes off

Getting in: John’s. Not worth it for the money, but effectively a ‘right to buy’ system

Attending the ball: King’s, 4 hours work, 1am + free to enjoy as a guest

Quick money: King’s clean up, only 3 hours (5am-8am). However, only £5.40 per hour.

Scariest deposit: Pembroke, 2 x £110 cheques.

Best set up: Emma, £6 per hour.

Best during ball pay: Queens’, works out at £7.50 per hour, though you will be there for 12 hours in total and see none of the ball.

Worth working to see the ball: Clare and John’s

Worth working for the food: John’s, Trinity and Magdalene

Can’t attend ball at all: Jesus, Pembroke, Queens’

Half-on, half-off: Robinson, Emma, Downing, Tit Hall, Corpus, St Edmund’s

Work first half, attend second (not vice versa): Clare, King’s