After campus shuts down, and students begrudgingly bundle up and begin the walk home from their evening classes, there are people who are just getting ready to start their work day. The Varsity interviewed two students whose jobs reveal both the excitement and the drudgery that comes with working at night: Matthew Wall, a bar back at an infamous Toronto nightclub, and Johnathan Warna, who works as a front-desk attendant at Woodsworth College Residence. They revealed why they do what they do, when no one else wants to do it.
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I spoke with Matthew Wall to see why he spends his weekend evenings carrying a bus bin on his head. An Anthropology and Sociology student, in his graduating year, Wall is taking full advantage of his nocturnal sleep schedule and workinga very different 9–5.
Matthew Wall - Photo by DAN SELJAK/THE VARSITY
The Varsity
What is the nature of your job, when does it start and when does it end?
Matthew Wall
I work as a bar-back at a nightclub in the Queen and Bathurst neighbourhood — I am essentially a bartender’s assistant, setting up and stripping down the bar as well as assisting them in their duties throughout the night. My shift typically starts at 9 pm and ends at 3.30 in the morning.
The Varsity
It seems as though people who work late night-hours mostly complain that drunk people cause the majority of problems. Is there anything else about your job that makes it different from people who work in the daytime?
Matthew Wall
I usually work only Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving me the rest of the week for school and other pursuits, which I appreciate, however, my social life suffers as I head to work when most people are attempting to distance themselves from it.
The Varsity
What is your sleep schedule like?
Matthew Wall
Erratic at best, but this is an issue that I’ve always struggled with. Starting my workday at 9 pm as opposed to 9 am is a lot easier for me, but perhaps this is just an issue of discipline.
The Varsity
It is hard to maintain relationships considering your work schedule?
Matthew Wall
It hasn’t ever presented itself as an issue, there are times at which I have regretted not being able to join friends on nights out but it has never been a major impediment.
The Varsity
Do you think you get a different experience of the city than someone who works 9–5?
Matthew Wall
My experience of Toronto through the lens of the hospitality industry would probably be unsettling to most people — I have dealt with a variety of bodily emissions, violent customers and some of the strangest co-workers imaginable. Standing on the other side of the fence gives you some cold, clinical detachment in the analysis of human behavior in the club space. I think I also get a rare glance at the layers of veneer that hospitality spaces maintain — plush curtains and lavishly decorated booths serve to cover up leaking pipes, broken dishwashers and malfunctioning ice machines.
The Varsity
Does it give you an edge in school? Why or why not?
Matthew Wall
To some extent, I think it does, as I am able to work to pay rent, bills, and for food working three nights a week, I am, however, not an especially diligent student as it is.
The Varsity
If you could make the same money working 9–5, would you? Why or why not?
Matthew Wall
If this means working a workweek 9–5 for the same money I make in three night shifts, absolutely not. Free weeks allows me to work on projects in a continuous manner, the spare time is worth the cost to my sense of self-respect.
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I arrive at Woodsworth College Residence at noon on a sunny Tuesday afternoon to sit down with the well-dressed Johnathan Warda, and ask him about his time minding the front desk of Woodsworth at a very different time of the day. Warda supports his studies in History and Employment Relations by spending many of his nights and very early mornings tending to wild first-year students.
Johnathan Warna - Photo by BERNARDA GOSPIC/THE VARSITY
The Varsity:
What are your shifts like?
Johnathan Warna
We usually work three or four shifts a week. Security shifts from 7–11 pm, 11 pm–3 am, 12–4 am, 4–8 am. Those are what we call the hell shifts.
The Varsity
So what is the one story you tell all your friends at parties about your job?
Johnathan Warna
The first year froshees, who come in drunk out of their mind, take half an hour to try and convince you that they aren’t drunk. That definitely keeps the night entertaining. They always tell us not to tell their moms or their profs that they were drunk… It’s cute when they think, like high school, that the administration cares what you do in your free time.
The Varsity
Have you had any nightmares dealing with people?
Johnathan Warna
There’s a lot of traffic from the street at this residence location. During the Olympics once this lady walked in, and she asked me why the government was watching her. She kept going on then called me a Communist. There was another man who walked into the building and kept staring at me and telling my female colleague how nice she was. He kept trying to make me push him, he said that he would really enjoy it if I pushed him out. It’s creepy when you’re in the situation, but afterwards we always laugh.
The Varsity
At that point did you actually feel threatened?
Johnathan Warna
I didn’t personally, I was more so feeling protective of her [Warna’s female colleague]. We were calling campus police non-emergency, and it took over 15 minutes to get through. I just kept saying “the cops are coming” and he looked at me knowing they didn’t get the line yet. Then we called the actual emergency line and it took them a few minutes to pick up as well.
The Varsity
What is your sleep schedule like? Is it hard to switch back and forth? Does it affect your personal/social life?
Johnathan Warna
It definitely does because we don’t have a set schedule, it’s not even rotating, it’s different all the time based on peoples’ changing availabilities. Then midterms and exams change things a lot too. Some weeks are worse than others, and it makes it difficult planning things. For example, if I want to go out on Saturday, but I have to work 4–8 am on Sunday. It’s not really realistic to go out and stay up for it.
The Varsity
Do you enjoy working at night?
Johnathan Warna
Its a simple job, you get to see a lot of people coming in and out, and its not demanding so you can do school work. But sometimes I feel like it would be nice to have a work study job with a more flexible schedule.
The Varsity
Do you feel like you get to see different version of campus?
Johnathan Warna
For the first two years I lived on campus and my job was in my basement. But now that I’ve moved, if I am leaving work at night its interesting to see students in a totally different mental space. You see people with their big backpacks who are commuting. It’s more than just kids getting drunk between residences.
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Whether the benefit is financial, time-management, convenience, or simply the nature of the job, people who make a living while you are dreaming seem to have one thing in common: they don’t mind staying awake, listening to the quiet of the city, and seeing the best walks of shame available on our beloved streets. They get to see a world we either don’t see at all, or forget the next morning when the headache fully sets in. So, next time you run into a cabby, bar-back, night patrol, or 24-hour attendant, wave to them and smile, because they see you and the city at times generally reserved for faint memories.
