Working the Super Bowl - One Girl's Opinion
This past sunday, the 5th of February, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Super Bowl XL. I didn't spend thousands of dollars like others, instead, I was paid to be there. How you ask? Well, I worked security for the event.
A couple of months ago, a faculty member of Wayne State came in and said they were hiring for Security for the Detroit Lion's Home games and also for Super Bowl XL. I immediately saw my only chance to get inside Ford Field on that Sunday in February. After a few months of paperwork and missed phone calls, I finally worked a game. I worked the Lions vs. Bengals Game. It was there that I realized that I was more a body walking around than someone that they actually cared too much about. It's not that the people in charge didn't respect us... they just didn't know what to do with us. The presence of us was really all they wanted.
That game came and went and soon it was nearing time for the big event.
A week or two before the Super Bowl I had to go down for training in the morning at Ford Field. It was a long morning and a lot of it was repetitive of what I had already learned at a previous training. It was a long day and I was starving by the time I had left... a feeling that I should have gotten used to.
Let's skip ahead to the morning of the Super Bowl. They told us to get there between 7:30am and 9am in order to have time to sign in and get situated. We had to go to a parking structure at Wayne State and get shuttled down. So here's the scene. I get up and get down to Wayne around 7:20am. There is already a line of cars outside the structure. As we made our way up to the entrance, I noticed that they were having cars go in both the entrance and exit in order to speed things up. Well this was all fine and dandy, except for the fact that about 50 feet in, both cars had to merge to get up the parking structure anyway. It was pointless what they were doing, and probably took more time in the long run. So there is Line #1. Trust me, they keep coming.
I get parked and make my way downstairs to the start of the fiasco. What awaited me was Line #2. People kept cutting ahead though and I couldn't figure out whether they were in the wrong line, or if I was. Finally, we figured out that the back half of the alphabet was right at the entrance, and the beginning of the alphabet had to go in another line, or something like that.. Not clearly marked at all, but luckily I was in the right line to start off with. So that line was to get our Credential. Once we got that, after at least 30 min or so, we went into another line, which was confusing about where to start at. This line, Line #3, is where we got out assignment pass. It basically told me that I would be outside working one of the MAT entrances. These were all the entrance tents into the fenced in compound they made. I received my pass and had to go back into another line. This line, Line #4, was to get the $15 in coupons for our food for that day. Now why couldn't they have just stapled these to the assignment pass, or perhaps combined those with the credentials also? Who knows! They didn't want to do anything the easy way obviously.
Ok, so I had my food coupons in hand, now I was making my way back to the uniforms, but first it was Line #5. This was the line to get my position pass. It was basically my time card for the day. They had already assigned exactly where we would be for the day. Let me re-iterate... they had already assigned everyone where exactly they would be for that day. It was crucial because they had to have enough women in order to do the modified pat downs specifically on women.
Ok, so I had my Credential, my $15, my assignment pass and my position pass. What now? Line #6, this time to get my uniform. I received a coat, a polo shirt, both the brightest yellow that you will ever see! I swear I looked like a giant banana! Looking around, people had hats and ear warmers on, and gosh darnit, i wanted one! So I went back to the table and asked and they handed me a Super Bowl Xl Hat... sweet, free hat! But they weren't offering them up unless you asked. So really they wanted me to be outside all day without anything covering my head. Gee, Thanks guys! Glad I asked. A lot of other people weren't as lucky.
Alright, so 6 lines down, that seems like enough to me! But no... now it was time to head over to our assigned Zone. It was here that we were to meet with our (pre-determined) supervisor. Remember how I said they had already decided where we would be? Well, yeah, that all went out the window at this point. We showed up in our zone and were just randomly assigned to whatever supervisor happened to be in front of you at the time. They then assigned you to be a bag checker, in my case, or some other job that we did. OK, so more waiting around until our supervisor had his list full. Once it was, we headed over to get on the shuttles and go over to MAT #3, which is where all staff went through for the game. So out to the busses we went... and guess what? Line #7!!! This line was very long, and by this point, it was after 10am and we had been outside for just under three hours. We were already tired and cranky and hadn't even been going that long.
We finally got on the bus and my feet had almost enough time to gain the feeling back in them. Apparently the ski socks I chose to wear were not warm enough and my shoes may as well have been made of ice for the amount of cold they kept out. The coats they gave us were really nice though, with a removable inside fleece jacket and a good hood on them. I was wearing my long underwear, thankfully, and so I was keeping pretty warm with the exception of my hands and feet.
Once we head over to MAT #3, we go through the security check and head over to our "heated" MAT #4 which is where I was to be stationed for the game. We go in, and luckily someone had brought boxes of hand warmers which I quickly stuffed my pockets with. Now was the time to sit around and do nothing. Gates opened at 2pm, it was only 11am. Awesome, three hours to do absolutely nothing. The people that I was assigned with were all really nice to talk to. There was even another girl named Kendra. That never happens! We talked about how pointless the day had been so far, how the company isn't the most organized ever, and how we were hoping we wouldn't be stuck outside all night.
Two PM came and the gates opened. First it looked like no one was waiting, and then suddenly came a rush of people. This didn't stop until 5pm. For the most part, the people were great. Some were mad because we weren't allowing in any camera bags at all, even the cases that only protect the camera but don't hold anything. People were really mad because they had to leave them. Some people were drunk, but most of them were just really excited to be going to the game. I didn't see anyone famous, but then again, I was so busy making sure people were actually waiting for us that I didn't have time to really look.
Around 5 I looked around and somehow, our group of ten or so were the only ones left. Apparently, within the next hour or so, all the other MAT tents got shut down, except for ours. Around 7pm they finally gave us a break. So here we were, twelve hours later, we had been outside the entire time and none of us had gotten any food. I had packed a couple of snacks in my pocket, but nothing to sustain me for too long. We went to the Tiger parking Garage where they were supposed to have food set up for us and have TVs so we could watch the game. Hundreds of Security people were sitting around but there was no food to be seen. They took us in small groups, after much complaining, over to Ford Field so we could get some food with our $15 coupons. We were able to get the food, and then had to go back to the garage to eat it. After we sat for a little bit, they brought in hot dogs. I had one of those too because I really had no idea when the next time that I would get to eat would be.
Soon the time came that we had to go back to MAT #4 and relieve the other half of the staff that was on break. It came to light that they were going to try and keep us there for the rest of the game. I'm sorry, but I have already been out there going on 13 hours, there is no way that I'm going to spend the rest of the night outside freezing my ass off when no one was coming in the gates anymore. Ridiculous! After talking to a supervisor, he suggested we talk a walk toward Ford Field and see if we could find this guy that was looking for the tent to give his tickets to some friends... so we left, didn't find him, but went inside Ford Field. Basically we just snuck off, which was nice. We walked around the stadium for awhile then an usher supervisor came up to us and asked where we were supposed to be at. I asked if he needed help and he said that he needed people down at the bottom of the lower bowl aisles. I jumped on this chance. So I ended up being positioned down at the bottom of the lower bowl, on the 5 yard line on Seattle's sideline. It was great! I was inside, where it was warm, and I could actually see and partake in the energy surrounding this event. I only wished that I had my camera. I took a couple with my cell phone, but that was it. The people in my section were great and didn't cause any trouble at all. I was down there for half of the Third Quarter and then all of the Fourth quarter and the celebration at the end. It was somewhat surreal being there. I kept having to remind myself that this was the Super Bowl. This was it, not some Lion's Game.
At the end of the night, after most of the people had left, I made my way over to a parking garage where they were supposed to have our coats(oh yeah, we checked our coats in the morning at the parking garage at Wayne). So I went up there, turned in my Yellow Banana Coat and went to find my coat. I found it, thankfully, because some people had theirs taken or it just never made the trip over somehow. Then I waited in another line, I think we are up to Line #48 by this point. I had to get my Drivers License back from them because they took it in the morning to ensure that none of us just took off and enjoyed the game instead of working... which I'm pretty sure I could have done anyway, but oh well. Probably wasn't a spare seat in the house anyway. So after this, I had my own coat back and I had to walk around a few blocks to find the employee shuttle back. The line wrapped down one block and then down another block once it hit Woodward. THey had three busses lined up, and were only loading one at a time. What a waste of time! Then across woodward there were three more busses. Well, one of them opened their doors because they felt bad we were all sitting outside in the cold. First we were yelled at to get back in line, then we got on anyway. It was nice, i didn't care how long I had to sit there as long as it was warm and I wasn't in another friggin line!
We rode back to Wayne State and I talked to a nice volunteer who sat next to me. She was inside the stadium too and had worked a lot the entire week. But I bet she got to eat whenever she wanted to! I got into my car at around 11:45pm and drove to Pete's. By this time my voice was hoarse, my feet were aching, and I was starving! Pete gave me the best back massage and I told him all about my day.
So that was my Super Bowl experience... really unorganized, but in the end, worth it because I got to see part of the game and I was there. How many times in my life will I get to go to a Super Bowl? Maybe never again, but at least I was able to go this time!
A couple of months ago, a faculty member of Wayne State came in and said they were hiring for Security for the Detroit Lion's Home games and also for Super Bowl XL. I immediately saw my only chance to get inside Ford Field on that Sunday in February. After a few months of paperwork and missed phone calls, I finally worked a game. I worked the Lions vs. Bengals Game. It was there that I realized that I was more a body walking around than someone that they actually cared too much about. It's not that the people in charge didn't respect us... they just didn't know what to do with us. The presence of us was really all they wanted.
That game came and went and soon it was nearing time for the big event.
A week or two before the Super Bowl I had to go down for training in the morning at Ford Field. It was a long morning and a lot of it was repetitive of what I had already learned at a previous training. It was a long day and I was starving by the time I had left... a feeling that I should have gotten used to.
Let's skip ahead to the morning of the Super Bowl. They told us to get there between 7:30am and 9am in order to have time to sign in and get situated. We had to go to a parking structure at Wayne State and get shuttled down. So here's the scene. I get up and get down to Wayne around 7:20am. There is already a line of cars outside the structure. As we made our way up to the entrance, I noticed that they were having cars go in both the entrance and exit in order to speed things up. Well this was all fine and dandy, except for the fact that about 50 feet in, both cars had to merge to get up the parking structure anyway. It was pointless what they were doing, and probably took more time in the long run. So there is Line #1. Trust me, they keep coming.
I get parked and make my way downstairs to the start of the fiasco. What awaited me was Line #2. People kept cutting ahead though and I couldn't figure out whether they were in the wrong line, or if I was. Finally, we figured out that the back half of the alphabet was right at the entrance, and the beginning of the alphabet had to go in another line, or something like that.. Not clearly marked at all, but luckily I was in the right line to start off with. So that line was to get our Credential. Once we got that, after at least 30 min or so, we went into another line, which was confusing about where to start at. This line, Line #3, is where we got out assignment pass. It basically told me that I would be outside working one of the MAT entrances. These were all the entrance tents into the fenced in compound they made. I received my pass and had to go back into another line. This line, Line #4, was to get the $15 in coupons for our food for that day. Now why couldn't they have just stapled these to the assignment pass, or perhaps combined those with the credentials also? Who knows! They didn't want to do anything the easy way obviously.
Ok, so I had my food coupons in hand, now I was making my way back to the uniforms, but first it was Line #5. This was the line to get my position pass. It was basically my time card for the day. They had already assigned exactly where we would be for the day. Let me re-iterate... they had already assigned everyone where exactly they would be for that day. It was crucial because they had to have enough women in order to do the modified pat downs specifically on women.
Ok, so I had my Credential, my $15, my assignment pass and my position pass. What now? Line #6, this time to get my uniform. I received a coat, a polo shirt, both the brightest yellow that you will ever see! I swear I looked like a giant banana! Looking around, people had hats and ear warmers on, and gosh darnit, i wanted one! So I went back to the table and asked and they handed me a Super Bowl Xl Hat... sweet, free hat! But they weren't offering them up unless you asked. So really they wanted me to be outside all day without anything covering my head. Gee, Thanks guys! Glad I asked. A lot of other people weren't as lucky.
Alright, so 6 lines down, that seems like enough to me! But no... now it was time to head over to our assigned Zone. It was here that we were to meet with our (pre-determined) supervisor. Remember how I said they had already decided where we would be? Well, yeah, that all went out the window at this point. We showed up in our zone and were just randomly assigned to whatever supervisor happened to be in front of you at the time. They then assigned you to be a bag checker, in my case, or some other job that we did. OK, so more waiting around until our supervisor had his list full. Once it was, we headed over to get on the shuttles and go over to MAT #3, which is where all staff went through for the game. So out to the busses we went... and guess what? Line #7!!! This line was very long, and by this point, it was after 10am and we had been outside for just under three hours. We were already tired and cranky and hadn't even been going that long.
We finally got on the bus and my feet had almost enough time to gain the feeling back in them. Apparently the ski socks I chose to wear were not warm enough and my shoes may as well have been made of ice for the amount of cold they kept out. The coats they gave us were really nice though, with a removable inside fleece jacket and a good hood on them. I was wearing my long underwear, thankfully, and so I was keeping pretty warm with the exception of my hands and feet.
Once we head over to MAT #3, we go through the security check and head over to our "heated" MAT #4 which is where I was to be stationed for the game. We go in, and luckily someone had brought boxes of hand warmers which I quickly stuffed my pockets with. Now was the time to sit around and do nothing. Gates opened at 2pm, it was only 11am. Awesome, three hours to do absolutely nothing. The people that I was assigned with were all really nice to talk to. There was even another girl named Kendra. That never happens! We talked about how pointless the day had been so far, how the company isn't the most organized ever, and how we were hoping we wouldn't be stuck outside all night.
Two PM came and the gates opened. First it looked like no one was waiting, and then suddenly came a rush of people. This didn't stop until 5pm. For the most part, the people were great. Some were mad because we weren't allowing in any camera bags at all, even the cases that only protect the camera but don't hold anything. People were really mad because they had to leave them. Some people were drunk, but most of them were just really excited to be going to the game. I didn't see anyone famous, but then again, I was so busy making sure people were actually waiting for us that I didn't have time to really look.
Around 5 I looked around and somehow, our group of ten or so were the only ones left. Apparently, within the next hour or so, all the other MAT tents got shut down, except for ours. Around 7pm they finally gave us a break. So here we were, twelve hours later, we had been outside the entire time and none of us had gotten any food. I had packed a couple of snacks in my pocket, but nothing to sustain me for too long. We went to the Tiger parking Garage where they were supposed to have food set up for us and have TVs so we could watch the game. Hundreds of Security people were sitting around but there was no food to be seen. They took us in small groups, after much complaining, over to Ford Field so we could get some food with our $15 coupons. We were able to get the food, and then had to go back to the garage to eat it. After we sat for a little bit, they brought in hot dogs. I had one of those too because I really had no idea when the next time that I would get to eat would be.
Soon the time came that we had to go back to MAT #4 and relieve the other half of the staff that was on break. It came to light that they were going to try and keep us there for the rest of the game. I'm sorry, but I have already been out there going on 13 hours, there is no way that I'm going to spend the rest of the night outside freezing my ass off when no one was coming in the gates anymore. Ridiculous! After talking to a supervisor, he suggested we talk a walk toward Ford Field and see if we could find this guy that was looking for the tent to give his tickets to some friends... so we left, didn't find him, but went inside Ford Field. Basically we just snuck off, which was nice. We walked around the stadium for awhile then an usher supervisor came up to us and asked where we were supposed to be at. I asked if he needed help and he said that he needed people down at the bottom of the lower bowl aisles. I jumped on this chance. So I ended up being positioned down at the bottom of the lower bowl, on the 5 yard line on Seattle's sideline. It was great! I was inside, where it was warm, and I could actually see and partake in the energy surrounding this event. I only wished that I had my camera. I took a couple with my cell phone, but that was it. The people in my section were great and didn't cause any trouble at all. I was down there for half of the Third Quarter and then all of the Fourth quarter and the celebration at the end. It was somewhat surreal being there. I kept having to remind myself that this was the Super Bowl. This was it, not some Lion's Game.
At the end of the night, after most of the people had left, I made my way over to a parking garage where they were supposed to have our coats(oh yeah, we checked our coats in the morning at the parking garage at Wayne). So I went up there, turned in my Yellow Banana Coat and went to find my coat. I found it, thankfully, because some people had theirs taken or it just never made the trip over somehow. Then I waited in another line, I think we are up to Line #48 by this point. I had to get my Drivers License back from them because they took it in the morning to ensure that none of us just took off and enjoyed the game instead of working... which I'm pretty sure I could have done anyway, but oh well. Probably wasn't a spare seat in the house anyway. So after this, I had my own coat back and I had to walk around a few blocks to find the employee shuttle back. The line wrapped down one block and then down another block once it hit Woodward. THey had three busses lined up, and were only loading one at a time. What a waste of time! Then across woodward there were three more busses. Well, one of them opened their doors because they felt bad we were all sitting outside in the cold. First we were yelled at to get back in line, then we got on anyway. It was nice, i didn't care how long I had to sit there as long as it was warm and I wasn't in another friggin line!
We rode back to Wayne State and I talked to a nice volunteer who sat next to me. She was inside the stadium too and had worked a lot the entire week. But I bet she got to eat whenever she wanted to! I got into my car at around 11:45pm and drove to Pete's. By this time my voice was hoarse, my feet were aching, and I was starving! Pete gave me the best back massage and I told him all about my day.
So that was my Super Bowl experience... really unorganized, but in the end, worth it because I got to see part of the game and I was there. How many times in my life will I get to go to a Super Bowl? Maybe never again, but at least I was able to go this time!