My Top 3 Odd Moments of the Games
1. Snipers on the Roof: On the afternoon of the closing ceremonies, the Athletes' Marshalls went to dinner at 3 p.m., as those of us assigned to Ring Road, to once again collect the athletes and queue them up needed to be down there by 3:30 p.m.
There were two food services sites for those of us working the stadium-one on the 4th level of the stadium and one across the street at the Plaza of Nations. On this day, we were dining on the 4th level. As I was just beginning my meal, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up and there were 4 snipers on the roof top just across from the stadium. (Four that I could see anyway...)
I can tell you that it was such an odd feeling. It's not something we're used to seeing in Canada. The Olympic level of security was a whole different level of experience for us. On the one hand, it was good to know we were being protected, but on the other hand, it made me feel a bit uneasy because just what were we being protected from? I am glad I didn't have to find out!
2. The Volunteer who forgot her brain at home: One day, as I was arriving at the stadium and preparing to go through security screening, which consisted of having your bags scanned and walking through the metal detector and then possibly being wanded, there was a commotion in the line ahead of me.
Someone doing the bag scan holled for a supervisor who came rushing in, looked at the x-ray screen and then hollered for an RCMP officer, who also came running. There was a brief but intense conversation and then thankfully, everyone stood down.
The gist of the whole thing was this: The volunteer had been at the biathalon the day before and had somehow come into posession of some of the empty shell casings from the event. As she passed through security, the x-ray machine reveled what looked like bullets in her bag and thus the hoo-hah. The craziest thing was that after all the upset, she had the nerve to ask the officer if she could keep the shell casings. *boggles* He firmly but politely told her no.
3. Uniform Theft: One night, I was working a security check point on the 4th level. This volunteer walked by and then about 30 seconds later, a member of my team came running down the hall after her, yelling.
The woman was wearing her jacket and had another jacket over her arm. My teammate stopped her and insisted that the jacket she was carrying was hers. The woman argued with her, till my friend grabbed it from her and reached into a pocket and pulled out her wallet. She showed her her driver's licence to prove it was indeed her jacket.
The woman insisted to my teammate that she'd found the jacket and was taking it to guest services (the lost & found) to turn it in. Then the woman took off. My teammate came over to me and told me that as she'd sat down to dinner, she'd draped her jacket over the back of her chair. When she'd finished eating, she stood up and turned her back to have a conversation with someone, her jacket still on the chair within inches behind her and when she turned back around, it had vanished.
At this point in the Games, several volunteers had had their jackets stolen, so my teammate immediately ran down the hall to see if she could see anyone taking off with hers. Had the thief made it off the 4th level, she would have had the jacket, my teammate's wallet with all her credit cards in it, plus her house keys. My teammate reported her. We don't know if she was fired but I sure hope so!
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I have more stories to share, so stay tuned!
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