In today's post, you'll read about my brief encounter with an Olympic gold medalist and how I got mouthy at the morning briefing. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
It was nice to sleep in this morning! My shift today didn’t begin until 1:30, so I slept until 8, had a good breakfast and relaxed a little. MT had the day off, so he stayed home with T. I went to the office for about 45 minutes to check my messages, faxes & emails. There was several of each!
There was no shuttle from the staff parking lot today, so we had to do a makeshift shuttle among the people that were at the parking lot. One guy had a Suburban, and a lady had a minivan, so everyone got in one of those vehicles and we went to the high school, just making it to the briefing. The first thing that was said by Lynn, the Team Leader, was, “Everyone please park at Beehive and take the shuttle.” I was sitting in the front, and I asked if there was going to be one. They said there absolutely would be. I told them that there wasn’t today. I explained that we had waited almost 25 minutes, and no shuttle ever came. I told them what we had done, and that we had seen a shuttle heading up there at 1:15. Since they want us to be there at 1:15 for a 1:30 shift, that didn’t work out very well. They made a note and promised it would be fixed by tomorrow. I guess we’ll find out. I haven’t had any problems getting a shuttle back to the parking lot after a shift, but getting there is always a crap shoot.
Anyway, I went out to Sector Entry again. They always call out for it first, and they need 36 people. The Sector Leader is Lee and he is very cool. He always gets 25 people right away, but then it slows down, so I feel bad and volunteer for Entry. Today I was out on the road, monitoring the staff entrance gate.
It was very cold today. The wind was from the north, and it was brutal. Out on the road, there is absolutely no shelter. The left side of my face was very cold, and my feet were freezing too. I had fun greeting the spectators, but the highlight of my day was getting to say congratulations to Casey FitzRandolph! He came through the gate with another guy. He looked right at me and I’m sure my eyes got all big because he smiled. I said, “Congratulations! That was really cool!” He said thanks and went on his way. That was fun. I’ve seen a lot of the athletes, but I don’t really recognize any of them. He was easy to pick out since he had been on the TV.
From my station, you can see security, so a lot of people wanted to go in my gate to get in, but I had to turn them away unless they were in a wheelchair. Some people were pretty annoyed by that, mostly Americans. Too bad, I say to them. It was just because it was so cold. We have a park and ride lot, but it is really a park and walk lot because it is so close to the venue. Some people don’t even wear a coat! They’re nuts. It’s been nice, but it’s still winter!
I had the best team leader today. His name is Lynn Baldwin, and he was great. He checked in with me often to make sure I was doing ok. He gave me hand warmers. He let me have an extra long lunch break so I could thaw out, then he let me go early, too. He was really pleasant. He took care of the others, too. Our zone was pretty spread out. It went from the gate where I was down to the parking lot and across the road to the church where the shuttle drop is. He was always walking around making sure everyone was ok. Some of the team leaders I’ve worked with just stay in one spot and don’t even learn your name or find out if you need anything. I hate that.
Today was the first day of short track competition. That is held at the Salt Lake Ice Center, locally known as the Delta Center. We had several people come to the Oval for the short track event. They were very confused. I felt bad for them, but there’s not much I can do for them except tell them how to get downtown.
Tomorrow is the second round of the women’s 500 meters. At the end of today, the standings were Canada, Japan, Japan. The Olympic record was broken a couple of times. Everyone seemed really pleased.
I say this every night, but tomorrow I am holding out for Sector Plaza! That was a good gig. I think it’s going to snow tomorrow, but I’m willing to be outside. I want to be inside on Saturday. That will be the men’s 1000 meters. I think after all this outside time, I can feel ok about taking an inside shift. I was sitting next to a lady at dinner who said she had not had an outside shift yet at all. I don’t think that’s very fair. I fully plan to have at least half of my shifts outside, and I’m ok with that. I don’t think I really want to be an usher. I don’t know. I’ll be inside on Saturday though, if I can!
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