CSC Whistler - Rainbow Village

[K-Dub]

Students' Olympic dream jobs not so golden

Last Updated: Tuesday, March 2, 2010 | 8:58 PM ET Comments30Recommend22

CBC News



Thousands of workers at the Olympics were housed in storage containers. (Courtesy of Julie Watson)

Some Ottawa students selected to work at the Vancouver Olympics say their sweet gig quickly turned sour after they were made to sleep in storage containers and had to share limited bathroom facilities with an army of event staff.

Julie Watson and Marie-Therese Maalouf were among 300 students from La Cité collégiale who travelled to the Games as part of a special program organized by the school and Olympics staff. The students were paid to work security and at media posts.
But the girls said that after they got to Rainbow Village, the housing for volunteers in Whistler, all they could think about was how much they wanted to go home.

"I wanna go home, I wanna go home, I want my clean bed and clean shower," Watson remembered feeling.
For three weeks, the girls stayed in storage containers — like those used in shipping — that had been converted into lodging to accommodate the thousands of volunteers from around the world. They slept four to a room and struggled with the uneven temperatures.


Ottawa student Julie Watson stayed in this storage container with three other Whistler volunteers during the Winter Olympics. (Courtesy of Julie Watson) "

My bed was on the top, it was very, very hot, and my friend sleeping under me, she was very cold," Watson said. "She had to wear a sweater, a jacket, and a lot of blankets. She was freezing."

The bathroom situation made them just as uncomfortable.
"We had six bathrooms for about 100 people," Watson said. "So, three or four hours after we cleaned them, it was disgusting. By the end of the day, you don't want to go the bathroom."

Food, they said, was stored outside in shipping containers with no refrigeration. Both girls ended up becoming ill during their stay. They went to the hospital and were diagnosed with the flu.

"I was sick … for seven days," Maalouf said.
The school official responsible for planning the trip told Sandra Abma of CBC News that the positive experiences the students had at the Olympics far outweighed the bad.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/stor...c-village.html

I dont know, on one hand I agree with these two girls, the living conditios are absolute shite from someone coming from a warm bed and home, and CSC (the company, Contemporary Security Canada) did kind of hype up living in Whistler.

On the other hand, its not bad. We get 3 meals a day, warmth, a roof, a sanitary bathroom (if you get it right after the cleaning staff is done) and thereès even internet, game rooms, tv, etc.. and we are getting PAID for a pretty simple job. Press a few buttons on the xray machine, look for prohibited items, or wave a wand over a persons body.

There have been improvements since I came up on Feb 1st. Funny thing is, the place turned into a mess and was constantly noisy when this school from Ottawa came. Bunch of young students who spoke harsh Quebecois french, were rude, loud and generally obnoxious. Theyve all left now though, none of them are staying for the Paralympics.

Anyways, this was talked about in the thread Olympic Security a bit, there are some other RS people who are also up here in Whistler with me.

Also found this just searching up rainbow village, whistler on google.

In our tight-knit community, and I mean TIGHT-KNIT, all 2000 of us live on an acre lot which is a suspended construction zone. Basically, we live in storage containers. Mine has four bunk beds in it and measures 8'X15". It's about the size of a regular sized bathroom. This place is great. I live in a building where the containers are stacked 3 high. I live on the 3rd floor. I hope the gods of Haiti don't attack Whistler and an earthquake topples us all over. That'd be about 2000 instant deaths. Aside from the living containers, we have internet cafe containers, dining containers, lounging containers, administrative containers, work out containers. People nick name this place club med. I figure it's more like having the luxuries of a minimum security prison in a maximum security facility. It's unique and quite humorous.

http://timmyrawkvegas.blogspot.com/2...-whistler.html

[threezero]

I was offer to work in whistler by CSC during my employment, i'm glad I turn it down. I can work locally for the same amount of money, meet the same diverse crowd, enjoy and taking part in the game all the while having the comfort of going home to my own bed, my own frds and my own city after work is done.

That and living in whistler would have made me miss all the sweet downtown street parties.

considering all that its totally not worth going to whistler to work just for the "unique" living enviroment. I feel for you guys that got con by CSC to worked in whistler, I remember they promise their worker resorts ....

[classified]

rich snobs shouldnt be doing volunteering in the first place, those places look pretty sweet in my opinion. and wtf did they think not like they are going to get hotel suites in whister at the busiest time in history...

"Food, they said, was stored outside in shipping containers with no refrigeration"
no shit its freezing at whistler whats the point of a fridge in a fridge

[BinsentoW]

Originally Posted by classified

rich snobs shouldnt be doing volunteering in the first place, those places look pretty sweet in my opinion. and wtf did they think not like they are going to get hotel suites in whister at the busiest time in history...

"Food, they said, was stored outside in shipping containers with no refrigeration"
no shit its freezing at whistler whats the point of a fridge in a fridge

We aren't volunteering, and the place is not "pretty sweet". I think they do refrigerate the food though, not too sure on that.

[classified]

they are pretty sweet compared to dorms, that is atleast new.

[vicham]

new until they decide to kick you out of your room and put you in Whistler or Lake Placid Building