Monday, February 20, 2012

Back To Your Roots

All media outlets seem to be reminiscing about the near 2 weeks of bliss that the 2002 Winter Olympics brought to Salt Lake City ten years ago, here’s my 2 favorite memories about them:
  1. Ross the Intern
  2. Switching highly-important security I.D. badges with a co-worker (we looked similar enough that it wasn’t blatantly obvious that we had done this) prior to entering the parking lot for our place of employment.  We did this just to see how keen the stellar security was at the Police Department, (where I spent all but four days of the entire fete) and we were just bored.  Mind you, the top notch security that was put in place meant closing off all but 2 or the 5 entrance/exits with a chain link fence and stationing a security guard (barely past the legal age to drive, yet too young to legally drink) in a plywood box at the accessible entrance.
My borderline favorite souvenir acquired by said Olympics:  A really sweet Marker jacket for free (free to me by means of zero monetary exchange, paid for with an undetermined amount of sanity & lack of sleep), distributed to all city employees.  Too bad is had insignia embroidered all over the back and sleeves, rendering it too ridiculous to wear in public by my prideful standards.

Least favorite thing about the Olympics:  Before the hours of mandatory overtime in which myself & fellow over-staffed dispatchers answered on average 2 calls per hour, it was the mandatory Diversity training that all city employees were required to attend.  This was no Michael Scott type of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have scanned the room, and desperately searched for a possible exit that was not being closely guarded by the brass (their presence was only to prevent anyone from escaping).  It was a joint suffering, the training, the overtime, and the…Oh wait, where are all the über flattering Roots berets everyone bought? 
Maybe it’s for the best they only reappear every 10 years, go ahead and tuck them away for another decade.

1 comment: