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Thank You Games Makers

I was amazed that a couple of hundred thousand people applied to be volunteers - thought it would be a damp squib and no one would want to be a volunteer - but talking to my work mate he had one of the best experiences of his life - and said that there were plenty of other volunteers who had come from outside the UK
 
Miss Potter said:
As it turned out I didn't give up my holiday as I was made redundant during the Olympics, but I'd have been willing to do it. I have also volunteered for my local hospice, the RNLI, a charity in Ireland which gives respite holidays to terminally ill children, another charity which enables disabled people to live independently...

The point I was trying to make is that we ALL gave up our time willingly. Nobody held a gun to our head, and I don't know that people would have been convinced of our sincerity had we been paid staff rather than volunteers.

People who think like you make me a little bit sad, but thank god you're in the minority.
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Sorry, what straw man are you arguing with here?
Didn't say volunteers were coerced or hard-done-by or any other nonsense you've made up in your head. I think volunteering for a good cause is great. What I'm saying, is that, THIS WAS NOT A GOOD CAUSE.

What's truly sad is that we can't tell the difference anymore.
 
lighterthief said:
I actually think the volunteers demonstrated everything right about this country, that not everyone is driven by self-interest.
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...other than the people who organised the games, who were driven by nothing more than self-interest and profit. So driven they got volunteers to make them even more money at everyone else's expense.

Yeah, woop for that. Go us.
 
lighterthief said:
I actually think the volunteers demonstrated everything right about this country, that not everyone is driven by self-interest.
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Again, this is genuinely sad, that you can't recognise the difference between the genuine selflessness which loads of people demonstrate every day, and this daftness.
 
Lo Siento. said:
Again, this is genuinely sad, that you can't recognise the difference between the genuine selflessness which loads of people demonstrate every day, and this daftness.
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the volunteers did volunteer, that is pretty selfless imo - as are people who volunteer for non-Olympic stuff
 
Lo Siento. said:
Sorry, you're the one giving free labour (during your annual leave, ffs!) to help enrich private companies and I'm the one who's a fool? At no point have I said or implied that you were exploited or hard done by. I'm just saying that it's ridiculous that people were volunteering to help rich people make stacks more money.
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She didn't volunteer to help enrich private companies though. By all accounts game makers had a great experience.

There are enough threads about the awful private companies and evil capitalism. Despite that lots of positive experiences came out of the Games for a lot of people. Let them enjoy the good bits.
 
The guy at work gave up 2 weeks annual leave for the Olympics - he loves going on holiday but thought this was a once in a life time experience - and he doesn't regret it.
 
fractionMan said:
It's like 'volunteering' to go abroad and do charity work. People do it because they want a holiday/experience.
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Do people who volunteer in hospices not get something from it?

I'm not arguing the selfless bit by the way.

Just Lo Siento's ridiculous premise that people volunteered because they wanted to make private companies richer. Or that people should only be allowed to volunteer from his pre approved list of causes.
 
They were speaking to a couple of Gamesmakers earlier and asking them what they're going to do now. They suggested they may appply to become volunteers in Rio
 
quimcunx said:
Do people who volunteer in hospices not get something from it?

I'm not arguing the selfless bit by the way.

Just Lo Siento's ridiculous premise that people volunteered because they wanted to make private companies richer. Or that people should only be allowed to volunteer from his pre approved list of causes.
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Oh no, I'm sure a lot of the experience is the feeling of worth one gets from doing good, helping out, keeping busy, whatever.

I've not got a problem with it tbh, other than in this case where the saved money doesn't get ploughed into better services but into fatter profits. My problem is with the model, and the fact they can get away with it, not the people who volunteered. I have this same problem with a few 'charities' too.
 
Regardless of the wrongs and rights of them offering their services for free to rich fat cats, I'm sure a lot of Gamesmakers got to meet famous athletes, watch sporting events for free, spend weeks watching people happy, knowing that they were in part responsible etc. which is more than what some of the public got who were unable to even get tickets to the Park.

Sadly, there were plenty that did not even get into a single event. Spoke to a few of the mobility shuttle bus drivers and none of them had managed to get to see an event/get tickets. :(
 
quimcunx said:
She didn't volunteer to help enrich private companies though. By all accounts game makers had a great experience.

There are enough threads about the awful private companies and evil capitalism. Despite that lots of positive experiences came out of the Games for a lot of people. Let them enjoy the good bits.
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That is de facto what she did. The fact that she didn't perceive it as such is irrelevant.
 
Minnie_the_Minx said:
Regardless of the wrongs and rights of them offering their services for free to rich fat cats, I'm sure a lot of Gamesmakers got to meet famous athletes, watch sporting events for free, spend weeks watching people happy, knowing that they were in part responsible etc. which is more than what some of the public got who were unable to even get tickets to the Park.

Sadly, there were plenty that did not even get into a single event. Spoke to a few of the mobility shuttle bus drivers and none of them had managed to get to see an event/get tickets. :(
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Ok, so the cause was terrible but they enjoyed doing it. So why should I praise them for it?
 
quimcunx said:
Do people who volunteer in hospices not get something from it?

I'm not arguing the selfless bit by the way.

Just Lo Siento's ridiculous premise that people volunteered because they wanted to make private companies richer. Or that people should only be allowed to volunteer from his pre approved list of causes.
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(a) I didn't say they volunteered because they wanted to make private companies richer. I said that was what they, in fact, did.
and (b) Allowed? Where is this allowed coming in? I just didn't think they deserved praise or thanks for it.
 
gosub said:
My only concern about games makers is that they are responsible for the impending smug speech by Cameron on big society
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With great justification. The Olympics have been a model of how the big society is intended to work - volunteers doing work that should be paid, private companies pocketing the profits.
 
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