Computer glitch sends out volunteer invites for Vancouver 2010 games

I have signed up to be a volunteer for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Apparently there are hundreds of thousands of applications for volunteers, and they are still accepting them.

I want to volunteer to just be a part of the experience; I don't care what I do - I think it will just be good to spend my time involved in such a big event.

Now it is a long time before the Games begins, but considering I filled out my volunteer application months ago, I wasn't too surprised when I got an e-mail yesterday from the organizers about my application.

I was however surprised to read the first line which said 'it was great to talk to you, you are on to the next stage of our volunteer process'. I thought 'well that's strange, I don't remember a phone conversation with them.'

But it told me to click on a link and sign up for a learning session, which would take place August 10. So I clicked on the link and it told me all the sessions were full. Even more strange considering the e-mail was only 25 mins old!

So I called the volunteer department this morning to ask what was going on. The lady who answered the phone cut me off about about two sentences explaining what had happened. 'We had a computer error this morning and all the invitations got sent out by mistake. We don't know yet what caused the error.'

So while it did seem strange to me that the info sessions would be taking place so early, I guess this also means that I didn't get chosen yet to be a volunteer.

Shucks...

Update e-mail on the situation:

Dear Amy,

You may have inadvertently received an e-mail dated July 17, 2008 inviting you to an upcoming training session - Creating Team 2010, which directed you to On Your Mark. I apologize, as this e-mail was sent to you in error while we were processing applications.

The On Your Mark website is currently experiencing a high volume of activity, thank you for your patience while accessing the site. Right now we have just started our face-to-face interview and training process and this will continue for the next 18 months.