Olympic fever is building as the opening ceremonies approach, but the fever turned to fury for some North Carolinians who had planned to leave Tuesday.
More than 2,500 teenagers who have been hired to work as vendors in Atlanta during the Olympics found themselves stranded in Raleigh when their transportation failed to arrive.
And now the Richmond, Va., company that recruited them to work says it will not be able to provide transportation or housing, as it has originally promised.
Atlanta Recruiting promised the teenager $1,000 plus transportation, meals and a place to sleep in exchange for three weeks of working between 55 and 60 hours per week.
The company now says in a recorded telephone message that it cannot make good on its promises.
The teens began sensing that their Olympic dreams might be shattered when buses failed to show up as planned Tuesday morning at Carter Finley Stadium in Raleigh. The stadium parking lot was supposed to be the location for parents across the state to drop off and pick up their teenagers going to Atlanta to work for the recruiting firm.
At first, Atlanta Recruiting officials said the trip was delayed 24 hours so they could get the entire fleet of 250 buses there at once, and keep the group together.
Some parents who already had concerns about their children working long hours on the streets of a strange city, were pushed to panic when the buses didn't arrive.
Atlanta Recruiting officials then said the buses would arrive Wednesday to take the workers to Atlanta where females will be housed at South Atlanta High School and males at A.T. Walden School.
But WRAL-TV5 News reporter Kelly Wright called South Atlanta High School, where a school employee said no one was familiar with plans to house teenagers there during the Olympics
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