Another look at the frustrations of working in an agency, in London, in 2012. And this month, we couldn’t really let it go without having a bit of a moan about the Olympics.

I’m not moaning about the actual Olympics itself. I mean, being in a city where on one day you can have a marathon, a tennis match and the 100m men’s final – all with the world’s best athletes competing is pretty spectacular. It’s like an hourly bombardment of the best competitions in the world that leave you in total awe of the athletes that have trained so hard to be here. All that stuff is fabulous and it’s brilliant that it’s happened here and in our lifetime.

No, the thing that grinds my gears about the Olympics has nothing to do with those taking part, but rather the spin and bluster that has surrounded it and more specifically, how we’ve been hoodwinked into thinking that the expense, the disruption, the clamping down on our freedoms will be worth it because the halo effect will be felt by all in and around this wonderful city of ours.

“London 2012 looks set to be a game changer for British Industry�, or so boasted the publicity put out by the organisers.

We thought so ourselves, too when we jumped through a myriad set of hoops, spent a load of our time attempting and then succeeding in getting on the LOCOG Digital Roster back in February 2008. We dutifully turned up for a big ‘welcome to the family’ meeting – where basically we just got told how we couldn’t ever mention that we were on the roster and if any of us did, we would get immediately kicked off. We took that on board and kept our gobs shut. We then went for a tour around the building site where the magic was going to happen. This was going to be great.

And since then, guess what?

Nothing. 

Not a bean.

Not even a vague hint of a whiff of any prospect of any work from LOCOG that they wanted us to pitch for.

Now clearly some on the roster got the work, but you can’t help feel that maybe it was an elite few. Why was G4S the only security company awarded the lucrative contract that they reneged on? Why did the US company Weldon, Williams & Lick Inc win the job to print the 11 million tickets when there are hundreds of small printers in the UK struggling to keep their heads above the parapet in these tough times?

If this is London’s Games, why have they cut off massive swathes of our roads for Officials, like we’re living in Cold War Moscow? Presumably these are the same Officials who aren’t bothering to turn up and sit in the seats that could have been used by London kids whose families couldn’t afford to buy any tickets. 

Shops in London have reported a fall in footfall of over 10% since the beginning of the Games as shoppers ‘stay away’. Given that organisers have been warning us all for months to avoid Central London during the Olympics, this isn’t a surprise .

Are you a small business based near to the Olympic Village? Want to make any reference to what is happening on your doorstep? Perhaps a display in your window wishing Team GB luck. Perhaps you are a butcher and your sausages form concentric rings that give a nod to the Olympic symbol. Uh oh! You better be careful, otherwise the Police have powers to come in and rip it down. Want to pay with your Mastercard at the venue itself? Forget that, it’s VISA only. Fancy a burger and chips? Er, I don’t think so, MacDonalds are the only guys who can sell you chips. We even had Lord Coe threatening to disallow people into the Games who have paid for tickets but are wearing a sponsor’s competitor’s logo on their T-Shirt. Because, let’s face it, the last thing you want at the world’s biggest competition is any, err, competition.

Organisers are doing all they can to spread the love to businesses throughout London.

I know, I know – without these sponsors none of this would be possible. But you know, without the individuals who buy their stuff, none of these sponsors would have any money to spend on sponsorship in the first place. What goes around, comes around.

My point is this: the Olympics should be a place where the world gathers to watch the greatest and most dedicated athletes on the planet compete against each other. And the city that hosts it should be able to bathe in that reflected glory for a bit: after all, we also paid for it through our taxes. But instead it feels like the ‘local business’ thing was just spin, with anyone who isn’t in the club, very much not in the club. Even when you are officially in the club, like us. It costs nothing to tell people they are going to be a part of it, but it takes effort and imagination to really deliver against that.

From a feat of human achievement, it is fantastic and I think the Paralympics look set to be even better. But from a business point of view, all the Olympics has done for us so far is waste our time getting us to compete for a sham of a roster and made it harder for our staff to even get to work. And that, folks, is what really grinds my gears.