Saw these kids panhandling on the corner next to our office, and thought they didn’t look like your typical vagabond street hustlers…
Not your typical Austin panhandlers...
Turned around to see what they were up to and see what they’re signs said, as it appeared they were pulling off the rare and difficult Panhandling / Protest maneuver. Also, I swear the blonde in the middle was a dead ringer for former tennis pro Anna Kournikova…
Turns out they are Russian students (evident by their very thick Russian accents [not detectable in this picture]) who were lured to the United States and Austin with the promise of lucrative jobs in the fascinating field of Life Guarding, only to be swindled and cheated by an unsavory employer, LifeLine Aquatics, Inc. Or at least that’s their version of the story — I didn’t contact LifeLine Aquatics for their version, because I had to get back to work.
In addition to protesting the Georgetown, TX-based business (HINT to the pretty Russian kids: Georgetown is 30 miles north of where you’re holding your current protest), these kids were also soliciting donations go get back home to Russia (allegedly).
A KVUE News truck was pulling up and getting ready to interview the kids after I talked with them, so maybe they’ll have more on this BREAKING NEWS story later.
UPDATE: Here’s the KVUE story
Nineteen-year-old Evgeny Bystrov, 20 year-old Elena Rybalko, and 21-year-old Anna Panfilova are standouts from the usual sight of panhandlers in Austin. Their signs read, they are lifeguards with no money to get home to Russia.
“It’s my big dream to visit America, to learn more about your culture and to find new friends, to visit interesting place,” Bystrov said. He says his dream has turned into a nightmare.
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I saw these kids also when I was heading into work at NI. Found it kind of odd also. I didnt see any newscast about it yet. Wondering if its really legit.
Having worked with all of them I can tell you that they, in no way fufilled their contract, they were all late after making a pit stop in new York for a week where I assume they spent most of their money, and when they got here they hardly spoke any English which we were told they would speak fluent English, and they were extremly difficult to train as lifeguards, and didn’t understand that in America you have to pay rent idk how the fuck it is in Russia but down here you aren’t given a place to stay, they completely miscalculated their budget and if they wouldn’t have quit then this would have never happen and it’s nobodys fault but their own
I worked for this company a few months ago. They are ripping off all of their employees and should be boycotted. HOA’s, please DO NOT use this company to take care of your neighborhood pools. They have already had to change their name a couple of times because there have been so many complaints about them! They used to be called DK&G Management. They do not pay their employees for all of their hours, pay lower rates of pay than agreed upon during initial interviews, do not provide employees with lifeguard/CPR/first aid certification even though training is deducted from our paychecks, have unreported sexual harassment within the company, etc. I never even got fully trained and I was supposed to know what to do in a life or death situation?! Something needs to be done about this company!
are you serous? Yup worked for this company as well. For the comment above, everyone was trained correctly and fully. We had bi-weekly inservices and everything. It was very difficult working with those russans because they just did not want to work! We tried very hard working with them and teaching them but they felt they didn’t have to listen to anyone. They claim they have no money but that boy in the video bought like a 600 dollar camera after a month of working. Yes the company is trifling with money here and there but they just got completely screwed over by bring over the russains. it was just abad summer. They have a nice apartment fully furnished and food provided to them.