Census Continued

Waste, waste, waste. So, much time is wasted doing organized redundancy (or maybe disorganized redundancy. The people who set this stuff up have no idea what rural Florida is like.

The President campaigned on “CHANGE”! Not all change is good. Almost every day one thing or another changes. How many times we go to a vacant house! No you can’t work on Saturday! Yes, you have to work on Saturday! YAHDAH, YAHDAH, YAHDAH!

If there is no one home, we have been leaving, “while you were out” flyers with our own home phone numbers. I have had four or five people return calls. I was able to get my “completes.” But some ding dong in Atlanta or Washington or some place else has decided that our crew are not getting enough interviews on the first visit. DAH! People have locked gates or they are mucking out their stalls or working or the house is vacant (and has been for a long time). The district office now wants us to use their phone number, so that people can call them and they can set up an appointment for us. They will set up an appointment, call us back (heaven help us if we have another appointment at the same time). Now, instead of one enumerator taking care of the situation, four people (at a minimum of $11.25 per hour) are now going to handle the same situation. I DO LOVE THE EFFICIENCY OF THIS!!!!!!!!! Also, as much as the folks in this area distrust the government…this sure is going to help gain their trust and understanding. HA! HA!

Well, I guess if AIG can get their billions, I can claim my own stimulus package for an (wasted) hourly wage and mileage for my own stimulus. I still have guilt feelings about it. I am used to working for my money, not sitting around waiting for someone else.

Which reminds me, I did not discuss the fact that my finger prints did not make it through the system, along with 300 or 400 others in our district.

The district office called Tuesday night and set up an appointment at 9:30. I was a bit late for my 9:30 appointment (this is another story, perhaps for another day—just another inefficiency of the gov/census people), but the 10:00 was there earlier enough to take my appointment (she is also in my "crew"). Two people have to take each person's finger prints. Then, one has to wait until they print (another 20 minutes). I was there well over two hours (@ my hourly wage…mostly just waiting… plus the 60 something miles that each of us traveled @ $.50/per mile). Bunches of people waiting behind me. WHAT A WASTE OF $$$$$$$$$$.

The census job is going mostly well. Only have had one pit bull problem (yet again another story) and one door slammed in my face, and several people who do not want to give any information. In checking my daily work my Crew Leader Assistant found fault with the fact that I had written “American” under race. We were told in training that we write what they tell us. In this instance, I was blessed to get the information that I got. The guy was sweet but not very cooperative. There is a strong anti-census sentiment in this area. They will give what they give and that’s that. CLA did not agree, but gotta write what they tell us.

This is a strong ultra conservative, God fearing, Bible Belt Southern Baptist area. People think the government is tooooo big and tooooo nosey. One gentleman told me that he would only answer two questions. Well, the first one verifies address only. The second asks if they were there as of April 1, 2010. I told him that I guessed I would get no further answers as he had already given me “two.” He did agree to answer his name, how many males and females in the house (no other names) and that was it. He kind of said the first two questions were OK and an added bonus as they were not what he expected as part of his “two question answers.” We both chuckled over this before I left.

But my numbers are way down...too many vacant homes, which have to be visited three times...another waste. We need to know if it was vacant as of April 1, 2010--Census day—the government in all its wisdom picked April Fool’s Day. HA! Usually, one can tell that it has been vacant much longer than the month past. But we still have to make three visits. I am supposed to be doing one "complete" an hour, but my average had been 3/4 of one complete per hour, but with the four calls I got yesterday, I am now at over 90%. I guess it will go up when I make the third visit. Then the crew leader can close it if she chooses.