Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Finished the Immediate Task at Hand

This morning, I finished my first "binder" for the Census enumeration process. Tomorrow, I will receive a new one at our morning meeting- most likely a binder full of addresses a little further afield. For the most part, the respondents have been really nice people, and I learned where the local "character" lives (he rides his bicycle around the neighborhood and occasionally shouts something- yesterday it was, "INDIANA JONES!") He gave me some basic information about a vacant house in the neighborhood, but I didn't feel that asking him to be a proxy respondent would be ethical, because, while he's over fifteen (the minimum age), he's developmentally "challenged" (if anybody has the proper politically correct term in current use, please let me know). I was glad to get to meet him, though, and I have to say that he was extremely helpful.

On a more sour note, the payroll was messed up, so the deposit that was to have been put in my bank account has not been processed, so I won't be paid until next week. Well, the whole process has an ad hoc quality to it... and the local office, as of yesterday, needed clerical workers to input payroll information, so it could lead to extra hours (as if I needed any, what with juggling jobs and all).

4 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I've got a Census question for you.

I got my Census form, and in typical fashion, lost in a one of my many stacks of unopened mail.

A few days ago, a Census worker contacted me (actually left a note on my door in the evening...of course, I was still at work). So I called him up and he asked all the same questions that were on the form I finally found.

So should I still send the form in? I don't want to cut into my friendly Census worker's pay, or anything.
~

Vonnie said...

Indiana Jones!!
It's as good to yell as anything else, I guess.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

A few days ago, a Census worker contacted me (actually left a note on my door in the evening...of course, I was still at work). So I called him up and he asked all the same questions that were on the form I finally found.

I think you're okay. I have to confess, the whole system is very ad-hoc. My original "crew leader" started two weeks before I did, and was yanked (due to his multiple language skills) to be an "ambassador" to the local Portugese-speaking community.

Hell, just the fact that there are three-million forms being processed can lead to confusion. I freaked out because I didn't receive a form in the mail by March 30, so I picked a form up at the library and sent it in on the 31st. A form came in the mail a week later. Last week, one of my co-workers came to my door.

Yeah, it's like that.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Uh... three hundred million forms.

Ignore the man behind the cretin!