People Counting

Back in 2000 I spent about 6 weeks working for the Census. It wasn't the greatest job I ever had, but it wasn't the worst either. If nothing else, it paid really well. As a 19 year old I made enough money in those six weeks to last me the rest of the summer.

I was hired on during the phase where the initial door hangers had already been put out and the return period for them had passed. The Census was now going door-to-door to the houses that failed to return a form and attempting to contact the people and fill out the form on site. Andalusia's not the biggest city in the world and while there's not a lot of danger around here, it's still pretty nerve-racking going and knocking on someone's door. People do some crazy things in their houses when they're alone and a lot of people just don't appreciate you knocking on their door. They like it even less when they answer and find out that you want to know all kinds of information like names, ages and ethnicities of the people living in the house and heaven help you if you have to ask these people the long form questions. Reactions range all the way from laughter to resentment to anger at the person who's just trying to fill out the form and do their job.

It could be pretty tough sometimes but overall it was pretty fun. The people that you met that were nice enough to let you do your job made it a lot better. It was definitely an experience. You never realize how many different people there are living around you that you've never seen before.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul