Census Efficiencies

Direct from the MyTwoCensus website:
“In the past week, many New York City Census Bureau employees have been terminated. MyTwoCensus.com has received substantial evidence from two individuals who have alerted us that since the Denver, Colorado region was ahead of schedule, they have since flown workers to New York, put them at hotels, paid them per diems, and provided meals for them. Yes, you are reading this correctly. A city of 8 million people does not have enough competence to complete a task, so the Census Bureau has recruited folks from Denver to help them get the job done. If this isn’t inefficiency, what is?”
Why didn’t they take us from Detroit? We finished ahead of schedule. I’d love to see New York City.

Census Had Enough

Have to go travel 16 miles one way to turn in my work from yesterday. Had a lousy day. So many people in this last tract aren’t home. Cars in the driveway but houses sealed up and no one answers. I’ve visited them twice and left a notice of visit. My sense is that I won’t have a whole lot more luck today looking for proxies.
One guy, who answered the door on two separate occasions, count them, TWO. Both times he told me I just missed ‘her’ and to come back later, tomorrow, this evening, ja-da ja-da. He claimed he knew nothing about the residents of the house. Didn’t know them, couldn’t answer any questions, said I was asking too many questions. There was a small children standing behind him.
Obviously does not want to be counted or identified. That could be why they had the glass panel next to the door covered with fancy newspaper.
I think I will turn the remaining work in for someone else to finish, otherwise I go out this evening and have to then go back down there tomorrow to turn stuff in.
It is also 80 degrees and humid. There is no shade in that tract housing development.
So I’ll be missing out on 2 to 5 hours work. Then Monday I can go register at the Recreation Center now that I finally have my first utility bill to prove residency. And I can lap swim there more often than at the Community College. Maybe even get a personal trainer to tell me what to do to get rid of this belly fat. Sounds like a much better option than trying to pry people’s personal info in any area where few people want to answer the door.
I’m not sure I can face climbing out of that car even one more time to try to press a broken doorbell or knock on the hard metal of the screen door.

All Goods Things, and Others, Must End

No more binders! Translates to no more work. Did they really pull it off, complete enumeration before Memorial Day – at least in my neck of the woods – and I have no idea where that is, you hear that U.S. Census Officials.
And no money.
Doesn’t mean the machines are reading the data, we’re just done collecting it. What will I do each day? Worse yet what will I blog about? I can devote myself to house hunting with its lack of confidentiality and no oath of office.
I had some qualms about the oath of office. Defend the United States against everything – even aliens from outer space? During the Vietnam era I could not have sworn to defend this country under all conditions. Why is that level of devotion necessary for an enumerator. Do postal workers have to take that oath?
And the god part made me choke – does this country not yet acknowledge diversity of religious beliefs?
So if one doesn’t accept the god part, does that negate the oath?

Census and Confidentiality

Yes I like all census workers received a friendly reminder in my pay statement about confidentiality and ethics. I am certainly “aware you cannot disclose any nonpublic information that is protected by statute.” That does not include a nonspecific statement like there are a lot of idiots out there on both sides of the census.
I have posted a disclaimer that I am not writing on behalf of any government office, U.S. or otherwise.
There are some watchdogs already out there and I am drawing on other sources for my information – see MyTwoCensus – so this is also second-hand info.
So you kind souls out there who feel a need to alert me that ‘they are watching’, and to incorrectly info me that blogging is illegal, please check your info. You’re not being helpful with your fear mongering.

Census News Flash

They are pulling in new enumerators from the pool of those who failed the test! It is all part of the push to get work done.
And yes, I was told to keep going to a unit until I could find someone to give me a sufficient amount of information, past the 3 personal visits. That is the number of visits legally allowed – 3. Hey, I get an hourly wage so it’s fine if you want me to just keep knocking on the same ole doors.
The computers are still down and not processing new data. They are dependant on info from field workers to tell them how far along they are. Their machines can’t tell them.
Suspense mounts – will I be working up to Memorial Day or beyond! Stay tuned!

DISCLAIMER!

This work is fictional and consists of composites of experiences among census takers. Any resemblance to any real or living person is coincidental. I am writing in my personal capacity and not on behalf of any U.S. governmental agency.
Got a confidentiality and ethics reminder from the government. Luck this is a free blog as I can’t get any payment for writing about my experiences – now why is that? You can be a member of Congress, President of the country, cabinet member, governor and leave to become a highly paid lobbyist, or receive payment to speak about your job experiences, have sex and assorted affairs, take dubious corporate sponsored trips – but I can’t get a measely few dollars to write about my experiences?
Is it any wonder people don’t have faith in government.

Yes Virginia, there is a Census Watchdog

http://www.mytwocensus.com/about/

Check this out – make more people aware of the census screw ups. And what are our elected officials doing about it? Perhaps the spending will go unmonitored and just considered economic stimulus.

Are the Inmates Running the Asylum

What a fuck up! Everyday we get instructions that contradict the previous instructions. Now they are returning questionnaires to us for us to do additional visits because they now decided a proxy after only one visit is not acceptable.
I guess the constraints about mileage and hours worked have been swept aside, at least for today. So now even if a house is empty and has a foreclosure notice we need to find a proxy to give us as much info as possible.
And it is incredible the way they ask specific questions about a form you filled out 2 or 3 days ago. I don’t remember who the hell they were and why they didn’t know their neighbor’s birth dates.
And today was frustrating trying to find anyone home. How many house should I visit to try to find someone who can complete a form for a neighbor down the street? I guess I just keep knocking on doors. Do you know about your neighbors 3, 4 or 5 houses away?
Are other enumerators experiencing this sort of major screw up? Or is the Detroit Regional Office a major screw up?
The other problem they are having is computers down. Seems they can’t process forms. Media – where are you to document this major waste of taxpayer monies?!?
As a taxpayer I’m concerned about the wasteful expenditure of money. Is it really all that hard to instruct people on what is acceptable.
They are firing lots of people who are not producing quota – i.e. the required number of completed questionnaires per hour. And what is that number today – it changes like the weather. And if you require 3 personal visits before I look for a proxy, output will go down significantly.
Let me repeat my mantra – $16 per hour, $16 per hour. includes 30+ minutes travel time, time waiting around for daily meetings, time sending text messages. I bet a lot of enumerators just start to fudge just a little bit to get the damn form done and stop the conflicting instructions.
Yeah, this info is gonna be real accurate. You’ve got frustrated and angry enumerators compiling the data.
Is this what the new economy now means for workers? It is no different for my friend who works at the Priceline call center. But they at least offer benefits and you work longer than 3, 4 or 6 weeks.
So I will be working on just trying to complete the two binders currently in my possession. I have several more trips to make, but not enough work to get in four hours each day. A conundrum. I sense counselling for not working enough. But you want me to make all these visits, just knocking on doors where no one ever answers or is at home.

News Flash!

Crew leader, St. Joan, announces she is leaving her post. Woe is me! Her assistant is taking over. Never met this one. Can’t annoint her with a name until I get a handle on her.
At the library this afternoon, where they hold their meetings to turn in work, there was a discussion about quotas. St. Joan was saying that they (census bosses) can’t come up with a productivity number. And, the goal was for completion of NRFU (non response follow-up – ha! not what you thought it meant) by Memorial Day. Now they realize they won’t make that goal. So I can work into June. And there is likely to be a crack down on low output.
What’s going on in other regional offices?
Talk to me!!???!!! I need sources and to get in on the cutting edge of census scuttlebutt.

Back from the Mines

Put in an eight-hour day today, which includes 30 minutes prep time (organizing a new binder and planning the route) and 15 min for a telephone interview yesterday. Yes, they expect us to take phone calls. We leave our telephone number on the notice of visit that placed in the door when no one is home. This is the first time I got a call from a unit occupant. See what I mean about being available 24 hours.
Got a lot completed today. Not to many jerks, but have a high incidence of people who say they returned their forms. Enough to make me think someone at census is sitting on forms for this neighborhood. At any rate, I don’t care, and I’m getting paid whether they fill out the form or not.
And for the jerks, just got two who pulled the old I don’t have to give you any more information. They know their rights! Do they know the government used census info to find the Japanese to put them in camps in WWII?
After I completed half of his form, one hairy chested young man, holding the product of his seed, told me “they don’t need any more information to determine my representation.” There was the temptation to tell him he already told me more than they really need. This guy stepped out onto his front porch after I had parked in front of his house. As I walked to the foreclosed house next door he pointedly watched me. I waved to him.
I’m actually surprised no one has called police on this vehicle casing the neighborhoods. My sign in the back window is not that readable for noisy neighbors. The intention is it should act as a warning to traffic behind me.
I had to check with a proxy neighbor for one unit where I couldn’t seem to find anyone home. The woman who answered the door was at first very reserved, but I patiently explained to her that we try twice to find someone home, leave a notice with a number to call, and then go check with neighbors. She was then willing to disclosure all she knew. But her dick-faced husband kept coming to the door curtly telling her dinner is getting cold! I wound things up quickly not wanting her subjected to potentially more abuse from fuck face.
I’m impressed by the racial diversity in these neighborhoods. What was once solidly white blue-collar now has a good number of blacks. It’s not that diverse since I’m not running across any Hispanic, Latinos or people of Spanish origin.
Oh there was the Dominican guy in the run down hovel. He was sitting in his car smoking a cigarette. Hard to hear him with the noise of traffic and airplanes in the background. A scrawny looking pit bull puppy was in the fenced yard. His breeding with his unmarried partner so far produced two children at this housing unit.
I’m drained. It was starting to get warm. Hope the weather doesn’t get hot. Wasn’t even hungry enough to go eat at IKEA. I did, however, stop by and pick up lovely Scandinavian grocery items. Need to refill my rum mixed drink and then write about Taco Bell.