I had intended working earlier. In fact, I applied for the 1990 Census, but at the time I didn't have a car, and they didn't give me any assignments. Last October, I tried getting on the website to no avail. I was in a museum where I saw an announcement, and it had a phone number. I took my test in February and trained in March. Our son also took the test, passed, and was told he'd get assignments in spite of not having a car because he lives in the city. He was dropped just when the trainer found out he didn't have a car. I complained about it to the regional supervisor who came around to our training, but he never heard anything else. I thought the Census test was particularly hard.
Seventeen were hired for our district, knowing they only needed 16. I was set to work 40 hours a week at $14 an hour. All of a sudden, all of my jobs started wanting extra work. One company that considers me a part-time employee gave me extra work. I am their only rep in this area, so I had no backup. I had to do their work at $9 an hour. Even an old customer came into town and asked for a transcription of some meetings that took 33 hours. She paid more than the Census and would have paid even more if I had met an early deadline, but I couldn't. I worked until I couldn't work any more. I was in bed sick one day. I still managed to put in a few hours each week. When the project ended at the end of May (early because everyone else was working hard during their 40-hour weeks, I was told I could finish up some leftovers, so I worked til past dark two nights.
I asked my supervisor if I would still be rehired in July since I couldn't put in 40 hours this time. He asked if I could put in 40 hours next time. I said I certainly could. Then immediately, job contacts for on-call assignments and independent contractor work started coming in heavy. I was going to tell him next time I saw him around town that I couldn't work, but I just got a termination notice from the Census, along with a certificate of appreciation. The reason was "lack of work." I suppose that means that since I couldn't work much before, they wouldn't need me for July. I don't know whether the others got the notice, too, but will be recalled. I still tell the Census supervisor when I see him at a Club meeting next Tuesday that I can't work, so he won't be wondering, in case he didn't get the notice that I got the notice.
I would have loved to continue. A friend said it would be rough working in the heat and going to strangers' houses. I told her the rough part was being out in the country for an entire afternoon with no water other than what I would bring and no convenience store for "convenience". That's why I didn't drink water that afternoon. I drank a bucket of water when I got home, though.
One of the Census workers spent six hours in the country without seeing another human being or a car. Another went to a hospital with a dog bite. Some were harassed by people who didn't believe them. I think at least one resident called the sheriff. A man told me that he was staring at my car when I drove up because of all the theft in the area, but when he saw it was a woman driving, he relaxed. I told him women steal, too. Towards the end, the enumerators were paired up because of these problems. I get the impression that there was another problem that we weren't given details about. I think most of us just stayed in the same neighborhood rather than going to doors in pairs. My partner and I were in a huge Census block way out in the country with unnamed dirt roads. Even the map was wrong. He had been in there for so long that he knew where to meet me when I called to make sure I wasn't duplicating his efforts.
I consider Census work an adventurous job and a service to my country. What I did not like was the political interpretation that the test taker put on it which did not agree with my political beliefs. He also told everyone that an accurate Census count would help the country know how many U. S. Senators we need. I wonder if I'm the only person who knew he was wrong but didn't speak up. I decided that with all the nonsense he was spouting, that was just another example so it was pointless to tell him the truth.