ARKANSAS--When the Bureau called with a job offer I basically had a panic attack and told them that I changed my mind and didn't want to do it. I had been working from home online doing transcriptions and MTurk (Amazon Mechanical Turk) gigs for years, which was decent and gave me a lot of flexibility but very lonely and wasn't helping me face my social anxiety.
But I pulled myself together and decided it was something I needed to do, definitely a decision I'll never forget because it taught me how valuable pushing myself out of my comfort zone could be.
I was surprised how quickly I got used to the work--I was awkward as hell at times and the interactions with people were uncomfortable, but nonetheless very straightforward and easy to lead. I've never led social interactions before in my life but there I was knocking on the doors of countless strangers and helping them complete their census.
I was working in Arkansas and it was very surprising how nice and conversational people were, but there were a small number of people who were adamant about not giving the government information. That didn't honestly bother me that much and talking with the people who refused was at times highly amusing, and typically we both walked away pleased with the interaction.
I didn't try to push them to give information they didn't want to give, just made sure they knew it was confidential and used for demographic purposes only. I only had one person come out with a gun drawn, which was scary but he didn't point it at me and only warned me not to show up unannounced again.
By far the most surprising and enjoyable turn of events working for the Census was when the regional office called me up and offered to fly me to Montana to help them catch up. I was floored by this offer. I had never been on a plane and my experience traveling was pretty limited. I've never even worked a skilled job let alone been asked to travel long distance on a work project.
When I got to Montana the process of figuring out where I was supposed to go was messy but I ended up at a hotel with probably around 100 other enumerators. It was an environment of comradery that I really enjoyed.
I ended up being sent to a couple of different Indian reservations and the cultural differences were a shock to me. It was a bit of a shame that the Census didn't take more care to enumerate the Native Americans because a lot of them moved around a lot and weren't for sure where they were April 1st. None of the streets had signs, very few of them had neither house numbers marked nor mailboxes. They usually didn't have internet and I doubt many at all self-responded to the Census. I tried my best, but given the time constraints I'm sure that their population counts will be at least somewhat inaccurate.
Overall, working for the Census was the best job I've ever had and I'd be more than happy to work for them now as a field rep or again in 2030. I know there are many complaints from some enumerators and poor sentiment toward the Census Bureau, but, in my opinion, the job paid surprisingly well. And despite some sloppy management and minor frustrations, I was treated extremely well by them and the opportunities they offered me were once in a lifetime.
--Mark F
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