BROOKLYN, N.Y.--Just an enumerator here, and what we do can be pretty scary, especially if you're not used to going up to complete strangers. There was one apartment building that other enumerators hadn't felt safe going to and had marked as dangerous. But a supervisor had marked it as NOT DANGEROUS, so I went there.
Some dudes were hanging in front getting high (one was rolling joints in front of me), and I had to put on my relatable charm to get them to talk to me and give me info.
One of them asked if there was a "gift" that he would get for answering my questions. I told him the gift would be the community getting $2,700 in federal funding for each person who gets counted. These guys were difficult, but I realized that they weren't "dangerous," just drug addicts and high AF.
They obviously were doing more than just smoking weed. After nearly 10 minutes of trying to be human with them, and especially selling them on why the census was so important, I got a population count for one of the apartments that had 30-plus case notes on it from prior enumerators who could never get the interview.
I think that after 20-plus years of sales experience, and also being an actor and constantly having to deal with rejection on a daily basis, those two skills help me close out these hard cases.
--Operatic Bassist
I encountered plenty of stoners in the areas I worked. As long as only weed (which is very close to legal here) is involved, people using it are usually pretty friendly. Or even TOO friendly! One guy opened the door to me and a great wave of smoke came gushing out at me! He stood there, barely dressed, smoking away! Super friendly and chatty, he started giving me information until a much older woman showed up and started yelling at me to leave! I had really connected with the young guy, but she ran him off, and as he had not included any other adults in the information he gave me, I had to mention her in a case note.