BOSTON--I look at the map on the phone device and see one arrow pointing to one dot with 24 cases: Apartment building.
Each case had 10 plus notes from prior enumerators with super unpleasant experiences with the door people and manager. Like, ''manager rudely declined to see me after multiple visits during working hours; manager got calls from census supervisors and shit, and he's still an asshole about following his legal responsibility after being explained that this will help the community his tenants live in.
So, I wait outside until my prey approaches. Over time I learned to stop asking people going into the apartment security gates, “Mind if I follow you in to go knock on your neighbors' doors?” to simply, “I’m just gonna follow you in and knock on their door," to just fucking following them in without saying anything, lol. Delivery people are the best cuz they DGAF.
So, in front of the walled, city apartment building, I time my walk to get to the door right before they do, and I hold the first door (that doesn’t have the lock) for them since they’re carrying groceries. Big smile (masked, smile with your eyes), eye contact, etc. Walk in right behind them. Spot doorman (competing predator); flip bag to other shoulder with census logo facing in and act like I own the place cuz there’s no chance he’s letting me in. Find stairs and enter.
Mission accomplished.
Unfortunately a lot of folks weren’t home but they got their first NOV (Notice of Visit) ever after three-plus weeks of attempts by other enumerators. They need to find some way to punish uncooperative property managers... and to hire literal spies to sneak into apartments.
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And here's another apartment story. I walk up to this shiny luxury apartment complex in Boston, multi-million dollar units. At one apartment building prior the desk person actually gave me a fob to use the elevator and let me roam, so I tell the desk lady that I’m here with the census blah blah and that they usually give me the fob for the elevator in exchange for my ID. She thinks about it for a second and says “okay” --big success.
We chat and she asks what if people don’t want to be counted, “in case they’re nervous about being forced to get vaccinated,” lol. This was before the vaccine was even mentioned, pretty wild.
Halfway through the twenty floors her boss finds me. He's angry, and kicks me out. I plead my case but she’s also pissed and demands the fob back. She asks me if I went into any apartments, to which I respond, "No."
I’m guessing she gave me the fob that was a master key to every person's apatment in the building!
But it was still quite the success how I smooth-talked my way into getting the fob.
--EFC
I too ran into a lot of trouble with apartment managers who refused to give me any help at all. They would not even tell me if the apartment was occupied on April 1st, or the number of people living there, which should not have violated any ethics or privacy. I did have 2 places where the office manager WAS helpful, as well as the managers of most trailer courts. I got sent into many gated communities, and did finally learn to not even ask, just lurk and then tailgate. No one ever said a word to me about that, thank goodness.