Ok, so I'm doing my Census Enumerator thing. I have been visiting homes of those people who did NOT send in their census, shame on ya'll!!! But thank you for this job. Pay is decent and I make my own hours so I get to work around my "job". Sad thing is I make more in one week working for the census than I make in two weeks working were I currently do now. We get paid by the hour, for our mileage (I get lost a lot), and reimbursed for phone calls (my crappy prepaid) and other essentials. I see what they mean by government waste.
When I got my first assignment it was for a very affluent area. Lots of gated homes, double glass doors, that fancy round about driveway. So I thought to myself ok good, decent folks to interview, for the most part, they were assholes!! Some refusals, a few well if you have to you have to's. The middle class neighborhood was the easiest part I had, I was offered glasses of water and tea, to come in and sit down, real nice people.
Then I got my third assignment, a trailer park. I drove by the first day and just looked at them, I saw a wild pack of dogs, broken down cars and mobile homes (I think people live in them). I think I even saw a possum or big ass rat, or maybe it was a cat. It scurred me. So I decided to pass them up and leave them for another day.
*Another Day*
I drove into the park avoiding potholes big enough to swallow my tire. I look for numbers on the "units" they aren't on all the homes, I gather all my material get out my car and walk from one end of the park to the other hoping to find a number or person to speak with. Yaaaay a number! The porch had a locked fence, do I go in?? What if the wild dogs live here?? I'm brave I can do this!! I unlock the gate hold tightly to my bag, in case I gotta run like hell. I knock on the door, a Hispanic gentleman answers the door. I introduce myself and he doesn't speak much English, sleeping through 2 years of Spanish in high school and barely passing it in college actually comes in handy. On to plan Si (cute huh??) Hola me llamo Lisa. Necesitamos contar a las personas donde viven. He answers back....HUH!!? I talk better than I listen. He sees the confusion in my eyes and speaks English to me, which is far superior to my Spanish. We get through the interview, he is very friendly, at the end I ask for his number for the census, what number he asks, your pin number I want your money.
The next house was the manager, this is where my stereotyping kicks in, a toothless, what teeth she did have were blackish answered the door. Shes yelling at kids behind the door "Lillian get out that kitchen", my heart is in my throat, I want to run from toothless. I introduce myself and she is actually very pleasant, I feel bad for thinking badly of her. She offers help with the vacant homes and tells me about the ones in prison. I continue my walk and search of numbers, everyone that sees me greets me in a friendly manner, all willing to help me with information, I get 4 houses done at one lady's home. People wave to me and ask how my days going and if I need help finding anything. I leave the park begging for forgiveness for being a classist. I have to go back tomorrow to finish up the houses where no one was home. I have three people willing to walk me up and down the road and help me find the people. Everyone was really nice. Even the pack of dogs were friendly, and that possum/rat was a cat.....I think...well, I hope cause it rubbed up against me.
