I had seen the advertisement for helping to take the census in the newspaper. I was working part-time then, but thought this sounded like a job that would be fun and I would get to meet a lot of new people and get paid for it. I did apply and after a nice lengthy test, I was hired. The training was set up and a group of people were to meet for a week to learn how the government wanted the job done.
One of the very first things we had to do was fill out forms and be fingerprinted. I really was surprised that they did background checks on us, checking for any criminal history.
Then it was time to start learning how things were to be done. How they wanted the questions asked and the forms filled out. After a week of this, we were sent in a group to a certain area. The very first house we went to had a log chain across the driveway with a beware of dog sign attached. One of us finally got out and knocked on the door. Guess what? No one was home.
The job was very fascinating. It was fun finding new areas of Morrison County that I never knew existed. Visiting with some very nice people, even if you were to only ask the questions on the form.
There were quite a few vacant homes. This made you wonder if they were just summer people or if there was no one living there any longer. Some you could tell were not lived in when you saw broken windows or part of the house was burnt.
A very enjoyable job.
-MP
Date of essay: October 24, 2011