I'm tired

Ashley and I invaded Spring Creek today. As typical spring weather this year and particularly the days I try to do census work, it started chilly and turned to down right COLD before we got done. Fortunately we got done before it got too terribly bad.

The 1st door we knocked on, the guy informed us that he had mailed his census. We had to explain to him that if it had not been received by April 19, we would have to do an interview with him. After some argument and much reluctance and the fact that we told him that we would keep coming back to get it completed, he agreed to the interview. But then he wanted to take the form and fill it in himself. I had to explain to him that the piece of paper that I was holding was official government property and since he is not a sworn employee, he was NOT allowed to look at it, let alone touch it. OK I didn't actually say all that, however, it is not far from the truth. He actually was a nice guy and apologized for being ornery.

Soon we ran into another interesting situation. When we identified ourselves the lady told us that her form was already completed and she just hadn't mailed it yet so she would give it to us and then we could leave. We explained to her that we are not allowed to do that, we still need to conduct an interview. She said, OK, I'll open it up and you can copy the info. Once again we had to explain that that was not part of protocol either. (Aren't you glad that you already mailed yours in)? We really are not supposed to let them see what we are writing because it is confidential info. This lady was very nice and even let us sit at her table to fill in our forms. It didn't take long to assertain that she was LDS. I commented to her that I was LDS also. (Probably grounds to get fired. OH well). When we got out in the car, Ashley asked how I knew she was LDS. I told she it was the glow that she had. I can't believe Ashley didn't notice it. And then there was the Proclamation of the Family and other LDS things hanging on the walls.  : )

For those of you who have read Rachel's blog, you can quit reading now. My niece is working for the census in NC. She mentioned an important fact that I have neglected to share with you. My version will not be as eloquent as Rachel's but you wouldn't expect eloquence out of me anyway. Our census forms are tri-fold pages that when folded are a standard paper size. I guess that is 8 1/2 by 11 or whatever. And there we are on their door step with our questionnarie, a form that explains that we will keep their info confidential, a form to leave if they don't answer and a legal size binder full of very important info. We are not allowed to make any creases or folds that are not already existing on the questionnare. We are supposed to ask the questions on the 1st page, then fold the pages so the 2nd page is showing and ask those questions and on through the interview. One problem with that is I need to see page 1 so I can see who we are answering questions for. And then you add to that wind and rain and hail and snow and things get very interesting. We used clip boards with our last operation and I pulled out my clip board today. It certainly made things easier to handle.