On January 11th, at 6:30 p.m. , I showed up at the Van Nuys Flyaway to sit for a US Census Job Placement Test.
A few days later, the census office called to tell me I had passed the test and gotten 20 out of 28 correct.
Several days after I was told the results, a census worker called my home phone “to clarify some questions”.
I called him back six times and never got a hold of the person.
Finally, someone called from the Census office and asked for my full name and social security number.
He told me they had no record at all of me in their system. My passing test score, (which they originally told me) was nowhere to be found. My ID and name brought nothing up.
I predict the 2010 US Census will be an absolute disaster: poorly administered and profoundly disorganized.
I worked with the Census in 1980–I was in college and it was a fun job that I could do in the evenings. I went from house to house and also worked in the district office in Eureka, CA. One of the problems is the large number of temporary employees. Some people will be less than dilligent if they know their job only lasts 3 months. I averaged ten or twelve dollars an hour which was good for that time (better than minimum wage, anyway). They sent me way up in the mountains in Humboldt County and I had to make my own maps of dirt roads–I “found” several people who were living in cabins 30 or 40 miles away from any town. Our office got a commendation from the Secretary of Commerce for being the first one to bring in all the data. Only one person was uncoopoerative out of the hundreds I talked to.
Don W.
St. Louis, MO
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I’d keep an eye on my credit report if I were you.
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of course the census will be poorly administered and profoundly disorganized. it’s a government project! and you’re a proponent of government-run health care?!
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Bernie,
Since you assume all government run programs are badly run, I take it you are quite dissatisfied with our Navy, Army, Marine and Air Force.
I would rather have “government run healthcare” than for profit insurance companies. You are right about that.
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