So long, Census Bureau, until next time?

Rick Steelhammer
Charleston Gazette
August 22, 2010

Well, I knew the day would finally arrive - the day they would ask me to turn in my badge.

And the classy basic black canvas man-bag with the government logo they issued me along with it.

I got the call on Thursday that my part-time job with the U.S. Census Bureau is officially over, and frankly, I'm not feeling too good about it.

What I thought at first would be a short, mildly unpleasant way to pick up a few extra dollars turned out to be a much longer and mostly enjoyable way to pick up a few dollars - oh, and to gather valuable data for the U.S. Department of Commerce, of course.

Sure, I was occasionally bathed in sweat from walking around looking for addresses in the heat and humidity, and I got caught in a downpour or two. Probably the worst thing that happened during my Census career took place along a tributary of Smith Creek, where I had a close encounter with a dog named Shorty, so named, apparently, for the length of his fuse when meeting strangers. But I managed to leave Shorty's abode with the information I needed and no broken skin, though I did pick up a new souvenir tooth hole in the belt loop of my jeans.

Meanwhile, I learned a bunch of exotic new acronyms to throw into conversations with fellow enumerators. I also discovered that most people went out of their way to be helpful when a stranger turned up on their porch wanting to ask a fairly long list of questions - sometimes questions that had already been answered. Many of those who hadn't received Census questionnaires or had difficulty filling them out were glad to be counted, and I was glad to help make it happen.

In the process, I got to see parts of Kanawha and Clay counties that I managed to miss during my decades in bush league journalism, while getting reimbursed an un-newspaperlike half-buck a mile to seek out the uncounted.

After the main enumeration operation - NRFU (pronounced NAR-foo, short for Non-Response Follow Up) I went on to take part in two operations that followed up on the initial follow-up. You can't fault the Census for trying to be thorough - although efficiency could probably use some fine-tuning. And by the way, Census Bureau, if there's a new efficiency operation in the work that needs a few field hands, please count me in!

I enjoyed the detective work involved in the latter stages of my Census career, during which poorly mapped homes and previously uncontacted occupants were eventually located and interviewed.

In working with several Census teams, I met a lot of hard-working people anxious to do a good job - people who would be assets in any number of employment situations. It's a shame that many are now back to looking for work.

Assuming I'm still vertical and my career has yet to skyrocket past its current frozen height in the hourly wage stratosphere, you may see me knocking on your door in another 10 years.

And Shorty, I know where you live. Next time I'll be packing bacon in my man bag.