Hallelujah, I'm actually employed again!
Mar. 26th, 2010 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xerox78It's just for the U.S. Census Bureau, and it won't last past this summer, if that long. Right now, I'm a Questionnaire Assistance Center Representative, which means I sit at a small table and help people who have questions about filling out their census or didn't receive a census or wants to know about getting a census job. I didn't know what it would be like, since training was so boring that I had to struggle not to fall asleep. I'll be doing this until about mid-April. Enumerating (enumeration?) begins in May so I might start doing that. Enumerators are those people who come to your house if you didn't return your form or fill it out correctly.
I only work 15 hours a week, Monday through Friday, and the hourly rate is about 3/4 of what I made at my last job, but something is better than nothing. My location is so close to home that I can walk there, so I throw my stuff into a little fold-up shopping cart and go.
I've only had a couple of mishaps so far. One is that I'm on a college campus in the student center and Greek Week/Club Week was this week, which means I had to fight for my little table a couple of times. On Tuesday, a girl had set up a whole display on my table (they had been told to set up anywhere they wanted), but she was very gracious when I explained my situation and instead of taking her stuff down, we picked up the table and moved it to where an empty table was and then I took the empty table. Then I called myself writing up a sign that read "RESERVED FOR THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU" and taping it to the table before I left for the day. On Wednesday, the whole table was gone so I had to grab the one empty table I saw and drag it across the Student Center. Other than that, I've had no problem getting my table.
The other is that yesterday a guy came up to me. From the way he was dressed, he was a campus employee. He asked me for the number he should call in order to get a job. I thought I had the toll-free number, but apparently I didn't. As I was looking through my bag and my papers, he got increasingly frustrated and started complaining. Then I said that I couldn't find the specific number, but he could call the local general office number and they might be able to direct him or he could visit the census website. That was apparently the wrong thing to say because he started yelling about how he didn't have time for might and stormed off. He came back about ten minutes later and asked if I had found the number yet. I said no and he stomped off again. At that point, I called the general office number on my cell and asked, and the man I talked to gave me...the general office number. So some time after that, the guy came back again and asked if I had found the number yet. I said yes and told him the number. Then he said in the same nasty tone, "Do you mind writing that down? You can see I don't have anything to write with." So I ripped off a piece of paper and wrote the number down for him. He looked like I was going to say something else (like complain that I gave him a little piece of paper instead of a whole sheet) but he didn't, he just took the piece of paper and walked away (without thanking me).*
Make that three mishaps. I had to walk home in the rain today. It's quite a pain to try to push a cart while carrying an umbrella.
Otherwise, it's pretty slack so far. Since tons of people aren't begging for help on their censuses, I'm usually left to my own devices, which means doing schoolwork or messing around on my laptop. If I were a student or employee here, I could log into their wi-fi, which would make this job pretty darn perfect.
* I wish I were the kind of person who would stand up for myself when someone dumps on me, but I'm too much of a wimp. I have to lose my temper before I get back in someone's face. Also, it seems like the few times I do, I always end up looking like the bad guy.
I only work 15 hours a week, Monday through Friday, and the hourly rate is about 3/4 of what I made at my last job, but something is better than nothing. My location is so close to home that I can walk there, so I throw my stuff into a little fold-up shopping cart and go.
I've only had a couple of mishaps so far. One is that I'm on a college campus in the student center and Greek Week/Club Week was this week, which means I had to fight for my little table a couple of times. On Tuesday, a girl had set up a whole display on my table (they had been told to set up anywhere they wanted), but she was very gracious when I explained my situation and instead of taking her stuff down, we picked up the table and moved it to where an empty table was and then I took the empty table. Then I called myself writing up a sign that read "RESERVED FOR THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU" and taping it to the table before I left for the day. On Wednesday, the whole table was gone so I had to grab the one empty table I saw and drag it across the Student Center. Other than that, I've had no problem getting my table.
The other is that yesterday a guy came up to me. From the way he was dressed, he was a campus employee. He asked me for the number he should call in order to get a job. I thought I had the toll-free number, but apparently I didn't. As I was looking through my bag and my papers, he got increasingly frustrated and started complaining. Then I said that I couldn't find the specific number, but he could call the local general office number and they might be able to direct him or he could visit the census website. That was apparently the wrong thing to say because he started yelling about how he didn't have time for might and stormed off. He came back about ten minutes later and asked if I had found the number yet. I said no and he stomped off again. At that point, I called the general office number on my cell and asked, and the man I talked to gave me...the general office number. So some time after that, the guy came back again and asked if I had found the number yet. I said yes and told him the number. Then he said in the same nasty tone, "Do you mind writing that down? You can see I don't have anything to write with." So I ripped off a piece of paper and wrote the number down for him. He looked like I was going to say something else (like complain that I gave him a little piece of paper instead of a whole sheet) but he didn't, he just took the piece of paper and walked away (without thanking me).*
Make that three mishaps. I had to walk home in the rain today. It's quite a pain to try to push a cart while carrying an umbrella.
Otherwise, it's pretty slack so far. Since tons of people aren't begging for help on their censuses, I'm usually left to my own devices, which means doing schoolwork or messing around on my laptop. If I were a student or employee here, I could log into their wi-fi, which would make this job pretty darn perfect.
* I wish I were the kind of person who would stand up for myself when someone dumps on me, but I'm too much of a wimp. I have to lose my temper before I get back in someone's face. Also, it seems like the few times I do, I always end up looking like the bad guy.
