Videos WhatFinger

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I Got a Visit From A Census Worker

It was yesterday. She wanted to obtain my census information.

She was a very nice young lady who eagerly showed me her official Dept. of Commerce non-photo I.D. badge, and her official Census Bureau worker shoulder bag emblazoned with the official "U.S. Census Bureau" logo on its side. The bag contained a very informative brochure printed in a multi-culturally sensitive 51 languages -- from Albanian to Yiddish -- which, I presume, was for all those non-English speaking peoples the census bureau needs to e pluribus unum.

Despite the fact that she never offered to read the questionaire to me in Amharic, Romanian, or Yiddish, nor that I couldn't tell the difference between an official Dept. of Commerce I.D. badge and a fake ginned up by a crook, I was more than happy to speak with this $15/hr worker eagerly participating in the country's business.

Although, I do find it odd that the U.S. gub'mint will require a photo I.D. as a condition for employment screening of these census workers, yet, somehow, this requirement is "disenfranchising" when it comes to asking it of voters participating in our democratic process, which the census impacts. It's reminiscent of the photo I.D. hypocrisy demanded by our own President Obama for those attending his 2008 election night party, but these census workers going door-to-door in our neighborhoods aren't provided with photo I.D.

Funny how that works.

After the initial introduction and pleasantries, I informed the young lady that I had dutifully mailed my census form to the govt. back in March. She responded that things sometimes get mislaid, misplaced, or misapplied. I facetiously replied that I was shocked such blunders could befall our federal bureaucracy. She looked perplexed, and there was a pause, as if her information gathering rote was incapable of processing the jocular joust at her employer.

I ended the awkward moment by volunteering to tell her the same thing as I wrote down on the census form that was dutifully mailed to the census bureau back in March - "There are three people living here."

"Is there anything else you would like to tell me?" she asked.

"Nope," I responded.

She then asked my name, wrote down my address, and went on her merry way - no doubt to warn Janet Napolitano about the anti-gub'mint, wingnut danger which I pose to this great Republic.

Update: Doug Powers, guest hosting over at MM, apparently experienced a similar federal bureaucracy blunder.