Census Worker, Addiction Counselor
I ran into a random census worker in Manhattan, she had the bag with the logo. I said, they’re closing out Brooklyn, as far as I’ve been told.
Not so in Manhattan! But, I thought Bk was the worst- nationally! Shouldn’t we be finishing last? I kind of wanted Brooklyn to be the worst, somehow, a sardonic claim to fame.
Was thinking yesterday, being a census worker is like being a social worker, or a quitting smoking adviser, or a diet coach, or an addiction counselor. The neighbor, the client, the smoker, the victim, the addict, needs to be convinced that they are giving up info, resigning to give up afflictions, for the sake of their own good. If they do it for themselves, for their own districts’ good, then they are on easy street. But the ones with suspicion, lack of trust, paranoia, even uncalled for anger, are more difficult to convince. There’s a mental game going on, on each door step. Understandably, lack of trust is natural in our criminal world of identity theft, just as it is when living in an unhealthy or dysfunctional environment. Yet, in the job of the enumerator, you have to trust, to trust that the info is confidential and that it will be treated right, otherwise how could you do the job convincingly? Fortunately there is ‘hope’ for more than 50% of clients, or maybe those are the ones just more easily brainwashed!
-a busy bee worker, signing off.
Sasha Sumner 