Friday, February 18, 2011

The phone just rang. Who do you hope is NOT calling?

About two years ago, a letter arrived in the mail that asked me to help millions of Americans get the resources they need. All I needed to do was respond with an emphatic ‘yes’ I am willing to help the United States Census Bureau by agreeing to answer a few dozen questions. How terrible of a commitment could this be? They even offered me a twenty dollar Visa gift card as a token of their appreciation. I proudly signed my name and awaited my phone interview a few weeks later. This initial call lasted about an hour. Yup, initial. At the end, she asked if this was a good number to call back on for future interviews. What I hadn’t realized was that I had signed up to participate in these information gathering interviews for the next five years. I’ve got three more years to go! I groan and moan before each time, and when it’s done, it honestly is never as terrible a time crunch as I anticipated it would be. But, still, if I’m being honest, I would be SO much happier to pick up the phone if I knew my mom or sister was on the other end!


In reality, the census bureau is doing a wonderful job. They send me a compiled annual report and I get to see the kind of important information they gather from other participants, and how we help provide crucial stats for support of social programs.
This is one of those situations where the anticipation is a million times worse than the reality. My interview is today by the way!


Proud to be involved. Really I am!

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