Stupid Long Underwear

Okay, you know how I was so excited about my long underwear in my last post? Well, I’ve changed my mind. Sure, they’re all nice and warm and all that – but they keep trying to fall down! The only thing keeping them up is my jeans, which are a tad bit too large for me. Every time I get out of my car – which as an enumerator, you do a lot of – I have to reach into my pants to pull my underwear back up where they belong. I’m sure this adds to the good impression I’m trying to convey to people as I flash my government badge at them and try to coax them to give me all their personal information. It’s very annoying.

But aside from all of that, today went quite well. First thing in the morning we all met up in Dallas’s room to learn how to deal with payroll issues. Dallas and Rebecca have well over 20 enumerators that they have to keep organized, so it was quite the madhouse, truth to tell. That’s a lot of hours to keep track of, and this being the government there are something like three forms required for each day’s work, and of course you have to have multiple copies of each form all arranged in the proper order and paper clipped together in just the right manner.

Dallas finally got too frustrated to deal with 8 people in her bedroom, so kicked us all out to go learn how to do Quality Control on binders that had already been done. We ended up in Kate’s room, with Rebecca showing us how to fill out the proper forms and get everything in the right order. Once we had a good feel for it, we each took a binder into our own rooms and sequestered ourselves until we either finished or needed guidance. I ended up with just three or four EQs (Enumerator Questionnaire) needing attention. I called the guy who filled them out so that he could explain why he’d missed the few spots I’d found; once we had that cleared up, the binder was done!

I took a small lunch break, checked my email and facebook, and then headed back out into the field to see if I could finish up my own binder.

The binder that I’m talking about is simply a grouping of homes that the government, in their infinite wisdom, put together in accordance to some esoteric logic that doesn’t really make any sense to anybody else. Some areas have lots of binders, some have very few. One area nearby here has something like 65 binders all showing the Delta River. They actually had to send somebody out there to confirm that nobody lived or built a house IN THE RIVER. Because, you know, they would do that.

Anyway, back out in the field with my binder, I actually was able to make contact with one of my problem areas – but he … let’s just say he was reluctant to talk to me. He wasn’t rude of belligerent or anything like that – he just very forcefully made it know that I would not be getting any information out of him. I did get him to tell me how many people he had living there – and he gave me his name and number, too – so at least I got that much.

But I still have two other places that I need information on before I can turn in my binder. I’m going to meet up with somebody tomorrow morning who can hopefully give me what I need.

One very good thing that happened today is that I got to meet my boss! The Field Operations Supervisor finally made it to Delta just tonight; we all gathered for a meeting at the town hall to go over all our questions and get our paperwork signed - can’t get paid without her signature!

By the time the meeting was over it was dinner time, so Dallas and I stopped off at a Mexican place for a burrito. It was quite good, actually – the first actual meal I’ve had since I got here! Now I’m just relaxing – I’ll lay down for a while and read my book, I think. That sounds good…