I have a term position with the U.S. Census Bureau at one of the National Processing Centers, and I want to share with you the actions of my employer on COVID-19. This might be one more bit of information to anyone of you all who think it is worthwhile to argue with a family member or a friend who believes the coronavirus pandemic is a “hoax.” Basically, despite what Trump said at the beginning of the pandemic, the higher ups at the Census Bureau seemed to believe that the coronavirus is not going away and is a threat to human beings.
For starters, I was slated to begin training for what is called a matching technician in March of this year. The job of a matching technician is to do a quality assurance check on the enumerators work for the Census Bureau. Enumerators are those lucky folks who go out and knock on doors and try to get people to fill out their Census forms. It’s only for people who forgot to send in their forms or said, “Screw it. I’m not filling this damn thing out!” My job is to look at that work to ensure it is correct. And I do it all via computer. I don’t have to go out and knock on anyone’s door. Thank God.
Well, on March 19th I was sent home along with all those other matching technicians. We were given “administrative leave.” This was because the enumerators were NOT sent out. No enumerators meant no work for matching technicians. The good news is that everyone was paid while on administrative leave. Once again, Thank God.
Looks like someone at the Census Bureau didn’t want to spread the coronavirus. Go figure.
I was not called back to work until August. And I was asked before I was called back to work if I wanted to telework from home. This was highly unusual because — believe it or not — the Census Bureau does NOT want its data open to hackers. Normally, there is no internet access to the U.S Census Bureau website. Naturally, I said “Yes” to working from home.
But before I could work at home, I had to be trained. This required me to go back to work. I was not sure what to expect, so I had a supply of cloth masks. And I wore one when I went in. I have to admit to some dread that I would be in a cramped area with absolutely no social distancing with lots of people not wearing masks.
The National Processing Center is in Indiana, and has Hoosier and Kentuckians working there. Remember, both states went for Trump. I fully expected lots of “FREEDUMB!” maskless people.
Thankfully, you could not get into the building WITHOUT wearing a mask. If you didn’t have one, the gaurds gave you one to wear. And you had to wear them. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Once again, I know Trump supporters at the Census Bureau. I did not search them out. They made their presence known. And I saw more than a few Trump/Pence bumper stickers. I even got to see and INFOWARS bumper sticker in the parking lot.
But they had to wear a mask.
I was also surprised that the Census Bureau was practicing social distancing. There were even plastic barriers between employees in the training areas. And breaks were staggered. Oh, and the training area is not large. Therefore, they are staggering the training. I know this because I am getting the emails from work telling the next batch of matching technicians has been released for teleworking.
And as for that training. I was scheduled for 10 work days, but they felt I was ready after just seven. Once you are trained, they test to see if you can handle reviewing real cases. This went on for about a little over a week, and I passed. They went through to ask if I had all the necessary equipment for teleworking — a cell phone that could download a security token which generates random numbers, internet access, and a deskstop computer. Once I verified that I did, BOOM, I was released for teleworking. Appears they needed the space for the next batch of trainees.
I have been working from home since.
If COVID-19 was a hoax, there would be no need for me to be teleworking. In fact, the Census Bureau would prefer me to be on working on their computers and not mine. And this is Trump’s Census Bureau. It is not supposed to be, but like everything else with Trump and the government, Trump has corrupted it. Trump’s worthless crony Wilbur Ross is in charge of the Census Bureau.
Therefore, if you want to tell this tale to any of the Trump supporters who still claim that there is nothing to fear from COVID-19, please do so.
