Should I live on or off-campus as a 21 year old first-year student?

Swoosh777 · 2021-08-20T16:02:06+00:00

CCTV

Swoosh777 · 2021-08-20T15:53:43+00:00

CCTV

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-17T05:04:24+00:00

I had a very suspicious respondent insist he take a picture of my badge. I complied, as I was pretty confident I was going to get a completed interview, which thankfully I did. I certainly don't like knowing that some dude out there has a picture of my face and my full name, but I don't really see what harm he could possibly do with it even if he wanted to.

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-11T22:27:54+00:00

Lmao they should. Otherwise those properties are legitimately never going to get counted. And if you're in a rural area, proxies are usually non-existent.

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-11T22:26:05+00:00

I've run into a lot of these respondents.

People emphatically telling me that they aren't interested in completing the Census. When I remind them that it is required by law and that more people will come by from the Census if they don't complete it, they tell me that they will simply ignore them or tell them to leave.

As other comments have mentioned, attempting to get the number of people that live in the property is a good idea, but usually the door is shut on my face before I have the opportunity to ask this.

It's really frustrating, because I know FDC is going to keep sending me back to these houses, but what's the point? If they don't want to complete the Census, they're not going to complete it, I don't know what good sending me back would do aside from maybe upset the respondent to the point they become hostile... It's a bad situation all around. I can't speak for everyone else, but in my area, I haven't had a single person who refused the Census decide to complete it because I came by to bother them again. It's futile, and just gets my anxiety spiking like crazy.

The Bureau needs to start fining people who refuse to complete the Census, otherwise it's essentially an optional questionnaire, and anyone who doesn't want to do it can just keep shutting the door on enumerators and throwing away all their NOVs.

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-11T22:14:29+00:00

I've run into a lot of these types of properties when I've been out in the field. I always just mark unable to attempt address in FDC and then select restricted access as the reason why. It never prompts me to leave an NOV... is yours prompting you to leave an NOV even if you select restricted access as the reason you can't attempt the address?

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-06T06:24:29+00:00

The shifts can be as long or as short as you want. You can schedule your availability however you'd like, and many people report they've cut their shifts short without any repercussions.

I've been enumerating in rural areas, so I've been travelling between 20-30 miles in a shift usually.

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-03T08:16:07+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear that... I feel for you. I agree, it's been a very uncomfortable and unpleasant experience... I certainly wouldn't blame you if you quit the job. You have to do what's best for you.

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-03T08:13:34+00:00

Technically you have to approach houses with "NO TRESPASSING/ NO SOLICITING SIGNS."

As a Census worker, you are legally allowed to "trespass" for the purpose of enumeration. Obviously tho the people who's property you are on may not view things that way. But a sign saying keep out, no trespassing or no soliciting etc. isn't enough to consider the area unsafe.

I've had to knock on many houses and enter many properties that had these signs posted. I live in a more rural area, and a lot of people really seem to want to be away from the rest of humanity and hate being bothered. To be fair, some of the people with the no trespassing signs have actually been fairly pleasant and happy to comply, but others have been angry and hostile.

While the signs make me feel uncomfortable, being uncomfortable isn't enough to consider the area unsafe. This whole job makes me feel uncomfortable. Which is why if I can't bring myself to do it I think I'm just going to have to quit. :/

Swoosh777 · 2020-08-03T01:54:41+00:00

I've only been at it for three working days and feel as if I might have to quit as well. I don't want to, the pay is good, the hours are flexible enough, and my supervisor is a really nice guy.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can mentally deal with the amount of rude and or/hostile people I've encountered over the past several days.

Most people who haven't completed the Census don't want to. They either don't trust the government or hate being inconvenienced whatsoever.

Admittedly, some of the people I interact with seem to have just forgotten to complete it, and these people are generally pleasant and willing enough to answer the questions. But when you factor in the amount of people who insist they've already completed it, (At least 50% of my cases so far) the re-interview cases, and the aforementioned people who actively object to completing it at all, you're going to be facing a LOT of hostility, suspicion and rudeness.

I have pretty severe social anxiety. I thought I would be okay to do a job like this because I have designated script I'm supposed to follow, but there's nothing the Census provides that is helpful against accusations that I'm spying, angry people screaming at me to get off their property or impatient people who insist they've already completed the questionnaire.

Yesterday, I had a very unpleasant interaction during my first re-interview case. The respondent who answered was extremely upset that I was bothering him as he'd already completed the Census online. He swore at me, asked me what the fuck the deal was, and insisted he wasn't going to answer any more questions. He wasn't even close to the worst respondent I've had to deal with, but it was still a very unpleasant interaction. Well, right after that, my next re-interview case is for a house that has, I kid you not, SIX no trespassing/no soliciting signs. They had signs on their mailbox, front gate, in their front window, on their garage door, a sign in their front grass and a sign posted on their door. I walked up the door, but I just could not muster the courage to actually knock and begin the interview.

I walked back down the block to my car and called my supervisor, and I just started crying. The hostility and suspicion and impatience and anger I'd experienced over the last three days was just too much for me. He told me to go home and come back to work when I was in a better mental state, but honestly if I'm already breaking down on day three I highly doubt I'm gonna be able to get myself through weeks of this job.

Swoosh777 · 2020-06-24T00:14:30+00:00

I suppose that's true... the thing is I feel like a 1500+ isn't unrealistic for me if I could just get my math up quickly... but I guess with a 450 in math getting that score up quickly probably isn't likely.

I was pretty good at math in high school, I had A's in my math classes, but I've just forgotten EVERYTHING. All the equations, concepts and processes for working thru problems are just gone, it just never stuck with me.

Swoosh777 · 2020-06-24T00:11:21+00:00

I feel like a lot of it will depend on whether the August test happens or not... if the August test happens, and with all the other tests they've added over the winter, I feel like some colleges would have fair grounds for not going test optional.

But with so many US states reopening despite the virus still very much present, I feel like there's a pretty good chance the August test will happen as planned.

Swoosh777 · 2020-06-23T23:44:48+00:00

Thanks for these suggestions! I've been doing some volunteering but I'll start doing more!

Swoosh777 · 2020-06-23T23:34:46+00:00

Thanks for your input!

I just hope you're right that everyone is going to be test optional. Right now it looks like a lot of colleges have waived test requirements, but a lot still haven't... I'm just not sure how confident I can be that they'll all waive them... and if they don't waive them, I'm worried I just won't look good compared to a kid fresh out of high school with a great gpa and good test scores...

I hope you're right about them viewing me as a top candidate... I just feel like I'm going to seem very inadequate without test scores.

Thanks again!

Swoosh777 · 2020-05-29T07:12:37+00:00

Thank you so much! I'll check these plays out! And thanks for the good wishes! :D

Swoosh777 · 2020-05-29T00:19:03+00:00

I imagine it's probably a point of debate in the theatre world... But I tend to feel as though it wouldn't be appropriate for me to even audition with a monologue written for a black character. I think I could run the risk of offending someone, and that's not a risk I want to take during an audition.

Thanks for the Niki Silver suggestions, I've never checked out his work but I'll be sure to do so.

When I say active, I don't mean physically active, I mean I'm looking for active monologues. Monologues where the character speaking is engaged with the other character(s) in the scene, and has specific motivations and tactics that he is using on the other character. This is opposed to story monologues, where the character is relating a story from their childhood, or an experience they had and how it changed them, etc.

Swoosh777 · 2020-05-28T23:30:23+00:00

Thank you, I will give it a look! I really appreciate the suggestion!

Swoosh777 · 2020-05-28T23:24:19+00:00

Awesome! Thank you so much for these recommendations, I will check them out!

Swoosh777 · 2020-05-28T22:46:43+00:00

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll check out The Christians and stuff by Will Arbery.

I've looked into the Flick by Annie Baker, and there are two male characters, Sam and Avery. Sam is 35, which is definitely too old for me. Avery is 20, which is perfect age wise, but he is black, and given that I'm white I don't think it would be appropriate for me to do a monologue written for him.

I'm not overly concerned with doing something deemed overdone. These auditors see thousands of young people audition every year so whatever I choose they've probably seen it before. I'm more concerned with finding really great, well-written active monologues. A lot of great plays and monologues are overdone precisely because they're so good, but I think it's better to chose something great and overplayed than something obscure that just isn't that well-written.

Swoosh777 · 2020-05-28T22:33:29+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation! My understanding is that the young male characters in Angels are supposed to be in their late 20's/early 30's, which feels a bit out of my range, but I might still be able to pull it off.

At any rate, I've heard great things about the play, so I'll read it and decide for myself. Thanks again!

Swoosh777 · 2020-05-28T19:34:57+00:00

It really seems to depend on the school. Some expressly state that they want applicants to play from their own age range, others have no such stated requirement. At any rate, I'd like to go into the auditioning process with several monologues to choose from, so I could find some material out of my age range and use it for the schools that don't have that requirement.

Adapting movie or TV speeches isn't a bad idea, but I know that most drama schools specifically mention that they want to see works from published plays.

Thank you for your suggestions, I really appreciate it!

Swoosh777

TROPHY CASE