My job as a bean counter with the census office has evolved into working the phones. People who didn't return a form by mail got an in-person visit so that they could be counted. Between 5 and 10 percent of those people get calls from people in my work group, checking on the door knockers in the field, making sure they did their job properly.
It's the calling thing that's, well, a bit of a hang up. Some folks, for whatever reason, don't take too kindly to being called by the government and pumped for information and make sure we know about it. The question isn't about the info they provided, it's about whether the job was done correctly. But some of the time it doesn't matter. Sometimes they hang up on us, other times they get po'd.
That's part of the problem for me. I don't handle things like that too well. I guess I only see my side of things-- being a guy who's just doing a job for a few bones an hour. The other side is someone who's having a bad day, maybe is already mad at the government or whatever, and has a representative of said government on the line. The thought of making these calls and asking these questions positively paralyzes me-- that these things could happen to me and ruin my day doesn't really appeal to me.
They tell you not to take these things personally-- that it's not me they're upset with. And I understand that. But it doesn't help much. It's a bit of a dagger to watch my coworkers do this work seemingly without such fear. I've done some calling, and it helps me to do it, since I consider it to be the 'heavy lifting' that has to be done right now. I don't want to let my coworkers down. There's still other work to be done, so it's not like I've done nothing, but I feel like this is my Everest right now. It's something for me to learn and to overcome, so I hope to get somewhere on this.
And in the news... I'm back to running a full schedule, after a few low-mileage weeks. 26 miles on five runs last week, including a nine-miler back on Saturday. I don't know if I'll find a half-marathon this summer to use as a training tool for the full marathon I'm planning on for December, but I'm running well and losing weight and looking and feeling great.
Found out last week I've been admitted to the University of Alabama for the fall 2010 semester. Still looks like accounting, since it's more of an absolute and less of an abstract sort of thing. Plus, I think it leads to more opportunities. Maybe broadcast is still in my future. Who knows. But this chance for more knowledge cannot be passed up.
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