NEW HAMPSHIRE, GEORGIA, MISSISSIPPI--I started in New Hampshire and did a lot of vacation homes around the lakes, up in the mountains and in very remote locations. I got some beautiful pictures, but the roads also did some damage to my car.
I went to Georgia in mid-September and traveled around various locations south of Atlanta, like Macon, Covington, and Peachtree City, etc.
These are a few stories I have:
I had one woman who had no pants on. I went to the house. A guy answered and I started asking him questions. His wife or girlfriend came out, didn't realize that I was there. She had a T-shirt on, which barely covered her waist, but I didn't see anything. When she realized I was there, she pulled her shirt down and ran in the other room. She came back out a few minutes later with pants on.
One of my friends said he went to a house and the front door was open and two people were having sex. We asked him if he waited for them to finish. Another friend had a shotgun pulled on her.
I got bit by a big, brown, poisonous recluse spider while in Georgia. I had to go to the ER twice. I was tested for covid a couple times too because the symptoms were similar to covid. The ER refused to test for covid so I had to go to CVS.
I talked with a lot of other census workers. Met one I was supposed to go on a date with but I got reassigned to Mississippi. She was supposed to go too but got stuck in Georgia.
I got sent back from Mississippi to a different part of Georgia because of Hurricane Delta, only to be assigned in the line of a tornado caused by Hurricane Delta.
There was a murder at an apartment complex I had to go to. It happened about two or three hours before I arrived. I did several apartments but then cops were all around, looking for a gun in the bushes. The cop asked me who I was, told me what happened, showed me photos of the murder suspects. Asked me if I saw them, etc. I told him I didn't, but figured I was done for the night and went back to my hotel. It was late anyway and getting dark out.
I had some places that had a half-mile or longer driveways, a lot of locked gates and dogs not on leases. I got cornered by dogs.
I had two guys chase me down the road honking their horns until I was miles away. I had been to their house and was in my car inputting the information but they didn't want me there. They pulled up behind me and followed me for miles while I got out of there.
I had several people make threats. Some people called the cops. I heard stories about some fired census workers too. Like going to the beach or swimming pool at the hotel instead of taking cases. Some got fired for not wearing masks. People who got fired had to find their own way back home.
I know of a few accidents. One census woman backed into a ditch. One got rear ended, one got side swiped by a drunk driver (I had to pick him up and bring him back to the hotel, it was a couple hours away). We got back at almost midnight and there was a car accident in front of our hotel too.
One guy almost got stuck in Georgia because of the rental car fees. He couldn't afford extra fees and the census office wouldn't help.
They had me go to places others had marked as dangerous. I did "special assignments" because I could close cases nobody else could.
I have a way of talking with people.
—Aaron White