RIO RANCHO, N.M.--I am totally glad that I decided to do this. I had worked for the 2010 Census and found it challenging and enjoyable, even the weird stuff. The world in 2020 was just SO different, especially with the covid concerns and hostile political differences between people that made things rather scary.
I did encounter some scary and disturbing situations, but thankfully no real danger. Some of my coworkers got guns pulled on them, but the scariest thing I had to deal with was an angry, hostile guy who hated immigrants. He had flags and signs on his property that indicated he supported certain politicians that were adamantly anti-immigrant. He had his doorway blocked off with chairs and plant pots wedged up next to his rose bushes. I carefully squeezed past the stuff and rang the bell.
A woman answered, and she was kind and started to give me info, but the husband showed up and started to rant. He yelled at me to back up, although I was clearly more than 6 feet away. His wife offered to talk to me at the garage door, but he started yelling at her, then got in my face, and I lost my balance and tore through the rose bushes to get away with my legs gashed and dripping blood! Which served him right that it got all over his driveway!
I stopped bleeding rather quickly, and I was much more angry than hurt. I needed to calm down and keep going, so I pulled myself together and went to the neighbor to use as a proxy. I didn’t mention getting hurt or anything, but the neighbor did tell me that those two never really interacted with anyone, and that she and the woman had a couple conversations. I was able to close the case, tell my supervisor what happened, then go home to clean up.
A Much Better Day: Two days prior to that incident, I had been sent to a trailer park in Albuquerque. It was a blasting hot August day, well over 100 degrees, and the pavement really baked everything.
Turned out most of the residents spoke only Spanish, and were clearly recent arrivals. As soon as I spoke to them in Spanish, they all became friendly and hospitable. One especially nice family invited me to sit on the cool shady porch. The kids got their grandpa to come over and talk to me.
They were all so sweet, and the interview took a long time because there were around 15 people living there in that little trailer. They all had long traditional Mexican names and wanted to be sure they were spelled correctly. The kiddos helped with all the birthdates, as the other adults living there were at work and it was just grandpa and the little ones. We had such a pleasant visit. He sent me on my way with a chilled water bottle, something just about all of the poorest folks did. I gratefully accepted.
So later that week, encountering the hostile guy, one of several, I really kind of lost it for a bit, remembering the kindness of the people he was vilifying.
--Moonflower, N.M.