Ben-Stanley

I’ve delivered pizzas, worked for DoorDash, and knocked doors as a missionary for a combined total of 2 years. I got over that fear a long time ago.

Buuuut to insert an anecdote, I have only had the door answered by a naked person once... he was 2 though.

So while we are government employees, the information we collect is strictly disclosed only in the form of statistics. Under Title 13 of the US Code, we can’t reveal any specific information until 72 years have passed.

As for reassuring, we actually hand a physical copy of the Title 13 rights and laws to anyone we contact before we ask any questions. It details how any information is used and the penalties we as census takers would face should we disclose it to anyone besides our supervisors. The first thing we’re supposed to say on the doorstep is who we are and physically acknowledge our official ID badge.

Okay so I literally just pulled that number off the website but apparently 800 were hired as of March. Thousands are employed now. (I would edit my post title now if I could)

In my case, we have confidentiality statements in English, Spanish, and German (the most common languages in Virginia, where I work). I also was hired in part because I have a moderate amount of knowledge of American Sign Language and Deaf culture, and there are a lot of Deaf communities on the east coast. I can’t personally confirm this, but I’m certain they will have all the census documents in 15+ languages as they did in 2010. I would imagine census takers in, say, California and New York have a lot more materials to fit the needs of the cultures there.

Or, if you’re meaning that they speak English but can’t read (or are blind), we simply read the document to them. It’s not too long. I personally have taken it upon myself to learn how to interpret the document into sign language in the event I meet a deaf person who can’t read English (which a lot of people don’t realize is possible).

First of all, thank you for the very detailed and specific question!

And the answer is probably. In the address canvasing stage of the census, we sorta have to take clues like that to determine if there’s additional housing units. We were trained to look for additional mailboxes, power meters, satellite dishes, etc, and also to ask a “responsible source” such as a construction worker or postal worker. If I were in this exact hypothetical situation (and boy do I wish I was because Nuttyname St is one for the books), I would graciously thank the resident and then go back to 101 and knock on the back door to see if the tenant is home. We’re supposed to try every door, even if it’s a new address to us. If the tenant doesn’t answer, but I see proof that it is a subdivided house such as a mailbox or sign, then I add it for sure.