Census Shortcut

Amazing news about census workers who’ve been filling in census forms themselves with bogus information rather than getting the info the hard way.

No, what’s amazing is not that this is happening; it’s that 71 percent of respondents think this is “probably an isolated incident”! (I’d bet that there aren’t many teachers or professors in that 71 percent.)

6 Responses to Census Shortcut

  1. Anon73 July 7, 2010 at 1:58 pm #

    “Isolated incidents” seem to be increasingly common where government is concerned… maybe this phrase will eventually take on the opposite of its present meaning since it’s always used to refer to willful, repeated patterns of behavior?

  2. John H. July 7, 2010 at 4:12 pm #

    Talk to someone who’s worked for the census.

    Everyday behavior includes faking information, double-counting, and throwing out papers that people don’t feel like filing.

  3. Kevin Carson July 7, 2010 at 5:08 pm #

    As I recall, both Seinfeld and Cheers played on the gag of a mailman stuffing mail down the gutter to save himself the trouble of delivering it. And when I was a kid my family missed a lot of paper deliveries until somebody found the carrier was taking all the papers home and piling them up. One of my favorite features in Peewee’s Playhouse was the mailman who opened the mail up and read it: “I don’t have time to read all the mail *and* deliver it.”

    I assume nobody’s surprised by this but the idjit liberals who also think a sign reading “No peeing in the pool” or “All employees must wash hands after using restroom” is actually enforceable.

    • Anon73 July 7, 2010 at 5:30 pm #

      Well if you take the incantationalist approach to the state then just by stipulating a law has passed the effect is magically achieved!

    • Roderick July 7, 2010 at 5:43 pm #

      My favourite was the sign (thankfully not enforced) at the Hilton in Orange Beach that said: “Employees are required to wash your hands before leaving pool area.”

  4. T Barrett July 8, 2010 at 5:39 pm #

    I had a census worker call me with “follow-up” questions to my previous interview. He seemed rather surprised when I told him I’d spoken to no one from the census. “Are you sure?” was his response. Yep. In fact, the questionnaire that they said they were going to mail me never came either. All in all, the only question I answered (and in fact the only question I was asked) on this census was how many people live in my house. Just me.

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