...and there appeared in the East...

Last night I had to drive into Macon to take the screening test for the Census Bureau. Macon is pretty much like the Anaheim/Santa Ana area of California, only without the amusement park or sports franchises. Oh, and picture Anaheim with NO lighted street signs. Yeah. If you don't already KNOW what street is yours, if you can see it at all, you're gonna pass it before you can turn!

So I was making a fair job of getting lost in a strange city, far from home, at night. And it wasn't like I was trying to find the MALL for heaven's sake! I was trying to take a test for a JOB. We were supposed to arrive at 5:45 for 6:00 testing. At 5:58, I was about to give up, because I had ZERO idea where I was (Mapquest can only help so much--when NOTHING is labeled, a map doesn't do much good!). But lo, and behold, I gave up and made a turn to try to find I16 back toward home, when I SAW a sign for the street I needed. I looked behind me. NOPE. It was NOT labeled in the direction I CAME, but sure, it was labeled from THIS direction. Isn't that nice.

But anyway, I made it to the testing center in one piece, and only a minute or two after 6:00. There were still people getting signed in, so I was fine. I sat down in the last available chair, across from a very nice man in his 60's. We were talking about applying for these jobs, and he said, "I worked for the government for 35 years. It's too bad what I thought was going to be enough for retirement...isn't. I have to do odd part-time jobs to keep afloat." I agreed that things are rough all over.

The testing began, and it wasn't easy. It wasn't rocket science, but it took a fair amount of cognitive skills to decipher what the questions were asking. Which was the point of the test. You had to assimilate and apply various bits of information from and to charts and graphs and tables. There was also basic math and clerical skills' evaluations. The test was 28 questions in 30 minutes. Halfway through, the examiner said, "15 minutes left,". The man across from me flipped through the rest of his test, closed it, tapped it together, and stood up. I thought, "Man, that old guy is FAST!"

But he carried the folder to the examiner, handed it to him, and said, "Never mind mine," and he walked out of the room. I was sooooo sad about that. He only had to get TEN right to pass! I was bummed he didn't stick it out; I think he would have done fine at the job. I struggled for a minute to get back into my own test.

I was still the first person finished. Interesting commentary on the area, here--I was one of only 4 European-Americans (and we lost my table-buddy!) out of 30 applicants. Of the 4, I was the only woman. I was also the only applicant from Fort Valley, and they try to match people to their neighborhoods and demographics. If you do well on the test, you can be made a team leader over other enumerators. I'm fairly certain I scored 100% on the test, or close to it.

So if I'm lucky, I'll get hired for the Census beginning in Jan or Feb. I think this would be a cool experience, especially because I'd be getting to know ALL my closest neighbors! I'm hoping to hear something by 12/31...