Census Bureau -- One Year Later

One year ago today was my last day working for the U.S. Census Bureau.

It was a fun ride. I oversaw (OK, worked on) the Payroll Empire, a wide swath of about 50 square feet of the Worcester bureau -- three or four desks, us working frantically when there were 1,400 employees, in three shifts trying to make sure the enumerators and office personnel got paid. We worked  lot more leisurely toward the end, when the field people all got laid off. In my last week there were just five employees.

We interviewed and hired people, sometimes fired them, kept personnel files on all of them. We sometimes tried to fingerprint people.

It was not an easy job -- at its height I was working 55 hours a week. But it was a simple job in that I never took my work home with me. Once I left 67 Millbrook St., I was free to think about more pressing matters, like my novel.

I learned a lot about myself and what I was capable of (for example, managing a couple dozen other people). I leaned how to deal with bureaucracy. It was 20 of the craziest months of my life.

I'm glad I've moved on, but it was a great experience.