An Abundance of Exes

I'm back in training for another Census Bureau project and that means a whole new crop of jobless people and colorful stories from the field. It's even better this time because everyone in the group is from Jackson Ward or Monroe Ward, the areas we'll soon be counting. I've already met a neighbor from only a few houses down the block and another who lives just around the corner. Get paid! Make friends!

Like any work-related training class or seminar, they begin by making you stand up to introduce yourself and tell the group why you're there. Since I'd done this just a couple of months ago, I knew better than to say "for the money" but twelve of the other fourteen people said that that was their only reason for taking this job. They just don't realize yet what a fascinating slice of humanity you get to meet working for the Census, and that's before you even hit the streets to count.

One interesting and talkative girl who was 45 minutes late to class put it best. "I'm here because they pay way better than Lee's Chicken," she offered. "And no grease!" Well, I can certainly see where that would be motivating.

Later on in the morning, our trainer put up a big map of the area we'll be enumerating and it stretches from Goshen in Carver down to 8th and Bank, an area I know pretty well. She told us to familiarize ourselves with the area, prompting a few questions about the specifics of our assignment ("You're not sending us to the projects, are you?" one guy asked nervously. No, they're not.).

The Lee's Chicken girl girl raised her hand and disdainfully asked, "We gotta go to Jackson Ward to do this?" immediately making me bristle at the tone she used for my beloved neighborhood. Feeling my inner J-Ward girl rising from within, I shot right back at her. "You got a problem with Jackson Ward or what?"

Well, she hemmed and hawed and finally got it out. "Well, um, it's, you know, it's just I got an ex-boyfriend in Jackson Ward!"

Was that all it was? Really? "Don't worry," I reassured her. "I've got an ex-boyfriend in Jackson Ward, too. We'll figure it out."

From behind me, the trainer interjected, "I got an ex-boyfriend in Jackson Ward myself. Live long enough and you'll have plentyof ex-boyfriends in Jackson Ward."

With that kind of wisdom, is it any wonder that she's the trainer? And just so that you know, the Lee's girl never came back after the first day. I'm thinking that must have been one bad breakup.