If a census enumerator knocks on your door, no one answers, and the unit does not appear to be vacant (the unit contains furniture, curtains, dogs barking like crazy and pissing on the carpet, etc), the enumerator is to leave a Notice of Visit with his name and telephone number. Ideally, the resident will then find the form and call the enumerator back, assuming the form hasn’t been torn to shreds by the dog.
This afternoon, I spent a few minutes testing whether I should use my easily-disposable Google Voice number instead of my not-so-easily disposable actual mobile phone number on the Notice of Visit. Helpfully, Google Voice attempts to transcribe voicemails so you can read them quickly instead of listening to someone drone on for two minutes. I asked a friend of mine to call my number and leave me a message, which Google Voice then attempted to transcribe:
I don’t know if this is going to work so well.
The transcribe stuff is awesome, but thank god you can listen and also download MP3 versions of the voicemail.
I’ve… never had a good transcription from that service.
Though, like that one, I do have some amusing non-sequiturs now I use with friends who’ve left me messages on it.
(My captcha was “control innuendo”, I like that.)