Oh, that's funny. Okay, not really. In fact, it's a sad statement about our culture. We no longer know our neighbors. I would be hard pressed to provide much more information than that as well. But they didn't ask about your virtual neighbors. Maybe the federal gov't needs to check out this guy's virtual neighbors instead.

Living in the DC area, these guys call or stop by with rather startling regularity. In fact, they should be stopping by my neighbors at some point in the nearish future to finish up mine. That said, I know squat about my neighbors. And they pretty much know squat about me...not even sure if they could do the height/weight thing.

It is a rather sad statement on society.

On the other hand, before everyone on our block moved out (seriously, we're one of 2 original owners) we used to have block parties just about every other week. I could've seriously dished about the old neighbors. ;) So maybe anonymity isn't such a bad thing.

We blame it on alley accessible garages in our neighborhood. The only folks in our 'hood that I answer all those questions on is our neighbors directly behind us...that we share alley space and driveways with.

Wow... I'm not sure I could do much better with my neighbors. I'm familiar with some of the kids because I see them once a year at Halloween. That's really sad.

In my defense, they also didn't ask about the physical neighbors that we do know, which are quite a few. The subject of the interview is relatively new to the 'hood...but not so new as to make that a valid excuse.

Mark, I tend to agree that rear entry garages help folks maintain their relative anonymity. Of course, we don't have a rear entry garage, so that excuse doesn't completely hold water.

I also blame our ferocious puppies. (You know shelties are viscious beasts, right?) They apparently terrify the children on our block. Not sure why exactly - they stay in the yard, they don't lunge, they do bark but just a quick hello and then they stop. But we are one of very few houses in our whole neighborhood with dogs, so maybe it's just lack of exposure. Regardless, parents are much less likely to come say hello when their children have run, shrieking in fear, in the opposite direction.

Ah, yes...the Killer Shelties, striking fear into the hearts of suburbanites everywhere. You're fortunate that the neighbors haven't banded together and marched on your house carrying torches and pitchforks in an attempt to cleanse the land of such malevolent creatures. ;-)

I think Mark's on to something. When my wife and I built our new home a couple years ago, we made a point of picking out a lot that would have front garage access. Our primary concern was security for her when getting in/out of the the car and to/from the house, but we also thought we might have a better chance of meeting the neighbors.

Until I emigrated to Texas, none of the places I'd lived had rear-entry garages, nor did they have the six-foot wooden privacy* fences that come standard with nearly every home in Texas--this part of it, at least. Neighbors would wander over to chat when they saw you out in the yard or pulling into the driveway after work.

We still have the obligatory fence at the new house, but with the driveways on our side of the street in the front, the people on our street do tend to wander back and forth to visit more. I don't get out as much as my wife does (since I'm usually at work), but I do know the first and last names of the adults in the half dozen surrounding homes and at least generally what they do for a living. After the previous neighborhood, where I knew the names** of only the folks on each side, seems pretty amazing.

Isn't that sad?

* A bit of a joke, when most of the neighbors in their giant two- and three-story homes can see right over the fence into my back yard and catch me grilling in my underwear.

** And, unfortunately, in the case of the women who lived next door, the proclivities.

To be thorough the feds canvas an entire neighborhood around an investigatee's house when doing a background check on employees. As I understand it, almost all fed hires are checked to a certain extent anymore.

While it is a sad commentary on our anti-social society, the investigators encounter this more often than not. They have a lot more information on the person that their neighborhood, so don't worry that you hindered their clearance.

I had a guy come to the door asking about a person who lived in the house across the street more than 10 years prior. Of course, I knew nothing since I had only lived there a few years and that person had moved away several years before that. Those forms are comprehensive and go back a long, long way.

Foo, you have three-story houses in your neighborhood? Wow.

Jen, the investigator went to great lengths to assure me that my responses were the norm, not the exception (which doesn't necessarily make me feel any better about our society as a whole). He was also quite insistent on asking ALL the questions on his list, even after I told him that I didn't know even the most basic things about the neighbor. I guess every now and then, someone will have observed something meaningful, behavior-wise, without actually knowing the person in question. And, in fact, I had made such an observation -- but, ironically, none of the questions I was asked merited my offering the details of that observation.

...but, ironically, none of the questions I was asked merited my offering the details of that observation.

That's interesting. So you didn't mention it anyway? Is this a case of don't ask, don't tell? ;-)

Is this a case of don't ask, don't tell?

Yeah, basically. It was an observation of an action that led me to draw a conclusion about character. Had I been asked an open-ended question along that line, I think I would have shared it. At the same time, I've never seen anything else that confirms my conclusion, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize someone's chances at a new job based on an isolated incident. It's a moot point, as the questions were much more specific than that.

I remember back during the Cold War an investigator came to ask me about a former employee. It seems the guy had joined the military and was seeking a job manning one of those intercontinental missiles that they kept buried in the ground. At the end of the interview, the guy asked me, "so, you wouldn't have any concerns with him working around nucleur weapons?" I had to do a double take. I certainly hope that anyone who has his finger on "The Button" is too smart to work for me.