U.S. Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, Md. (U.S. Census Bureau) 
 
 Workers are sleeping on the job at the U.S. Census Bureau and the agency is asking employees to stop napping in public areas of its Maryland headquarters. 
 
 A memo sent Tuesday said officials are fielding an increased number of complaints about colleagues “sleeping in public areas.” 
 
 “While at work, our behavior sends a powerful message to our customers, our colleagues and the taxpayers about who we are and what we value,” Ted A. Johnson, the bureau’s acting human resources director, said in the memo. 
 
 “Sleeping on the premises is not acceptable behavior,” Johnson wrote later. “It is manifestly unprofessional and creates an impression of carelessness, which unfairly impugns the hard work of the entire Census community. Moreover, such behavior can lead to safety problems in the event of an emergency.” 
 
 The memo urged ill employees to take leave if necessary, and to seek medical help if they are feeling tired or drowsy. 
 
 A Census spokesman confirmed Wednesday that “a handful” of census workers had been found in recent weeks napping in the lobby, library and cafeteria of the agency’s headquarters, located at the Suitland Federal Center, in Maryland, a sprawling campus that also houses offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Census headquarters includes a lengthy groundfloor promenade lined with shops, a cafeteria, auditorium and agency offices. 
 
 In recent weeks, union representatives and agency officials had received complaints about dozing workers from concerned colleagues, the Census Bureau said Wednesday. “The e-mail was sent as a reminder to all contractors and staffs of their professional obligations and to aspire to the highest standard of conduct,” it said in a statement. 
 
 Follow Ed O’Keefe on Twitter: @edatpost 
 
 Further reading: 
 
 Interactive map: Explore the 2010 Census 
 
 Census Bureau revises down its totals for same-sex households in U.S. 
 
 The Federal Eye’s coverage of the U.S. Census Bureau 
 
 For more news, visit PostPolitics and The Fed Page. ||||| It’s hard to keep a straight face on this one, but it’s worth mentioning as one of the strangest cases of alleged misconduct we’ve seen. 
 
 The Social Security Administration officially reprimanded an employee whom colleagues accused of continuously “passing gas and releasing an unpleasant odor” that created a “hostile work environment.” 
 
 After the Smoking Gun posted the reprimand letter online, the agency said it withdrew its disciplinary action against the flatulent worker. 
 
 “When senior management became aware of the reprimand it was immediately rescinded,” agency spokeswoman Dorothy J. Clark said in an e-mail to The federal Eye. 
 
 The Social Security Administration said it withdrew the reprimand seven days after sending the letter, which is dated Dec. 10. 
 
 The agency did not respond to questions about the status of the employee and what actions the administration has taken to address the concerns of his co-workers in the absence of a reprimand. 
 
 The letter, which came from the agency’s Office of Disability Operations, cited 60 documented instances of the worker passing gas in his office during a period of about 12 weeks. 
 
 The employee allegedly had episodes as much as nine times in one day, according to a log of the incidents included in the letter. 
 
 Smoking Gun described the employee as a 38-year-old Maryland man working at a Baltimore Social Security office. The site posted what it claims to be a picture of the worker posing with Pepé Le Pew — of all Looney Tunes Characters — at an amusement park. 
 
 The man told a supervisor in July that he would start turning on a fan after releasing bodily odors in his work space, but the manager explained that such action would only “cause the smell to spread and worsen the air quality in the module,” according to the reprimand letter. 
 
 In August, the man said he would purchase Gas X to help deal with his problem, the letter said. But the log shows he continued to release gas regularly for the next several months. 
 
 The worker provided the agency with proof of medical conditions that could prevent him from working full days at times, but the disability operations manager said: “… nothing that you have submitted has indicated you would have uncontrollable flatulence. It is my belief that you can control this condition.” 
 
 The American Federation of Government Employees declined to comment on this matter, and the union’s Local 1923, which represents Social Security workers in Baltimore, did not respond to queries. 
 
 For more federal news from The Washington Post, visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page,and PostPolitics. 
 
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– The Federal Eye blog at the Washington Post picks up on two memos to government employees not of the usual variety (we hope): Nap time: Census Bureau officials fielding increased complaints about workers "sleeping in public areas" of its Maryland headquarters cracked down: “Sleeping on the premises is not acceptable behavior. It is manifestly unprofessional and creates an impression of carelessness, which unfairly impugns the hard work of the entire Census community. Moreover, such behavior can lead to safety problems in the event of an emergency." It also urged workers to seek medical help if they feel drowsy. Full post here. Exploding toilets: After a toilet exploded and sent a female employee of the General Services Administration to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, GSA workers got this warning: “DO NOT flush toilets or use any domestic water. Due to a mechanical failure, there is high air pressure in the domestic water system that resulted in damage to toilets.” Full post here.