Fun at the Social Security Office

[marydell]

So I went at lunch to make an attempt at getting a Social Security number for Charlie.  I shall make another attempt on Wednesday, this time with an appointment and the correct paperwork in hand.

Big-city government offices are always a little odd, but almost everyone was pleasant.  One (pleasant) guy sat by me for a while going through his paperwork and cussing about how much paperwork he had to do, then apologizing for his language and saying that he had been good all day (i.e. not cussing) and had even been to church, but there is no way to get through all of this motherfucking paperwork without cursing, sorry.

There was a lady who appeared to be strung out on drugs, and she was wandering around restlessly, but she wasn't hassling anyone or getting fussed about waiting for her number to come up.   A couple of people even missed having their number called and placidly went and took another number, possibly because many people who come to the social security office are going through the immigration process, and are used to being made to stand endlessly in line for no good reason.  Also because the wait times weren't that long, strangely for a government office.  They had four queues going with little numbered tickets, different queues for different activities, so the ones that weren't mine moved fairly quickly.

Then there was the lady who decided to sit next to me and rant at me about the terrorists and the illegals who are able to get social security cards with no problem, whereas she, who was born here and whose fingerprints are on file, can't get a driver's license without a social security card and they won't give her a card because her license was stolen!  And now she has to keep paying expensive insurance on her expensive BMW without even being able to drive it! "They are taking away our rights in this country, is what they are doing. We are becoming a red state! Not red like in mumble, red like in Russia! Totalitarian! They're over there getting more rights while our rights are being taken away!"  Ah, contemporary Russia, land of individual liberties and getting more rights.

Comments

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

there is no way to get through all of this motherfucking paperwork without cursing, sorry.

totally true! i agree one hundred percent!

[gailmom.livejournal.com]

many of us who wait around at the ss office are indeed used to waiting in lines. You have your folks going through the immigration process, true, but many of us are there because we are on disability or are over "social security" age. Trust me, when folks ask what I do for a living and I answer "get administered to" I'm not really joking. There is a LOT of waiting around involved in that. :P

Glad everyone was being pleasant and that the line moved along, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, but overall I don't think I've often run into cranky people at the SS office.

The Texas Health and Human Services office though (local welfare stuff)....I doubt I've had a cheerful person even 1 out of 4 times in that office....talk about cranky....

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Yah! Haddyr has a good post where she talks about how disabled people are accustomed to waiting. "Get administered to" is good, I'll tell my sister that.

This was the downtown-Chicago-lunchtime crowd--people who are in the loop during the day and think it's a good idea to do errands between noon and 1, so generally that means 9-to-fivers. Anyone who can avoid going at lunchtime does. Including me, usually--I get to take my lunch break whenever, but I stupidly thought "noon" would be a good plan. (Not everyone was an immigrant, but the people who missed hearing their number called seemed to be).

On the other hand, the food court's Panda Express had freshly-made orange chicken, so it wasn't a total bust.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

the immigration process, and are used to being made to stand endlessly in line for no good reason

Ah, the immigration process. I didn't mind waiting in line, but when some guy came in just when the office opened and basically jumped to the head of the queue, I stared at him thru the whole thing. When he was done with his business, he asked me what my problem was. I told him. We almost got into a fight. He got his hand off my throat because another future American threatened to call the cops on his cell phone. What about the building's security? They were nowhere in sight.

[goddess32585.livejournal.com]

oh shit, you just reminded I need to renew my green card. bah.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I hope you don't run into the Xenophobic BMW Lady or her ilk!