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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Social Security
I spent a chunk of the afternoon yesterday in the Social Security office, trying to change my last name. Though I made it in and out in a reasonable amount of time, it felt like I was there forever. What a depressing place.It reminded me a great deal of the DMV. No one wanted to be there, including the employees, and it seemed dank and drab, and too many strangers were crammed too close together. An armed security officer manned the front door, and handed out numbers to folks as they came in the door. I'm not sure if the letters that prefaced the numbers were random, or if they referred to the service one was seeking. I do know that each of the three counter-clerks was assigned to a letter, and they were the only person serving the people with that letter. I know this because the person serving the "D" group was on his lunch break, and no one was filling in. What that meant was that half the waiting area was full of people who had been waiting for over an hour with no chance of being called, but who couldn't leave because they would lose their place in line. I don't even have words for that sort of inconsiderate customer service.
Many of the people there spoke very poor English, and clearly had no idea what was going on. That, of course, didn't stop the people working there from snapping at them when they (god forbid!) approached the counter to figure out why they weren't being called.
The actual paperwork that I had to do went very quickly once I got to the front of the line. I turned in a form, handed over enough ID to prove that I was me, signed and dated a piece of paper, and was finished.
I still have to brave the DMV to have my license changed over, and send some letters to the banks and credit card people, but I think the most traumatic part of changing my name is over.
Posted at 2:47 PM ::