So,
what I had hoped would be maybe an hour out of my day has now turned into a
veritable saga for the ages. After
failing in my designated two attempts to create a “My Social Security” account,
I was counseled by the kind voice on the end of the phone line (that would be the call I mentioned yesterday
that took 40 minutes to get an answer) to go in person to the nearest
social security office, where they could bypass all the credit-report based
security questions and set my account up for me. And so my day yesterday began.
Now,
the nearest social security office is now in League City, so we had to make a
trip off the Island. Yes, the pronoun
has suddenly changed to “we,” similar to when Luke joined the journey with Paul
back in the Book of Acts. Being the
marvelous wife that she is, Chris decided to join my journey. I’m sure the fact that the social security
office is located next door to Kohl’s and Kohl’s just happened to be having a
massive sale had absolutely nothing to do with her decision. I know it was all about spending quality time
with her wonderful husband.
OK. We arrived at the office around 10:15. Chris headed to Kohl’s. I entered a room with about 50 chairs, all
but a few of them filled. I found out
later that a line had formed outside the office door beginning around and
seven, and by eight it was a fully formed creature. I dutifully checked in at the welcome center
(two kiosks with computerized
instructions: “Enter your social security number and you will receive your
number in line”). And then they had
me. The uniformed security guard quickly
demanded that I sit in one of the chairs and wait for my number to be
called. No standing allowed
indoors. And when every chair was
filled, he insisted that anyone else coming through the door go back and wait
outside.
The
number I was issued didn’t really mean much.
They weren’t actually going in numerical order. Different specialists could only do their
thing if the right person with the right need showed up. So I sat
with everyone else for an hour and ten minutes.
I did make friends with the guy next to me. He was a year older than me, and was on
oxygen. He was doing a change in marital
status. Told me if he could get it done
quickly enough, that his ex wouldn’t get a dime. Good luck with that. As we became acquainted we started chatting
up several others seated nearby. I don’t
think the security guard liked that too much.
Can’t have the inmates plotting to take over the asylum, you know.
I
finally received my call back and my new friends literally cheered me on (we knew each other’s numbers by this time). Could this really mean my ordeal was almost
over? I went back and explained my
simple need – to set up my online account.
Easy peasy, right? My CSS (Customer Service Specialist, or whatever they are called) asked for
my ID and then asked two questions. “What
is your mother’s maiden name?” and “What is your Dad’s name?” That was it.
So much for Experian-based security questions. I told him I could have done this myself if
those had been the security questions.
He had a good chuckle and quickly entered in all of my personal information. And then he pushed “Send” to the printer so I
would get a copy of my brand new online access code. And … it didn’t work. He chuckled again (He was quite the chuckler) and entered everything again and pushed
send. And … it didn’t work. So he entered everything a third time and
pushed send. And … it didn’t work. (He didn’t
chuckle this time). So he asked the
person working next to him to try it from her terminal. So she entered everything a fourth time and
pushed send. And … it didn’t work. My CSS assured me that he had never had this
happen before, but it appeared that the computer server was suddenly down. There was nothing he could do about it. He promised that he would keep trying and
call me if he ever got through. Of
course, he got off work at four. And he
was off on Monday. And he would be
swamped with catch-up work on Tuesday.
So it might be Wednesday before he could call me back. So I left.
Sigh. It’s official, folks. I broke the government’s computer.
Psalms
46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am
God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Father,
would you give that fellow who helped me a good weekend? He was really flustered when I left. Amen.
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