The Magic Number 3: Return to the Office!

After nearly eight weeks of absolutely nothing from the Social Security - including no response to the e-mail and an annoying habit of putting you on hold for eternity, i FINALLY managed to get someone on the phone to see what the hell was going on. Of all the blind luck, i managed to get the new person in the office - one who'd just moved from New York state where the offices were run in a very different way. To cut a long (boring) story short, she managed to find me on the system, despite her repeated insistence that my birthday was the 20th April 1979 and not the 25th (the phone line wasn't bad, so i guess she had hearing issues. Or just wasn't listening). Not only was i on their system, but all my details were on the Homeland Security system - the thing that they need to check before they issue the card and number. So, why the lack of a card? Wouldn't you know it, I needed to speak to someone else and was promptly connected through to the answer machine. A couple of days and irate answerphone messages later, and I finally found out what the problem was - yes, my application had been lost!

The solution? Only ANOTHER trip to the wonderfully sanitised Social Security Office. Only this time there's a ticking clock (of a kind) cause they're moving on Wednesday. Guess where i found myself at 9.00 this morning? I had hopes of being seen quickly - cause there were two people at the counter (one of whom was the lady i needed to see) and they seemed to be going through the line quite quickly. But of course, Sod's Law stepped in and insisted that the person directly in front of me at the right window would take at least 30 minutes to complete their business. After what seemed like an ice age or two, she FINALLY hauled her ass out of there and i got to the counter. The result? My card will be here within two weeks - probably by Friday. Forgive me if i don't hold my breath!