My Trip to the Social Security Office and DMV Part 1

Okay...get comfortable because this is a long story. But, you get two stories for the price of one!

Very Important Background Information..........

several weeks ago, I noticed that I had lost my drivers license. I think I went to Costco and put my drivers license, Costco card, and bankcard in the pocket of my pants. Unfortunately, I had all of the items after my clothes went through the wash with the exception of my drivers license. So, I began the long painful process to have my drivers license replaced. What I found throughout this experience is that it is not always as easy as you might think.

So...to replace a drivers license, you need to have a birth certificate and a social security card. No problem I thought until I could not locate either of the needed documents. So I looked up what it took to replace my birth certificate and also my Social Security card. The birth certificate was a piece of cake (I ordered it directly from the State that I was born in's website). The Social Security card was a bit more difficult. The requirements from the Social Security Admin is that you need to provide proof of identify (i.e. a drivers license). So...if I needed a drivers license to get a new Social Security card and I need a Social Security card to get a drivers license, what is one to do?

I then contacted the Social Security Administration of the United States of America (I will be using the full name from here on out because that is how it was used by the SSA employee when I actually got my card....) and they said that I could not use a birth certificate because those could be easily forged. They would however accept medical records. I told the representiitve from the Social Security Administration of the United States of America that the policy was crazy because one could much easly forge the medical records verses a legal state document. That being said, I moved on to getting a copy of my medical records. This proved to be just as difficult.

Within the past three years, I had only been to the doctor once. That was a very painful visit to our local E.R. So, I contacted the hospital and they told me that it would take 10 business days to get my records. So after 10 days, when I had not recieved them, the hospital said that they forgot to send them out. Needless to say, last Thursday, I had all my ducks in a row (and in a special white envelope)...I was off to the Social Security Administration of the United States of America office.

On With The Story...........

At our local Social Security Administration of the United States of America office, there are only say 30 parking places (but the staff has 150 behind a gated wall...go figure). When I first arrived and circled around the tiny parking lot and discovered there were no parking places, I decided to see what was down the street. First of all, the building is surrounded by apartment buildings all of which have signs posting that their parking lots and infront of their buildings are for their tenents only. Next to the apartments is a dirt field. I was not about to park in the unattended dirt field that is in the ghetto. So I turned back to find a space where there was a car parked (who's owner appered to be ready to leave). The person owning the car got in, baked a three teired wedding cake, got a pedicure, and talked on their phone...then they pulled out.

What made me upset about this was while I was waiting for the three teir wedding cake to be frosted, three mini van's with at least 20 people piled out, and illegally parked infront of the office (keeping one person in them so that if they are caught, the vehicle could easily be moved). That normally would not bother me except when I got into the Social Security Administration of the United States of America office, you have to check in at a kiosk and you are assigned a number.

When I first entered I was astonished because while there were probably only 30 cars in the parking lot, there were at least 150 people in the waiting area. I thought what...do these people pour water on their heads and they multiply? Anyway....I was excited because they were on number A82 and I was A118. I figured that with only three of the twenty windows open (go figure...its the Federal goverment) I would only have to wait three hours. I was surpised to find out that the key was the letter in front of my number. There was not only A's, but B's, C's, D's and M's (not sure what the M's were for...). Anyway...they would toggle between the numbers (ex: A1, B1, C,1, D1, M1, the...A2, B2, ect). I thne realized that I would be there forever.