They're from the government, and they did help us!

[gridlore]

Just back from my appointment with Social Security. After getting through Security Theater - I'm using a cane, and have an air tank on a wheeled cart.. do they think "maybe we need to wand this guy because he obviously has some physical issues?" Of course not! Since most of the people in line were heading to the SSA office, there was a high proportion of elderly and disabled folks. Adjust and accommodate!

But once in the office, everyone was helpful. Security confirmed our appointment and then we waited. Once called back, our rep explained that they were short-handed that day, and apologized for the delay. Then we dove into the meat of explaining the procedure, pulling up previous data, and filling in the blanks. The rep was extremely helpful and explained everything clearly. Made dealing with a huge bureaucracy a far better experience.

Next up, we get me set up for applying for MediCal.

But first, the Giants' home opener... where we hoist the World Series Championship Banner!

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

My first full-time job out of college was working for a Medicare contractor (Blue Shield of California). There was a threatened government shutdown during the time I worked for them, and we were given warning that we might be sent home our our paychecks stopped, and that we probably wouldn't be paid for any period of such shutdown, although we'd possibly make it up on the vast amount of overtime we'd have to book to catch back up on the backlog of claims. (It seems unlikely that people would stop filing claims just because the government had stopped for a while.) I know that I worked very hard at that job, and while it wasn't physically strenuous, it was challenging: you had to be able to enter about 64 claim forms per hour with less than 2.5% audited error rate. That's why I can type so fast today; when doing data entry, you type fast and accurately or you lose your job.

Of course, a bunch of these right-wing loons really do, I think, expect that you could simply shut down all government programs and no harm would come of it. Except the ones they like, which generally ends up being the ones that are spending the most amount of the government's money. It's like turning off one light bulb while continuing to run the air conditioning full-blast and saying you've done a huge amount to cut your electricity bill.