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I went to get a measles booster last week. I’m one of the lucky folks who was originally vaccinated between 1963 and 1967, which is when many children received a measles vaccine that was less effective than the version used after 1967. My doctor and my pharmacist—both of whom attended medical school and have spent years working in the medical field—recommended the booster. And, I gotta say, it was a breeze. I barely felt the shot and didn’t have the slightest soreness in my arm afterwards. Plus, getting the shot felt like a bit of a middle finger to anti-vaxxer RFK Jr., who never attended medical school and who has no practical medical experience. That’s basically my survival strategy for the next four years: Do the opposite of whatever RFK Jr. advises.
I also took my parents to the Social Security Office to update their physical mailing address. We tried calling Social Security’s toll-free phone number to make the update, but, after waiting over an hour on hold, we gave up. So, off to the local field office for an in-person visit. We arrived just as the office opened, stood in line for 20 minutes to check-in, and then waited to speak to an agent. We’d barely settled into our molded plastic chairs when the manager of the local office came out to make an announcement: The Social Security computer system was down and, without access to the national database, staff would be unable to assist anyone. And, unfortunately, they had no idea as to when the system might be back online.
The very nice Social Security staff, for whom I felt tremendous sympathy as they dealt with a waiting room of upset customers, did offer me an option. They said we could change my parents’ address by writing a letter to Social Security and dropping it off at the field office. They would then input the changes if and when their computer system came back online. So, that’s what we did. We crossed our fingers that Elon and his “brain trust” would have the computers switched back on soon.
Hubby, who just started receiving his Social Security retirement benefits this year, did get an email from the government saying that he needed to prove he was a “real person” within 60 days or that his benefits would be terminated. Huh? We went to the Social Security Office to sign up hubby for his benefits six months ago, and they verified his identity then… in person. Why are we now back to square one?
A few days after dropping off my parents’ updated address requests, we realized that they hadn’t received their annual 1099 IRS forms from Social Security. And we needed those in order to get their taxes done. Normally, you can download those forms online, but, since my parents didn’t currently have online Social Security accounts, that option was unavailable. And when we tried to set up online accounts for them, we were told that we’d need to visit a Social Security field office to do so. Deep breaths… deep breaths.
So, back to the Social Security Office to sit for an eternity waiting to be called. The resulting appointment lasted all of two minutes; the Social Security agent simply printed out special codes for each of my parents to use to set up an online account. (We also dragged hubby along so he could breathe on a mirror to prove he’s still alive and worthy of continuing to receive his retirement benefits.) Once we got back home, it took about 10 minutes to set up each parent’s online account and download their 1099 IRS forms. Finally, success!!
I thought we were done with the Social Security office, and I felt a great weight lifted. Then I read an article about how DOGE’s tampering with Social Security was creating account problems, specifically some people’s online accounts were now missing critical information. With much trepidation, I logged into my dad’s account and found his information to be… intact and correct. Same for my mother’s account. Whew!
Then I logged into my account and saw that while my email address and phone number were still listed, my physical address was missing. I tried to enter it again, but, alas, no dice. And so, I’m now planning yet another trip to the Social Security field office, where I should soon achieve frequent flyer status.
Government efficiency at its best. |
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