It was a Key West errand day.
The first stop was the Social Security office.This time we remembered to leave the phone, camera, and pocket knife in the car so we did not have to go back to the car to get into the building. We still had to empty all pockets and Andy had to take off his belt to walk through the metal detector. There were three security guards in the foyer. One of them said, “So, you’re going to the Social Security office”. How did he know? “You two don’t look like you are on probation.” The court is in the same building.
The Social Security office is right next to the foyer. There are eight or ten chairs in a small room. Another security guard was seated at a small table in the far corner. We took a number and then a seat facing two windows with bullet-proof glass. They had a pattern of holes in them so you could carry on a conversation with the person on the other side. There were two women back there, but they took turns and only helped one person at a time.
One young woman wanted to change her name on her social security card. She also wanted to change her daughter’s name. The woman behind the window told her she had to get the baby’s name changed legally first and then bring the documents for identification. Another woman had four or five children’s cards for which she wanted to get the name changed. A loud man came in and sat next to the silent man next to me. He kept talking to the silent man who answered in monosyllables. The guard told the loud man to stop bothering people. The scrawny woman at the window looked as though she is having a hard life. She wanted to get a job and wondered how much money could be in her bank account before her payments would be cut off. The loud man kept interjecting his opinion and the guard told him to be quiet again. The loud man decided to leave and yelled, “I’ll see you on Tuesday!” as he walked out the door. The scrawny woman still seemed confused when she left.
Finally our number was called. A15 is the same number we had when we were in the office in 2012. I didn’t remember that; I still had the old number in my folder. We were there to make sure that Andy is getting the extra payment for his military service. His service dates were not correct in the Social Security database. The woman made copies of his documents and said she would forward them to a specialist to get it straightened out.Yes, we were very happy to get out of there. We had lunch at Goldman’s Deli while we recovered.
After all the bad press about the Veteran’s Administration, we were surprised how well that appointment went. We didn’t have to wait long. Most of the time spent with the doctor was an interview. After looking in Andy’s ears, the doctor put in orders for a hearing exam in Miami. Then he told the nurse to give Andy a shingles shot. We waited half an hour to make sure he did not have a reaction and then we were on our way home.
Dinata Misovec 