I've been helping a few old and incapacitated folks with financial, legal, and govt issues, and I've learned to avoid the people contact at all costs as I have experienced the same treatment. If you must call, make it first-grade level clear what exactly you are asking for, and don't cloud the request with any of the real-life details or background info, no matter how pertinent it is... Just say I need X please. However in the past 2 years, I've learned that creating online accounts with valid email and iphone registration are the best approaches for service and communications, and to spend the drudgery of time on their websites to get tasking done. Companies and Govt want to move away from the people Help Desk model, to the automated help model. Always take screenshots of everything, and when sending USPS, always make digital copies to be used later with online tools and correspondence. Also, often times the email accounts provided for help can be shockingly helpful lately. As a long shot if deep govt services are failing, contact your local politicians office, asking for help. I've seen this work with my neighbors a few times. Welcome to American Bureaucracy 2.0. Also, thanks for the tip about not acting too swiftly, which is a new one that is sure to pay off.
Your tale resonates and is absolutely worth telling. The Kafkaesque situations we all face are designed to wear us down. Thankfully in the UK we do have this service which streamlines the process.
Perhaps we're better off to change our last names to Rodriquez in order to receive the customer service the rest of the population is receiving. Or if visiting in person, tell whomever you identify as a black person. I think you could find a cheap 'Fro and some fake gold chains. You'll have to practice at shucking and jiving. I am sorry for the loss of your brother and all the angst over his death in dealing with what should be something quite normal. Afterall, people die every day and so many file for Social Security, there should easily be experts on hand to provide you the services you require. I am sure Ricky forgives you. Getting old is scary as much as getting sick is. Blessings to you, Don!
You should have entitled this post: "Dealing With America 2.0- The Bureaucratic Quagmire From The Pit Of Hell."
Officially, I don't deal with America 2.0. I do not exist- have not existed since 1991. When my mother died the bank kept faithfully sending statements detailing the absolute lack of account activity, and then deducting 2 dollars for the service. You can do the math on how long that took to drain the $43 dollars that was left in the account once the social security payment was revoked. Two years later, they sent a letter complaining of the overdraft the $2 fee caused, which threatened penalties. Since then, I have gotten no further letters. I guess somebody finally figured it out. Thank the Blessed Mother for small favors.
The Last time I dealt with Phone Hell was in trying to renew my car insurance. After being transferred 7 times, I was transferred to a line that rang seven times and then got an answering machine suggesting I leave a message. Which I did which I shant repeat here since children might be reading. My car insurance dutifully expired and I got all sorts of hate mail from the state, but just kept on driving anyway, for the next ten years.
About a year ago I got a gift card that did not work. I called customer service and got a maiden from either India or Pakistan, not sure which. They said they fixed the card. it still did not work. I just pitched it.
At any rate, isn't it wonderful living in a country where you pay more and more and get less and less? I think it is only by the grace of God this crummy piece of electronic felgercarb still works. But any day now...
Donald, try Griefshare.org for groups that meet in your locale. Usually churches host them. You should be able to find a group easily, as long as you are not in a rural area.
It's terrible that you should have had to go through all this bs, while grieving for your brother. Donald, you are way too conscientious. You should have just left everything undone, until/if they found out on their own. Since America 2.0 started really unraveling about 15 years ago, folks have just not complyed with a lot of this stuff...and for the most part ...no one even notices.
Sending your original birth certificate to SS? That would be lunacy. In 2008 when I went to renew my driver's license, they had just passed a law requiring a SS number to do this (since rescinded for non-US citizens). They said my number was no good, and I had to go to the SS office to find out why. It was a horrible experience, as always...a long wait. I was told that I was using someone else's number. Thirty years prior, SS had sent me a replacement card with two numbers transposed. I had bought and sold a house, and had numerous bank cards with this number, and NOT ONE of these places ever caught that I was using someone else's number. I asked if the person was still alive. They said they were prohibited from telling me, but said if they were, they would be very old. I think the number was from someone who died fairly young and had never had a credit account. They asked for the bad card, and like a fool, I gave it to them. After I left, I realized that if I were to be accused of identity theft, I had just given away my only proof that it was SS's mistake. SS would have NEVER admitted their mistake.
When I was traveling a lot in the late nineties, I NEVER sent my passport away to an embassy for a visa stamp. That seemed crazy, to trust paper-pushers living the easy life in America, to actually do their job, and return my passport. I always gambled that showing up and getting the visa, on site, would work. It always did. It caused a lot of consternation...but what are they going to do? It would have been way too much work for them to find another plane to send me back. Public servants will do anything to get out of extra work. I know I am highly cynical...but being this way has saved me a lot of extra trouble.
Your brother Ricky's journey in this God-forsaken (and I mean that literally) country is emblematic of the Third World Nation we have become. You were a good brother, you loved him the best you could. In this world that means everything, so many of us are all alone. God bless you and your kind wife.
I've been helping a few old and incapacitated folks with financial, legal, and govt issues, and I've learned to avoid the people contact at all costs as I have experienced the same treatment. If you must call, make it first-grade level clear what exactly you are asking for, and don't cloud the request with any of the real-life details or background info, no matter how pertinent it is... Just say I need X please. However in the past 2 years, I've learned that creating online accounts with valid email and iphone registration are the best approaches for service and communications, and to spend the drudgery of time on their websites to get tasking done. Companies and Govt want to move away from the people Help Desk model, to the automated help model. Always take screenshots of everything, and when sending USPS, always make digital copies to be used later with online tools and correspondence. Also, often times the email accounts provided for help can be shockingly helpful lately. As a long shot if deep govt services are failing, contact your local politicians office, asking for help. I've seen this work with my neighbors a few times. Welcome to American Bureaucracy 2.0. Also, thanks for the tip about not acting too swiftly, which is a new one that is sure to pay off.
bless you for writing all of this.
Your tale resonates and is absolutely worth telling. The Kafkaesque situations we all face are designed to wear us down. Thankfully in the UK we do have this service which streamlines the process.
https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once
God bless you sir.
Perhaps we're better off to change our last names to Rodriquez in order to receive the customer service the rest of the population is receiving. Or if visiting in person, tell whomever you identify as a black person. I think you could find a cheap 'Fro and some fake gold chains. You'll have to practice at shucking and jiving. I am sorry for the loss of your brother and all the angst over his death in dealing with what should be something quite normal. Afterall, people die every day and so many file for Social Security, there should easily be experts on hand to provide you the services you require. I am sure Ricky forgives you. Getting old is scary as much as getting sick is. Blessings to you, Don!
You should have entitled this post: "Dealing With America 2.0- The Bureaucratic Quagmire From The Pit Of Hell."
Officially, I don't deal with America 2.0. I do not exist- have not existed since 1991. When my mother died the bank kept faithfully sending statements detailing the absolute lack of account activity, and then deducting 2 dollars for the service. You can do the math on how long that took to drain the $43 dollars that was left in the account once the social security payment was revoked. Two years later, they sent a letter complaining of the overdraft the $2 fee caused, which threatened penalties. Since then, I have gotten no further letters. I guess somebody finally figured it out. Thank the Blessed Mother for small favors.
The Last time I dealt with Phone Hell was in trying to renew my car insurance. After being transferred 7 times, I was transferred to a line that rang seven times and then got an answering machine suggesting I leave a message. Which I did which I shant repeat here since children might be reading. My car insurance dutifully expired and I got all sorts of hate mail from the state, but just kept on driving anyway, for the next ten years.
About a year ago I got a gift card that did not work. I called customer service and got a maiden from either India or Pakistan, not sure which. They said they fixed the card. it still did not work. I just pitched it.
At any rate, isn't it wonderful living in a country where you pay more and more and get less and less? I think it is only by the grace of God this crummy piece of electronic felgercarb still works. But any day now...
Donald, try Griefshare.org for groups that meet in your locale. Usually churches host them. You should be able to find a group easily, as long as you are not in a rural area.
It's terrible that you should have had to go through all this bs, while grieving for your brother. Donald, you are way too conscientious. You should have just left everything undone, until/if they found out on their own. Since America 2.0 started really unraveling about 15 years ago, folks have just not complyed with a lot of this stuff...and for the most part ...no one even notices.
Sending your original birth certificate to SS? That would be lunacy. In 2008 when I went to renew my driver's license, they had just passed a law requiring a SS number to do this (since rescinded for non-US citizens). They said my number was no good, and I had to go to the SS office to find out why. It was a horrible experience, as always...a long wait. I was told that I was using someone else's number. Thirty years prior, SS had sent me a replacement card with two numbers transposed. I had bought and sold a house, and had numerous bank cards with this number, and NOT ONE of these places ever caught that I was using someone else's number. I asked if the person was still alive. They said they were prohibited from telling me, but said if they were, they would be very old. I think the number was from someone who died fairly young and had never had a credit account. They asked for the bad card, and like a fool, I gave it to them. After I left, I realized that if I were to be accused of identity theft, I had just given away my only proof that it was SS's mistake. SS would have NEVER admitted their mistake.
When I was traveling a lot in the late nineties, I NEVER sent my passport away to an embassy for a visa stamp. That seemed crazy, to trust paper-pushers living the easy life in America, to actually do their job, and return my passport. I always gambled that showing up and getting the visa, on site, would work. It always did. It caused a lot of consternation...but what are they going to do? It would have been way too much work for them to find another plane to send me back. Public servants will do anything to get out of extra work. I know I am highly cynical...but being this way has saved me a lot of extra trouble.
Your brother Ricky's journey in this God-forsaken (and I mean that literally) country is emblematic of the Third World Nation we have become. You were a good brother, you loved him the best you could. In this world that means everything, so many of us are all alone. God bless you and your kind wife.