There I was...in line at the Social Security Office

If you ever have a few HOURS to kill by standing in line, I highly recommend you come by the Social Security office. It is the most highly protected fortress on the planet complete with armed guards, who announce you in before allowing you near the door....we have 2 to get a card, repeat 2 for the card....ok you can go in now. I was waiting for a strip search and lie detector test, but the metal detector, and examination of my drivers license was sufficient to go to the next level.Once past the door you are greeted by yet another guard who tells you where to stand, back of the line of course...which runs around the room in a serpentine parade of exhausted people wanting the same thing as you, a social security card.I don't think it was always this way...perhaps the offices were once nicer and the crowds not so thick, I'm told the line begins 30 minutes before they even open. But the issue is the same for everyone-they have been forced to appear in person, with original copies of documents or no card!The immigration system appears to have dumped all responsibility onto the Social Security administration for verifying information. In fact, you can't get a drivers license, a job or a bank account unless you have an SSN (social security number).But you can't get a job without a car....and you cant buy the car without a bank account or loan...so...how does anyone make due? They don't! You either get your necessary documents in order or you might as well become a couch potato.Those magical original documents are a strange requirement though. First, the SS offices wont let you do anything on line, everything is done in person, so no electronic filing of any kind. Second, once you show up with the originals, they take them from you and go to a copier to create a duplicate. Wow, you're kidding right?Then they tell you all the reasons why you have waited in line for 2 hours in vain. Keep in mind it's not just two hours...it's two hours with no cell phone-those are forbidden. It's 2 hours surrounded by people who are pissed off by having to stand in a slow moving line. You have time to read every piece of literature they hang on the walls, all the signs about their rules like, we don't grant SS numbers for people on a tourist Visa. Um, if I were on a tourist Visa, the last place I would go is to get an SS number...but I digress.Then again, why wouldn’t you do that? Why not let every tourist get a number, and if they happen to work here, hey we get more money in our national treasury. Hmm...I doubt they will ever claim it since they aren't here for very long. Oh wait! That's right, this isn't about social security anymore, it's about immigration.So finally we get up to the window, which felt like a parole hearing for someone on death row. They look at your documents and immediately say why you can't have a card yet. The reason ours was denied this time,,, actually the third time?....you don't have your green card yet. Until that comes, all these notices form Homeland Security saying you are in the system, completely legal and just waiting for your card-are worthless. Wow, thanks for the notice...maybe the guy outside should tell people that before they get in line?!!!!To anyone who has EVER been through this, I have this advice. First, go early, it's the only way you are going to get out of their under an hour. Second, if you don't go early, take a book...like War and Peace-cause you'll be able to finish it.Third, if you notice that the cheap fluorescent lights seem to flicker and dim, sucking the life from your brain....the fans on the wall seem incredibly filthy and caked with dust...and the number of screaming children increases the longer you are there...congratulations, you and only you can say-you understand this rant!