bureaucracy at its best

Last week my husband and I made a trip to the local Social Security Administration.

I needed an update on my file, and the whole thing took no more than 30 minutes -
but for me it seemed like an eternity.


Here's how it unfolded:

~~~

We drove up to and parked near a fairly new one story brick building.  I made a mental note of the attractive sign by the road that
read -  Social Security Administration -  which also told the hours of operation.

As we entered the building a very polite young man with his hands folded on the desk
in front of him greeted us with - 'please take a number.'

We did so and as we sat down I saw that there were others waiting also.  Our number was
40, and I asked the young man how many people were in front of us. He  politely
gestured to the digital sign at the back of the room that read - 00.  He said, 'It isn't working.'

So I suggested that perhaps I might run an errand and then come back in time before my
number was up.

The smile never left his face as he warned me, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you.'

In an attempt to start a conversation I complimented the attractive sign out front
and he seemed genuinely pleased and told me that they had recently added the information
about the hours of operation.  I told him I thought that the sign appeared to have been
thoughtfully designed - to which he nodded with a proud look on his face.

~~~

On the right upper wall was a very nice tv screen that the young bureaucratic man
watched - still smiling - while illustrated facts and figures flashed by.  Attempting
to bring some sort of  humor into the humorless situation I asked the nice smiling
young man with his hands folded in front of him if he could get The View on.
He just glanced over at me and seemed amazed that I was not satisfied to watch
the our government at work information.

~~~

Before long I heard a voice say, 'Come to the back of the room and sit in the second
cubicle on the left.'  For a moment I felt alarmed - as if some type of interrogation were
to take place.  We complied and a nice woman greeted us with conversation about
what beautiful weather we had been having. 

In five more minutes we were out of there, no problem at all.

~~~

As we drove back home I pondered over what had taken place.

Sure there are situations much more complicated, much more frustrating and much more
time-consuming in dealing with The Bureaucracy. 

But as towns go we live in a medium sized one and I had just witnessed - on a small scale -
our Bureaucratic Government at work.

~~~

In this case it was efficient, neat, the sign and the building were attractive, the people were
friendly and polite - but it left me with a weird feeling.

Like it was too nice.  Too efficient.  Too robot - like. 

I thought maybe I had wandered in and out of the Twilight Zone.

~~~

But as I write this - I know it's just that I've packed one too many boxes - and there
are still many more to go.