Social Security

The very first thing I had to do when I arrived in CA was get a SSN. Naively I thought that the Social Security office would be some suite in some government office building. I was wrong. I was extremely wrong. The social security office is a big ol' building unto itself filled with immigrant families and divorcees and punk children all needing something immediately and none having any of the right documentation. Then there's me, I have all my paperwork, what I need is to be assigned a number. So I wait in the line, see the guy at the window and he says "this stamp says you're a tourist" while looking at my passport. Those of you who know me will also know that my passport has several stamps in it from being a tourist - say for example from Italy and Germany, not to mention the SW USA trip I went on not too long ago - or any of the regattas I went to that were in the US. There is also the stamp I received when I went down to CA for my interview. NONE of these stamps are from a date anywhere NEAR the date that I received my work Visa. So I say, "that's not the right stamp that you're looking at, it's this one" and I point to the one that has the same date as the stamp on the card I got at customs that IS my Visa. The guy points to one of the other stamps "this stamp classifies you as a tourist, SEE? It says "class B-2" on it, that means you're a tourist". I point out again that he is still looking at a stamp with a different MONTH AND YEAR from the one we are currently in, and thus is not the stamp that corresponds to my work visa. He's not getting it. Eventually I get told to sit down and wait again and then I am sent to a different window. Luckily the girl at this window is WAY more on top of things, looks at the right stamp, the CURRENT one, types some stuff in her computer and tells me that my card should arrive in the mail in less than 2 weeks. See how easy it could've been?