Little in life is more disappointing than misplaced optimism.  Given my past experiences, why I believed that the United States government might actually demonstrate a modicum of competence against all evidence to the contrary is beyond me.  I now stand corrected.

Last month’s visit to the Social Security office had left me hopeful that I would by now be in possession of a social security number for my wife.  Having not received a promised notification in last week’s mail, we got up early today and drove downtown to the Federal building.  Once again we were promptly served (I give SSA props for that at least) and as fate would have it we drew the same customer service rep as before.  She said the reason we hadn’t gotten notice that the social security application had been processed was because “DHS was unable to verify immigration status.”

The mind reels.  After all those months of waiting for the green card to be issued, less than a month later DHS can’t find a record of having done so?  God save us all if these are the people in charge of “Homeland Security”.

So what happens now is SSA will send copies of the green card and passport to DHS and if a sentient being there can verify that Jee Yeun has been granted permanent residency, they will notify SSA who will then process the SSN application.  ETA on actually getting a SSN?  Maybe four weeks.  Which puts me perilously close to the April 15 deadline for filing my taxes.

Tomorrow I will visit my accountant, sign my tax forms, which she will hold until I email the social security number that one of my kids will be watching out for while they periodically check my mailbox here at the house.

Nothing comes easy when you rely on Uncle Sam.  Turns out he’s a real fucktard.

The United State is a first world nation with a third world government.  As Neil Young duly noted, things are comin’ apart at every nail…