Can I Rant?

Grrrr, I am so mad!!

Usually when a baby is born in the hospital, the hospital takes care of getting the baby's birth certificate and Social Security number. Because Finn was born at home, we've had to take care of those things on our own. And I am fine with that, really. It's a small price to pay for being able to have a birth free from a lot of pointless hospital protocols and restrictions.

So we went down to the County Health Dept. office a while back and got Finn's birth certificate, as I posted here at the time. The next thing on the agenda is to get a Social Security number issued to him (this is probably something I would just put on the back burner for a while except for the fact that we can't claim him as a dependent/tax deduction until he has a SSN).

I went down to the local Social Security office last week with all the paperwork I was supposed to have. I had both Finn and Lilah with me (I only point this out to give a truer picture of the inconvenience factor - dragging a baby and a toddler to a government office where waiting will be involved - not fun). I got there and the deal is, you take a number and wait to be called. There were about 30 people ahead of us waiting for their numbers to be called (no exaggerating). It was standing room only. I said "Forget this, I'll come back." So I went back this morning - again with Finn and Lilah in tow - and I got there before the office even opened. Still there was a line of people waiting outside. So we all get inside when they open and take our numbers. I ended up waiting for about 30 minutes. Not too bad, really. Then my number is called, I go up to the window and give the woman my paperwork and the first words out of her mouth are "Why didn't you apply for a Social Security number in the hospital?" (Insert bitchy tone.) Why the hell do government workers have to be so rude? Okay, an unfair generalization, I admit. Let me rephrase: why do most government workers have to be so rude? So I told her that my baby was born at home. Why does it even matter? Why does it matter where he was born or why I didn't apply for a social in the hospital or from the cave in which he might have been born? The point was that I was there to get a freaking social for him and that's all she should concern herself with.

So she's looking over my paperwork over the top of her glasses perched on her nose which only adds to her condescending attitude. She then pushes the paperwork back across the counter at me and informs me that she can't accept Finn's birth certificate? WHAT?!? "It's a certified copy, I don't understand," I say. She points out to me that the date stamped on it as the issuance date is Sept. 29, 2008, but the date it was signed and registered was Oct. 1, and it's impossible that it was issued/certified before it was signed. Holy crap. I felt like she was accusing me of trying to pass off a fraudulent birth certificate or something. I really just felt like crying on the spot because I had already gone to all this trouble, and she was being so rude.

So it looks like the person who certified Finn's birth certificate made a mistake. The only thing I can figure is that she didn't change her date stamp to the new date. Who knows how many documents she date-stamped that day with the wrong date. So now I have to go get a freaking new birth certificate and then do the whole song and dance all over again with Social Security.

Blech!!