My wife had an appointment at the local Social Security office a month ago. She said the experience was like entering an armed camp or something out of the Gestapo. We were wondering what they were protecting. Also, she felt really out of place, since she was the only person going through the security gauntlet who was born in the U.S. and spoke English as her first language.
My experience at the Social Security office in southeast Missouri reminded me more of an old fasioned bank rather than an armed camp. (I haven’t seen an armed guard in a bank here for a long time). A pleasant older man, in uniform and carrying a pistol asked me my business and directed me to a computer screen so I could start my appointment. When my name was called I was sent back for my interview which reminded me of those prison visit scenes with the worker on one side of the glass and me seated on the other—at least there was no phone involved.
It did strike me as an awful lot of security for a place that isn’t handling cash or really anything of value. Have there been lots of cases of geezers going berserk at Social Security offices?
I will say that contrary to my expectations, everyone was very pleasant, and very helpful. (and everyone spoke English!)