Saturday, April 01, 2006


GOVERNMENTAL FORMS AND REALITY AS WE KNOW IT


With all the fresh-from-dreams bravado and apparent clarity of cranium that come with morning tea and Spring sunshine, this morning I dove headfirst and unprotected into the US Social Security fill-out jamboree I received from the Osaka Consulate, e. g., "QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT EMPLOYMENT OR SELF-EMPLOYMENT OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES," "STATEMENT OF CLAIMANT OR OTHER PERSON" and so forth...

There in the steadily darkening depths of bureaucratic ambilocution I came across one syntactic black hole after another, like the absence of ancient ruins of organized thought, that drew me on and on...

I know it doesn't pay to gaze intently upon certain objects, like the sun and governmental forms, but one can't help try to make sense of things...

Searching fruitlessly for some specific answers at the online SSA website, I came across this ominous statement (that would be more ominous if I had been working in the US): "I worked without authorization from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). What proof of my earnings do I need to give Social Security?"

So I decide to put it all off till I'm a bit more governmentally minded, whenever that might be, and go instead to obtain some mercy at the Daruma Festival at Ryotanji temple across the Lake. It's a beautiful day, and I have a lot of genuine existence forms I have to fill out.

7 comments:

Tabor said...

My husband spent the last week trying to get a "DUNs" number for a private business. He did this over the Internet, and completing the electonic forms took two whole evenings of reading and submitting. All for another stupid number to track our existence.

Anonymous said...

And I just spent six hours on Medicare prescription drug signup. It doesn't need to be this confusing, though it wasn't as hard as I'd been led to believe. Just horrendously time consuming to sort through all the choices.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's tough when the Federal Government decides to give you a choice in coverage rather than the typical "one-size-fits-all" and "take-from-the-workers-give-to-the-slackers" attitude of the Party of Teddy Kennedy.

Robert Brady said...

Choice?

Anonymous said...

Yep! Lots of choice. You can take the high-end options, low-end options and everything in between. THAT'S what the Democrats were complaining about "It's too complex for these geezers to understand!"

Robert Brady said...

Some things are a waste of understanding.

Anonymous said...

Beginning to feel geezerly?