Name Change Rant - How many f*ing hours of my life will this take????
Because right now I'm up to three, and I haven't actually accomplished anything. Waited at the County Clerk's office for 40 minutes to get a copy of my marriage certificate. Waited at the DMV for 35 minutes before they told me that they won't let me fill out my form until I've gone to social security first. Even though I haven't read that you need to do these things in some special order, anywhere. Then this morning I waited at the Social Security Office for over an hour, and had moved about 5 feet forward in a line that went out the door and around the building. I mean, I don't even know what tasks are accomplished at a Social Security Office? Why are there 100 people in line there, on a Thursday morning?? Why does it take each person in this line 30+ minutes at the counter when they finally make it to the front?? I couldn't handle it and had to just leave. And roll into work two hours late, with absolutely nothing to show for it.
I AM SO FRUSTRATED. Apparently you just have to take an entire day off work to accomplish these tasks.
Re: Name Change Rant - How many f*ing hours of my life will this take????
That sucks. I had a pretty easy experience. Maybe 15 minutes at the Probate Court to get certified copies of our license. 45 minutes at Social Security. 30 minutes at the DMV. I DID go to Social Security first because for some reason I thought our DMV wouldn't accept my name change without proof of the change at Social Security. Apparently they still would but I'm glad I did what I did. I also spread it out over a couple of days because I didn't want to waste my entire day in a bunch of government offices.
I honestly think the banks were some of our longer waits. One of them nearly didn't let me change my name because I hadn't received my new SS card even though I had an updated driver's license.
Also some of the problems are more complicated than a name change. Disability claims take forever. I've never gone in for a problem other than my name and my husband's disability claim. But each time, we blocked off a whole day for it.
Yeah... it sucks.
I waited about 3 hours at Social Security. Once I finally got to the window, it took less than 10 minutes. Apparently it's best to get there really early, like 1/2 hour or more before they open. And middle of the week is usually slower than Friday or Monday.
(FYI... Check to see if you have to wait between SS office and DMV. I had to wait 48 hours before DMV so it could get updated in their computer system.)
Then I waited over 2 hours at DMV. Same thing here... show up before opening. You will still wait for doors to open, but it's likely to be less of a wait than if you came at opening time.
After those items, luckily most things can be handled over phone or mail.
Ugh. I know. It doesn't help that I wasn't 100 percent on board with changing my name in the first place, so now I'm just extra bitter!!!!!! I'm just going to take an entire day off work next week (I need my new passport ASAP, it expires in February, which is why I need to handle all this this week or next instead of spreading it out which would probably be better for my sanity) and get as much done as possible. We have DMV appointments here, but the earliest is always a month or two away. Because that's helpful!
Thanks for the tips. I'll plan on getting to SS before it opens, and just adjust my expectations of competency and efficiency. I actually already have all my forms filled out, it's just the waiting in the lines that makes me want to scratch out my eyes.
Be glad you don't live in Quebec! They strongly discourage changing your name, and they make it a pain in the ass (and ~15k charge is what my colleagues mother had to pay).
But it still sucks. At least nowadays you have mobile internet. Imagine back 20 or 30 years ago when you just had to wait =\
Yup. It's a weird place. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=72ddc06b-4660-4b92-8b92-3a26ae24b377
This article says it's illegal, but if you have enough money you can get around it I guess.
Yeah it's actually very odd. But all the people that I work with from there get so confused when people change their names. Theyre like 'Ok, I know Emily Brown...I wonder if Emily Black is the same girl..' and veryone else its like, yeah, duh, she got married.
I'm sorry.
I've always heard that you need to go to the SS first so I went there first thing when they opened. Luckily, my experience was a fairly painless one. We got our certified copies right away, 30 min at SS, then an hour at the DMV.
It is so worth it in the end!
All this bullshit makes me glad I didn't change my name when I got married,