Road trip!

I guess there is nothing quite like a trip to a government office to get me riled up enough to blog, seeing as it has been quite awhile.
Since the birth of bambino #3, I seem to have "misplaced" her social security card.  And as it would have it, that number is needed if I want to claim her on my taxes.  So, off we went this morning.  And by we, I mean me, the 4.5 year old, the 3.5 year old and the nearly 7 month old.  We drove the half hour to the one and only office location serving more than 3 million people, lucked out with someone pulling out of a spot just as we got there....no then it changed.  We sauntered up to the door only to discover the line to go through security and get a number was out the door.  As we stood in line, I peered into the office and saw the waiting area.  Luckily for us there was a nice lady in front of us and a nice lady behind.  We chit chatted about the line, how long it would take, if there was any other offices, or another way to do this...etc.  The older two kids got squirrely right away, so I knew this was going to be fun.  In the end, we walked away after 15 minutes, but I learned a few valuable lessons.
#1) any city area of over 3 million people needs multiple government office locations.  Especially when you are only open 9:00-3:30.  People get in line an hour or more before the location opens.  And they still have to wait 2 hours.
#2) there will be friendly, understanding people in line and there will be everyone else.  We are all in line, we all have to wait, let's try to be friendly.  No one, especially young children, need to hear that kind of language upon your arrival in line.
#3) I'm not sure if Hell has a waiting room, but if it does, it may be located at a government office.  I'm almost certain none of the people I saw sitting in there looked like they did when they arrived at the SS office.  That waiting room had the innate ability to suck the light, life, joy, and years out of anyone,
#4) to the employees at these Government offices, the ones who work hard and the ones that don't...lets try to speed it up.  I know some situations are trickier than others and may require more time to get things sorted out, but when the waiting room is that full and the line to enter the waiting room is out the door, is there any way we could hurry it up?  Just asking.

Luckily for me, I had an brain surge and was able to locate the number through other means, so a trip back to the social security office has been postponed!  Hopefully until all children are in school and only I have to suffer through the wait.  Mind you, three hours alone, no children pulling on me, begging for snacks or tv, three hours to sit, read, snooze, play games....sounds more like the waiting room to Heaven!! :o)