by Calvin Robinson

Created on: January 29, 2009

Almost everyone has had an experience waiting in line at a government office at some point or another. The sterile nature of those offices along with the rather boring aspects of normal government business rarely make these visits something to remember fondly, much less to actually get a chuckle from. I happen to work at the Social Security Administration and know all too well that these visits often lean towards the unpleasant and people sometimes get frustrated enough to lose their temper. Today was a special day in that I had jury duty but was excused. I went to work as usual and instead of having disability interviews, I was asked to assist at the front reception window because there were no interviews for me.

The morning was rather ordinary and uneventful from the time we opened the windows at 9:00 AM until about 9:30 AM. The lobby was very crowded and everyone was well behaved. Of course they were well behaved because we have an armed guard that not only looks like he belongs to the mafia, his vehicle plate says "Godfoder". No one ever seems to want to cross this man and as a result, the office has a very calm and quiet appearance on most days. Today was no different. All the chairs in the waiting room are turned with the backs toward the reception windows and a half wall separates the windows from the waiting area. All that can be seen from the reception windows is the backs of the heads of those waiting. It seems the waiting area has little for people to focus attention on and as a result anyone coming in the front doors has to pass the gauntlet of stares from all those pairs of eyes painfully waiting for their number to be called. In fact the only thing that seems to interrupt the trance like atmosphere is the occasional "89" or "last call for 89" then "90". In fact, I had just called number 90 when I noticed the beginnings of my humorous event starting to unfold.

As I waited for the lady bearing number 90 to make her way to the window, I noticed a man out in the parking lot. He was painfully making his way into the office. In fact every head in the waiting room seemed to be focused on this man. He was an unusual looking man that looked a great deal like Jerry Garcia of the Gratful Dead. This gentleman was using crutches, the kind that are short and have a cuff around the forearm, and his effort spent walking into the office was much greater than that of those who had preceded him. He finally made it to the door and then through the door while everyone

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>