The broken American public services

Part I – Federal

Social Security Administration

    My father applied for social security benefits in November 2023 and was approved in July 2024.  My mother applied in January 2024 and was denied in June 2024.

    Why do we "apply" and complete a five-page questionnaire? The employers deduct the benefits from our paychecks and report them to the government. We pay taxes every year. Don't they have our records somewhere? Shouldn't we call Social Security Administration and say, "I'm retired. Give me my money back."

    And six months to process an application? What if I die in that six-month period? Well, sucks to be me!

United States Postal Service

    The post office nearest to me suddenly had a sign up saying "Closed Indefinitely." Nobody knew why. Did they process the mail already dropped in there? Did they distribute the mail? Nobody knew.

Part II – State

Department of Motor Vehicles

    My driver license expired. I went to DMV to apply. Did not receive it after a month. Called DMV and was told, "Post office returned your driver license to DMV. You'll need to go to DMV to apply for a new one." Went to post office to ask why and was told, "We'll never return something like that." So, who was lying?

    Went to DMV to apply; waited another month; did not receive it. Called DMV and was told, "Post office returned your driver license to DMV. You'll need to go to DMV to apply for a new one." Went to post office to ask why and was told, "We'll never return something like that." So, who was lying?

    Went to DMV to apply; waited another month; finally received it. Each time I went to DMV, it was two-hour wait. I wasted six hours of my life because people did not want to do their job and lied.

Part III – Local

Waste Management (trash collection company)

    Called Waste Management to request new trash bins. Never received them. The first nine times the excuses the customer service provided was, "We don't have new bins right now. Operational issue. We were busy so we didn't make it to your location."

    Called the 10th time. The customer service said, "The dispatcher noted in the system that you didn't put the old trash bins out there so we didn't swap out the new ones." Math Teacher was incredulous with this excuse. He put the old bins outside to wait for the new ones. Motherfucking liars! So the customer service made another request for me to receive new trash bins.

    Didn’t receive them. Called the 11th time. The customer service hung up on me.

    Called the 12th time. I was transferred three times before I was finally able to scream, "Do not transfer me again! You fucking service. I want my trash bins!" The customer service had the gall to tell me, "You can feel that way and scream all you want. You'll get your new trash bins eventually."

    Waste Management fucked and bribed the local government to be the only trash company in town. Their attitude was, "So what are you gonna do? Get someone else to collect your trash? HA!"

    People say don't be rude to the customer service. But, I called twelve times; waited hours on the phone; I was lied to; I was hung up; I was transferred. After all that, I still did not have new trash bins.

    Two days later Waste Management finally brought trash bins to my door and called me to tell me they were at my door.  However, they didn't bring new trash bins.  The truck driver explained nobody got new bins unless the old ones were completely damaged (i.e. wheels fallen off).  He showed me the dirty, dingy trash bins on the truck; they looked worse than.my current ones.  So, I kept my current bins.

    Why didn't they say so on the website, "Nobody gets new trash bins.  Keeping them nice and clean is customer's responsibility."  Two sentences; was that too much work?  It could have saved hours of my time, and the poor customer service didn't need to hear my screaming.

    Or Waste Management purposely showed me dirty bins so they did not have to give me new ones, because I yelled at the customer service.  Either way, Waste Management won.  I wanted new trash bins; they didn't have to give them to me.

Part IV – The Failures

    The incompetence of US government and its public services permeate throughout. No one wants to do their jobs. They will lie to my face, and I cannot do anything about it. They collect taxes from me, but I don't have social security, post office, driver license, and trash.