Kerry and I have patiently been waiting for a copy of Hadley’s birth certificate and her social security card. We have waited the time specified on the website of both Washington, DC and SSA. Today I called DC Vital Records and was informed they don’t just send out a birth certificate, you have to come pick one up. Now this is not the first time I have called but this was the first time I had heard, ‘you need to come pick it up,’ scenario. Since my office is closer to the DC Vital Records department- I drew the short straw today and was the one that had to go on the birth certificate mission. Trying to force all the stereotypes of DC government out of my mind- I decided to go after my lunch and I was hopeful it would not take that long. Surprisingly, the line was not too long but I quickly learned it was not moving fast since there was one person working who was responsible for the line and the ringing phone. I finally got up to the counter and after a few minutes it was determined that Hadley was not in the system so I needed to go to another location. I was told that said location was located to ‘the right of the tree.’ I wandered out into the lobby looking for ‘the tree,’ and I must have looked lost (and this must be a fairly common command from the woman behind the desk) because the security guard pointed me to the fake ficus behind the x-ray machine and then I saw the door to the ‘File Unit.’
Now this department seems to be where you get sent if the birth certificate you are looking for is missing, has a misspelling or has other typos. I was greeted by another slow-moving line but Hadley’s birth certificate was located. Then it was back to the original office to wait for the copies and pay (by the way, they only take cash or check). I finally received my copies and I then asked, “With the problems in locating her birth certificate, was Social Security notified? The response, “Maybe.”
Maybe? What? I would think there should be a check box somewhere for this action. I just turned around and left with the birth certificates and my stereotypes of DC government reinforced.
Next step, Kerry gets to go to the Social Security office.
all three of us 
SO typical! Ugh. I hate it when I have to deal with the DC government for anything. It’s hard to imagine an organization being more incompetent than pretty much any DC government unit. I’m glad you finally got Hadley’s birth certificate!
I have to agree with Dr. Blondie…and hope Kerry has better luck when he goes to get the SS Card…