Why Doesn’t Social Security Answer Its Phones?

Question: Why doesn’t Social Security answer its phones?

Answer: You’re probably asking this because you’ve tried to get through to your local Social Security office.  Maybe you used Social Security’s 800 number to make an appointment with someone at your local Social Security office and you talked with them in person or over the phone but then you need to call that person again? You found it almost impossible to get anyone to answer the phone. The problem is lack of personnel. Your local Social Security office is overwhelmed with people who called Social Security’s 800 number and made appointments to deal with a real person. The office doesn’t have time to answer their own phones.

I won’t lie. The local Social Security offices have secret backdoor telephone numbers. We have those numbers so we can usually get through to them. I say usually since sometimes they don’t even answer the backdoor phone numbers. We really can’t give out those numbers since they would stop giving us those numbers if we did.

This doesn’t sound fair does it? It’s not. I wish they had enough warm bodies to do all they need to do but they don’t. It’s not lazy employees to blame. It’s lack of adequate funding for Social Security. It’s not getting better. It’s getting worse.  There’s a hiring freeze on at the moment.