In Plain Service

  The first time Carolyn’s staff pitched the machine, it sounded like a good idea. Put a kiosk in the lobby. Let people check in, print forms, maybe start their claim. Shorter lines. Fewer staff needed at the counter. The mockup slides looked clean. The machine looked modern. The promise was simple. Technology would improve the customer experience and make the Field Office run smoother. But the lobby is not a slide deck. I've spent enough time in Social Security field offices to know how people actually walk through the door. Some are nervous. Some are angry. Almost all are confused about what they need. A lot of folks are older. Some are disabled. Some are there because something in their life has already gone wrong. They are not in the mood to study a touchscreen menu. The machine does not know that. I remember the first rounds of these lobby kiosks years ago. On paper they worked fine. In practice the printer jammed. The network would drop. A customer would tap the screen th...

Today, on my way to lunch, I walked past the Social Security field office in Columbia, Maryland. Two older men were standing outside the door. An African American woman rushed across the parking lot with an envelope in her hand. She walked past the two men and pulled on the door. Nothing. She pulled harder. Locked. She asked, “Is this office closed?” I stepped aside and checked the website for the Social Security Administration. It said the office was open. A security guard came to the door. “Do you have an online code?” She did not. “I’m sorry. We are appointment only.” She was just trying to drop off paperwork. During COVID, drop boxes worked. They reduced lines. They helped people who could not get appointments quickly. They kept service moving. This was not chaos. This was not a security incident. This was not after hours. This was a locked door in the middle of the day. There is a difference between “appointment focused” and “appointment only.” That difference matters...