As I mentioned in a previous blog, I am retiring from my job working for New York state. I was basically given no other option by my employer.
I had my retirement interview with my state employer this morning and was informed that not only do I have to retire with my department but also with the New York State Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). So, I go to the website, put in information like my name and my social security number and click next. What I get next is a series of esoteric questions like who did you live next to and what is your old phone number. Well, I don't know old phone numbers, they aren't important to me, and I don't have a list of the dozen if not more phone numbers I have had during my sixty-six years of life. Why an automated system is asking me such an occult question is beyond me. After all, I have a hell of a lot of other things to remember and recollect other than previous phone numbers and addresses, such as how to find my way to Christ's Pieces and how to deal, as a sickly 66 year old with asthma and arthritis, with the "joys" of global climate change.
So, I call the phone number of the NYSLRS. I, of course, get the requisite automated questions that are de rigeuer these days such as press one if you need to talk to someone in such and such. Press two if you are calling about this or that. I am, of course, told that the queue is long and we can, if you want, call you back. I ask for a call back. When I get the call back, I am, of course, almost immediately disconnected so I have to start the sisyphean task all over again. Oh joy. And so it goes and I wait and wait spending a half hour if not more trying to do something that I could have completed some time ago if the automated system of the NYSLRS asked me sensible questions.
Anyway, to wrap this up, I finally got a second call and now have a NY state retirement account...almost. I filled out the form. However, the state retirement system requires proof of birth--which I would have thought they would have already had since I work for them and have done so for fifteen years--and something related to electronic funds transfer although I gave them that information when I applied online. Oh well, part 4,982,543. We must follow "proper procedure" and have the proper paperwork even if we have done it and submitted it many times before. What is life, after all, without having to jump through bureaucratic hoops you have already jumped through many times before?
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