Third-party Social Security website warns not to come in dressed poorly

I got a text message from my dad Monday evening asking me if I knew how he could get a replacement Social Security card. So, I did what any dutiful daughter whose dad doesn’t understand the Google would do. I Googled it.

But, alas, I couldn’t just give him the address. I also had to make sure I didn’t later get an angry phone call because those government workers are morons because he forgot to bring something important. I did that by ensuring he knew to make an appointment and to bring his birth certificate and government-issued ID.

That’s when I found this little nugget.

“If you want to be treated professionally, dress professionally. You do not have to wear business attire, but in our experience, poorly dressed people get treated poorly.”

Yep. At the bottom of the Social Security info page for the downtown St. Pete office the fifth tip for visiting the office straight up tells you not to come in looking like a rag doll.

This is a particular problem for me because my dad, the guy who doesn’t understand Google, is a retired roofer who now works as a foreman for a larger company. While the days of him mopping tar and tearing off shingles are long gone, he still works outside in the heat and dresses (and smells) accordingly.

By my calculations that means my dad, who will no doubt have to handle this errand on a lunch break, isn’t going to look very professional. So now I’m worried some a$$hat with a thing against blue-collar workers is going to give my old man a hard time.

Let me just point this out to whatever jerk decided it was a good idea to inform the general public that if they show up looking like a bum they’re going to have a bad time – you’re looking at this all wrong.

To the person who wrote “in our experience” referencing poorly dressed patrons hoping to get a new Social Security card so they can, I don’t know, get a job – maybe you should evaluate the customer service offered to the people representatives are paid to serve.

If a guy pops in on his lunch break and he happens to be a gardener, is he going to get subpar service because there’s dirt on his face? If he does, that’s not his problem, it’s the problem of the moron who doesn’t understand that not everyone works in an office.

Oh, and sometimes homeless people need Social Security cards too.

This is the most appalling display I have ever seen on a website. Ever. It’s rude. It’s unprofessional. And it’s unnecessary.

Note: In a previous version of this story the website was described as a government website. As a very clever commenter noted, the Social Security info website is privately operated and not affiliated with the federal government.