“I was signing up to give them money then. Now that I want money they’ll look for anything to keep from paying including my birth and death record.”
Ann’s green eyes flashed as she screamed, “East Germany doesn’t exist anymore and neither do their do their police so you sign up or I’m going to pickle you in your German sauerkraut!”
Fred kept arguing but Ann won out as she usually did so Fred sent in his application for benefits and received a reply in the mail. He had been approved for both Social Security and Medicare but there was a problem with the records of a company he worked for in the 1980s.
The printing business had been slow and he had been laid off for a while. He found a job with another company for a little over a year, then went back to work for the print shop. The second company was small and didn’t stay in the business long after Fred left. The owners kept spotty records and now neither the owner nor the records could be found.
His letter said Fred should come to the local Social Security office and bring anything he had about the time he worked for the company so he could get credit for the time. The ever practical Ann had kept his pay stubs so he had evidence for the hours he had worked for the company.