The New Central Office

For those of you who have been retired for a while and haven't seen the Central Office buildings for a few years, you might be very surprised by the changes that have been made. (I don't think I will be violating any security rules by mentioning a few of these changes.)

If you entered into the front door on the Security Boulevard side, everything would probably look similar to the Altmyer Building of the 1960's, once you got past the high security stations. The lobby and the multi-purpose/auditorium look much the same, but the "SSA Historical Museum" has been moved to the operations building and a small Social Security district office is now located nearby.

As you enter the cafeteria you will immediately notice a big change. It is now set up like a shopping mall food court. It is crowded with very efficient fast food stations and you can place your order by computer. Very impressive. When the weather is warm, some of the food stations move outside to the big grassy courtyard, and often hobbyists drive their big cars into the courtyard and on display.

The area of connection between the Altmeyer and Operations buildings, has been expanded so that the Credit Union, AFGE Union offices, a so-called Blind Man's Stand, lottery station, and Post Office are near each other and easily accessible. (In the original plans, the corridor was supposed to also contain the office of the Social Security Alumni Association, but apparently, folks with higher priority bumped us out of contention. There is still a bit of empty space there and maybe someday we will be able to take advantage of it.)

The Operations Building is where you would see the biggest changes. It now looks like an Italian Galleria, with lots of open space, lots of glass, and massive futuristic winding stairs. (It's kind of fun to walk around the area and up and down those stairs. In fact, lots of employees spend a lot of their lunch periods walking around the area when the weather is too cold or wet to go outside.) The SSA history museum has been located near the stairs and is easily accessible to employees.

I'm sorry that I was not able to enjoy this new working environment. There are lots of large comfortable meeting rooms, and pleasant cubicles (at least they look pleasant to me.) And what might be a problem to some.. the insides of a number of cubicles are visible to the walkers in the galleria area. These folks will not now be able to take naps after lunch without their bosses seeing them.

The Social Security Alumni Association is now located on the 2nd floor of the West Building just above what used to be the "fish bowl." It's a very nice office for us, thanks to the efforts of President Pat Sasse.

Unfortunately, because of security concerns, there no longer are tours of the Woodlawn complex, so you will probably never be able to see the inside again, unless you want to volunteer to help us out in the Alumni office. (Yes, you will be carefully checked out before you will be able to gain entry.)


You might also be surprised to learn that the SSA headquarters is now a very polyglot office. Walking through the complex, one can hear many languages spoken.. the ones I recognize are Chinese, Hindi, Russian, and Spanish. As always, everybody seems to get along very well and all seem to enjoy the new working environment.

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