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Random rant number 2: So what is this Social Security Number thing all about?

Coming from the UK, the one thing that surprised and frustrated me more than anything on my arrival in the US was the need for and dependency on the Social Security Number, and this was closely followed by my shock at how difficult things are when you have no credit history.

If you want a ‘normal’ life, you really need both, or you need a lot of freely available cash. For example – try getting a car loan with no social security number and no credit history. Try getting a credit card. Try opening a back account (well actually that wasn’t as hard as I thought, but I did have some help). Try getting a driving license. Try getting a car….

Without a social security number you’re a nobody. The government will happily take your taxes (at an inflated rate), but you can’t invest in a pension plan. Without a social security number it’s difficult getting a loan or a credit card. Without a credit card or a loan you can’t build a credit history. Without a credit history, it’s difficult getting a loan or a credit card…..

I was lucky in that in the UK I’d used a particular international credit card for some time, and the company were happy to set me up with an American one based on my UK credit history, but not all credit card companies will do that.

I was also lucky enough to have come to the US under a company transfer, and so had a load of documentation proving I had valid employment, so opening a bank account wasn’t too difficult (as it meant they could get the money they could see I’d be getting!). I couldn’t however apply for my California driving license without a social security number, and the application for one of those takes 5-6 weeks to process thanks to post-9/11 security changes.

Herein lies an interesting issue, as California driving law states that if you are to be resident in the state, you need to apply for your California driving license within 10 days of taking residency, however you can’t apply until you have a SSN, and that takes 5-6 weeks to come through.

It takes at least 6 months to make enough ‘noise’ to actually get anything to show on a credit history. I ended up using the credit card I was able to get for almost everything (and paying it up at the end of each month), and taking a car loan at a stupid interest rate for a few months just to get some activity to show.

Oh yes – one I almost forgot. Try getting a cell phone on a regular plan just after you arrive in the country. Most companies will let you take a contract IF you can provide proof of income and pay a stupidly large security deposit.

The whole system seems stacked against people who have just arrived in the US to live and work. I think if I ever quit what I’m doing now, I’m going to set up as an immigration consultant.

All I can say is thank God (or whoever/whatever you worship) that I was dealing with all of the above while it was just me here. While the issues above inconvenienced me for a while, they would have made things pretty difficult (if not unbearable) if I’d moved across with my family. As things stand, I should be pretty well settled in when my wife and kids join me in a couple of months.

Random rant number 1: When is English not English?

I’m English. I was born in Berkshire, lived in the Midlands for a number of years later in life, and now find myself in California. Being exposed to TV and other sources of the spoken word from a number of international sources, I find that as an Englishman, I can understand people talking to me in a number of different accents and dialects, so I ask myself…. Why is it that Americans seem to have such a hard time understanding English people?

We speak the same base language. OK, so we spell a few words differently; Americans don’t like using the letter U in many places where English people do, we say ‘zed’ whereas Americans say ‘zee’, and we use some different words to mean the same thing, but we should be able to understand what one another says at the spoken level without much of a problem.

So, having lived here for 6 months, and visited frequently prior to that, I ask the following;

1) Why is it that a reasonable percentage of Americans (that I’ve met anyway) can’t tell an English and Australian accent apart (I’ve lost count of the times a stranger has asked me ‘Are you from Australia’)?

2) Why do Americans have such a hard time understanding people talking with an English accent (and I know this isn’t just me – a number of English work colleagues tell the same stories)? I’ve not had a single conversation with an American where I’ve not had to repeat one part of it because it’s not been understood correctly, and this is made 100% worse if the conversation is on the phone as opposed to in person.

What is the solution here? Do we all need to talk with an American accent? Do Indian and Chinese immigrants in America have the same problems? Is it just the English that this happens to (perhaps this is America’s way of continuing to rub the collective English nose in it from when America gained its independance)?

I should add that this is somewhat of an over-generalisation, and there are some Americans I’ve met over here who actually can cope with an English accent, but they are few and far between!