BETWEEN THE LINES: SOMETIMES BAD DAYS COMPOUND INTO A SINGLE HORRIBLE WEEK

Ever had a bad day? I mean a really, bad day when nothing goes right or you constantly run into problems.

Last week was full of bad days for me. It was a week I don't care to repeat any time soon.

Taken separately, of course, none of these things seem to be big problems. But one problem was just compounded by the next. And the fates were so kind in spreading out my troubles over a number of days instead of just letting me have one single bad day.

I thought the week would be an easy one at work. I was assigned to write several stories for a special business section that we're publishing later this month. It sounded easy.

But after making a few calls, I quickly learned that Monday wasn't going to be a productive day. No one I needed to talk to was in their offices, so I left messages -- plenty of messages. I'm still waiting for some of my phone calls to be returned.

So I thought Tuesday would be better. It was at work, just not at home. My phone went dead, so I called for repairs thinking the problem could be fixed easily. Not quite as simple a task as I thought.

Actually speaking to a person at the phone company takes a lot of effort on the caller's part. At first I left a message with the repair department explaining I didn't have a dial tone. The next day a repair technician called to say nothing was wrong with my lines, but that it was a central office problem.

In the course of three days I had as many phone calls from the company. My problem hadn't been fixed and I wanted to know why. Turns out that the reasons are as varied as the operators you talk to. The problem was caused either by not enough lines and wiring for the number of users or too many people using their computers at the same time or it was the saturation of melting snow.

In any case I wasn't getting a working signal for my phone. Since it has been happening so much in the last two weeks, I thought the problem was mine. Turns out the phone company was responsible all the while.

After my complaints and conversations with customer service operators, I've had a dial tone every day since. Sometimes persistence pays off.

But my bad week didn't end yet.

By Wednesday, I was fed up with the fact that my car didn't run and hadn't started for nearly a week. I called my dad for help. For some reason unknown to me, my father can always get my car to start even if I can't. He was again successful so I told him to drive it down to the repair shop so someone can fix whatever is wrong. The next day I got a call from the mechanic shop saying that the car starts every time and they can't seem to find any problem. I asked for a tune up, as my dad had suggested, just to be on the safe side.

Thursday turned disastrous when I received a letter in the mail from the IRS. Apparently, even after paying my readjusted tax bill from 1998, the Internal Revenue Service says I owe more. I called to check why and discovered that someone had mistakenly credited my account. The canceled check copy I had to order from my bank clearly shows the amount of the check I wrote and that it was endorsed for that very same amount.

Now I have a war to wage with the government about getting my tax filings straightened out. Somehow I think I'll end up losing, but that's not going to stop me from trying. Whenever I'd take a math test at school, the teacher always reminded us to double-check our work. Now I know why.

Sometimes it's just not worth the effort I expend to get out of bed in the mornings. Last week just proves that theory. So far this week things seem to be looking up, but then again today is only Tuesday.

Laura Johnston is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.