Day #70 - 12/23/97 - 11:59 PM

When it rains, it pours....

So, I'm finishing up my part-time air-shift today at Lite 98 when the phone rings. It's my wife....and something's wrong with the car. So, I meet her and we drive all the way across town to the Honda dealer who kindly tells us the distributor and rotor have gone south. But, good news: for just $280 dollars, they can fix it in time for my wife to make it to all those after Christmas sales.

Ho Ho Ho.

Then, I get home and in the mail is a subpoena!

A subpoena?

Me? Upstanding citizen Deitz? What have I done?

I look further. It's an ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM from the Regional Income Tax Agency, State of Ohio and they want me to appear at North Olmsted City Hall Council Chambers on January 6, 1998 sometime between 9am and 4pm.

Well, gee...if you just wanted me to visit your OFFICE, why didn't you ask?

You know how the Publisher's Clearinghouse sends out cool mailers with word in big fonts that say you're a WINNER until you read the fine print?

The RITA uses a similar strategy. They send out a very legal looking piece of paper with the word Subpoena in it to try and scare you into helping them straighten out their computer records.

How classy.

So, I call these folks and tell them they've made a mistake. I tell them I filled out the paperwork. I tell them I was working in the City of Cleveland during 1995 and 1996 and living in North Olmsted. I tell them the money's been collected from my paychecks...they just have to ask the City of Cleveland to hand it over.

They agree.

"Send us a copy of your W-2 forms" they say.

Well, gee....why didn't you just ask to begin with? Duh. So, not only do I get fired from my job in Cleveland.....but the State of Ohio adds insult to injury by sending me a junk mail subpoena because somebody didn't enter the data into their computer correctly.

Things just got to get better after Christmas!