The day had started off badly from the morning. I woke up late for work, tore two brand new pairs of tights before managing to get into the third, broke a coffee cup from the porcelain set, a gift from my mother, smashed the rear left headlight of my car, which I had bought ten months ago and was still paying off in installments, on the protective curb bar, argued with my boss, accidentally destroyed two days' work on the computer, got a ticket for illegal parking, found a pile of bills in my mailbox, and just when I was about to breathe and put something in my stomach that was screaming from hunger, I discovered I had forgotten to take the burgers out of the freezer in the morning.
I felt like screaming in the middle of my apartment at half past four in the afternoon, but I held back. I had no desire to disturb the other tenants of the building during quiet hours nor to have to explain to the police that no attempted assault had occurred against me. I restrained my frustration, gathered my courage, and called the nearest PIZZA HUT to deliver a diet pizza to my home. Then, somewhat reassured, I spread the bills on the kitchen table and, with the help of the letter opener, began opening the envelopes one by one carefully: DEI, OTE, COSMOTE, DYNAMIC VISA, EUROBANK VISA, car installment…
DEI, ninety-one euros. Is it possible! A single person, who cooks every other day or steams food, since I am on a permanent diet, who does laundry once every fifteen to twenty days, who uses very few lights and has a solar water heater, paying so much for electricity… OTE, fifty euros. Now this is something else. Since, Mr. OTE, I make my phone calls through FORTHNET, why do you charge me more than them? Because I have caller ID? Why so many fees just to have a line of communication with the outside world? I am single, and the phone is my only friend when I feel lonely. Do I have to pay you a fortune for that?