A Day in the Life of Bryan Heiss

Ever had a bad day? How about a really bad day? We’ve all had bad days, but have you ever had such a bad day that professional journalists wonder if you’re cursed?

Bryan Heiss has. Bryan Heiss lives in Provo, Utah. One day during 1982, he awoke to find a leak in the ceiling of his apartment. The water was dripping in his face, so he jumped out of bed and called his landlord to see what could be done about the problem. When he stood up, he splashed in the water that was already gathering on the carpet. His landlord told him to quickly rent a water vacuum.Bryan tore down the flight of stairs to get in his car to go rent a wet vac, but he discovered that all four of his tires on his car were flat. He went back upstairs, reached for the phone, and was shocked so severely it nearly knocked him down. Bryan then shouted for a friend and asked him to take him to get help.When he got back downstairs, Bryan found that someone had stolen his car. He knew it didn’t have much gas, so he and his friend walked a few blocks, found the car, pushed it to a service station, and put gas in the tank and air in the tires.Bryan later returned home and went upstairs to get dressed for an ROTC graduation ceremony he had scheduled that night. He donned his uniform and tried to get out of the house, but the water had caused the door to swell in its frame. He had to scream until someone could come and kick in the door from the outside.When he finally jumped in his car, he immediately realized that he’d sat on his bayonet, which he had carelessly left in the driver’s seat. Bryan was taken to the hospital for some very strategic surgery.Let’s pause for a second. You’d think that would be a good place to end this story, right? At this point, I just want to say, “And Bryan spent the night at the hospital and got a fresh start the next day,” but that’s not the end of this poor dude’s day.Friends took him home, and when Bryan opened the door, he saw that falling plaster had toppled the cage of his prized pet canaries, killing all of them. As he ran to the birds, across the wet carpet, he slipped. He hurt his back so badly he had to be taken to the hospital…again.By this time a newspaper reporter caught up with Bryan and asked, “Mr. Heiss, how can you explain all of this happening to one person in a single day?”Bryan answered, “It looked like God was trying to kill me, but He kept missing.”Resource’s Origins:Over the Top by Zig Ziglar. Thomas Neslon, 1997, Pages 252-253.