TO ERR IS HUMAN, BUT...
Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
In March of 1992 a man living in Newton, Massachusetts received a
bill on his as yet unused credit card stating that he owed $0.00.
He threw it away. In April he received another and tossed that
one, too. The following month the credit card company sent him a
nasty note stating they were going to cancel his card if he
didn't send them $0.00.
In retrospect, he probably should have let them do that. Instead
he called the company and was informed that (are you ready for
this?) the problem was the result of a computer error. They told
him they'd take care of it.
The following month he reasoned that, if other charges appeared
on the card, then it would put an end to his ridiculous
predicament. Besides, they assured him the problem would be
resolved. So he presented his card for a purchase. It was
declined.
Once again he called. He learned that the credit card had been
cancelled for lack of payment. They apologized for (here it is
again) another computer error and promised they would rectify the
situation.
The next day he got a bill for $0.00 stating that payment was now
overdue. Assuming that this bill was yet another mistake, he
ignored it. But the following month he received yet another bill
for $0.00 stating that he had ten days to pay his account in full
or the company would take necessary steps to recover the debt.
He gave in. He mailed in a check for $0.00. The computer duly
processed it and returned a statement to the effect that his
account was paid in full.
A week later, the man's bank called him asking him why he wrote a
check for $0.00. He explained the problem at length. The bank
replied that the $0.00 check had caused their check processing
software to fail. The bank could not now process ANY checks from
ANY of their customers that day because the check for $0.00
caused a computer crash.
The following month the man received a letter from the credit
card company claiming that his check had bounced, that he still
owed $0.00 and, unless payment was sent immediately, they would
institute procedures to collect his debt.
This man, who had been considering buying his wife a computer for
her birthday, bought her a typewriter instead.
Who said, "To err is human, but to really mess things up it takes
a computer..."? Computers may not be the root of all evil, but
some days I'm convinced they come close.
If you don't have the time to do something right, where are you going to find the time to fix it?
-Stephen King
