[geeks] timesheet and invoicing software

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 @ 14:46 -0600, Michael Parson said:

> So I headed over to snopes and found this:
> 
> http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/zero.asp
> 
> Unknown origins of story, not enough details to debunk or verify.

The story is a mix of many stories, most likely, because zero dollar
bills are fairly frequent events.

I'd be surprised if none of you has ever seen a zero dollar bill. I've
gotten at a few myself, though I've never had to send payment to fix it.
Sometimes while on the phone with a clerk, they'll even warn me that
their system will send a bill, and for me to ignore it.

A real story, similar to the legend:

A friend of mine had a car in a local shop which was ready to go, and
already paid for. But when he arrived he had a zero dollar bill to
pay because the mechanic had added one more part to the bill, with
no charge. The software assumed this required another invoice, and
would not print a vehicle release form without payment on outstanding
invoices.

The clerk had to charge him $10, release the car, and then refund him
$10 to make the computer happy.

So, while the exact story may not be true, it certainly has happened,
even the part about making a payment to get around the error.

It's all just stupid accounting errors, or inflexible software, along
with mindless droids that accept whatever the computer says.








-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["Castles are sacked in war, Chieftains are
scattered far, Truth is a fixed star, Eileen aroon!" -- Gerald Griffin]