[geeks] timesheet and invoicing software

[wa2egp at att.net]

> Has anyone seen the story about the $0.00 check?  Probably apocryphal, but:
> 
> In March of 1992 a man living in Newton, Massachusetts, received a bill 
> in 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 canceled 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 this debt.
> 
> This man, who had been considering buying his wife a computer for her 
> birthday, bought her a typewriter instead.
> 
> Peace...  Sridhar

If you read my earlier post, the $0.00 check was claimed to be done by
one of my professors related to me in Introductory Data Processing
class in 1971 IIRC.  No computer crash though.  Maybe his bank had better
programmers :)    Gee, let's see when (and where) this story actually 
originated.

Bob