On days like these ...

I've been working on a new version of the sales spreadsheet for a while and it has some fairly major changes in it, so it is classified as a major release rather than a point release bugfix. It has been going through testing with the contracts management team and last week I sent it to the sales director and her sidekick with a list of the changes and instructions to check it to make sure it worked for all of the functions that they use. I hadn't heard anything back, and I went to Leeds this morning to see if I could catch up with them.

As soon as I logged on, I started getting bug reports coming in and people asking me 'What's this new version of the spreadsheet - why haven't I got any notes on it?' A bit of investigation reveals that they had just distributed it to the entire sales team without testing, or indeed any of the notes and documentation as to the changes.

I came within an ace of swearing loudly at this point.

I tried ringing them, but with no joy. I bit back another choice epithet or two and went to get some lunch. I was buying some bits and bobs in one of the small shops in the Corn Exchange and got stuck behind somebody trying to pay by card. The till roll had jammed and I waited patiently for a couple of minutes until the harassed sales assistant got it going again. He rang in my purchases and I handed him a ten pound note saying I thought it might be better to pay by cash. He looked worried again and asked if I had anything smaller. It turned out that he was almost completely out of change, and had to ring up one of the other shops to borrow a float. Cue another couple of minutes of waiting. By this stage I was feeling quite philosophical and reflected that it wasn't just me having a bad day, so I accepted the assistant's apologies with good grace and said that I hoped his day would improve.

On the way the way back to the office I saw three separate 226s and a 268 - guess which number I am looking for at the moment ...