I just learned that my survival food supplier has added another month to estimated delivery times (times are based on their experience i.e. orders shipped today took 4 months from date ordered). They blame it on (amongst other things), institutional ordering. It also seems somewhat strange because the additional month was tacked on, only after 1 month of additional order/shipping experience on their part. I would bet that the little guy (looking in mirror), is getting the ol' priority shuffle from some of these suppliers.

Well.. Ok I think, lets kick some contingency planning into gear. A call is made to an MRE supplier. "Yes sir, items are in stock. Card number and expiration date please", they reply. I supply the info. "Sorry sir, the card was rejected".

Hmmm..., knowing the card is good I call the bank. The banker responds, "Yes sir the card is good for that amount. Usually when this happens the merchant has a computer problem". I thank them and call the MRE supplier back.

I recapped the situation to the MRE supplier..(called before, card rejected, called bank, card good, computer bad). I asked them to try again. Same result, card rejected. The MRE folks asked for the banks phone number so that they could try to verify manually. They said they would call back.

MRE supplier calls back. "Yes sir, the account was verified. The bank thinks something is wrong with our computer. We don't think so. Maybe you should try later". Again I thank them.

I call the bank back. "Oh yes sir. We are so sorry. VISA is down".

epilogue:

This is a true story. It happened today.

I spent 25 years in the computer business (programmer to manager). The story above describes one of the more frustrating scenarios, MVFP (Multiple Vendor Finger Pointing).

This wouldn't be so unsettling had it not been a situation involving Y2K survival goodies. Oh, the irony!.

Settle back kiddies, more of this will come.

-- MVI (vtoc@aol.com), November 19, 1998

Answers

Dear MVI, You just provided me with a wry chuckle. If it's either laugh or cry, I'll choose laugh every time 8-). PS, leave your hair alone, you'll need it to keep your head warm come 2k.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 20, 1998.