The store I use to develop photographs recently added a tool to their website where customers can upload digital pictures to be developed in the store. For what I perceive to be security reasons, the customer must pay online with a credit card to submit an order. The pictures are emailed to the selected store location for processing. I had some digital pictures I wanted a hardcopy of, so I tried it out. The interface was easy to use and I didn't encounter any bugs in the web application when I entered my order.

I went in to pick up my order. The store employee scanned the barcode on the envelope for the photographs and the cash register beeped. Oh no, I thought, the cash register is going to freak out because I paid online. Sure enough, the manager had to be called. The price of the item was $0.00. The cash registered had been programmed to not allow a $0.00 item. I imagine the developers reasoned that nobody running a store would ever charge $0.00 for an item. They didn't allow for the possibility that payment had already been made. (Imagine an automated monthly payment for a prescription drug which the customer still picked up in the store.) The manager had to override the error to process the order and I thought, This is going to be a nuisance if more people order photographs online.

I went home with my photographs, thinking about writing something up for the blog, but didn't. Then a week later I received an automated message from the store on my answering machine. It seemed that I had some photographs to pick up at my earliest convenience. I knew I didn't, so ignored the message. I thought, It was probably just a bug because of the manager override.

The next week, on the same day, I received another call from the store. Now, I went in. If it was a one-time phone call I would have ignored it, but I don't want a silly computer to call me every week. Imagine the irony of a software tester being harrassed weekly by a bug - it almost sounds like something out of a horror movie.

I explained the problem to the same employee, who remembered me. She checked the computer and, sure enough, the item was still in inventory. She tried to delete the weekly notification, but could not. The manager had to be called again. He did something and assured me that I wouldn't receive any more calls.

Beyond the impact to me, I can imagine all other sorts of problems that will fallout of this issue. Where did the money from my online payment go? Imagine if the money went to a corporate account. If one store processed many online orders, their equipment and chemical costs could be higher than their in-store photo developing sales, making it look like that store's photo department is losing money. Will monthly or annual reports still balance?

Worst of all for that store, it makes me wonder if it is worth the hassle to order photographs online, knowing I will raise that evil bug from the dead, in the sequel - When Bugs Attack Testers: More Phone Calls!