incredible experience at 'Clarks' today at a mall near London. we found a pair of shoes for my son [8 years old] in the sale rack. the fit perfectly and were just what we needed for the new term. we took them to the check-out counter..... 'sorry, i cant seem to find them in the book. would you mind waiting for a moment while i find the bar code" came fthe response from the person behind the counter. we waited a minute while she flipped through pages of Black+White line drawings of every pair of shoes in the store. each one had the name and a bar code beneath them. amazing. she flipped thru the book twice, then called over another guy. they looked rapidly thru it again. By this time, i was really getting ready to leave. Since, she could not find the right bar code in the book, she could not complete the sale. they were £16. i had the cash in my hand, but she could not complete the sale until she found the bar code. five mintes later she had found a code.........for the wrong pair of shoes, but she could sense that she was about to loose me.

so what does it mean when you 'cant find the bar code' becomes a barrier to a transaction. fascinating to extend this out. how many times does this happen every day? when a legal, valid transaction cannot be completed because a code cannot be found to give to a machine? perhaps not that often. perhaps alot? what use is the inventory that the bar code should give the store if the codes are not valid? useless data all around.