Hungry? Please enjoy this delicious NaN, courtesy of British Gas and Sainsbury's
- Reference: 1594283414
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/09/bork/
- Source link:
NaN's the word this time around, after a Register reader found himself confronted with a decidedly dodgy British Gas account balance after persuading the utility's system to allow the submission of the digits showing on his meter. "I threw away their app," he explained, "because it only works if you have a spy meter or something, but I had to email them with my meter reading."
It all went swimmingly (bar the usual faffing with accounts that seems to be part and parcel of dealing with many utilities) right up until he was shown his account balance.
[1]
Standing for "Not a Number", NaN indicates that, whatever the value is, it isn't a legal number. Which is less than ideal when one is hoping to see how many pounds British Gas is expecting to extract from one's wallet.
As for what could cause the error, the possibilities are nearly endless. Floating point operations are, of course, the path to madness, but NaN might equally crop up if there's a divide by zero lurking around, dirty data or some dodgy arithmetic operators at play.
A spokesperson at Centrica sent us a statement:
“Unfortunately an error has occurred that our team is currently in the process of resolving. NaN means Not a Number and occurs when the meter is unable to process a reading to secure an outstanding balance. We realise this message isn’t very customer friendly, so while we fix, we ask that if any of our customers receive to please get in contact so we can check to why it has happened and provide the correct balance.”
It isn't alone in getting an unexpected NaN. One UK retailer likes the things so much it pops them on the shelf edge, as spotted by Register reader Ian. "Taken in Sainsbury's some years ago, at a time when supermarket shelves still had stuff on them," he said, "it's probably not what Coleridge had in mind when he wrote of caverns 'measureless to man'."
I like my pudding to be: butterscotch, immeasurable
Sadly, we don't believe Tideford Butterscotch Rice Pudding remains a thing. Launched in single serve form [2]at the end of 2010 , it no longer adorns the vegan-obsessed Tideford Organic site. We imagine all that milk and double cream is probably a bit of a no-no these days.
A shame, because an alternative pud option, butterscotch Angel Delight, is a thing of glory (although we're slightly concerned that happy childhood memories of decades ago might be sullied by the adult experience of today).
If the product has indeed gone the way of the butterscotch dodo, then the NaN might perhaps be a touching tribute to an impending zeroing of the stock. I am Not a Number. I am a pudding eater. ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/07/08/nanc.png
[2] https://www.talkingretail.com/products-news/tideford-organics-launches-single-serve-butterscotch-rice-pudding-30-11-2010/
[3] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It's when you see the "Divide By Cucumber Error. Please Reinstall Universe And Reboot" message that you REALLY need to start worrying!
Who knows what else have they rushed through testing like that?
What is this 'testing' of which you speak?
It's not fun, shiny and (fr)agile so why bother? That's what your customers are for.
Salesforce upload attachment progress bar has a lot of decimal digits
Just this morming I uploaded a document to salesforce to attach it to a case, and I marveled at the % completion information Somethng like "69.123456789%", if not more digits.
A few years ago I took a photo of a price in the supermarket saying the price per kilo was 123.666666666667 euros.
Total bork!
“and occurs when the meter is unable to process a reading to secure an outstanding balance”
Except of course that isn't what happened here at all. Cockup followed up by cockup. Which is to be expected.
Its British Gas. I never expected less, and am surprised that there is not more.
Its British Gas. I never expected less, and am surprised that there is not more.
Oh there is, soooo much more - you have no idea. Their website is a clusterfuck of epic precautions - the login process is painful enough and it just gets worse from there.
The British Gas website pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with modern software 'development', to whit: spaghetti coding: chuck stuff at the wall and keep the stuff that sticks, irrespective of whether it works or not[*].
Is $FRAMEWORK or $METHODOLOGY new and shiny? If so, crowbar it in there and fuck the consequences - form triumphs over function eleven times out of ten.
Why pay for QA/testing when your long-suffering customers will do all of that for free.
[*] - I would say that the Hive website was the Ur-example of this, but it seems to have settled down a bit of late, both in terms of 'style' and stability.
Angel delight...
Many moons ago I had a summer job working to support the preparations for a round the world yacht race. Part of the victualling for the yachts was providing them with catering sized packs of Angel delight. Once the race got underway I managed to snaffle a couple of spares to keep me going once back at Uni.
I did eventually manage to eat my way through it but with the downside that I've not ever been able to face it since.
Out of cheese error
Might actually just be an advanced stock control system.
Re: Out of cheese error
"That can't be happening Grommit!"
A shame, because an alternative pud option, butterscotch Angel Delight, is a thing of glory (although we're slightly concerned that happy childhood memories of decades ago might be sullied by the adult experience of today).
Last year I was shopping in my local supermarket and noticed that Angel Delight is still a thing, so bought a packet out of nostalgic curiosity. I'm happy to confirm that time hasn't dulled the culinary experience, although as an adult I'm more aware of how many unnatural ingredients I was consuming and how it probably wasn't that healthy a thing to do. Childhood was a far happier time, when I could eat pretty much anything without a care (or an expanding waistline)
More like "Mortal Dismay"
"an alternative pud option, butterscotch Angel Delight, is a thing of glory"
We all have our preferences, but I can't understand how anyone can even tolerate, let alone like, this - maybe it was ruined by the way our school did it (the pink version, and everyone had to finish, unless they had a doctor's note), but as soon as it was in my mouth I felt the stomach muscles start considering expulsion - it's like it's in the uncanny valley of cuisine - the texture is nearly like food, the flavour is nearly like food... If that wasn't enough, butterscotch - another thing irrevocably ruined, in this case because, somehow, the smell was often present in the dirty nappies I was changing up until a couple of years ago.
It's a good thing I'm trying to lose some waistline, that's put me off lunch, at least.
Sainsburys Have It
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/dessert-mixes/birds-angel-delight--butterscotch-59g
Re: Sainsburys Have It
Stop putting Temptation.... sigh. Why bother. The Grandkids love it and they are coming over tomorrow.
My weakness food wekness is Hazelnut Yoghurt.
The current state of education?
"We realise this message isn’t very customer friendly, so while we fix , we ask that if any of our customers receive to please get in contact so we can check to why it has happened and provide the correct balance."
My English teach would be turning in his grave if he read that piece of poorly constructed word-smithing. Clearly this problem extends to their devs too.
Re: The current state of education?
Sadly this is not an isolated incident, at least in my experience. The badly trained badgers that most government agencies employ are not capable of rational thought, let alone write it out.
butterscotch Angel Delight, is a thing of glory (although we're slightly concerned that happy childhood memories of decades ago might be sullied by the adult experience of today).
Rest easy.
Recently, in a fit of nostalgia, I bought and consumed some, and it is still as I remember it from childhood, truly a glorious thing.
I also bought some sardine and tomato paste for sandwiches, and that too was a nostalgic trip round the tastebuds.
To see such errors on some smb wordpress site or digital advertising panel in a bus stop is one thing, but to see them in utility and stock management software is seriously worrying. Who knows what else have they rushed through testing like that?