I once worked for a company that schedules advertising before films. This wasn't in the US and the company had a monopoly over all of the ads shown across the country. It was my first programming job and done during university holidays, so I was there for a couple of months and then back to university. Toward the end of the following year I get a phone call: something was wrong with the system, it was allowing agents to overbook advertising slots. I diagnosed the problem over the phone and they put a fix in but management decided it was too late for the company to go back and cancel all of the ads that were already booked. This was not surprising as it was the most money they'd ever made. Conveniently, the parent company owned the cinemas so they did a deal where they just showed all of the ads that were booked.
Because of me, one December, everyone in the country who went to the cinema got to watch anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes of ads before the main presentation started.
Lesson learned: write more tests, monitor everything.
Haha. It was quite a long time ago otherwise I would have remembered the usual maximum booking time. I wouldn't be surprised if they exported the bug, given its success.
I remember going to the cinema in the UK once in December, and being shocked by the ads. For a brief moment, I thought that I had been a victim of the tale.
Because of me, one December, everyone in the country who went to the cinema got to watch anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes of ads before the main presentation started.
Lesson learned: write more tests, monitor everything.