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Off topic: Screwing yourself with Excel formulae
Thread poster: Rod Walters
Rod Walters
Rod Walters  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 19:58
Japanese to English
Jul 2, 2009

Last month, most of my work has been from one client, translating a big corporate report. A few files came every day, and I recorded the word count and fees in an Excel file as usual. And as the month progressed towards the last day and closing of accounts for the month, my mood became bleaker and bleaker. Gosh, this recession is really biting, I began to think. This is dire. At this rate, we won't be able to take a summer vacation at all.

But then just as I was about to send off th... See more
Last month, most of my work has been from one client, translating a big corporate report. A few files came every day, and I recorded the word count and fees in an Excel file as usual. And as the month progressed towards the last day and closing of accounts for the month, my mood became bleaker and bleaker. Gosh, this recession is really biting, I began to think. This is dire. At this rate, we won't be able to take a summer vacation at all.

But then just as I was about to send off the invoice, I glumly clicked through the Excel sheets looking for trivial mistakes. And found one!

At the beginning of the month I'd done a small job at a slightly discounted per character rate and forgotten to adjust the formula in subsequent cells to the full per word rate. Hence my projected income for this month was less than half of what it normally is.

Sometimes we think we're rather clever and that we've mastered equanimity to some degree. But something as insubstantial as an Excel formula can blow all of that away! ▲ Collapse
 
Derek Gill Franßen
Derek Gill Franßen  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:58
German to English
+ ...
In memoriam
So, ... Jul 2, 2009

...do you get to take a vacation now that you've discovered the error?
 
Rod Walters
Rod Walters  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 19:58
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
I do Jul 2, 2009

Yes, thank you.

A modest trip is on the cards.
 
Viktoria Gimbe
Viktoria Gimbe  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 06:58
English to French
+ ...
You almost screwed yourself Jul 2, 2009

You only would have screwed yourself if you had used the faulty calculations to invoice the client. It only goes to say it is best to double-check things before sending them off. Like before you send off that big corporate report translation.
 


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Screwing yourself with Excel formulae






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