Cheque for zero dollars and zero cents

At the Lone Pine Koala Sanctury

Today I recalled an anecdote my brother used relish telling, and decided to look it up. Briefly, in the story a person keeps getting computer printed demands to pay a debt of zero dollars and zero cents. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, the person decides to write a cheque for zero dollars and zero cents. The computer processes the cheque, a thank-you letter is sent, and that's the end of the matter. It's highly embellished in the version on Snopes. There was even a version set in Australia.

What do I think of this? First of all it plays to our wish to see computers as fallible and making ridiculous mistakes a human would immediately correct. Secondly the wealth of detail in some parts and lack of details in others suggests that the story has been burnished over the years. It's possible that a simple incident in the past, perhaps a computer printing out a cheque for zero dollars and zero cents was spotted and blocked by a human, then spun into an elaborate legend. But enjoy the anecdote anyway.