Detecting an error on a shop computer

On Thursday in Camberwell Borders, I found one of the most remarkable mistakes in the shop's catalogue - and then found it was due to a problem they could not solve through lack of computer memory!

Looking as I often do in Borders for Politically Incorrect Guides (they can be both funny and soothing even though they truly are dubious) I found one title called The Politically Incorrect Guide to California. As soon as I saw that title, I knew instinctively and from checking Regnery that there is no Politically Incorrect Guide to California and asked if I could show the staff at Borders the error. Because the author and section listed told me the title had to be the Guide to Capitalism by Robert P. Murphy, I asked if I could show the staff that their The Politically Incorrect Guide to California did not exist and that the title was The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism.

I had no trouble showing the staff the book I knew was in error, but you wouldn't believe that when they showed the book on their computer it actually said The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ca, which the computer naturally assumed to be an abbreviation for "California". The amazing thing is that Borders had no space at all on their computer for more letters to define the book's title correctly: thus my attempt at a simple correction did not work! I really do find it so amazing that a large book chain could possibly run out of memory in such a way that it mis-catalogs even one title!