Bob books a holiday - there has to be a better way!

It's Saturday of the May bank holiday weekend and Bob has decided to plan his summer holiday. He and his wife Helen think about dates and start to look on the Internet. They find a package holiday that sound like a good deal and set about agreeing a date. There's two weeks availability starting 6 August, the kids are on holiday and they all get excited. They read the reviews, look at the videos and dream about relaxing in the sun. The only problem is that Bob has to check to see if any of his colleagues are off and then get his holiday forms signed. They can't do anything until Tuesday and even then Bob's not sure if Simon, who manages holiday booking will be in. Helen gets angry and an argument kicks off.

On Tuesday Bob bumps into Simon at the coffee machine. They talk about their weekends and Simon promises to look at the holiday spreadsheet after he gets out of his next meeting. The day goes by and both get involved in their work. It's only that evening that Bob realises Simon didn't get back to him. Helen has another go at Bob - why is organising a holiday always so stressful!

On Wednesday Bob makes a special effort to remember. Simon is at his desk, checks the spreadsheet and no one else has booked that time yet. However he's not too sure if Bob has enough days left to take the two weeks. What a frustrating waste of time! Bob heads back to his desk to find his holiday form which will prove it. After about 5 minutes of searching he finds it and he is right - he has 10 days left. Completing the form, he heads off to see his manager who needs to sign the form. Jane is busy but tells him to leave the form on her desk. She gets it back to him right at the end of the day - quicker than normal. Eventually Bob goes back to Simon on Thursday, form in hand. Simon takes one look at it and snaps that he will need to reconcile the form back to the spreadsheet so he'll get back to Bob - probably early next week!! Bob heads home expecting another ear bashing from Helen.

Aghhhhhh .... There must be a better way! There is .....