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So I'm, writing a story for a national paper on cash flow and how it can be seriously nadgered, really easily. And I get let down by a couple of people who were going to call me - it's no big deal, it happens. I go to the Response Source website and ask for help. I tick the box saying yes, I'm interested in personal case studies.

And I get a mail from someone with one of those godawful bland case studies - a computer company has sold a computer or something. I try to help. I mail back and ask, how does this relate to cash flow? It doesn't, says the respondent. But you asked for case studies, so I sent one.

This isn't as bad as the thing that happened a couple of years ago when I was on deadline. A PR had offered me an excellent case study - relevant, germane, it was good. I had a couple of other possibilities so I dropped her a quick note. Can I have an interview, I e-mailed, quickly. Silence. Can I please have an interview, I e-mailed a couple of hours later. Meanwhile other stuff was happening so I lost sight of that one and completed the piece without it. The next day she mails back. Look, she says, quite huffy, we haven't got any interviews, just case studies. I explain, calmly, that when I ask for an interview I actually mean setting up a time when I can interview someone and get my own quotes. She honestly, honestly didn't understand why I'd want to.