Lisa, my co-worker at the travel agency, needed to send a   
letter of apology to a customer whose trip was a complete   
fiasco from start to finish.  I reminded her of a similar   
situation a year earlier and dug out the letter I'd written   
then.   

"All you have to do," I told her, "is to change the details,   
the date, and the name."   

She looked it over and smiled wryly. "We won't even need to   
change the name."