One springs to mind...
The company I work for does a lot of work worldwide - especially in Singapore. The boss returned from a trip to Singapore a couple of years ago with a great idea...
"snee," he said, coming into the office one morning, "could you create a website that does blah, blah, blah?"
After a little thought, I said yes, it was something I could do, would probably take about 6 weeks to create everything, then maybe a couple of weeks testing before going live.
"Hmm...the guys in Singapore say they can have it up in a month." he replied and flounced out.

And so, this is why, some 2 years later, I was sent out to Singapore (oh noes - I hate my job *grin*) to see if I could sort out the mess they're in. Talked with the designers and the code monkeys out there, got an understanding of what they're doing, and how, even managed to get a logon for their development server so I could work from the UK on the (admittedly brilliant) idea.
So I came back, and diligently worked away getting everything the way we wanted it looking, and making sure the various modules worked as they should on the development server - all that remained was to transfer the whole site to the live server and we're up and running and virtually printing money...

That was 3 weeks ago now. What's gone onto the live server is nothing like what I'd done, the modules don't work, and they have no idea why not.

Now, I'm not one to complain (especially as it looks like I'm going back out to Singapore for a couple of weeks), but my initial estimate was 6 weeks to get a working site - let's say double that, and it still comes in WAY below the £15k paid out so far...

On the bright side, the boss has stopped with the "In Singapore I could get that work done for half the price..." line due to my "Ah, but getting it done here means it WILL be done..." response.

Meh.
( snee held his breath since, Thu 10 Jun 2010, 13:48, 3 replies)

You like going to Singapore?
I have to go every so often. I hate it; sterile and boring. The only worse place is Kuala Lumpa.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Thu 10 Jun 2010, 16:22, closed)

is it not like it's described here?
www.lyricsspy.com/lyrics/tom_waits_lyrics/rain_dogs_lyrics/singapore_lyrics.php
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 10 Jun 2010, 17:04, closed)

Last time
I was only there for 3 days - 2 days of meetings, 1 day to myself, then flew back.

I'll admit it's not my favourite destination, but I did make a few quid bringing back loads of cheap baccy/ciggies :)
( snee held his breath since, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 8:04, closed)