I don't quite get what you are saying. You said, "If I run this statement I get 196 total rows." The example shows INNER JOIN IBARDM.CUSTOMER cu <<---- This table not being access in the SELECT or WHERE stmt ON cu.customer_id = co.customer_id Later you say: "*Now, if I add a CU.CUSTOMER_ID* (the table not being accessed) *to the*WHERE, the SELECT, or the * INNER JOIN*, then I get 0 rows and the table gets accessed." From your example CU.CUSTOMER_ID already *IS* in the INNER JOIN. I'm confused. I've tried to duplicate the behavior you've described but with simplified tables. No success. It's a weird problem, but I suspect there is a reason rather than it being a bug. Mike -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l