What’s the dumbest way you’ve ever received a document from a client?

The Strangest Document Submissions: Tales from the Trenches

In the realm of professional services, we’ve all encountered bizarre and sometimes baffling document submissions from clients. These situations can be both frustrating and amusing, often leaving us shaking our heads in disbelief. I thought it might be interesting to share a particularly memorable experience and invite others to do the same.

Let me kick things off with a story from my own experience: A client once sent me a snapshot of a PDF displayed on their iPad—but here’s the kicker: the photo was taken with a Samsung phone, and they chose to email it directly to me. Yes, you read that right. Instead of sending the actual PDF, I found myself faced with a low-quality image that we subsequently had to process manually. It was both a testament to the creativity of clients and a reminder of the sometimes chaotic nature of document management.

Now, I want to hear from you. What’s the most unusual or frustrating document submission you’ve encountered? Have you received handwritten notes, scans that were upside down, or files with cryptic names like “Image(345).jpg”? Share your stories—we can all use a good laugh and perhaps find solace in knowing we’re not navigating this maze alone.

I’m gathering these anecdotes for a project aimed at streamlining document submissions. There’s a wealth of humor and chaos in our experiences, and it’s important to acknowledge that we all face challenges. Join the conversation and let’s see how many wild submissions we can uncover!