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

The Most Unusual Ways Clients Submit Documents: A Call for Stories

As professionals, we often encounter a variety of challenges when it comes to document submission from clients. Some submissions prompt a chuckle or an eye-roll, while others simply leave us scratching our heads. I recently experienced a particularly memorable one and it got me thinking about the oddities we’ve all faced in the world of client communications.

Allow me to share my story: one time, a client sent me a photograph of a PDF displayed on their iPad. The catch? They took the picture with a Samsung phone and emailed it to me. This creative approach meant we had to manually process the invoice, which turned what should have been a straightforward task into an unexpected hassle.

This got me wondering—what are the most bizarre or convoluted document submissions you’ve encountered? Have you received handwritten notes, images of documents scanned upside down, or files renamed to something completely nondescript like “Image(345).jpg”?

I’m reaching out to gather these amusing and perplexing stories as I’m working on a project aimed at streamlining the document submission process. It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone in navigating this chaotic landscape.

So, let’s share our experiences and maybe get a good laugh! What’s the weirdest way a client has submitted a document to you? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below!