The Most Unusual Document Submissions: Share Your Stories!

In the world of professional communication, we often encounter some truly bizarre methods of document delivery. It’s a common experience for those of us who work with clients to receive documents in unexpected (and sometimes bewildering) formats. I thought it would be fun to share a personal experience and invite others to reflect on their own encounters.

Not long ago, I had a client who decided to send me an invoice in a rather unusual way. Instead of attaching the actual PDF file as one might expect, they took a photograph of the document displayed on their iPad—using a Samsung phone—and then emailed me that image. Yes, you read that right! This meant we had to manually process the invoice, which turned an otherwise straightforward task into a small ordeal.

What about you? Have you ever received a document that made you chuckle or shake your head in disbelief? Perhaps it was a handwritten note, an upside-down scan, or a file renamed as “Image(345).jpg.” We’ve all seen some eccentric submissions, and I believe sharing these stories could shed light on the common struggles we face in our professions.

I’m currently compiling anecdotes like these for a project aimed at bringing some order to this chaos. It’s not a pitch for a product or service; I simply want to know that I’m not alone in this experience. So, feel free to share the most cringe-worthy or comical document submissions you’ve encountered. Let’s commiserate and perhaps even find a path forward together!