When someone expects something to be wrong every time, it can be surprisingly hard to convince them otherwise.

So, what would you do if a client refused to approve a project unless they could point out an error every single time? Would you just grow to expect it? Or would you find a creative way to fix the situation?

In the following story, a freelance designer finds himself in this situation and devises a creative plan. Here’s how he handled it.

Customer always found a mistake – so we complied

This goes back to the 1990s. I was an independent designer for a few different printing businesses in the South Suburbs of Chicago.

Back then, computers were fairly new, and print shops were still old school. Those inserts you found in newspapers? They were still hand-lettered back then!!!

I’d design brochures and flyers, laser-print proofs, scan photos (a 150 dpi HP scanner was $1200 – that’s like $5K today!), and so on.

After enough “errors,” he came up with a plan.

Anyway, one of the print shops had a customer who always found an error, demanded a new proof, and wouldn’t authorize the job until he signed off on the new proof. Every.

Single. Time. “This line is crooked,” “This word is too dark,” and so on.

So we came up with a solution.

They outsmarted him.

I’d do two proofs. One was the original, accurate one. The other has an obvious intentional mistake.

He’d catch the “mistake” and ask for a new proof.

He’d be told to come back in an hour (it was usually a day or two). He’d come back and be shown the 2nd proof. He approved it every time.

Demand that there’s always a mistake? Here you go!

Too funny! That was an easy fix.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit think about what happened here.

This reader does it with chili.

Here’s someone who did that as a kid doing chores.

And a mason did this to the building inspector.

For this person, the trick was learned in the Army.

That was an easy workaround.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.