Reminds me of, I can't remember which mathematician it was, that came in late one day to a lecture and copied two assignments from the blackboard. He handed them in late saying "they took longer than I thought."
It turned out they weren't homework assignments but unsolved problems in mathematics, and he had solved them (and later used them for his thesis).
I had this from my boss saying "I thought it was just going to send the email for me" which ultimately led to me learning some php basics that have come in handy ever since. I love non-developers ideas about what could/should be possible based on their own assumptions about technology, not mine. I realize that you had a crappy experience, just wanted to share what I see as the flipside.