In the spirit of "questions you get asked", I was thinking of the many lies we get told. Two of my personal favorites are these... And for some they may be familiar. I have had these two a number of times over the years...
1.) "Oh yes, we have that in stock - just come on in to pick it up."
2.) (On a residential service call) "Everything worked fine until a few days ago."
On item #1 of course the guy you talked to isn't in at the moment, but theres none of what you need "in stock", and the lead time is two weeks...
On item #2 your standing there looking at a 4-way switch with only one 3-wire in a box that looks like mickey mouse himself installed it, and its brand new romex in a brand new box, in an obviously poorly done HO hack-job basement remodel, and the outlets he said "just stopped working" were just never fed in the first place.
Mark Heller "Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
"That was existing" "I didn't do that" "We only did the service", 'that Hot Tub was there for a long time'
"We didn't touch that" "Permit??" "Did I check the completed job??" "It worked a few days ago" "We finished that job last year! What do you mean it failed?" And many more...
Best one in the office may be: "Where's the job folder" or "You can't have that many inspections!, we put a 'block' in the computer" (Which everyone knows how to override)
We had that recently. We said "two feet". They gave us, honest to god, two inches. We told 'em they'd better dig it deeper unless they wanted the pipe to double as a speed-bump.
My favorite: "It absolutely has to be done today!" And once completed, your work sits there for weeks before someone uses it.
