Working on a biz-to-biz Flash presentation last year. The client fell immediately in love with a text animation I used for the title sequence and insisted upon using it throughout the presentation. The technique necessitated that each character be broken apart (i.e., not symbols, no easy editing for me).
Me: This is pretty time-intensive stuff. We can do it, but it's gonna add 4-5 days.
Client: Can't you just put it into the program and make it do it?
Me: I am "the program" that makes it "do it"…