Gmail alerts users to attach documents

A few years ago I was applying for a job online and I sent a resume off to a prospective employer saying, "please find attached my resume for your consideration." However I forgot to attach my resume before I sent it. Luckily the email was also my cover letter and the employer assumed there was a technical error and let me know that he didn't receive an attachment. So I went along with the pretence and apologised for the technical error and to find my resume attached to the reply. Then I pressed send, however once again forgot to add the attachment. I realised this just after I clicked sent, but there was no way to get the email back, so my quick thinking led me to search my sent items, copy the text I had previously sent, and reply to the email again, this time adding the attachment. I hoped that the employer would assume there was another technical glitch and that the email sent twice, once with and once without attachment.

Now many of you reading this might think that nobody would fall for that, however this was in 2005 when email wasn't as widely used and there were many people who would happily believe in a technical error over a human error. Luckily for me this employer was one of those people, and he accepted my application, invited me to interview and offered me the job! This is a great example of my forgetfulness and things have only slightly improved over the years. In fact, again today, I was writing an email to a recruitment consultant, said the magic lines in the email, "I have attached a copy of my resume," and pressed send, without actually attaching my resume. Luckily however, Gmail came to my rescue with a prompt, "You have included the words 'I have attached a copy' in your message but have added no attachments, are you sure you would like to send?" I quickly pressed 'No' and thanked Gmail for its ingenious technological advances, attached the resume and clicked send again. So today I have learned that the technological advances of Google have reached a point where I no longer have to remember trivial things like attaching a resume to potential employers, as Gmail will remind me if I forget!