Is This Book About Image Theft?

I work at a publishing house and started working on a new project where the author wanted fifty images in his book. I sent him an email asking for the image files, and he called me back.

Client: “So, you’ve asked that I send you the images at 300dpi and all these other requirements that I don’t understand. Didn’t you get the file I sent you?”

The file he sent me was a .DOC with the images pasted there.

Me: “I did, thank you, but I need the image files themselves.”

Client: “I don’t have them. Just Google!”

Me: “What about the image permissions?”

Client: “Well, in a perfect world, this book would be on the New York Times bestseller list and everyone would read it, but that’s not going to happen, so I don’t think anyone will notice.”

Me: “But stealing images and hoping no one notices won’t work except in a perfect world.”

Client: “Okay, so you’ll do that.”

I ended up reverse-searching all of the images from his .DOC file and chasing down permissions for a week, none of which was in my job description.