Take the Topic Out, But Leave It In

Dev: You need that topic out. The customer can't do that. 

Me: But the spec says that the customer can do it. 

Dev: That was the plan, but there's a bug that prevents the user from doing that. Take that topic out. 

Me: You're sure? You can't fix the bug? 

Dev: We're not fixing the bug. Take the topic out. 

 [A few weeks later.] 

Dev: There's a topic missing. Where's the topic about the thing? 

Me: I was told that that customer can't do that. 

Dev: Who told you that? The spec says that the customer can do the thing! You need to respect the spec! 

Me: There was a bug that prevented the customer from doing the thing. You told me to take the topic out because you weren't going to fix the bug. 

Dev: I don't remember ever saying that. 

 [shares a screensnap of the chat] 

 Dev: Oh. You misunderstood what I was saying. 

Me: What part of "Take the topic out because the customer can't do that" was I confused about? 

Dev: The customer can't do that in this specific scenario, but otherwise they can do the thing. 

Me: How would I have known that? 

Dev: It was clearly implied. Put the topic back in.