Microfiche Paradox

Customer sends me microfiche to be destroyed.
I dump them in the middle of the ocean.
Customer goes crazy because I did not follow standard procedures by using a crematory. In his mind, I did not destroy the fiche.

BUT let's pretend the scenario is different. If they actually NEEDED the microfiche and had it sent to us as *important* cargo, but the fiche accidentally fell into ocean (but was quickly retrieved) they would say that the fiche IS destroyed and unusable.

Try to follow the logic: dumping microfiche in the ocean is NOT destroying it, but it IS destroying it.
The fact that the customer NEEDED the fiche in the second example makes the act of dumping fiche different than the first example- even though the action is exactly the same.