You know, if you don't know the right terminology plus english obviously not being your mother language its often not that simple to find the right words. I'm pretty sure she thougt that she did mention exactly that. Perhaps I understood her better since she's obviously German, which sometimes shows in one's english (as I'm sure it does in mine).
Anyway, what you offered is not a workaround - it's a perfect solution, just not for the problem at hand. For that, its not even a workaround, since it does not do what was (really) requested. But as I said: not your fault, not anyone's fault at all - just a misunderstanding.