People Who Got What They Wished For Along With Unintended Consequences Share Their Experiences
"Reddit user Casca_In_Red asked: 'Have you ever gotten monkey's pawed (gotten something you deeply wished for but it came with unintended consequences) and if so, how?'"
I try to be VERY specific with my wishes.
You have to be.
If you're not specific, you leave room for grey areas.
And the powers that be who dole out wishes like to play with the script.
I'm even precise when I throw pennies in a fountain.
Do the kids still do that anymore?
The sad truth is that life is a give and take.
And irony is unavoidable.
So be careful what you wish for... the author of that line should be a billionaire.
Redditor Casca_In_Red wanted to hear about how wishes and hopes have gone awry, so they asked:
"Have you ever gotten 'monkey's pawed' (gotten something you deeply wished for but it came with unintended consequences) and if so, how?"
Life is consequence and in the end... nothing is free.
Sad Finances
Pay Day Money GIFGiphy"I wished for the money to pay off my car and all my bills, I got the money when my brother died and left me money in his will."
gh234ip
"Same for me. Wished my house would get paid off and then got the money after both my parents died within months of each other."
chi-woo
Let's Go Out
"Wished I could stay at home all day with my cats. Boom, on dialysis with stage 5 kidney failure. I did work 2 more years before going on disability and then I was too sick to enjoy much about being home, but I still got what I wished for. (I'm doing much better now and still stay home with the cats because now I work from home. It'd be nice if I had enough money not to work but I think I've tempted fate enough)."
auntiepink007
Whoops
"In January of 2020, I was overwhelmed with everything in my life and wished for the world to pause for a couple of weeks so I could get my crap figured out. And uh well sorry everyone."
Dropped_Rock
"Scrolling through the comments makes me think COVID was caused by a massive collective wish for a break from work. Like, our entire species consisting mostly of overworked poor sods entered some kind of hive-mind state wanting a break so desperately that evolution said 'You know what? Here, have this!'"
Ser_Optimus
"Same here. When I saw that animal crossing was coming out for the switch, I told my manager I was gonna need a 2 month paid break to play the game as a joke. My manager texted me during lockdown and asked if I was enjoying the game."
CatsandPotatoes
Sacrificing Others
"I got promoted. Something I wanted for a while. I went to go tell a colleague and his desk was being emptied. In order to promote me they let go of him. he hadn't been performing as well... they could have kept both of us but since I asked for the promotion, in order to keep me they canned them."
"It was devastating for him but I never told him what they told me. I just lived with it and let him rant. I lost touch after a while but I don't think he ever put two and two together. I knew because I had asked. For a while, I felt a lot of guilt but it faded. Not my call."
Nonbinary_Tea
CEO Problems
Sad The End GIF by HollyoaksGiphy"Wanted to start a successful company. I did it and lost the love of my life because I was never home."
ruralexcursion
Work takes WORK.
They never tell you how much sacrifice comes along with it.
No Fun
mad homer simpson GIFGiphy"When I was a kid, I just wanted to be an adult so I could do adult things. Am an adult. It's exhausting. My back hurts."
netwolf420
January 2020...
"In January 2020 my wife was diagnosed with Stage III cancer. She was obviously upset, and one thing she was really sad about was having to miss out on social gatherings and work conferences while she underwent chemo and healed up. Fast forward a couple of months and, well, turns out the whole world missed out on all that, too."
"She’s still getting treatment and trying to keep the disease under control. It hasn’t been an easy 3+ years, but our family has been able to enjoy a lot of moments together since the initial diagnosis, and we hope there’s still more to come."
12345_PIZZA
A needed intervening...
"Back in early 2020, I realized I'd misread some dates and had a family vacation planned at the same time I had an evaluation for a university that I had to be there in person for. The vacation was extremely important to me since it was likely it might be the last I could ever go on with my mother. I spent about a week agonizing over it, wishing for some grand intervention that would get me out of the evaluation. Anyways, my wish was granted when my country went into hard lockdown because of Covid. Whoops."
medievalsl*t
Wrong Move
"Wanted this promotion at work to a management-level position. Got it and hated it. The amount of sh*t you have to deal with from coworkers wasn't worth it. Like you kind of have an idea of who's who in the office before, but then you get a veil lifted and you get clued in on a lot of things."
"Like, who's a good worker, who's a complete slacker but still employed b/c of connections, or who has to have some flexible time off b/c they're going thru some substance use issues., etc. Also, the bottom 10% of workers give you like 90% of the trouble."
chewytime
Oh My
Future of the DamnedGiphy"Wished for a girlfriend who was always in the mood. Got that but she wanted it more often than me and got really upset when I couldn’t perform. So then I wished for a break and she died. Also wished my job was remote, and then Covid happened."
bumscicle
Well the phrase "Be careful what you wish for" has never felt scarier.
The grass isn't always greener.
Lesson learned.
Humans make mistakes.
It's part of the deal with life.
But some mistakes and choices can have huge repercussions.
The trick is to not dwell on the outcomes.
That dwelling leads to a lot of regret.
Redditor FroyoNecessary5999 wanted to hear about the things we could all change about the past, so they asked:
"What is something you did that you deeply regret doing?"
Sometimes I feel like my whole life is one big regret.
Time
GIF by Ariana GrandeGiphy"Putting time and efforts into relationships/friendships that I should have just let go the first chance I had."
illeatyoura***
"Alternatively, not putting enough time and effort into relationships/friendships that actually were worth it."
TCSK8
We just can't...
"Probably rejecting my grandpa when he wanted to play chess, he then fell from a roof like a week later and I never had the chance to play chess with him again, still bothers me that I kinda never had this moment with him.."
nemgtas
"I have this fear now, while my parents are still alive. And my psychologist says the most sensible thing: we can't spend every moment with the people that love us. We just can't. And they don't expect us to. It wouldn't be healthy. And so we will ALL have SOME moments where we have said no. And that's okay. Or else we'd be resentful."
fanghornegghorn
Good Night
"I was seven years of age, I had an argument with my mother the night before she died. Before I went to bed she asked me for a hug I told her NO and stormed off to bed. The next morning I woke up to find everyone in the house was gone, it was very surreal and confusing. My father came back in that morning crying and told me my mother had died of a brain hemorrhage."
"Never go to bed on an argument."
Kellbag91
Gift Horse
"When I was 7 or 8 years old, I snapped at my dad for getting me the wrong video game and I can still see the disappointment in his face. Haunts me to this day."
Caxozma
"I remember my grandma taking me to the mall as a kid, and I was getting super upset I couldn’t get this $50 Pacsun hoodie. $50 hoodies are common now, but it was very expensive then. I freaked out and even said I pay her back. We ended up going back for it. What haunts me most is I didn’t even wear it. I really don’t know why I acted that way and still feel terrible."
Cobonmycorn
Too Young to Know
Make It Rain Money GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"Not opening a retirement account when I was 18 like I was told to."
"That and not investing my money I made bartending in my 20s. When you're that young you don't think about things like that unfortunately."
buthomeisnowhere
I'm still at a loss about investing.
I need to figure that out.
Maxed!
credit card debt GIFGiphy"Use my credit card too much to buy things I didn’t need. Now I’m dealing with a maxed out credit card that’s killing me every month."
MrRontendo
Practice is Perfect
"I deeply regret letting my creative writing and piano playing skills go to sh*t. Ever since I entered the corporate world 19 years ago, it has consumed me, and I no longer feel passionate about those things. I stopped practicing everything. When I try to make myself do them, it feels like just that, like I am forcing myself and it is no longer fun. I feel like I’ve become a shell of my former self in so many ways."
La_Reina_Rubia
Too Young
"Getting married to my first girlfriend at 19. I rushed the relationship because it felt good to not be alone and I thought that I could help her with her depression and anxiety, was hoping to have kid with her as well. However as time went on she just got worse and worse and kept using her depression as a crutch to justify every shi**y thing she did."
"When I started experiencing depression I stopped trying to keep things together and we got divorced a few years ago. I still haven't recovered mentally from it and between that and the pandemic I feel like a shell of the man I used to be."
ancap_attack
Peace Out
Phaedra Parks Bye Felicia GIFGiphy"Being too loyal and putting up with poor treatment from so called friends to the detriment of my mental health... not anymore *itches."
"Cut them all out when I realized they were unable to respond to me in a healthy way and still expected me to be on default fawning mode."
No-Conference-6242
Biggest Lesson? Don't let life slip by.
The Strangest Requests From Make-A-Wish Kids That Actually Were Granted
The Make-A-Wish foundation and similar organizations arrange to make the dreams of children with life-threatening or terminal illnesses come true.
As a result, children have been given trips to Disney World, the chance to meet celebrities, or throw a pitch or shoot a basket at the stadium or arena of their favorite sports team.
Moving and tear inducing stories to say the least.
However, not all children's wishes are lavish and extravagant.
For some, just getting the chance to enjoy a picnic with their friends, away from hospitals, doctors and nurses, is the only thing they want more than anything int he world.
While other wishes might result in confusion before they induce tears.
But knowing it's what the children dream of these foundations waste no time in making these wishes happen.
"Make a wish employees What was the most strangest thing a make a wish kid asked for and actually received?"
Simple Wishes
"I shot an internal promotional video for Make-A-Wish once."
"I got to read through a big book of wishes they had granted."
"Some of them were so extravagant and amazing."
"Family vacations, celebrity meetings."
"And then I saw a 3 year old who wished for a banana split for breakfast."
'And that's what they gave him."
"No one was like 'ayo'."
"'Wish higher'."- josiemarcellino
To The Moon And Back
"I helped host a visit to a planetarium by a kid whose wish was to go to the moon."
"The front office folks thought I could just give her a personal tour of the planetarium and show her some nice high-resolution visuals, but I thought she deserved better than that."
"I commissioned a jeweler friend and meteorite enthusiast to make a silver crescent moon necklace, which he graciously donated to the cause, and I donated a small lunar meteorite from my own collection."
"It was a gorgeous necklace very much to the credit of my friend's artistry and generosity."
"We couldn't take her to the moon so we gave it to her instead."
"She was thrilled, but later said her real highlight of the trip was the astronaut ice cream."
"Ah, kids."- aluminum26
Always Wise To Have A Back-Up Plan
"My daughter was a Make-A-Wish kid."
'She asked to go to Australia to meet the Wiggles."
'Unfortunately, she wasn't able to travel that far, we live in the US, health wise."
"She made a second wish, to meet Captain America."
"We never told Cap that he was a back up wish after the Wiggles were a no-go."
"LOL."- Allyson244
A Gentle Nudge Never Hurt...
"When my sister was 5 and I was 8, she had cancer and had the opportunity to make a wish."
'When our mom and the Make-A-Wish person sat down with her, they told her she could wish for whatever she wanted."
"She just kept saying she wanted macaroni."
"They kept saying 'but it can be anything you want!'"
"Yet she simply wanted macaroni and cheese."
"After some strong encouragement to think bigger, and the Make-A-Wish person suggesting Disneyland, she chose to go to Disneyland."- tinbasher97
Some Wishes Come With Baggage
"I was granted a wish after beating brain cancer in 2015."
"They flew my mum and I out to the capital city of our state and we stayed in the flashiest, most expensive hotel suite with all the bells and whistles."
"We got free dinner, drinks and dessert on arrival, got to chill in the VIP lounge while we were waiting for our room."
"Our room was decorated with teddy bears and chocolates and MAW decorations."
"The next day we were chauffeured to the local mall in a limo and I went on an eleven hour shopping spree with a pre-loaded VISA card and bought every solitary thing you would imagine a 16 year old girl wanting."
"I ended up having to buy another suitcase to take everything home with me but it was the most epic 3 days of my life."
"I’ll never forget it."- lizzierose456
Detective For A Day
"A friend of mine is a K9 police officer. "
"He helped Make-A-Wish grant a wish to a set of twins with the deadliest form of Cystic Fibrosis."
"Most of the time kids with CF aren’t allowed to be around others with it because of cross infecting bacteria."
"Them being twins shortens their life expectancy even more."
"Well these 10 year old boys wanted to meet a police dog."
"My friend and some of his buddies upped the wish and during their meeting of his dog they got called to help solve three 'crimes' in their town."
"They pulled over a high jacker, found and arrested a robber and helped find a 'missing' six year old, my friend’s nephew."
"The town police department gave them certificates and honorary police badges for their work."
"Around 200 people showed up to where they got their awards to cheer them on."
"At their eleventh birthday they gave my friend a plaque they made with their dad thanking him for the best day ever."- hisamsmith
Becoming Their Heroes And Role Models.
"To be a 'merman', a boy mermaid."
"He got a tail and swam in the giant tank with other mermaids at the aquarium."
"To play football with 'the red team'."
"No pro or college preference , just had to be red."
"USC made it happen."
"To be a 'cool kid'."
"Got a limo ride to the mall."
"Red carpet entrance with cheering fans, signed autographs, shopping spree for clothes."
"5 years old, so cute- and very 'cool'."
"To be Robin, not Batman.. he said he wasn’t ready for that."
"Went on an epic adventure fighting crime with Batman."- scootercomputes
The Enviable Sloth
"I worked at a hospice and we had a wishing program. One of our patients, 24 year old with brain cancer, wanted to hold a sloth. Apparently, sloths are very nervous creatures, so it's a little tricky to actually hold one."
"I found a local company that does visits to schools and whatnot who had a sloth. Sloths only poop about once a week and the sloth could only travel the day after he pooped (because they get nervous, any longer than that and the sloth has stress diarrhea). So basically, we had to wait until the sloth pooped and then set up the visit for the next day. The sloth pooped on Thanksgiving, so we set up the visit for the next morning. The patient was able to hold and pet a very sweet sloth. The patient died about three weeks later, and I am very happy I was able to help give her some joy in her final weeks."
"The hospice I worked at had a special program called Faithful Wishes for any of our patients, regardless of age. As the Volunteer Coordinator, fulfilling these wishes was part of my job. I do believe there are other non-profit organizations that grant wishes to adults, but nothing as large as Make-a-Wish".
"Yes, the sloth was tame and lived in an animal preserve. He would also visit schools and retirement communities, schedule permitting. And yes, I absolutely learned more about sloth bowel movements than I ever wanted to 🤷♀️"- ByteAboutTown
Stepping Up
"I worked at a LEGO retail store in the 2000s and Make-A-Wish approached us for a child with terminal Osteosarcoma who wanted to be in the store for a day. LEGO unfortunately denied the request (which surprised myself and the rest of the staff because LEGO was a pretty great company). Staff decided to honor the request ourselves. We closed the store early on a Sunday, then invited the kid and family in. He had a full run of the store, we collectively paid for like $1000 worth of toys for him to take home, and just spent the entire evening building w/e he wanted. He died a few months later 😭"
-JakeRogue
Pickle Party
"There was a Make-a-Wish kid in a class I taught once and their wish was to tour a pickle factory."
"Pickles were their all time favorite food and they wanted to see how the sausage was made so to speak."
"Apparently Vlasic rose to the occasion in a major way and she had the time of her life." - ligamentary
Veterinarian
"I was approached by a similar organization who wanted to arrange a day for a kid to shadow a veterinarian. I’m just a small animal veterinarian with a small hospital so I found it odd that I’d be approached."
"I said yes (who tf would say no?) and we picked a day and had our regular patients in the hospital and the kid got to watch us do our thing for a day. We gave him a lab coat and a stethoscope and let him tag along and see x-rays and ultrasounds and watch surgeries. I brought my dog in so he could try the ultrasound on her."
"He seemed to enjoy it. It wasn’t a terribly strange request really, it just seems like my day-to-day isn’t something anyone would consider their dream experience."
-TankVet
NPCs
"In wizard 101 there’s a quest with an NPC named Brandon, named after a make-a-wish kid who played the game, and his request was to design a side quest for the game. You meet Brandon and go help him clear out this dungeon with 2 really hard bosses, was a lotta fun. At the end U get a gem you can socket that lets you summon Brandon into battle as a follower, pretty cool. Not sure what ended up happening to Brandon, but it’s really cool that thousands of ppl have gotten to enjoy being a part of his wish tbh." - Arkneryyn·
Happy Camper
"I’m a Wish Granter! My strangest personal wish was a refurbished 80’s camper so that she could have her own space (she couldn’t go out in public while her transplant was new-ish, and she was going crazy in the house with two younger siblings). It was actually pretty cool, although the strange part was that MAW can’t actually use “used” things like that. So we had to get her a new VW camper (or something like that, it’s been a while) and “artfully” make it look vintage. So strange."
"Anyways, please feel free to apply to be a Make-A-Wish volunteer! It’s such a rewarding experience, and even if you don’t feel like you can work with the kids, there’s also other volunteer positions like fundraising, event planning, and more!" -SemiSweetStrawberry·
Dog Days
"I had a coworker at my student job in college who had leukemia as a child. He wished to be in the Iditarod so they flew his family to Alaska and he got to meet all the dogs and ride in a sled for a leg of the race. If I remember correctly he also got a husky puppy."
"He was 20 when I met him. I was a couple of years older and graduated college and never saw him again. The leukemia came back and he died in 2016. I don’t think he was much older than 25. One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I hope heaven is real just for you, Ben." - gaycryptid
Some young children dream big, while some still aren't aware just how big they can dream.
Strange as some of their wishes may be, anything that brings a smile to the face of a child with so little to smile about is as close to a dream come true as anyone is likely to get.
While also rapidly decreasing the world's supply of tissues.
Every now and then, one can't help but look back and think about all the changes and advancements in various fields which have occurred.
Both good and bad.
Just about every year, we continued to see advancements in technology, what were once luxuries becoming more accessible, and stronger, more diverse representation in media.
Even though there are still ongoing issues we continue to wish would change, or as the US Supreme Court recently demonstrated, major regressions in other areas.
With this in mind, it leaves us to wonder what the next five years will have in store for us.
Something which Redditor wtfkingQ9 also wondered, leading them to ask:
"What’s something you’re hoping to see in the next 5 years?"
Improvements in alternative energies
"Massive breakthrough in fusion power would be nice."- NachosMahdude
"SolidState Batteries."
"Or a cost effective manufacturing method for graphene."- IndependentPede
Fewer endangered species
"The removal of Pangolins and other critical species from the list of endangered species, in the right direction."- RnbwTurtle
More Affordable Housing
"The housing market finding a level that will allow the next generation of adults to realistically afford one without needing 3 jobs, help from their parents, a lottery win or a 2% of jobs."
"Hell even rent levels getting to a similar level would be nice."- Ginger-Beefcake
A bit more bi-partisanship
"Intelligent Political discourse and not the Insane Political dysfunction that we have now."- Bedlamcitylimit
Medical advancements
"A 'cure' or 'solution' to diabetes."- JTAx1995
A kinder, happier world.
"A little less hate around the world."- Madman61
"Personally, I’m hoping to see a version of myself that is happy as they are."
"No matter what it looks like."- Olympus_XII
I Love You Hug GIFGiphyFinancial security
"Money in my bank account."- pinkbirthday_cake
Only time will tell what the future holds.
But some things in our own personal future can be changed, with a bit of work and a lot of passion.
And the only thing stopping you from fulfilling those changes, is you!
The law is a fickle mistress, and it varies from state to state and county to county sometimes. And then there is the blatant hypocrisy of it all.
There are some things that feel like they should be allowed to pass but you get scolded for, like jaywalking, and then there are things like actual robbery in broad daylight, like telemarketers and nothing happens to them.
Make it make sense. It's like taxes, the wealthy know loopholes and the poor go to jail. Shameful.
Redditoru/Xanduhwanted everyone to chat about legal life fails by asking:
What do you wish was illegal?
I try my best to follow the law. And Lord knows how well I'm doing. There are so many obscure laws for ridiculous things, yet, scamming people of their life savings is a free pass. I'm confused... apparently, so are many others...
Save a Life
drag race drugs GIFGiphy"Hiking up prices of life saving medications. (Insulin, epi-pens, etc.)".
The Hands of Time
"Advertisement like "anti-aging" is absolutely preposterous."
"I would love to see a massive class action lawsuit against any skincare that proposes "anti-aging". Watch a judge rule in the plaintiff's favor citing that the products did not actually turn back time."
Credit
"Your credit score goes down because you cancelled a credit card."
"You want to have multiple lines of credit that you're responsible with, preferably for a long period of time, because it proves you're a reliable borrower. If you have no debt, it's almost like you've not established credit at all. Your score goes up the more lines of credit you have. It's bonkers. Someone more financially literate than me could probably explain better, though."
- isocleat
The Devil
Kate Mckinnon Snl GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphy"Hi, I'm X. We're trying to reach you regarding your car's extended warranty."
- Mtt76812
I'm at the end of my tether with these car warranty calls. I swear to God... nevermind. And advertisements needs to be more regulated. That is a start at better fixing justice.
Extra $$$
Happy Credit Card GIF by HollyoaksGiphy"Convenience fees for online ticket purchases. Why am I getting charged for saving on paper, ink, and everyone's time?"
You're Cancelled
"Companies making it really difficult to cancel things. Especially subscriptions. I think the process to subscribe to something to should be exactly the same as the process to cancel it. I'm looking at you spotify."
"Gyms in general. before they started popping up everywhere I was a member at LA fitness."
"Well I moved 2hrs away from the closest one and they wanted me to come in person to cancel, then they wanted me to send in a damn letter. I can signup online, why can't I cancel online?"
- Rektw
No muss, no fuss.
"Printer ink being ridiculously expensive for no reason."
"Buy a laser printer. Here's my oft-told tale of woe: School got out so my kids no longer had homework to print. A month or so later we needed to print a document. Our Kodak injket printer not only refused to print but said we needed to buy a new ($90) print head because the old one had gummed up, because we'd gone too long without printing."
"I went to the local office supply store and bought a Brother laser printer. It scans, it copies, it uses wifi, and most importantly it just works.About twice a year when we need to print something I go and get it out of my garage and bring it into the house, set it on the kitchen counter, plug it in, and print to it."
"It works great - even remembers my wifi settings (SSID and password) from the previous time. No muss, no fuss. If I really want to print something in color I'll use Kinkos. Turns out I literally never need to print in color."
Child Currency
"Using children to monetize your social media channels."
"It's honestly sad that their parents force them to be the face of their social media accounts, since the children will never have a normal childhood due to their fame."
Bot Thieves
Theatre GIF by StubHubGiphy"Bots buying tickets and up-charging the crap out of the price."
- pgh613
Those ticket thieves need to be taken down. No Broadway show is worth $1000! Don't fall for it kids. That mess needs to be cleaned up. There is actual crime happening to the naked eye. Let's focus there.
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