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.
