History Main / WastefulWishing

* In ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'' Nandor comes into possession of a djinn who will grant him a very large number of wishes, and mostly does so in a [[BenevolentGenie straightforward manner that gives him exactly what he wanted]]. This should solve every challenge they face, but Nandor makes excuses to avoid solving communal problems with it so they won't keep asking him for help. Instead he uses them selfishly on trivial things or makes such poorly thought out wishes that there's no need for the djinn to twist his meaning to make them backfire.
--> '''Nandor:''' I wish for the lid of my coffin to be closed.
--> '''Djinn:''' Are you sure? I can just go fetch [[VampireWannabe Guillermo]].
--> '''Nandor:''' With Guillermo it will be a whole thing.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''Fanfic/GazDreamsOfGenie'', Gaz breaks a genie lamp that Dib finds just to spite him. This counts as opening it, and the genie Azie appears to offer her ThreeWishes. When Dib tries to talk her out of actually making any wishes because [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he knows how badly it can go]], Gaz gets annoyed and [[FreudianSlip impulsively]] snaps that she wishes [[RetGone he'd never been born]]. After this results in a VillainWorld where Zim rules over an enslaved humanity, Gaz then has to use her second wish to [[ResetButton undo the first one]], ultimately leaving her with only one wish for her own use.

*** ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' has something similar. The main plot is kicked off when agents of Freeza break into Bulma's lab and steal the Dragon Balls she was gathering. When asked, she admits that she was going to make herself five years younger. When Freeza's minions ask what ''he's'' going to wish for, his former nanny correctly guesses that he's going to make himself five centimeters taller. Adding to the humor, they both give the same reasoning for why that specific number (it has to look natural or else people will get suspicious). On the other hand, Freeza explains that [[WhoWantsToLiveForever he no longer wants immortality]] because having been trapped in an IronicHell demonstrated that [[AndIMustScream being able to die is sometimes a good thing]].

* In "Lester", Creator/ShelSilverstein takes the classic Aesop about greed and turns it UpToEleven. The story goes that a young boy encounters a goblin that grants him one wish. The boy, in his greed, wishes for two wishes, which he gets, surprisingly enough. So with each wish, he wishes for two more wishes, giving him four wishes. And with each of those wishes, he wishes for two more, giving him eight. This goes on for some time, until the boy dies, presumably from old age. All that's left of him is a humongous pile of unused wishes. The narrator of the story then invites the reader to take a few, and warns the reader not to "waste your wishes on wishing."

* In an episode of ''Series/MyHero'', George brought in SantaClaus to give his friends one present of their choice. Most of them made serious suggestions despite not believing it was really Santa, but Piers thought the whole thing was ridiculous and sarcastically asked for a jigsaw. Santa then gave everyone exactly what they had asked for, and refused to let Piers change his choice.

* ''Series/YoungSheldon:'' When Sheldon gets anaesthetised while at a dental appointment, he hallucinates visiting a circus attraction where he gets to meet Thoth, Egyptian God of Wisdom, and ask him any one question. When Sheldon asks "Can you really answer any question I can ask you?" Thoth responds, "Kid, are you ''certain'' you want ''that'' to be your question?" and gives him another chance to ask.

** While many of Timmy's wishes seem wasteful (the aforementioned ''Fairy Idol'' special even showing him to use wishes just to get out of bed, get dressed and get on the toilet), they don't qualify because he has unlimited wishes. In fact, it's actually [[SuperpowerMeltdown bad for the fairies]] if he doesn't constantly wish for things.

* ''WesternAnimation/MagicalGirlFriendshipSquad'': In the second episode, the girls use their powers to summon a bunch of fake celebrity paraphernalia to sell online, as opposed to gold, jewels, or anything else of actual value they could sell for far more.

* Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG has so many of these. See the quotes page.

** Lampshaded when Norm the Genie gets irritated that the first wish is always for [[SatiatingSandwich a giant sandwich]]. When he ends up with Chester, he just gives him the giant sandwich so he doesn't waste his first wish.
** In "Back to Norm", Crocker teams up with Norm, but instead of simply wishing Timmy to Mars ([[StatingTheSimpleSolution as Norm suggests]]) or simply wishing to have a fairy in his possession, he wastes his wishes on parts for ridiculous traps that backfire on him. Norm allows Crocker to wish for more wishes -- which he does by wishing for them three at a time -- and continues to waste them.
** While many of Timmy's wishes seem wasteful, they don't qualify because he has unlimited wishes. In fact, it's actually [[SuperpowerMeltdown bad for the fairies]] if he doesn't constantly wish for things.

* One ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'' episode starts with the discovery of "The Magic Coins", each of which grants one wish. Most of these are quickly used up so that they don't have any easy way to counter it when one of the baby ponies [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wishes away the rain]] after a sudden shower spoils their picnic.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfJafar'', Jafar, the JackassGenie that he is, deliberately invokes this on Abis Mal. When Abis wishes for sunken treasure and Jafar teleports him to the bottom of the ocean, he makes Abis use his second wish to take him back to the desert.

* In the ending of ''VideoGame/{{Pandemonium}}'', [[spoiler:when Nikki and Fargus finally find the Wishing Engine, a skeptical Fargus wishes for a chicken as a test. "Wish granted!"]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Related effect in Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Everything You Know Is Wrong", in which -- given the opportunity to go to any point in history -- he chooses last Thursday night, [[MundaneUtility in order to pay his phone bill]]. (MundaneUtility indeed.)
[[/folder]]

* A somewhat lewd joke about a bear and a rabbit who both gets three wishes:
-->'''Bear:''' I wish all the other bears in this wood were female.\\

'''Bear:''' I wish all the bears in the nearby woods were female too!\\

'''Bear:''' In fact, I wish all bears in the world except me were female!\\
'''Rabbit:''' I wish this bear was gay. ''[drives away]''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''Fanfic/GazDreamsOfGenie'', Gaz breaks a genie lamp that Dib finds just to spite him. This counts as opening it, and the genie Azie appears to offer her ThreeWishes. When Dib tries to talk her out of actually making any wishes because [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he knows how badly it can go]], Gaz gets annoyed and [[FreudianSlip impulsively]] snaps that she wishes [[RetGone he'd never been born]]. After this results in a VillainWorld where Zim rules over an enslaved humanity, Gaz then has to use her second wish to [[ResetButton undo the first one]], ultimately leaving her with only wish for her own use.

*** ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' has something similar. The main plot is kicked off when agents of Freeza break into Bulma's lab and steal the Dragon Balls she was gathering. When asked, she admits that she was going to make herself five years younger. When Freeza's minions ask what ''he's'' going to wish for, his former nanny correctly guesses that he's going to make himself five centimeters taller. Adding to the NotSoDifferent humor, they both give the same reasoning for why that specific number (it has to look natural or else people will get suspicious). On the other hand, Freeza explains that [[WhoWantsToLiveForever he no longer wants immortality]] because having been trapped in an IronicHell demonstrated that [[AndIMustScream being able to die is sometimes a good thing]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfJafar'', Jafar, the JerkassGenie that he is, deliberately invokes this on Abis Mal. When Abis wishes for sunken treasure and Jafar teleports him to the bottom of the ocean, he makes Abis use his second wish to take him back to the desert.

* A variant in ''WesternAnimation/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves:'' At the beginning of the film, the Forty Thieves try to steal a scepter from Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding presents, and Iago wonders why they went after that and nothing else. Suddenly, a female spirit emerges from the scepter, explains that she's an Oracle and that the Thieves wanted her help them find "the Ultimate Treasure." Iago naturally asks for more information--namely, where ''he'' can find said ultimate treasure--only to learn that the Oracle only ever answers one question per person.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'': Webby uses her first wish on a baby elephant while having [[RealityEnsues nowhere to hide it where it won't be seen]]. She uses another wish to bring her toys to life, with no way to control them. In both cases, Webby's wish starts causing havoc, and one of the nephews has to use one of their wishes just to undo the damage. Not that the nephews are much better, wishing for things like hang gliders, train sets, and giant ice cream sundaes.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation: [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1481 SCP-1481]] is a genie who is constantly stoned out of his mind, rendering him utterly incompetent at granting wishes. He eventually reveals that a previous master [[{{Jerkass}} used his first wish to make him this way]], [[KickTheDog his second wish to make the first wish irreversible]], and then [[ForTheEvulz just walked away without even making a third wish]].
* ''WebVideo/SMBCTheater'': Zach Weiner wastes all his wishes on Super Mario video game cheats because he's too stoned to realize that the Game Genie is an actual genie. The flustered genie even offers him infinite wishes, but Zach is adamant about being the god of an 8-bit brick wall.
* In Part 5 of ''WebVideo/TheMisadventuresOfSkooks'', Shaggy's gathered the Franchise/{{Dragon Ball}}s in order to wish [[spoiler: Fred back to life after his numerous AmusingInjuries]]. At the last second, though, he [[DeliciousDistraction gets sidetracked and wishes for a double order of onion rings instead]], leaving Fred [[spoiler: stranded on King Kai's planet forever. [[WhatTheHellHero Neither of them are amused]].]]
-->'''Fred:''' Bitch!
* The ''Website/CollegeHumor'' sketch [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2jMsx8Aphg The Real Game Genie]] has a guy accidentally summon a genie while playing VideoGame/SuperMarioBros The guy, mistaking him for a ''Game'' Genie, uses all three of his wishes on Mario cheats, even as the beleaguered genie tries to explain that he's a real, actual genie.