History Main / WastefulWishing

* The quote above comes from a ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' game of "Scenes From A Hat" where the players had to come up with "Bad Choices to Make When Your Genie Grants You Three Wishes"

* In "Je Souhaite" of ''Series/TheXFiles'', Anson Stokes found a LiteralGenie and his first wish was that his boss would shut the hell up. Poor Mr. Gilmore really got smooth, unbroken skin where his lips had been before.

A comedy trope where, quite simply, a character is given an opportunity to MakeAWish or [[ThreeWishes three]], and completely wastes them on something stupid and/or frivolous. [[SatiatingSandwich Sandwiches seem to be a particular favorite.]] If it's unintentional, this may be because the character was just talking about what he "wishes," without really knowing that he was in the presence of some power that would grant his wish despite how wasteful it is (or perhaps, his ignorance consisted in a mistake such as thinking the power was unlimited instead of just ThreeWishes); or he may have some SkewedPriorities that make him ask for something that makes little sense as a use of the superb power of the Wish.

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

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': In one strip, a man who's wife has a terminal disease comes home one day and tells her that a genie granted him three wishes. She excitedly asks if he wished for a cure. Turns out he wasted all three on DVD's of the original, unedited ''Star Wars'' trilogy.

* [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Alya]] in ''Fanfic/AlyaAndTheHaremReality'' used this to steal Gabriel's victory from him, trying to waste his Miraculous wish on something that would lead to no changes in reality. She ultimately wishes that people loved [[HundredPercentAdorationRating Marinette]], being the best idea she could come up with in a few seconds that seemed like it would change nothing. Ultimately, while the wish did prevent Gabriel from getting what he wanted, it was not harmless, as the wish just made Marinette more loved (hence the title).

* On the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', after Technoblade and Dream accidentally summon [[OurGodsAreDifferent DreamXD]] while trapped in prison, [=DreamXD=] agrees to grant them one wish. While Dream is still parsing the fact that he can finally get out of prison by wishing for an exit, Techno uses up the wish by wishing for a ''bell''.

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': ** In one strip, a man who's wife has a terminal disease comes home one day and tells her that a genie granted him three wishes. She excitedly asks if he wished for a cure. Turns out he wasted all three on DVD's of the original, unedited ''Star Wars'' trilogy.

** In another strip, a man who's wife has a terminal disease comes home one day and tells her that a genie granted him three wishes. She excitedly asks if he wished for a cure. Turns out he wasted all three on DVD's of the original, unedited ''Star Wars'' trilogy.
--> '''Man''': In my defense, they're ''really'' good movies!

** Another episode of ''Super'' has Goku collect the Dragon balls intending to use them to wish to resurrect King Kai as he promised, however several of his friends intervene wanting a wish of their own[[note]]18 wants to ask for a nice thing to do for Krillin, Roshi wants a car of beautiful girls, Trunk and Goten want to get into the wishing without having a wish thought out between them, and Ooolong's [[RiddleForTheAges wish is never revealed]] though everyone assumes it [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten underwear]][[/note]], plus one of the wishes get used up to cure of a Pan of an illness that normal medicine couldn't. The rest of the wishes are so simple to deal with that Bulma is able to simply buy everyone what they would have wished for in a bid to get her own wish granted, which she offers to Goku in exchange for retrieving a rare element from the center of the Earth. [[spoiler:It ends up being AllForNothing, [[ShaggyDogStory as Beerus destroys the element and sabotages her time machine construction so she wouldn't risk damaging the timeline, and Shenron

** Another episode of ''Super'' has Goku collect the Dragon balls intending to use them to wish to resurrect King Kai as he promised, however several of his friends intervene wanting a wish of their own. All of their wishes are so petty that Bulma is able to simply buy them everyone what they would have wished for in a bid to get her own wish granted.

** In hindsight, Mami's own wish was this. [[spoiler:Her wish was to "continue living", but every girl who makes a contract has their soul ripped out and turned into a [[SoulJar soul gem]], their bodies becoming "empty shells" controlled by said gems, meaning Mami could have wished for anything and continued to live and tragically she didn't include her parents in her wish.]]

* 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]].

* [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Alya]]] in ''Fanfic/AlyaAndTheHaremReality'' used this to steal Gabriel's victory from him, trying to waste his Miraculous wish on something that would lead to no changes in reality. She ultimately wishes that people loved [[HundredPercentAdorationRating Marinette]], being the best idea she could come up with in a few seconds that seemed like it would change nothing. Ultimately, while the wish did prevent Gabriel from getting what he wanted, it was not harmless, as the wish just made Marinette more loved (hence the title).

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'', K'nuckles steals the heart of a mermaid that's able to grant a limited number of wishes. Before using a wish to be taken to Candy Island, they use a majority of them to goof around, but once Flapjack realizes using the wishes are draining the mermaid of her life, he decides to use his last wish to save her. K'nuckles steals the wish and immediately uses it to wish for a new hat and a corndog, then wishes to be on Candy Island, which is now impossible as he's blatantly told he just used those last wishes for the former items. Making things worse, bordering on [[WesternAnimation/NightmareFuel utterly nightmarish]], using the wishes makes the mermaid horrifically decay. [[spoiler: Thankfully, this turns out to be a transformationary state into a Skymaid.]]

A lot of times, this will be used to circumvent {{Jackass Genie}}s or {{Literal Genie}}s, since, with a smaller reward from a wish, possible negative consequences from the reward will also generally be smaller. If this ''works'' and the person who wished for something small ends up happier than the one who wished for ten bajillion dollars and a mansion full of Playboy models, then expect AnAesop on greed and being satisfied with simpler pleasures in life.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'', K'nuckles steals the heart of a mermaid that's able to grant a limited number of wishes. Before using a wish to be taken to Candy Island, they use a majority of them to goof around, but once Flapjack realizes using the wishes are draining the mermaid of her life, he decides to use his last wish to save her. K'nuckles steals the wish and immediately uses it to wish for a new hat and a corndog, then wishes to be on Candy Island, which is now impossible as he's blatantly told he just used those last wishes for the former items.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', God appeared at the turn of the millennium in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Jesus" and offered to answer exactly one question before returning to heaven. While the adults were brainstorming the best possible question, Stan butted in and [[ItMakesSenseInContext demanded to know why he hadn't had his period yet]]. The adults were not amused.

** In hindsight Mami's own wish was this. [[spoiler:Her wish was to "continue living" but every girl who makes a contract has their soul rip out and turned in to a [[SoulJar soul gem]] their bodies becoming "empty shells" control by said gems meaning Mami could have wished for anything and continued to live and tragically she didn't include her parents in her wish.]]

* [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Alya]]] in ''AlyaAndTheHaremReality'' used this to steal Gabriel's victory from him, trying to waste his Miraculous wish on something that would lead to no changes in reality. She ultimately wishes that people loved [[HundredPercentAdorationRating Marinette]], being the best idea she could come up with in a few seconds that seemed like it would change nothing. Ultimately, while the wish did prevent Gabriel from getting what he wanted, it was not harmless, as the wish just made Marinette more loved (hence the title).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' movie ''Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island'', after the treasure map that controls the wishing well is accidentally destroyed by Daffy and Yosemite Sam, the well gives them, Speedy Gonzales, and the Tasmanian Devil three wishes before bidding them farewell. Daffy decides that Speedy gets dibs on the first wish, himself the second, and Sam the third. Speedy wishes for a burrito and Daffy gets angry, wishing the burrito was on his nose. Daffy then decides that Sam should do the humane thing and use the final wish to get the burrito off Speedy's nose, but Sam beats Daffy to the punch, having already wished for a new pirate ship so he can get revenge on Bugs Bunny before he could come back and get them off the island, much to Daffy's chagrin.

** For that matter, the protagonist himself just uses both wishes on new golf clubs. He's disappointed in himself too, since he really tried hard to think of something better to wish for but wasn't able to do so while being put on the spot like that (and he stupidly didn't think about what to wish for ''before'' buying the wishes, which he berates himself for). He doesn't even get ''new'' golf glubs, the genie just upgrades his Wellworn Woods and Irons to have better shot curving. Nice, but certainly not worth blowing two grand on, since you probably still won't use them with so many better options available. Their description doesn't update either, so most players will probably assume the upgrades did absolutely nothing without extensive testing or [[GuideDangIt looking it up online]].

* PlayedForHorror in a story that's told as part of the plot of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. An old man with amnesia is stitting by the side of the road, with no memory of who he is or where he's going. An old hag appears before him and asks him for his [[ThreeWishes third wish]], and he wonders how he can have a third wish when he hasn't had a first or second wish yet. The hag tells him that he has, but he hated the result of his first wish so much that he used his second wish to undo it, which is hy he can't remember either of them.

* PlayedForHorror in a story that's told as part of the plot of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. An amnesiac man has lost all sense of his identity. A hag approaches him and says, "So what's your third wish?" The man looks confused so the hag explains "I offered to grant you three wishes, but you hated the result of the first wish so much that you used the second wish to undo it, so you no longer remember either of them." The man says "Ok, for my third wish, I'd like to know who I am." The hag grins at him evilly and says "[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Funny, that was also your first wish!]]"

** For that matter, the protagonist himself just uses both wishes on new golf clubs. The genie proceeds to "upgrade" the Wellworn Woods and Irons, but other than greater shot curving they don't exactly do much.

->'''Drew Carey:''' "Bad Choices to Make When Your Genie Grants You Three Wishes."\\
'''Colin Mochrie:''' Uh, two Cokes and some chips.

* PlayedForHorror in a story that's told as part of the plot of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. An amnesiac man has lost all sense of his identity. A hag approaches him and says, "So what's your third wish?" The man looks confused so the hag explains "I offered to grant you three wishes, but you hated the result of the first wish so much that you used the second wish to undo it, so you no longer remember either of them." The man says "Ok, for my third wish, I'd like to remember who I was before I lost my memory." The hag grins at him evilly and says "[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Funny, that was also your first wish!]]"

*** ''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]]. This becomes a BrickJoke in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'' when Bulma and Piccolo gather the newly-powered up Dragon Balls and Bulma not only wishes for her to be younger, but also for a bigger butt. Piccolo [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe is not amused]].