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"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."
Tom Waits, "Step Right Up"

Before signing or agreeing to something, you really should read through the contract. However, being a doorstopping Wall of Text, most people and characters just skip to the end and sign it, either trusting or rationalizing no-one would be slimy enough to sneak in something they wouldn't have agreed to in previous talks. Oh, those poor, deluded souls.

Whatever contract, Deal with the Devil, electronic End User Licensing Agreement or Magically-Binding Contract the character speedily signed will have one or more clauses in the fine print designed to screw them over, remove all liability from the other party, or nullifying the whole thing. The sneaky party will use this to coerce the signer into doing their bidding or taking their stuff, while simultaneously avoiding all consequences.

Most stories with this plot usually center on the signer trying to find a loophole to escape the contract, or otherwise live up to the much steeper conditions in order to finally complete it and render it fulfilled. On the positive side, if the series enforces Laser-Guided Karma, then you can expect the contract to get destroyed and/or overruled due to even more obscure legalese by a friendly Rules Lawyer.

In real life, things are more complicated and courts may side with the signer instead of the contract creator (especially if the "fine print" is smaller than the rest of the contract, as is the case in many fictional examples). In fiction, the law is pretty clear — if you signed it, then you agreed with it. Otherwise you wouldn't have signed, right? No one held a gun to your head (if they did, then it is void, if you can prove that). Long story short; read the damn contract. And if it's a particularly important contract, it's a darn good idea to retain a lawyer to go over it with you.

Read the Freaking Manual is a similar trope, for cases where the careless can be ensnared by equipment malfunctions rather than legal obligations. Compare Unreadable Disclaimer, Rattling Off Legal, and Tricked into Signing. Favored by the Morally Bankrupt Banker. Definitely a major component of the Comically Wordy Contract.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Spoofed in Dog Days. The people of Biscotti summon Cinque Izumi to help them. When he succeeds, he learns that the summoning portal was one way and he's now stuck in this fantasy land. He's shown the summoning portal and Eclair berates him for not reading the Instant Runes around the edge of the portal explaining this before jumping through it. Cinque angrily protests that not only are the runes in dog language, but the portal was opened underneath him while he was in the middle of a jump, so he had neither the ability nor the time to read it.
  • In Martian Successor Nadesico, Nergal Heavy Industries' contract is in small print to begin with. But the really fine print at the bottom happens to be a morality clause; the most intimacy couples are allowed when onboard the ship is holding hands. The crew mutinied when someone finally got bored enough to actually read the contract...
  • In Rebuild World, this comes up a few times. At one point the protagonist Akira is given a hush money contract by the Cyberpunk MegaCorp who run the city he lives in the slums of, and he literally cannot read the print because it's too small, so his Virtual Sidekick summarizes it to be saying that everyone will be out to kill him if he breaks the agreement, which makes Akira feel relieved. Soon after, Akira learns that the free food given out to his fellow slum-dwellers, most of whom are completely uneducated and thus illiterate, have writing on their packaging saying that the food is from unsafe monster meat, and filled with Nanomachines, the latter of which slowly kill you if you don't get regular medical procedures to clear the buildup of them in your blood stream; those are also left behind by the medicine Akira chugs down in battle.
  • A variation occurs in Run with the Wind where the full nameplate of the Kansei University Track and Field dorm is obscured with dirt. This leads to multiple gullible young men falling into the snare, believing that they were just lucky to have found a place to live in for free. The catch? They have to join the team in order to stay in the dorm.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Yuzu asks Yuya for his "autograph" and he signs the paper she gives him without looking at it. He finds out too late that it was a contract forcing him to work at her school.

    Card Games 
  • Magic: The Gathering:
    • Many black cards in center around making bargains of this sort. This gives black mages access to a wide variety of extremely powerful effects, but always at a price — a good black mage takes advantage of the power they're granted, but the drawbacks can lead you to ruin. The most common of these are "pay X life: do Y" cards, which generally represent a Faustian bargain. (Note the 6 mana cost for extra evil.)
    • The card Demonic Pact forces you to choose one option of four each turn, with the caveat that you can't choose an option you've already chosen. Three of the options are highly beneficial, while the fourth is "You lose the game." The list of official rulings for the card includes a snarky reference to this trope:
      6/22/2015: Yes, if the fourth mode is the only one remaining, you must choose it. You read the whole contract, right?
    • Dark Confidant allows you to draw a card every turn during your upkeep, representing the aid of your Dark Confidant, but at the cost of taking damage equal to its casting cost, meaning the more power he gives you, the more he takes. The card's flavor text epitomizes black magic in Magic:
      Greatness, at any cost.
    • The Orzhov Syndicate from Ravnica specializes in roping in people into contracts with really detrimental fine print. Example: Losing an appendage for late payment? Ouch. The head being counted as an appendage? It's in the fine print.
    • Liliana learned the hard way that if all the Demons that she had formed a contract with were all to die, her contract would be given to Nicol Bolas. Oh well.

    Comic Books 
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe. In general the comics employed extreme amounts of Artistic License – Law when dealing with contracts and most of the problems this trope created in-universe would not exist in Real Life because that is just not how contracts work.
    • In one Gyro Gearloose story, he has invented a pair of glasses that gives the user superhuman vision. To test it, he among other things read the fine print on his insurance. It turns out the conditions when the insurance doesn't apply are so wide that he basically never can collect ("...does not apply when on foot, in a car, on a train, on a plane, in a bed, on rollerblades...")
    • Many stories featured Uncle Scrooge tricking Donald into signing a contract with ridiculously small fine print that Donald had to fulfill or risk dire consequences.
    • Scrooge has found himself on the wrong end of these, as well. In "The Horseradish Story", an ancestor of his signed a contract 200 years ago without reading the fine print. (The ancestor, a Seafoam McDuck, had misplaced his spectacles — Don Rosa would later imply the other party, a Swindle McSue, was responsible for the misplacing.) According to that fine print, Seafoam had to deliver a case of horseradish to Jamaica or forfeit his assets to Swindle, who sabotaged the trip for that very purpose. Because Seafoam never gave him a set of golden teeth, a Chisel McSue, last heir of the McSue Clan, got a court order allowing him to claim Scrooge's estates, minus an old set of clothes. Fortunately, even that court order had a fine print, which Scrooge read. It stated Chisel couldn't take possession for 30 days, and even then only if Scrooge failed to fulfill the terms of the original contract. Before becoming wealthy, Scrooge sold the aforementioned teeth to buy a prospector's outfit, making it so he couldn't fulfill the contract by any means other than recovering the case of horseradish and delivering it to Jamaica. His nephews use this trope against him in the same story, making Scrooge sign a contract stating he will pay them their 30 cent wages, since Scrooge has tried to cheat them in the past. At the end of the story, Scrooge refuses to pay what he considers an outrageous sum — 226 dollars. The nephews reveal the fine print of the contract he signed: either pay the full amount, or eat the crateful of horseradish.
    • Taking a leaf after Swindle McSue, the Beagle Boys once tricked Scrooge into having to deliver a crateful of eggs to the Island of Ripan Taro to avoid having to give them his fortune. When it seemed the delivery would be done, he tripped and the eggs cracked, revealing the eggs weren't of the indicated species. Scrooge invoked this fact to claim "the contract is no good" because the Beagle Boys "misrepresented their cargo".
    • The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: Subverted in the chapter "King of the Klondike"; when Scrooge needs money bad, he's forced to go to Soapy Slick for a loan. After Scrooge signs the contract, Soapy reveals that his contracts don't need fine print...just enough space to make changes wherever he wants, such as turning the 10 % interest rate to 100%. While Scrooge could have easily contested this obvious fraud, Soapy flees to Canada with the contract. It isn't until after Soapy is deported back to Alaska that the contract is restored to its original terms, which Scrooge pays off in full in "The Billionaire of Dismal Downs".
  • In one Casper the Friendly Ghost story, "Powfinger", the small print in a contract magically shrinks to prevent anyone reading it.
  • Edge of Spider-Verse (2023): Princess Petra never checked the contract she made with the Fairy Gob-Mother to become Spinstress, since apparently failure on her end allows the Gob-Mother to hire a huntsman to... well, hunt her.
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: "Scout's Dishonor" (Cartoon Network Block Party #35) had a mousy scoutmaster getting Billy to sign up for the Extreme Scouts. It's after he signs that the scoutmaster becomes a General Ripper. Mandy claims bossing Billy around is her privilege but the scoutmaster shows her the fine print: all rights revert to him. So Mandy, through power of attorney, adds Grim's name to the contract.
  • Spider-Man: In The Amazing Spider-Man #14, Spidey signs a contract to appear in a movie. When the producer gives up on the idea to start another movie, he reveals that, according to the fine print, Spidey doesn't "get any money until the picture is completed". Spidey will never be paid for his work in the film because it'll never be completed.
    Spider-Man: You're not related to J. Jonah Jameson by some chance, are you?
  • In the Superman storyline The Coming of Atlas, Lana Lang tries to use LexCorp's resources to help Superman, and then she is informed that she has violated a term of his contract: any employee of Lex Luthor who attempts to help Superman, no matter the circumstances, will be automatically fired. When she asks where that is in her contract, she is said she did not read the very, very fine print.
    Lana Lang: Excuse me, Lex, but where is that in my contract?
    Lex Luthor Hologram: Ah, Lana. I'm disappointed. You're just like all the others after all. You didn't read the fine print. Very, VERY fine print.

    Comic Strips 
  • Dilbert: Dogbert isn't actually reading the contract, he just likes to look at documents and say "yadda yadda yadda..." However he does recommend retyping the contract to benefit Dilbert and then sending it in. They can't proofread all of them can they? (Someone later did this in real life)
  • Bloom County had a strip where Steve Dallas was having Bill the Cat sign a contract off-panel, Steve was saying "Sign here.... sign here — DON'T READ THAT! Sign here..."
  • Garfield: Garfield sees three signs in this strip: "Danger", "Beware of the...", and "Fine Print!". The last one has a long text with a small font size.
    Garfield: Okay, now I'm intimidated.

    Fan Works 
  • In YAIHF, Dobby is recruited by Harry to help him become more independent. One of the tasks Dobby decides to do is magically contract several of Harry Potter's female friends for various jobs. Unbeknownst to everyone, Dobby added a clause to each contract that basically makes them "Harry's Plaything". Hermione and Tonks just signed it, Fleur didn't read the whole contract until after she signed it, and Luna read the whole thing and still signed it. (For added bonus, Dobby managed to recruit Gabrielle, One of Gabrielle's Maids, and Narcissa Malfoy, all of who don't mind becoming "Harry's Plaything")
  • Total Drama Chris expands the canon into a recurring plot point, and eventually reveals that their Jerkass Level Grinding Chris has been continuously adding new things to the already-signed contracts, assuming this is just as binding. Chef calls him out on it.
  • Mr and Mrs Gold: Belle points out to Ella that it was an incredibly stupid and short-sighted thing to do signing a Magically-Binding Contract from somebody like Rumpelstiltskin without reading any of it and not expecting some horrifying repercussion.
  • Have Faith: The tetralogy's second story, The Sum of Their Parts, discusses this — Cameron Kim is bound to Wolfram & Hart by contract, and recounts how her parents had signed one that, thanks to one of its clauses (stating that they'd work for W&H for fifteen years, and dying before that time was up construed a violation of contract), allowed the firm to effectively bully her into also contracting with them after her parents died. She, however, was more careful about reading the extremely tiny fine print and crossed out two clauses (including the same "after-death" clause that had been in her parents' contract), telling the lawyer to bring back a copy with those two removed. And she'd be re-reading the whole thing to make sure they didn't try to pull any fast ones. She got what she wanted.
  • A Diplomatic Visit:
    • During trade negotiations between Equestria and the Packlands, the wolves keep sneaking in extradition orders for Prince Blueblood (and before him, his ancestors), but Princess Celestia always finds and removes them.
    • In chapter 12, Princess Celestia mentions having had to deal with contracts that had hidden clauses, including ones that were so microscopic they were barely visible, and deliberate fraud that involved tricking people into signing multiple, non-identical copies of a contract.
  • In Entitlement, of the members of Team Captain America, only Scott takes the time to read the details of his pardon and the revised Sokovia Accords before signing, even asking for help as he admits he has trouble with legalese, though Sam does ask for a copy later to make sure he understands what he signed. As a result, Scott is the only one to actually negotiate his contract, including wanting to be based in San Francisco so he can near his daughter. When the time comes to fill out what types of missions they're willing to perform, Sam and Clint take the time to carefully select the ones they want, unlike Steve and Wanda who just sign up for every mission variety. To screw with Steve, Carol has him run a Honey Trap mission.
  • In Gaz and the Sinister Social Club, Professor Membrane apparently had to sign a very comprehensive membership contract when he signed Gaz up for the school's girls social club, which keeps her from just quitting no matter how much she hates the club. Later, another clause in the contract — namely that they're allowed to use any means necessary to acclimate new members — is used to justify trying to brainwash Gaz into cheerfulness.
  • The Palaververse: Second Sun: Due to a magical accident being the core of the plot, and reading the fine print notes that accompanied the spell could've avoided things, "do not neglect to read all of the fine print" is a lesson spelled out in the Epilogue Letter.
  • In Read the Fine Print (Evangelion), Shinji signs a contract to sell his soul to Asuka in exchange for chocolate. When both kids find out their contract is actually valid and try to alter it, they are visited by an agent of the Infernal Administration who points out the contract terms that they missed.
  • In Harry Potter and the Champion's Champion, Lucius Malfoy did not take this advice when signing a Goblin loan contract. More specifically, he glossed over section forty-eight, subsection A, sub subsection eighteen of the contract, which states the interest rate is 10% weekly instead of 10% annually. This caused his two hundred thousand Galleon loan to become twenty-six million Galleons. He ended up working for the Goblins as a slave for two hundred and ninety years to pay off the debt before being unceremoniously teleported to an ice shelf where he is eaten by a polar bear.
    Narcissa: "YOU SIGNED A GOBLIN CONTRACT WITHOUT LEGAL HELP? HOW STUPID ARE YOU?"

    Films — Animation 
  • In Shrek Forever After, Shrek says he carefully looked over Rumpelstiltskin's contract, but Donkey reveals that you have to fold the paper origami-style to find the fine print and the Curse Escape Clause.
  • In Hey Arnold! The Movie, Big Bob Pataki signs a contract with Nick Vermicelli to get a beeper store in the new mall Scheck plans to build over Arnold's neighborhood. It's only afterwards that he reads the fine print and finds out that in exchange, Scheck gets 51%note  of Big Bob's company. In Bob's defense, though, he did ask Vermicelli if there was any "funny business" before the latter pressured him into signing.
  • Parodied in The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge Out Of Water; Mr. Krabs gets beaten by his own fine print. Upon discovering that the Krusty Krab is out of Krabby Patties and the secret formula had disappeared, Mr. Krabs hurriedly asks SpongeBob if he still remembers the formula so they can make more. SpongeBob immediately shoots it down as, per the employee handbook and regulations, he legally cannot commit it to memory.
    Mr. Krabs: [cries] CURSE YOU, FINE PRINT!

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: Before the factory tour, the kids must sign a lengthy contract with progressively smaller text until it's virtually microscopic. Wonka cites this contract at the end: The contest promised the winners a lifetime supply of chocolate, but one of the microscopic clauses specified that they would forfeit all reward if they disobeyed Wonka at any point during the tour, which everyone did (even Charlie). But Charlie remembers that he stole some candy, having been offered a bribe by Wonka's rival Slugworth. Despite having forfeited any reward from Wonka, he is still prompted by his conscience to return the candy to him instead. When he does this, Wonka reveals "Slugworth" is actually just an actor he had hired as a Secret Test of Character. For passing the test, Wonka declares Charlie his sole heir and successor.
    • Ironically used against Wonka himself in the prequel film Wonka. He is trapped into basically slavery in the launderette owned by the owner of the house where he stayed on his first night in town because he literally couldn't read the fine print due to him being illiterate.
  • In Bedazzled (2000), Brendan Fraser's character sells his soul to the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) by signing a ridiculously huge contract without reading. Throughout the film, the Devil "reminds" him of various clauses from the contract, which is all news to him. Interestingly, the way out of the deal depends on him not having read the contract (i.e. he has to make a selfless wish). According to the Devil, no one ever reads the damned thing (pun intended).
  • Fools' Parade: At the beginning of the film, Appleyard and his friends are run out of the town of Glory after being given a check for $25,000 for years of convict labor at the local prison. They are miles away before reading the check closely enough to see that it can only be cashed at the bank that issued it, meaning they have to return to Glory.
  • A variation on this appears in The Santa Clause: where the border on Santa's business card, which initially appears to read simply "put on the suit, the reindeer will know what to do," is revealed to consist of a contract written in microscopic print, the general gist of which is that protagonist Scott Calvin is now Santa Claus, whether he likes it or not. And then in the sequel, an even more microscopic clause reveals that he has to get married or he'll lose his powers.
  • Played with in The Flintstones. Initially, Fred plans on reading over all the forms before signing, citing once getting screwed over by a plumber because he didn't read the forms first, only for his secretary, who's The Dragon for Cliff Vandercave to convince him not to. As a result, Fred signs a bunch of forms without reading them, and they turn out to be firing notices for all his colleagues who dig at the quarry. The dictabird even tells him, "Only an idiot signs something before reading it."
  • The hero of The Spanish Prisoner is tricked into signing a club membership form which turns out to be a request for political asylum in Venezuela (it's not in English, and he's never given a chance to get a good look at it). While it doesn't legally commit him to anything, the fact that he signed it looks like he was planning to flee the US.
  • An example shows up in Wayne's World, but it pans out quite differently from most examples. The other party is a sleazeball but never attempts to move the goalposts and most of the terms he gets Wayne in trouble over are relatively reasonable by entertainment industry standards. In fact, if Wayne had bothered to get a lawyer and read and negotiate a bit, most of the plot could have been avoided.
  • In the 1957 musical of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Mayor produces the 'receipt' for the piper's services, carefully unrolling only the bit where his signature goes. Suspicious, the piper insists on reading it...and the unrolled scroll stretches halfway across the room. "I see as we go up the line the print gets rather fine." After various deductions for unrelated expenses, and a clause that his fee can be held in escrow for a hundred years, the contract ends by stating that the Piper must pay 50,000 guilders (the entire sum he's owed) should the rats come back. We all know what happens next.
  • Inverted for the same effect in Stroker Ace. Clyde Torkle's contract is so long that its bound form is larger than most phone books. That and some quick smooth talk ensures that Stroker signs it anyway, even after insisting that he read the whole thing. Torkle then spends the movie forcing Stroker through some truly embarrassing advertising gags. In addition, Torkle worded his contract so that Stroker can't race for three years if he quits. Stroker spends the rest of the movie trying to get Torkle to fire him so the clause doesn't come into effect.
  • A minor example in The Founder. When the McDonald brothers finally agree to accept Ray Kroc's buyout, an important condition is that they keep the original restaurant. It's implied that they don't realize, until later, that the settlement gave Kroc the trademark on the name "McDonald's", meaning that they can no longer call their restaurant by their own name.
  • In The Mad Magician, Gallico discovers that the contract he signed with Ormond means that all illusions he designs—even those he creates on his own time—are the property of Ormond. Losing the rights to 'The Lady and the Buzzsaw'—the signature illusion he developed to launch his own career as a Stage Magician—is what drives him to snap and murder Ormond.
  • In The Cat in the Hat, the Cat never even gives Sally or Conrad the chance to read the contract (which is the size of a phone book), merely stating it guarantees them "all the fun you want and nothing bad's ever gonna happen". At the end of the film, with their house wrecked and their mother on their way home, the Cat reads them some of the contract's clauses and reveals that they've fulfilled its terms: he thus holds up his end of the bargain by rebuilding their house with the D.I.R.T., cleaning up the kids, Nevins and even Mrs. Kwan, and making it look like nothing happened, ensuring they won't get in trouble.
  • Bet Your Life: When Carmen reads the document detailing the bet between Sonny and Joseph, she points out to Sonny a clause he hadn't notice (given he he barely glanced at the paper before signing it, this is not surprising). It stipulates that he must be in the Tower Casino when the 24 hours expires in order to claim the money. Sonny suddenly realises that he has about five hours to get from Cleveland to Las Vegas.
  • The Voyeurs: Thomas and Pippa failed to notice that the lease they signed to rent the apartment included a photo release form that allows Julia and Sebastian to use their images for their latest art project. This is even lampshaded in an interview by Julia and Sebastian.
  • Please Hold: Mateo skips past the fine print while attempting to make a video call from his jail cell out to the LAPD. He's on hold so long that he falls asleep. He wakes up to discover that he was on the phone for 114 minutes, and he was charged $3 a minute, which emptied his bank account and left him with no money and thus no way to contact the outside. When Mateo says the video phone never mentioned the charge, it flashes up the Terms of Use with the $3/minute charge highlighted. Later, Mateo scrawls "Always read the fine print" on the walls of his cell.
  • District 9. Wikus has been bribing and bullying the Prawns into signing their eviction notices. He runs into a snag on encountering Christopher Johnson, who reads the notice and points it requires him to have 24 hours' advance notification, and isn't even legal in the first place.
    Wikus: This one's a little smarter than the others, ya?

    Jokes 
  • How is The Bible like an End User License Agreement? Because most people just accept it without reading it.

    Literature 
  • Played for Laughs in Chrysalis (RinoZ) when the Death Seeker unit known as "The Immortals" all choose the "Phoenix Fire Organ" evolutionary upgrade without reading all the way through the description. They read as far as "Throughout the course of battle this organ will consume the strength of its holder, empowering itself as they draw closer to death. When the host expires, it unleashes the contained energy in a wave of flame that will annihilate -" and all immediately chose it. The rest of the description was, "- any injuries the host bears, bringing them back from the brink of death to live again."
  • Good Omens: Crowley (a demon) actually sent a software user agreement to the guys downstairs in charge of the 'sell your soul' contracts with the note: "Learn, guys."
  • The first Red Dwarf novel expanded on the character who was the ship's hologram before Rimmer. At one point, he took out a loan from a mob run building society with a ridiculously high interest rate clause. The clause in question was hidden in a microdot in the letter i in one sentence, thereby taking the concept of fine print to ridiculous new levels.
  • In one Star Trek Expanded Universe novels, Wesley Crusher ends up selling himself into slavery by signing a Ferengi contract without reading. He then sneaks into his owner's office and reads it, although it's written in barely understandable Legalese. The first clause of the contract actually forbids Wesley from reading it. He's afraid to run away, as that would be a contract violation, which is the highest crime among the Ferengi.
  • Harry Harrison:
    • In one of the The Stainless Steel Rat novels, the main character is forced to do something he's against, but his boss insists it's in his contract. In a slight subversion, Jim diGriz actually read the entire thing. The boss then points to a smudge at the end and uses a microscope to show him that it's actually an extra clause written in very fine print.
    • In another novel, Jim seeks to overthrow a dictator who introduced democracy on his planet, only to become President for Life thanks to his Secret Police and rigged elections. At one point the dictator calls an early election before Jim has his own campaign ready. Everyone thinks they're screwed until Jim asks to look at the Constitution (regarded as a useless paper document) and finds a clause saying that if a candidate can prove electoral fraud, there has to be another election at a later date. Fortunately the dictator has overplayed his hand by claiming the only people who voted for the opposition were the two candidates; thanks to the dictator's 0% Approval Rating it's easy to find people willing to state otherwise.
  • Jennifer Government features a guy signing a contract which includes stipulations that require him to murder several people, and severe penalties if he refuses or fails to do so. It was, however, less about fine print and more about fast-talking him into signing the contract without reading it.
  • In The Dresden Files Harry and other wizards always read the fine print, even if it is on a contract they sent to the person and now are signing themselves. This is because if something new is added, they could end up signing away their soul, service, first-born child, or a whole load of other things. And when the other parties can include the Fae, gods, demons, and the Almighty and His group, best to read what one is signing. And even then, the Loophole Abuse and Exact Words some malevolent characters would invoke is equally dangerous.
    • One example shows up in the exact same scene in which the Fae are introduced: Harry is told that his debt to his fairy godmother has been transferred to another Fae (Specifically Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness), and he is told that she will discharge his debt once he has completed three tasks for her, but that he is free to choose what tasks he completes. He clarifies with her that he will not be punished for refusing a task, which she agrees is accurate. She then gives him his first task (investigate the death of the Summer Knight), and he refuses. At which point she causes him excruciating pain because she feels like it, not because he refused. She didn't break the letter of the agreement, after all.
  • Robert A. Heinlein has used this a couple of times:
    • In The Man Who Sold the Moon, Delos D. Harriman, "the last of the Robber Barons", mentions that the roadways he owns that are used by most of the population to commute and move goods have small print on the ticket that says that the company will only "attempt" to get them or their goods to their destination and if the company fails it is only liable to refund the price of the ticket. Using the roadway means agreeing with this. Harriman says he got idea when he worked as a clerk for the Western Union telegram service. By signing the front of a telegram form most people didn't realize they were agreeing to all the small print listed on the back of the form. Harriman read the back in his free time on the job and admired it. This sort of caveat is actually fairly common in contracts, in the form of a "force majure" clause that releases someone from a contractual obligation if uncontrollable circumstances make it impossible to comply.
    • In Citizen of the Galaxy Thorby turns out to be the lost heir of his parent's business empire. "Uncle Jack" Weemsby has been managing this ever since they disappeared, and tries to bounce Thorby into signing a long and complicated document which would make this permanent. However Thorby was taught by his adoptive Grandmother never to sign anything unless you understand both the document and the laws under which it will be executed.
  • In A Song of Ice and Fire, Tommen Baratheon is eventually made King of Westeros. It soon becomes clear that he's just a Puppet King controlled by his mother Cersei as all he does is sign and stamp royal decrees at her direction without reading them. Justified in that he's just an eight year old boy and has no idea what he is doing. This backfires on Cersei when a paper dissolving her administration is put in front of King Tommen by those seeking to remove her from power.
  • In The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach, P.D.Q. is said to have signed a contract promising him a stipend of five shillings, in exchange for which he agrees to "perform the duties incumbent upon the Organist of the Chapel if I feel like it." According to Schickele (his alleged biographer), this shows that P.D.Q. was not only a musical innovator, but also the first person to use fine print in a contract.
  • In the short story anthology All Hell Breaking Loose, one story is about the Devil visiting a Corrupt Corporate Executive from a record company so that he can add a new clause to the company's Terms of Service agreement that would enable him to steal the soul of anyone who illegally downloaded one of their songs. The executive agreed, since he was getting a dramatic drop in music theft and a Get Out Of Hell Free card out of the deal.
  • In the second book of the Alcatraz Series, the keepers of the Library of Alexandria have a rather draconian lending policy — in order to get the right to check out a book, you must forfeit your soul to the library. Checking out a book (an action which they define as moving any object with text on it from its original location) is considered acceptance of their terms. It is possible to get them to explain this beforehand, but the librarians will only explain the rules of the library in their common tongue, which has been a dead language outside of the library for millennia. There are books on how to translate that language in the library, but attempting to read one of them would constitute checking out a book. Fortunately, Alcatraz owns a set of magical spectacles that allow the wearer to understand all languages.
  • An example in the Doctor Who New Adventures Eleventh Doctor novel Borrowed Time is that two alien "businessmen" are selling time-travel devices that allow you to go back along your own personal timeline and spend more time with your family, get more work done, etc, and you just have to pay back an hour of your life for every hour you took. Good deal, right? Not really-the small print says that it's not one hour per hour, it's one hour per hour, per hour. Essentially, the longer you take to pay it back, the more the compound interest racks up, so that you end up paying back hundreds of hours from your lifespan even if you only used five or so. This leads to people aging swiftly or even dying. And if you try to mess with the device, you invalidate the warranty and pay back all of the time right there and then. Eventually, the Doctor crashes the value of every single debt, buys them out from the Time Market, then cancels them.
  • The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn: Positive example in the sequel The Dark Secret of Weatherend. It's been years since Myra Eels bothered to carefully read the contract she signed when she was made Head Librarian of the Hoosac Public Library, and as a result, she'd forgotten about one clause that was in there, stating that she could not be fired from her job for any reason.
  • In the picture book Dragons Love Tacos, the boy who hosts a taco party for the dragons neglected to read the fine print on the "totally mild salsa" he bought for the tacos that it contains spicy jalapeño peppers. Result? Dragons breathing fire everywhere and burning his house. Fortunately, the dragons are so thankful for the taco party that they help him rebuild.
  • Subverted in Lost in Music, a memoir by the music journalist Giles Smith: reading the fine print didn't help. Smith was in a band which was offered a contract. They wanted a lawyer to check the contract, but the only lawyer they could afford was Smith's father's friend, who was a solicitor specialising in-house conveyancing. He told them that it was a terrible contract, but no one was offering them a better one, so the band signed it anyway.
  • Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg: Due to the high chances of failure, and the possibility of mishaps even if the process does work, professional resurrectionists have the most ironclad "no refunds" policies in Europa.
  • The Berenstain Bears: The Big Chapter Book The Berenstain Bears in the Freaky Funhouse has the villains committing contract fraud, by tricking their victim into signing four copies. The first one donates eighty percent of the money they collect to the hospital, while the circus gets twenty percent, minus expenses. The other three copies, which she didn't read after signing the first one, had it the other way around. The culprits, fortunately, are caught when the first contract is located and used as evidence of fraud.
  • The Outside: Most mortals don't want to work for Nemesis, the goddess responsible for punishing criminals and heretics, so She recruits people by tricking them into thinking they're signing up for something temporary, while the fine print condemns them to a lifetime of servitude.
  • Dead Lies Dreaming: As Eve mentions of her boss, he's really good at this:
    Rupe's true claim to genius lay in his expertise with buried small print.
  • Stray Cat Strut: Corporations originally liked tricking young samurai into binding contracts early in their careers, essentially enslaving them. This went out of style when older samurai started objecting to such practices with orbital bombardments.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Better Call Saul episode "Rico" revolved around Jimmy fighting a crooked retirement community that defrauded its residents by overcharging them for basic services and hiding it in small print on their statements next-to-impossible to read with the naked eye.
  • Black Mirror: "Joan is Awful"'s Netflix stand-in Streamberry hid its watertight right to freely depict its users' lives in the terms and conditions, which no one reads before clicking. It also hid a watertight right to use CGI likenesses of actors in said terms and conditions.
  • On Charmed (2018), Macy and Maggie try to do a spell to contact their mother, using her old keepsake box an an "anchor." Instead, Maggie is possessed by a family of ghosts as it turns out the spell says that it will contact whoever was the "original owner of the cherished item" which was the teen of the family before Marisol got it.
    Macy: Who footnotes a spell?
  • Cowboy Bebop (2021). As Jet is piloting the BeBop through the Astro Gate, he's told the toll has been deducted from his account.
    Jet: (into radio) I'm going to take a piss in transit. Wanna charge me for that too?
    Astro Gate operator: We already do, BeBop. Read the fine print.
  • In the Drake & Josh episode "Really Big Shrimp", Drake gets a record deal and records a song for them. The producer then changes it into an over-processed electronic song because Josh (Drake's manager) signed a contract without reading it, which gave them complete creative control of the song. This angers Drake enough to fire Josh as his manager.
  • Our Miss Brooks: In the episode "Hospital Capers", a lawyer (a literal ambulance chaser) gets Mr. Boynton to sign a contract hiring him as counsel; the contract features a hefty penalty if Mr. Boynton chooses to terminate his representation. When Miss Brooks visits the lawyer, he hands her ever larger magnifying glasses to read the contract's fine print.
  • An episode of Austin & Ally has Ally join what she thinks is a record deal, but it's actually punk-like band. She tries to quit but finds out she accidentally agreed to a 5 year contract. Trish (the one who signed the contract in the first place) was too lazy to read the fine print believing it to be unnecessary. In the end, the gang uses this trope to trick the band's manager into releasing Ally.
  • Eerie, Indiana: In "Zombies in P.J.s", Marshall and Simon review the "E-Z" credit-card contracts offered by a strange visitor to the sleepwalking World O' Stuff shoppers. What looks like an ink smudge at the end of the contract turns out to be its fine print when viewed under a microscope, revealing that the contracts are actually deals with the Devil: "The Donald" will gain the rights over their souls unless they pay back all of the money on credit, which is impossible as they are forced to go on a shopping spree every night due to Subliminal Seduction.
  • Peter in The Monkees episode "Dance, Monkee, Dance" is tricked into signing a lifetime contract at a dance studio after winning a free dance lesson.
  • In Brazilian show Caça Talentos, before signing with a network, the owner of a talent agency utilized a magnifying glass to search for loopholes. When the network owner decided to end the contract, he utilized a loophole in letters so small a small telescope was used.
  • El Chavo del ocho: Doña Florinda practically begged to be a victim of this trope. When she opened a "fonda" she insists calling a "restaurant", she barely read the rental contract. She didn't even know who her new landlord was before the first time he showed up to collect.
  • Jessie: This is how Bertram became the Rosses' butler.
    Bertram: Make sure you read the fine print. This butler thing was supposed to be a summer job.
  • Supernatural:
    • This is usually averted with the standard sell-your-soul contracts offered by crossroad demons. Crowley is in charge of the contracts and he insists that they be as straightforward as possible and free of fine print and loopholes. The human gets his/her wish and ten years later Hell gets their soul. Crowley figures that if word gets around that the demons cheat then humans will stop selling their souls.
    • However, even Crowley is not immune from trying to sneak in a clause or two when dealing with other supernatural beings or humans that annoy him. In Season 5, Bobby Singer temporarily sold his soul to Crowley in order to help end the Apocalypse. Unfortunately, his contract says that Crowley only needs to make "best efforts" to return it. Luckily, Bobby successfully blackmails Crowley into rewriting the contract.
    • Played for Laughs when Dick Roman makes a deal with Crowley. The King of Hell pulls a very long scroll out of his coat, and the two spend the entire night reading and revising with a magnifying glass and a red Sharpie.
  • Ellery Queen: In "The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader", Ellery despises the proposed Ellery Queen comic, but he is legally powerless to stop it because a clause in Ellery's contract stipulates that the company can license his likeness to use in any way they see fit.
  • Monty Python's Flying Circus: A man hosting a dinner finds out that when you sign up for the Book of the Month club, you get a free hundredweight of animal dung delivered to your house. Of course, it's not on the forms because that would be bad for business. Seconds later, he learns that when you order a new cooker, you also get a free dead Indian. Of course, in that case, the free dead Indian is mentioned in the adverts. It's just that it's in the very small print so as not to affect the sales. And then they find out for every two cartons of single cream you buy, the Milk Marketing Board gives you an M4 motorway. This leads to a scene of the couple standing in a highway with a dead Indian and lots of dung. A police car then drives up:
    Inspector: Yes! This couple is just one of the prizes in this year's Police Raffle. Other prizes include two years for breaking and entering, a crate of search warrants, a 'What's all this then?' T-shirt and a weekend for two with a skinhead of your own choice.
    Announcer: And that's not all. Three fabulous new prizes have just been added: a four-month supply of interesting undergarments, a fully motorized pig, and a hand-painted scene of Arabian splendour, complete with silly walk!
  • A segment of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver covering net neutrality by showing clips of C-SPAN and pointing out one of the great truths of modern-day society.
    John: If you want to do something evil, hide it in something boring... If Apple put the entire text of Mein Kampf in their User Agreement, you'd still click "agree".
  • Murder, She Wrote: Inverted in one episode, where Jessica tells a victim of such a contract — promising someone the lions' share of her earnings — is actually very easy to nullify. (Unfortunately, the contract holder then becomes the murder victim, resulting in the contract signer becoming the suspect; didn't see that coming...)
  • Full Frontal: In a spoof of prenuptial agreements, a young couple at a singles bar agree to go to a hotel room for sex, whereupon the woman introduces her lawyer who insists on a "pre-sexual agreement". The man gets more and more flustered as the lawyer explains the contract, until he finally objects that he's not going through with this...until his own lawyer checks it (said lawyer is also waiting nearby). Later we return to the skit with both lovers and both lawyers in the same bed, negotiating the move from foreplay to sexual intimacy.
  • On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the "Ferengi print" in Quark's contracts actually required that his dabo girls put up with his sexual advances. Of course, once Commander Sisko hears of this...
    Sisko: I'm not a legal expert either, but I can assure you, after I talk to Quark, he won't hold you or anyone else to this provision concerning the exchange...
  • Fish from Black Jesus didn't exactly read his parole agreement thoroughly. Hence him not noticing his parole was a maximum of 5 years, not 5 years period. He served 3 extra years because he filled the form out wrong and the parole board couldn't find him.
  • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:
    • Susie is notorious for failing to read the contracts that she signs for Midge. While on tour with Shy, this results in Midge's hotel rooms being filled with yellow teddy bears. Later, while pushing Midge into piecemeal radio commercial work, Susie is irked when she and Midge get paid in products (like tampons and Karo syrup) instead of cash, with the directors in those ads saying "The check? I thought you understood how the compensation was going to work." It's understandable Susie is annoyed, since the radio commercial work is partially Susie's means of recuperating gambling debts she's racking up without Midge noticing.
    • When taking on Sophie Lennon as a client in season 3, Susie reads through Sophie's contract with Harry Drake and actually does read the fine print to figure out what sort of work Sophie can do that Harry won't own the copyright to: namely, local TV commercials and Broadway theatre.
  • In Legends of Tomorrow, the demon Neron puts a clause in the terms and conditions for using a new app that results in everyone who hits "agree" selling their soul to him, since no-one reads those.
  • In American Horror Story: Coven, Marie Leveau made a contract with Papa Legba for immortality, but was apparently under the impression that it was only her own soul she was selling. She actually has to sacrifice an innocent soul (i.e. a newborn baby) every year to maintain her end of the deal, starting with her own infant child.
  • In Once Upon a Time season 1, Cinderella goes to the ball with the assistance of Rumplestiltskin (who killed her real Fairy Godmother) and neglects to read the contract; some time after her wedding she gets another visit from Rumple who tells her that what she agreed to give him was her baby. When the curse hits, she's transplanted to Storybrooke still pregnant, with a plan in her fake memories to have Gold arrange the adoption of her baby. (While people make deals with Rumple all the time that aren't in their favor, this is one of the few that had an actual contract involved.)
  • In Start Up, Izzy, Ronald and Nick are partners in the currency platform GenCoin. Izzy is seduced by tech magnate Alex into a partnership with a server farm as a third partner which cuts Ronald and Nick out of the company. Feeling guilty, Izzy talks up investors at a party on how vital they are to the platform's success. The next day, she's shocked to show up at the office to find herself literally locked out of her own company. Her lawyer uncle informs Izzy that the "third partner" server farm happens to be owned by Alex which makes him a majority shareholder in GenCoin. He says it was quite clearly stated in the contracts and when Izzy protests Alex never showed them to her, her lawyer relates that, legally, he never had to and knew Izzy would never ask about them. He gently chastises her that she really should have let him see this before signing away any control over her program.
  • In Mimpi Metropolitan, Alan, Bambang and Prima once sign a contract to be facial-cream testers without reading it since the money offer is so good. Then the mercury in the cream starts making their face ugly and they can't demand refund because of the contract.
  • The Professionals:
    • In "Old Dog with New Tricks", a high-ranking police officer tries to take control of a hostage situation from Doyle (a former Detective Constable) until Doyle gets him to read the small print on his warrant card.
    • In "The Female Factor", Doyle insists on investigating the death of a prostitute he once knew, using CI5's blanket authority to investigate any incident. "It's in the small print on our cards". Cowley starts tearing strips off him ("Don't you quote small print at me. For every sentence of small print you produce, I can produce smaller!") until he happens to look at the phone number written on a notepad in the hooker's apartment...the Prime Minister's private line. Suddenly Cowley rounds on the CID detectives and announces that CI5 are taking over the case. "Can't you read the small print on our cards?"
    • In "Involvement" Cowley says Doyle can't get married without clearing it with him first, which is apparently also in the small print.

    Music 
  • The Trans-Siberian Orchestra story "Beethoven's Last Night" ends with Beethoven selling the rights to his Tenth Symphony to the Devil, in order to rescue the soul of a homeless girl. When the Devil triumphantly tries to destroy the symphony, he finds he can't; because of the way Fate worded the contract, the Devil actually purchased the Tenth Symphony of Beethoven's older brother, also named Ludwig, who died young.
  • The song "The Fine Print" by The Stupendium is a Filk song about The Outer Worlds. The song includes a character (played by Stupes) who is a representative for the Halcyon Holding Corporation, and (as you'd expect from that song title), the representative who mocks you for not properly reading your contract which says you belong to HHC.

    Print Media 
  • This is a favored tool of MAD.
    • For example, the cover of the March 2017 issue features Alfred E. Neuman holding a sign which reads in huge lettering "NO TRUMP IN THIS ISSUE", preceded in much smaller print by "believe us — we really, REALLY wish there was..."
    • Another example was seen in the April 2019 issue with a take on the Homeland Security phrase "If you see something, say something." It features a full page of this in large text, but with fine print as well, so that it reads "IF YOU SEE a black person doing SOMETHING in public that it would be completely innocuous for a white person to do, then for goodness sake don't SAY SOMETHING just shut the heck up."

    Professional Wrestling 

    Radio 
  • Fine print is often a topic of discussion on the radio show and associated website of Clark Howard, a consumer advocate, who humorously refers to it as "mice type."

    Tabletop Games 
  • In some versions of the RPG Paranoia, even the money comes with fine print attached.
  • As recounted in the Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells, this is one of the Baatezu's favorite tales. Back at the dawn of creation, Asmodeus and his fellow angels battled the demons until they become nearly as corrupted and grotesque. When mortals began breaking the deities' laws and summoning demons into their worlds, Asmodeus volunteered his Fallen Angels' services to punish sinners. This quite ruined the atmosphere of the various heavens, so Asmodeus brokered the Pact Primeval with the gods, which set up a separate Hell for the torture of evil souls and gave the devils the right to harvest magical energy from the process to sustain themselves. All was well until the good deities realized that they were receiving fewer virtuous souls in their afterlives because the devils were tempting mortals into evil to increase their yield. When the furious gods confronted Asmodeus, he simply smiled and said this trope verbatim.
  • In Changeling: The Lost the Hag of Henslowe Park infamously offers a Magically-Binding Contract for a year of good fortune in exchange for a year of enslavement. A skilled Pledgecrafter might notice that the enslavement is actually a penalty for breach of contract and that the Pledge requires the second party to thank the Hag for her assistance. Most people don't notice, because most of the people who make deals with the Hag are mundanes following an old legend - and the Hag made sure to leave the part about thanking her out of that legend.

    Theatre 
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The parents/guardians of the five kids need to sign the thick, bound contracts, which Mr. Wonka hastily summarizes with copious amounts of nonsensical legalese and Gratuitous Latin — as well as the line "No property be touched or chewed or peddled" — when they ask him what it says. They still don't understand it, but the impatient kids cry "Just sign!" Given later events, this contract apparently boils down to "I am not responsible for the consequences (transformation, dismemberment, possibly death, etc.) if you the undersigned fiddle around with what you're not supposed to."
  • The Broadway version of The Little Mermaid has Ursula bring this up when explaining the terms of her contract with Ariel:
    Ursula: Oh look small print! “Your soul is mine forever and you’re doomed to spend eternity in my watery hell-soaked lair.” Lawyers, don’t you just love ‘em!

    Video Games 
  • At one point in BioShock, Andrew Ryan calmly reads the contract of an employee he's murdering with poisonous gas. Specifically, the part that makes all of that employee's discoveries Ryan Industries property, which makes her aiding the hero a breach of contract and thus an act of treason.
    • What makes this one especially interesting is that the property in question had previously been destroyed and regarded as refuse. Never mind the fact that taking this stand meant not only depriving the employee of her own possessions (that is to say, her own life), but would also threaten the lives of everyone else in Rapture — all in order to protect what amounts to his garbage, his broken toys that he threw away but doesn't want anyone else to recycle. This scene actually serves as Ryan's Moral Event Horizon from the point of view of the player; at this point Ryan's actions should have made him sufficiently detestable that his status as the Big Bad in need of a violent ending is beyond argument. Too bad that Ryan takes that satisfaction away...
  • If you spend 30,000 gold or more buying goods from the demon salesman Renon in Castlevania 64 he appears before the final boss and asks if you actually read the contract you entered into to do so. When your character claims they couldn't read the demonic language it's written in, he points out that by spending that much he now owns your soul and goes all One Winged Angel on your ass to collect it.
  • Used in Descent 2 to send the material defender on yet another suicide mission, while not paying him yet.
    Dravis: If you've studied your standard mercenary agreement, you would notice that PTMC reserves the right to keep you on retainer for up to 72 hours, post-mission.
    Material Defender: Dravis, you son of a …
    Dravis: If you choose to decline further service, we may consider you in default of your contract, and your fee may be suspended, pending litigation. Good luck, Material Defender. Dravis out.
  • Guitar Hero 3 has the band firing Lou as their manager, only to find the very small print at the bottom of their contract says "Your soul is mine". Next stop: Lou's Inferno.
  • In Jade Empire, Hou explains that, after falling on hard times during his arena fighter days, a stranger offered to help him stage a comeback by sponsoring him. Hou readily agreed and was soon back in the arena.... at which point he learned that the terms of their agreement stated that he had to marry his sponsor's neice in return, and now there's a reason why they call him Henpecked Hou.
  • Several of the nobles' schemes in King of the Castle involve getting someone in a position of power to sign something without reading it properly, inadvertently handing the reins of power to the faction drawing up the contract.
    • The Modernization scheme entails the Barons of the March reforming and re-equipping the military to bring it into the modern age. If they succeed in their second objective, they have the King sign their reforms into law while sneaking in several clauses handing the chain of command to the March, after which they can vote to either lead their forces in an assault on the capital or demand the King surrender the throne to their claimant.
    • The Conspiracy scheme involves the Patricians of the Coast burying the kingdom under a mountain of debt. If they achieve their first objective, they "kindly" offer the Treasury a loan, but they deliberately insert all manner of clauses in the fine print that result in exponential accumulation of interest. The Treasurer doesn't bother reading the fine print and unwittingly signs the throne away.
  • Library of Ruina: Pluto was once an ordinary Fixer who lost his Office this way when Roland blackmailed him over a deal that involved smuggling Enkephalin into a Nest. He would then go on to become a dangerous Distortion with powers that can utilize this trope.
  • Love & Pies: In the Rival Season Pass, Edwina shows Mayor Mei the contract to build Global Megacorp MegaWarehouse, which was approved by the former's father. Amelia points out that there's fine print underneath that says that Appleton's historic gatehouse would have to be destroyed in order for its construction to proceed.
  • In Neverwinter Nights 2 Mask of the Betrayer, the player, by finding a loophole, can help a wizard who made a contract with a devil without reading it. One possible response to learning that:
    PC: I believe that's my cue to sigh loudly and leave.
    • It turns out the fine print works both ways. Interpreting a wish to make someone disappear as a command to kill them counts as forcing the signer to fulfill the "singee must kill someone" term of the contract.

    Visual Novels 
  • In My Magical Divorce Bureau, the marriage of Lexis and Lillum arose from a bad (and unnecessary) agreement. Lexis, being not very good at interacting with people, tried to arrange a date with Lillum by means of a formal written contract, and when Lillum's people drew up said contract, an administrative error made it into a full marriage agreement. Their marriage gets dissolved despite the contract, but selecting the right options can result in the two agreeing to try things again properly.

    Web Animation 
  • Marca Toons: José Mourinho offers Pedro León a contract to officially change his nickname... but after signing it, he learns it actually was a contract to send him on loan to another club. At least his nickname does change: he is no longer "The Substitute", now he is "The Loaned".
    Mourinho: Good luck at Hércules!

    Web Comics 
  • In Doc Rat, there are three levels of fine print in a conversation between Ben and Daniella during their first date.
  • This Penny Arcade strip.
  • Exploiting others through sneakily-worded contracts is a favorite tactic of Thief from 8-Bit Theater.
  • Marth in one Awkward Zombie strip actually attempts to subvert this, though Master Hand had other ideas.
  • This Luke Surl strip: "Functionally it's pretty much identical to any Microsoft EULA", only they evidently entangled it too much.
  • Sinfest:
    • According to section VI article 12 of the agreement, the Devil reserves the right to do whatever he damn well pleases.
      Devil: I'm in the details, baby!
    • Also this earlier strip: Satisfied Customers
      Disclaimer: The Devil, being the Prince of Lies, is known to trick people from time to time.
  • In Schlock Mercenary, Kevyn works for a mercenary company that used to be owned by his sister. When he finds out she eloped when he wasn't looking, she notes that he's the one who will have to tell their mother about it, since she buried a few lines to that effect in the fine print of his contract.
  • Rainbow Dash fell victim to this in Friendship is Dragons. Two other players in her D&D group who happened to be artificers drew up a contract for her character to sign, deliberately taking so long that her player fell asleep out of boredom. When it was finally ready, she signed without looking at it, only to find out at the end that it gave her share to the artificers. The DM allowed it because it was in-character and hilarious, ignoring how upset and embarrassed she was.
  • In Nerf NOW!!, Morgan balks at a scene she describes as "fanservice and pandering", until she's shown the ridiculously tiny print in her contract where she agreed to do just that. She does refuse to smile, however, since the contract neglected to cover that point.
  • Discussed and defied in The Order of the Stick, where the archfiends lay out a simple verbal agreement, which is sealed by touching a ball of light. As they say, they don't need to hide details in a contract when they can achieve their goals by being open, and by sneaking one big loophole into the verbal agreement.
  • At some point in Better Days, a character mentions she was given plenty of time to read the fine print, only to discover too late that the contract she was given to sign wasn't the one she was given to read.

    Web Original 
  • Within the world of the Whateley Universe, magical contracts are binding even in the case of trickery, as Jobe finds out when Sara hides all of the nasty loopholes in the ending period with the letters stacked on top of each other.
  • SCP-5721 is anote  paragraph within the Terms of Service for the messaging software Discord that signs over the users' souls to the Greco-Roman goddess Eris, allowing her to drain users' Life Energy as a substitute for actual worship. "The majority of users who read the clause were found to have assumed it was a joke, as Discord is known for its humorous loading screens."
  • In this story from Not Always Working, the employees at a CD/DVD store are given a "dumb government thing" to sign for a $50 bonus. The only one who reads it instead of signing it right away finds out that the company lost a class-action lawsuit and owes its employees over $800 each in back-pay, which the form legally forfeits in exchange for the aforementioned bonus.

    Web Videos 
  • Rainbow Dash Presents: "Bittersweet" pulls this on Pinkie Pie, which is what leads her being Driven to Suicide. Because she lacked proper insurance for her insulin medicine, instead her doctor gave her a coupon for free medication. Said coupon had an asterisk that requires a 7,000 Bit rebate to be satisfied first, making it completely worthless. When the pharmacy tried to compensate her anger by giving her a coupon that gives her up to 90% off her prescriptions, the Lemony Narrator reminds everyone that the new coupon runs on technicalities, meaning the pharmacy can deny Pinkie her discount without legal repercussions.
  • On 7-Second Riddles, a student who fails to do so ends up as part of an experiment to turn him and others into a Hive Mind.
  • The Episode 27 challenge in the Internet Reality Talent Show Strip Search involves identifying malicious clauses in a contract.

    Western Animation 
  • Played with in an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks. While in Japan, Alvin signs himself and his brothers up to perform in kabuki theater, not realizing that this means they'll have to dress like women. Simon demands to know why Alvin didn't read the contract.
    Alvin: I can't. It's in Japanese.
  • Batman: The Animated Series: In "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", Daniel Mockridge tricked Edward Nygma into signing a "Work For Hire" contract that gave Mockridge the royalties to all of Nygma's inventions. Thus, Mockridge was making millions and he didn't have to pay Nygma any of the profits. When Nygma complained, he was fired. Nygma then becomes the Riddler and seeks revenge.
  • Big City Greens: In "Desserted", Cricket tries to get out of the Mega Meal Challenge he forced his family to take to have a free dinner by using a Loophole Abuse to contaminate the sundae with a fly and have it taken away. Unfortunately, he forgot to read the little printing listed under the rule, which states if the sundae is contaminated it will be replaced with a new one, thus restarting the challenge from the beginning.
  • Subverted in a episode of Darkwing Duck; the studio claims something they want DW to do is in his contract; Darkwing points out he read the whole thing, including the fine print. Turns out the offending line is on the edge of the contract. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, the studio is always right!?!"
  • The Halloween TV special The Devil and Daniel Mouse features a scene where a young singer tries to read all the fine print in the contract she's being offered by an evil record executive, but the contract-paper just keeps getting longer and longer and longer..
  • DuckTales (1987): In "Dime Enough For Luck", Gladstone Gander unknowingly signs a contract agreeing to help rob Scrooge's money bin in front of a disguised Magica.
  • Also played with in The Fairly OddParents!, where the Pixies' Wish Fixers contract regarding Cosmo and Wanda's authorized wishes has fine print needing a microscope to be visible, and the fine print has fine print in between that needs a giant, telescopic microscope to view.
  • In the Family Guy episode "A Fish Out of Water" Peter gets a loan from a bank to pay for a boat. Brian tells him the bank is now seizing all his assets and he needs $50,000 or they get the house as well. He asks Peter if he read the fine print on the loan contract.
    Peter: If by "read" you mean "imagined a naked lady," then yes.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: In the episode "The Sweet Stench of Success", the antagonist Kip Snip tries to invoke this by saying that it was adoption papers that Bloo signed, not an acting contract. What makes this a subversion is that said adoption papers were never run by Foster's first and thus technically null and void.
  • This was essential to the climax of the Futurama episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings".
  • Subverted in an episode of Gravity Falls. Stan answers the door to discover he has won $10 million, and just had to sign a claim form; he does so immediately and enthusiastically. Then Gideon strides in and gloats that Stan has just signed over the Mystery Shack... only for Stan to point out that he didn't actually sign, he just wrote an insulting message. Don't try to con a Con Man.
  • Harley Quinn (2019): In "A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special", Etrigan gives Bane a magic potion to enlarge his penis. Bane skims through the "do not take ifs" and applies it, only to realize at the last minute that the bottom item says not to take if on HGH...which he is. It turns him into a giant.
  • Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Kaz added several loopholes in the contract he had the girls sign when he became their manager. Some of them were in Russian.
  • Looney Tunes:
    • In the short "Fool Coverage", insurance salesman Daffy Duck spends the whole cartoon trying to convince Porky Pig to purchase an accident policy offering $1 million for a black eye. After Porky agrees to sign it at the end, Daffy smugly informs him that the policy is only effective if the accident results from a stampede of elephants inside his own home between 3:55 and 4:00 pm on the Fourth of July during a hailstorm.note  Naturally, every one of those conditions are immediately met. Daffy then tries to slip in an extra provision that "one baby zebra" has to follow the elephants. Cue one baby zebra.
    • In the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner short "Hopalong Casualty", Wile E. attempts to trap the Road Runner by getting him to eat some Acme Earthquake Pills disguised as birdseed. They don't work, and it isn't until Wile E. contemptuously swallows the entire bottle of pills that he reads the fine print on the pill bottle and discovers that they're "not effective on Road Runners." Cue Oh, Crap!.
    • Subversion: In "Duck Rabbit Duck," Elmer goes through the license to shoot a fricasseeing duck (was "rabbit" until Bugs intervened) that Daffy whipped up and crafted. Daffy rushes Elmer, telling him "the fine print doesn't mean a thing!"
  • The Mask: Stanley once made a Deal with the Devil to become incredibly lucky, allowing him to get a shopping spree, a million dollars, and a job promotion. He finds out later that pretty much, more than implied, that he literally sold his soul until the Devil came to collect. The Devil then gives him a chance to cancel the contract and everything with it if he finds anyone willing, and dumb enough, to sign away his soul within one hour. Practically everyone Stanley tried was clever enough to use a magnifying glass to search for loopholes. When one person (Peggy) was willing to sign, Stanley didn't have the guts to go through. In the end, he uses the Mask to beat the Devil.
  • In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Once Upon a Zeppelin", Twilight Sparkle's parents sign a contract telling them that they won a free airship cruise without reading it. Unbeknownst to them, it's a "Princess Cruise", and they just signed away their daughter's entire day in order to make the other guests happy.
  • In Not Without My Handbag, Auntie ends up getting Dragged Off to Hell because of the fine print in the payment plan for her new washing machine warning her this would happen if she missed a payment.
  • This happened in The Raccoons when Cyril Sneer brought some oil refineries in "Read No Evil", and eventually (due to his Character Development), tried to return them. Also notable as all this happened during the credits, meaning that this was one of only two times that Run With Us was talked over, after Season 2 of the series rearranged it.
    Cyril: Mammoth? You know all those refineries and tankers I ordered? I wanna return it all! And I want to return all those oil rigs too!... What do you mean I can't return it? Brand new, never been used! Did I read the small print? Of course I read the small print! Quick, read the small print!
    Pig: I think you should read it, sir! It says right here, all sales final!
    Cyril: WHAT?! Oh no, Mammoth, there's nothing to worry about... none at all... AAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
  • Subverted in Regular Show: Coffee and his friend ask Mordecai and Rigby to sign a contract which asked that Mordecai and Rigby buy tickets to a concert for all four of them in exchange for Coffee's coffee. Rigby signs it after barely even looking at it, but it doesn't matter whether or not he read it because the contract was unable to be understood. It was the word "coffee" written over and over again, and a line at the bottom.
  • In Rocky and Bullwinkle, whenever Boris, in one of his many guises, tricks Rocky and Bullwinkle into signing a contract, he tells them not to read the contract so they won't hurt their eyes.
    • An episode of Dudley Do-Right has Snidely Whiplash foreclosing a mortgage and forcing a woman out into the cold, producing a contract written on a very small piece of paper.
    Snidely: You people are gonna have to learn to read the small print.
    Woman: I can't even read the large print.
    Snidely: Can I help it if there was a paper shortage?
  • In the South Park, episode "HUMANCENTiPAD," Kyle is apparently the only kid in South Park that doesn't read EULAs:
    Butters: "By clicking 'Agree,' you are also acknowledging that Apple may sew your mouth to the butthole of another iTunes user. Apple and its subsidiaries may, if necessary, sew another person's mouth to your butthole, making you a being that shares one gastral tract." I'm going to click on...'Decline.'
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • In "Pickles", Bubble Bass invokes this on Mr. Krabs after claiming that his Krabby Patty was missing its pickles, and demands his $2 back. Mr. Krabs doesn't know what he's talking about, until Bass points to the positively microscopic text on the bottom of the menu reading "-money back guarantee-"note .
    • In "Waiting", SpongeBob is eager to get a free prize from a box of Kelpo, but there's nothing in it. Then he takes one close look at the package and it's shown the word "OFFER" is written in very small lettering, and he learns he has to send in 99 box tops to get the toy.
  • In the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place", Captain Freeman and Admiral Vassery are attempting to negotiate with Grand Nagus Rom and his wife Leeta into joining the Federation, however poor Vassery is being put through the ringer to appease them. Freeman enters in with all the changes they want, plus a billion gold-pressed latinum bar signing bonus contingent on Ferenginar signing in one other planet. Rom agrees and signs off on it, before Freeman tells them to read the small print: they weren't tasked on recruiting any planet they wanted, they were tasked with recruiting Q'onos, the Klingon homeworld, an Impossible Task. Freeman reminds them of the 8th Rule of Acquisition — "Small Print Leads To Big Risk" — and impresses Rom so much that he agrees to join the Federation under the original stipulations; they wanted to join, but they didn't want to do so under a group of suckers and rubes.
  • In the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "The Gift of the Card", Star buys Marco a gift card for the multi-dimensional mall Quest Buy, and signs the contract without reading it. The fine print says if the card expires without being used, both Star and Marco will die (the card transforms into a seemingly invincible monster when time is almost up). Marco berates her for it, but manages to buy something with seconds to spare.
  • ThunderCats Roar: In "Working Grrl", Cheetara tricks Monkian into signing a contract that she claims will make him declared "cool", but really gives her his property and legally changes his name to "Stinko".
  • Chris Mclean from Total Drama will often use the fine print of his contracts to smuggle his way into getting what he wants.
  • In The Transformers episode "Webworld", Cyclonus sends Galvatron to the asylum planet Torkulon for therapy to try to cure his madness. Cyclonus signs a lot of paperwork without reading it. If he had, he probably would have known that if the Torkuli judge a patient incurable, they will have the planet Mind Rape the patient while giant bugs consume their brains, effectively lobotomizing them. Galvatron escapes and destroys the planet, then berates Cyclonus for not seeing that coming.
  • Vampirina: In "Aw Shucks", Oxana buys a scarecrow through Delivereek and is in such a hurry she doesn't realize there's some assembly required until three boxes are delivered.

    Real Life 
  • If you live in a Commonwealth country, thank Lord Denning above all for repeatedly emphasizing that any unusually onerous conditions in a contract must be highlighted clearly: it is not sufficient to bury them in a wall of text. In a nutshell, if something unexpected is hidden in the fine print, it's unlikely to be enforced against the sap who signed the contract.
    • On a side note, the case where this is stated, is one known by any lawyer or law student in a country using Common Law: the "red hand rule" from Spurling v Bradshaw is one taught to every first year law student in contract law.
  • Austrian law dictates that any fine print stipulation can be disregarded if it a) wasn't explicitly included in the contract to begin with, b) is both detrimental to the other party and so irregular that they need not have even anticipated its inclusion (at least without being explicitly briefed on it), c) is mired in legalese or jargon to the point of being incomprehensible to the other party or d) is either illegal, 'unethical' (read: blatantly exploitative) or plain unrealistic.
  • Something of a subversion of this is common in online auction sites, such as eBay. Sometimes, a seller will post an item for sale, and clearly label the sale as "just the box," such as "iPhone X Smartphone (Box Only)." Despite a clear and repeated disclaimer that "this is just for the box it came in, item not included," several people will bid the price up and purchase the empty box, then are disappointed when only the box arrives. People bidding on such items have their blinders on, which is what the seller of the box is counting on. But if you think about it, why would somebody go on eBay and post a listing for an empty box, if not to give the impression that there was something in it?
    • In many collecting communities, people deliberately will buy an empty box. For example, someone may own a near-mint Generation 1 Optimus Prime action figure, but not the box it came in. So he buys the box online to display in a fancy case behind the figure.
    • A more straight example was once seen on Judge Judy involving a lawsuit in which a person listed what was supposedly two Nextel cell phones in an auction, but in the fine print said that what was being sold was only pictures of the cell phones. Judge Judy was not amused, and quickly ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
  • In 1988, when Nintendo struck a deal with Ken Kutaragi of Sony to design the Super Nintendo Entertainment System sound chip. When he did, Kutaragi snuck in a trojan horse: Sony would be given any and all CD-ROM software royalties. Nintendo, who were big on third-party royalties, missed this detail until a few years later when they had decided to work with Sony on a CD-ROM add on for the SNES. When it looked like Sony was not going to ease on the terms, Yamauchi reacted with one of his trademark outbursts, pulled out of the deal, signed a more favorable one with Philips, on the night before the CES that would have marked the official debut of the Nintendo/Sony partnership. Even though Sony and Nintendo rejoined for one last attempt at a joint CD-ROM console a year later, Sony would depart for good to design their own system, the PlayStation. The whole affair, borne of a project started in secret by Kutaragi, triggered one of the most seismic shifts in the history of the video game industry.
  • Certain offers, usually found on Facebook, promise free music downloads in return for signing up for a service that sends trivia or jokes to your phone. All you have to do is give them your phone number and fill in on their website the number they text to you. The catch is they bill your phone bill directly either weekly or monthly if you don't request them to stop after you get your "free" one. They also sell your number and can telemarket you for up to six months without violating the Do Not Call registry. If you think this is frustrating, take pity on the cell phone customer service people who have to explain to you what you signed up for.
  • Usually more in point: EULAs (End-User License Agreement. Who reads all of those?!)
    • Played with nicely by the author of Spybot S&D: "This is dedicated to the nicest girl I've known" rather than all of the legal jargons most EULAs use.
    • In some jurisdictions it would prove quite diffcult for a company to enforce their EULAs in court, because the buyer usually only gets to see the EULA when he/she installs the software, i.e. after buying it. Therefore, one cannot assume informed consent on the buyer's side.
    • Some of them include a clause that if you do not agree to it, you should bring the product back to the store. Whether said store will actually return your money, in the age of CD and DVD burners, is another matter entirely.note 
    • When EA's Origin DRM-Software was introduced with Battlefield 3, there was quite an uproar about the extent of the rights given to EA in the EULA to install very invasive spyware on customers' computers. An EULA falls under general terms and conditions in German law and any paragraph that would be considered "unexpected" in such contracts is automatically null and void. And since giving a company free rein to install spyware when all you wanted was to buy a game is definitely unexpected, this falls very much under "unexpected terms", so the installation would be illegal and a criminal offense. As a result, several large electronic store chains offered to take the game back even when opened.
    • Google Chrome originally had the same EULA as everything else they had. It's fairly strict normally, but in context it basically said that they owned the Internet.
    • EULAs aren't really fine print, though; everything is written in the same font size. The reason for this is in most modern countries, putting anything important in fine print is a bad idea. Attempts to hide important clauses show bad faith, usually nullifying the contract if it harms the signer (but still valid if it harms the person who wrote it). Needless to say, savvy contract writers find other ways to hide the nasty.
    • The erotic visual novel Cross Days actually used it for giggles. Pirated copies of the game have a trojan that added personal information of the user to a public website, and to take it down the users had to admit to illegally downloading the game.
    • Averted with free and open-source software licenses, which don't require people merely using the software to agree to anything just to use the software (use is unlimited anyway). For example, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux kernel, semi-jokingly gave owners of "sharks with frickin' laser beams" as acceptable users; contrast the iTunes EULA. Reading the license is only required for those modifying or distributing software, whose terms vary somewhat between licenses, with simpler licenses such as that of BSD and the X Window System mostly just requiring credit to be given while more complex licenses require the source code to be distributed (but only if the program is distributed at all) and/or require patent holders to license any patents that cover code they contribute.note 
  • In German contract law, there is a special section for "general terms and conditions" of purchase contracts, which are predefined by the seller and not negotiable, like store policies or the EULA of software. As it is not expected that customers understand or even read such contracts, or are even aware that they exist when they buy something in a store, the most important part of the law makes any terms or conditions that are "unexpected" in such a contract null and void. To discourage businesses from trying to sneak unexpected terms into a contract and hope most customers won't notice, the invalid paragraph is not replaced by the next best thing they are legally allowed to put into a contract, but by the absolute legal minimum which is usually highly beneficial to the customer.
  • Funny or strange cases involving odd uses of fine print show up all the time in contract law classes. One case involved a company who included the words (paraphrased) 'Congratulations! If you read this you are eligible for a bonus! Just send your email to us!' in the middle of one of their online agreement contracts; a couple of people did so, and it turned out the company was serious, as they actually did receive free money out of it.
    • Another UK case involves GameStation, where, for an April Fool's joke, they included a clause in the contract for buying one of those games claiming that by agreeing to this EULA, you agree to surrender your soul to GameStation, all written in completely straight-faced legalese. There was an option to proceed without relinquishing your soul, and the few that chose this option (and therefore had read the terms thoroughly) received a £5 GBP voucher.
    • The iTunes EULA contains a line which reads: You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons. It was once technically meaningful (albeit very pro forma, and now obsolete). iTunes contains encryption technology, which under US law formerly made it classified as a weapon and subject to export and usage restrictions.
  • Van Halen's standard tour rider contract with venues famously included a line buried deep in the text, specifying that a bowl of M&M's be placed in the band's green room with all the brown ones removed. In this case, the band wanted the line to be found. As David Lee Roth explains, Van Halen's show was so big that there were extensive contract requirements for the venue. The rider included many pages of safety requirements that the venue had to fulfill, due to the pyrotechnics, electronics and a flying harness that the band used. These effects could cause serious injury or death to someone if the requirements were not followed to the letter. The M&M's clause was their way of testing whether or not the promoter had actually read the contract and followed every instruction. A bowl that contained brown M&M's (or no bowl of M&M's at all) was an indicator that the promoter hadn't entirely read the contract. This meant that the Van Halen's crew had to either line-check the contract or cancel the show outright due to safety concerns.
    • This led to a case where an entire stage collapsed from the sheer weight of Van Halen's equipment as the venue manager didn't even read about the weight restrictions in the contract. Which led to a rumor that David Lee Roth caused $85,000 in damage to a venue for having brown M&Ms. He later admitted he had personally caused $12,000 in backstage damage to said venue; the $85,000 figure was for the damage the collapse caused to the venue.
  • Zeca Pagodinho once signed a contract to become spokesman to a beer brand named "Nova Schin". But later started making commercials to another brand even saying on them he was wrong on choosing the other one. He later claimed the clause he broke wasn't verbally agreed on and that he signed the contract without reading because he trusted them. A good deal of people in Brazil (the country where it happened) believes him to be either stupid or a liar.
  • Many countries have laws that put a minimum font size on the fine print, in order to guarantee that the average person is at least capable of reading the fine print. An example of this popped up on a cruise liner that advertised a very cheap fare, only to put in small font (as in, so small you would literally need a microscope to read it) "for the first night only." Several passengers sued, and the cruise company was found guilty of fraud.
  • In the US, several judges have ruled that you cannot just put anything into the fine print and be considered legal. So you can't put, say, "must pay it all within a week or lose all your assets". There is a common sense and decency clause to all contracts. If a party violates them (as decided by a judge), not only is the contract null and void, the signee usually comes out ahead.
  • Many jurisdictions attempt to clamp down on excessive legalese and jargon with guidelines stating that in any case involving a dispute between two signing parties of a contract, weight will be given against the party that drafted the contract. True, there have to be clauses to cover any number of contingencies, but in this way, there is an incentive to avoid confusing wordplay and indecipherable terminology in order to draft contracts in clear, unambiguous language that all parties can understand.
  • In the US, many coupons have disclaimers that read "Cash Value 1/100th Of 1 Cent", or some other infinitesimal value. This goes back to the era of trading stamps, when customers would accumulate them when they purchased something and later trade them in for ostensibly free items (think Skee-Ball tickets). Starting with New York in 1904, states passed laws that force trading stamp companies to provide a cash value for the stamps; naturally, the companies set the value as low as possible. Eventually trading stamps were superseded by coupons as customer loyalty promoters, but the laws didn't distinguish between the two and the cash value requirement remained.
  • In Swedish contract law, the importance of the fine print depends (among other things, like the informed consent problem for end-user licence agreements) on who is entering into the deal: contracts between two individuals or two organizations are covered by the Contract Law, while contracts between an individual and an organization are covered by the Consumer Contract Lawnote . The laws are very similar, but with one general difference running through them: the Consumer Contract Law makes far more rights and protections for the consumer when entering into a contract un-waiveable no matter what the contract says.
  • "Low cost" airlines are probably the most well-known example, particularly European ones. Say an airlines advertises "Frankfurt London from 19€" — basically everything in such an advertisement should (or does) come with an asterisk. "Frankfurt" can mean Hahn some 100 km away. "London" will certainly not mean Heathrow or City, but may well mean Oxford or some other place nowhere near London. European courts have ruled more than once that such naming (frequently of the style "big city"-small hamlet airport with the big city a hundred or more kilometers away) is either illegal or should come with a disclaimer regarding the actual distance involved. Now to the price: Of course this is the cheapest one way fare they technically offer. Excluding any luggage, beverages, food and sometimes even seat reservations. Some airlines even charge extra for carry-on bags. EU courts have once again stepped in and drawn the line at unavoidable taxes and charges, which have to be included in the advertised price, but charging for printing out a boarding pass or using the wrong credit card is fair game, as long as it is clearly stated somewhere.
  • This trope explains how Joe Torre resigned from being the Manager of the New York Yankees in 2007 after twelve seasons with the team.
    • After several first-round losses the the American League Division series, GM Hal Steinbrenner told Torre he'd give Torre a non-negotiable one-year, performance-model-based, contract with a 5 million USD base pay. However, making each of three benchmarks would a million USD bonus to his pay:
      • Help the Yankees win the American League Division Series.
      • Help the Yankees win the American League Championship Series and get to the World Series, which also enabled a new contract the following year.
      • Help the Yankees win the World Series.
    • As his base pay would have been cut from a guaranteed 6.4 million USD each year (although this contract had the potential to make him at the time the highest-paid manager in baseball), Joe Torre turned down the contract and left the Yankees, becoming the Manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers for the next two years.
  • Peacock is the only streaming service with a chocolate cake recipe in its terms of use.
  • Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords’s cover proclaims it to be “The Sequel to the 2003 Game of the Year,” however it’s designed in such a way to make it look like it just says “Game of the Year” if you are far enough away.
  • On October 2019, French dietetic meal delivery company Comme J'aime was convicted for fraudulent advertising: they promoted an offer for a week of free meals but, instead, it was more about sending the customers one month of meals, with the first one being free and the remainder to be either paid or sent back to the company.
  • There is a road sport in some American cities called "gimmick rallye", wherein participants must drive around, following a set of very carefully worded instructions to the letter; the instructions are worded in such a way as to catch participants out without them realising. For instance, one might be given the instruction "turn right at any uninstructed T junction", and must note that this instruction not only applies if one is travelling up the stem of the T, but it also applies if one is travelling in via the left entrance of the T. Or one might be told to make a U-turn at all "stop signs", but the instructions might define a "stop sign" as "a red HEXAGONAL sign with the word STOP on it" (i.e. do not follow the instruction at normal octagonal stop signs) or "any sign with the word STOP on it" (which includes signs like "Bus Stop" and "S Stop 12 Rd").
  • Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht, the treaty which gives Gibraltar to Britain, requires the Spanish King to let go of their claim to Gibraltar "for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever". This article wasn't thought about too much at the time, as Gibraltar is a tiny peninsula on Spain's doorstep, and they laid siege to the territory on multiple occasions within the next century. When relations cooled and Spain's attention was turned elsewhere, the complete lack of any legal mechanism allowing Gibraltar to be returned to Spain became a recurring frustration for many successive Spanish governments, all due to a single line buried in a centuries-old treaty.

 
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Freeman Makes the Deal

Though Rom and Leeta were always more than on board with signing an agreement with Starfleet, they're still very much the Ferengi's ruling couple and wanted to put the Cerritos crew through the wringer during the negotiations to make sure they're not "a bunch of suckers and rubes" and they respect their culture. As soon as Freeman shows off some shiftiness of her own in their agreement, they are more than willing to drop their initial difficulties with the negotiations and immediately sign off on the original papers.

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