History Main / WastefulWishing

* When ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' is playing the ''UsefulNotes/AladdinDeckEnhancer'', he has every game ''except'' for ''VideoGame/MicroMachines''. [[ItMakesSenseInContext To make a long story short]], he inadvertently orders a genie off of [=eBay=], and wishes for, in order, a copy of the game, for the genie to swim in a septic tank, and to destroy every copy of the Aladdin Deck Enhancer in existence.

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

* ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV'': In "[[Recap/MinilifeTVSeason4Episode10 The Semi-Finals]]", Chris and Ian discover a Lottery Lamp while trying to [[ItMakesSenseInContext dig up the bones of a giant cat goddess in the park]], so they get the idea to use their wish to save Minilife Studios from debt. However, as they discuss how they should make their wish, Ian accidentally wastes it by wishing for their phones back.

'''Rabbit:''' ''(gets on the motorcycle, puts on the helmet, and drives away at top speed, yelling)'' I WISH THIS BEAR WAS [[IncomptabileOrientation GAY]]!

'''Rabbit:''' ''(gets on the motorcycle, puts on the helmet, and drives away at top speed, yelling)'' I WISH THIS BEAR WAS GAY!

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

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'', Amber stumbles upon a wishing well that offers her three wishes. Considering that she's a princess, she probably didn't need to wish for a new tiara, especially since she already has a whole closet full of them, but that's what she did.

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

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

--->'''Shenron:''' ''[after wish is granted]'' Oh, don't thank me... [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor 'tis the season of giving.]]

* In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'', the duo comes upon a wishing well. Sam throws in a coin, asking, "I wish I knew what Max was thinking." We hear nothing but a pinging noise as the caption reads "... ..... ....... ..... ... .!" to which Sam remarks, "Well, that was a waste of money."
* In the ending of ''VideoGame/Pandemonium1996'', [[spoiler:when Nikki and Fargus finally find the Wishing Engine, a skeptical Fargus wishes for a chicken as a test. "Wish granted!"]]

** "Death", [[PressXToDie which just kills you instantly.]]

* PlayedForHorror in a story that's told as part of the plot of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. An old man with amnesia is sitting by the side of the road, with no memory of who he is or where he's going. An old hag appears before him and asks him for his [[ThreeWishes third wish]], and he wonders how he can have a third wish when he hasn't had a first or second wish yet. The hag tells him that he has, but he hated the result of his first wish so much that he used his second wish to undo it, which is why he can't remember either of them. He doesn't believe a word she's saying, but humors her anyway by wishing to remember who he is. She grants his wish and disappears forever, cackling, "Funny... [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor that was your]] ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor first]]'' [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]]."
* ''VideoGame/GolfStory'':
** On Blue Moon Dunes, the female Wellworn Grove hooligan has come into possession of a genie, and used her first wish to make her hat and boom box flash rainbow colours. She doesn't know what to do with her other two wishes, so she sells them to you for $1000 each, as the protagonist, in inner monologue, [[LampshadeHanging wonders why she doesn't just wish for money instead]]. After buying both wishes, she realizes too late that she screwed up... [[ComicallyMissingThePoint she should have wished for a rainbow-flashing]] ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint shirt]]'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint too!]]
** For that matter, the protagonist himself just uses both wishes on new golf clubs. He's just as disappointed in himself as you probably are, since he really tried hard to think of something better to wish for but wasn't able to do so while being put on the spot like that (and he stupidly didn't think about what to wish for ''before'' buying the wishes, which he berates himself for). He doesn't even get ''new'' golf glubs, the genie just upgrades his Wellworn Woods and Irons to have better shot curving. Nice, but certainly not worth blowing two grand on, since you probably still won't use them with so many better options available. Their description doesn't update either, so most players will probably assume the upgrades did absolutely nothing without extensive testing or [[GuideDangIt looking it up online]].

* ''Webcomic/TheWotch'': Jason Grey meets a genie and, before she can even begin explaining about his having ThreeWishes, yells that [[https://web.archive.org/web/20110701181001/http://thewotch.com/?epDate=2003-04-07 he wishes she were a redhead]]. Twice. Jason likes his redheads. Thankfully, one of the rules is that wishes can't affect the genie, so he doesn't actually use them.

--> '''Man''': In my defense, they're ''really'' good movies!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** One of the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes had Homer obtain a monkey's paw and use the last, potentially world-saving wish on a turkey sandwich, which he claims cannot [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor backfire on them or produce any weird surprises]]. [[DespairEventHorizon The turkey was dry]].
** Also a variation on the episode where Homer and Apu visit the Kwik-E-Mart home office to attempt to get Apu's job back. The pair are given three questions to ask and Homer accidentally uses up all three to ask if the guy they're visiting is ''really'' the head of the Kwik-E-Mart.
--->'''Guru:''' You may ask of me three questions.\\
'''Apu:''' Oh, that's good because I only have one--\\
'''Homer:''' Are you really the head of the Kwik-E-Mart?\\
'''Guru:''' Yes.\\
'''Homer:''' Really?\\
'''Guru:''' Yes.\\
'''Homer:''' You?\\
'''Guru:''' Yes. I hope this has been enlightening.\\
'''Apu:''' But I--\\
'''Guru:''' Thank you, come again.\\
'''Apu:''' But--\\
'''Guru:''' Thank you, come again.\\
''[cut to outside]''\\
'''Homer:''' Well ''that'' was a big bust. ''[to Apu]'' Is he ''really'' the head of the Kwik-E-Mart?
* ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity:''
** "Beauty and the Bleats" had Sheep find a Genie's bottle but wastes the first wish on a fancy hat and the second wish on a larger version of the same hat. He finally spends his third wish wishing to become human (or humanish) to get past security at the hotel his beloved Swanky (a poodle) and her owner Lady Richington is staying at, which bans sheep. However, the wish backfires because Swanky doesn't recognize him, and Lady Richington falls in love with him, leading to the rest of the episode being about Sheep trying to reverse the wish. He finally gets the Genie into giving him another three wishes and first wishes to become a sheep again, wastes his second wish on another fancy hat, and uses his third wish to turn Lady Richington into a sheep so she could stop beating him.
** TheStinger for that same episode has General Specific find a Question Genie who offers him the answer to any three questions. General Specific wastes all three asking for confirmation that he'll answer any three questions.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
** Lampshaded in the ''WesternAnimation/FairyIdol'' special when Norm the Genie gets irritated that the first wish is always for [[SatiatingSandwich a giant sandwich]]. When he ends up with Chester, he just gives him the giant sandwich so he doesn't waste his first wish.
** In "Back to Norm", Crocker teams up with Norm, but instead of simply wishing Timmy to Mars ([[StatingTheSimpleSolution as Norm suggests]]) or simply wishing to have a fairy in his possession, he wastes his wishes on parts for ridiculous traps that backfire on him. Norm allows Crocker to [[WishingForMoreWishes wish for more wishes]] -- which he does by wishing for them three at a time -- and continues to waste them.
** While many of Timmy's wishes seem wasteful (the aforementioned ''Fairy Idol'' special even showing him to use wishes just to get out of bed, get dressed and get on the toilet out of sheer laziness), they don't qualify because he has unlimited wishes. In fact, it's actually [[SuperpowerMeltdown bad for the fairies]] if he doesn't constantly wish for things.

* In a sketch from ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', Oprah promises to fulfill everyone's dream and asks a member of her audience, "What can Oprah do for you?" The man is surprised and asks for a pastrami sandwich. She tells him to look under his chair, and lo and behold, he finds a sandwich. She then tells all the other audience members to check under their chairs, and they all pull out boxes containing keys to brand new cars. The man who got a sandwich is disappointed.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'', K'nuckles steals the heart of a mermaid that's able to grant a limited number of wishes. Before using a wish to be taken to Candy Island, they use a majority of them to goof around, but once Flapjack realizes using the wishes are draining the mermaid of her life, he decides to use his last wish to save her. K'nuckles steals the wish and immediately uses it to wish for a new hat and a corndog, then wishes to be on Candy Island, which is now impossible as he's blatantly told he just used those last wishes for the former items. Making things worse, bordering on [[NightmareFuel/WesternAnimation utterly nightmarish]], using the wishes makes the mermaid horrifically decay. [[spoiler: Thankfully, this turns out to be a transformationary state into a Skymaid.]]
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/PawPawBears'', Dark Paw does this. For his first wish, he asks the genie to eliminate the totem. For his second wish, he asks that the princess and Brave Paw be eliminated. Finally, he says offhandedly, "I wish I could see the look on their faces!" and the good bears return.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE31TheMagicCoins1 The Magic Coins, Part 1]]" starts with the discovery of the titular artifacts, each of which grants one wish. Most of these are quickly used up so that they don't have any easy way to counter it when one of the baby ponies [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wishes away the rain]] after a sudden shower spoils their picnic.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Shanghaied", when Patrick learns that the Flying Dutchman will grant them three wishes, he exclaims "I wish we had known that earlier!" [=SpongeBob=] promptly wastes the second wish by saying "I wish Squidward were here to see this", resulting in the Flying Dutchman having to play "eenie-meenie-minie-moe" to determine whether [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, or Squidward gets the last wish. In one of the alternate endings, Patrick got the third and final wish and wastes it on a pack of gum after Squidward tries to get him to wish for a way to escape the Flying Dutchman, reasoning that if they're going to be stuck on the Flying Dutchman's ship, they may as well have fresh breath.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', God appeared at the turn of the millennium in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Jesus" and offered to answer exactly one question before returning to heaven. While the adults were brainstorming the best possible question, Stan butted in and [[ItMakesSenseInContext demanded to know why he hadn't had his period yet]] (Context: Cartman and Kenny were suffering from a contagious anal bleed and due to the boys incredibly poor understanding of puberty, thought they had gotten their period. Kyle had lied about getting his to fit in). The adults were not amused.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' was at one point allowed to ask one question of his deepest subconscious, which could answer any mystery in life. He asked, "How's it going?". He got a thumbs up. His spiritual guide is not amused.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
** In the episode "The Limit", Finn and Jake escort some Hot Dog Knights through a dangerous maze, with Jake over-extending his stretching powers along the way. When they get to the wish-granting entity who lives at the middle of the maze, the two knights who managed to make it to the center wish for a cardboard box and to "[[TooDumbToLive blow up. I mean, get big.]] ''[blows up]''", while a thoroughly exhausted and worn-out Jake wishes he wasn't so hungry and gets a sandwich.
** In "Jake the Dog", Prismo ''refuses'' to grant Jake's initial wish for a sandwich and just makes him one since he's a NiceGuy and he doesn't want Jake to waste his wish.
** In "Wake Up", Finn and Jake return to Prismo to wish to see Finn's dad. Since they already used up their wishes, they brought Shelby to make the wish for them. Shelby wishes for a pony for his girlfriend instead.
* A season 2 episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' has Junior offhandedly mention that he had wished for "Salty Meat Sweat", despite the fact that the [[BenevolentGenie genie]] ''warned'' him against it. He regrets it.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' episode "Where There's A Well, There's A Way" zig-zags this a bit. DM and Penfold are searching for the mystic inkwell of Merlin the Magician, where DM plans to make a wish by flipping a coin into it that "the forces of evil are overwhelmed" while Penfold wants to wish that he is the world's greatest secret agent. The villain Copperconk Cassidy intervenes, and during a scuffle, Penfold loses his glasses and Cassidy accidentally gets knocked into the well. Hearing the coin drop, Penfold picks it up, mistaking it for a loose glasses lens and says "I wish this stupid well had never existed!" The inkwell vanishes in a puff of smoke.
* The WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "A Lad in His Lamp" has Bugs wishing for a carrot from Smokey the Genie. He asks for two to make sure he's real.
* The WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker cartoon "His Better Elf" has Woody granted three wishes from a tiny leprechaun woodpecker. The first gets Woody in all kinds of trouble with the law, so he uses the second wish himself back home. The third wish he uses to tell the leprechaun to "GO TO BLAZES!" The leprechaun [[DraggedOffToHell literally descends to Hell]], where ol' Beelzebub was expecting him.
* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Picnic" cumulates in this when, after winning his battle with Emperor Awesome, Lord Hater has the once-in-a-millennium chance to wish for anything he wants, which he wants to wish to be the ruler of the entire galaxy. However, Wander, who's sightseeing and oblivious[[note]][[ObfuscatingStupidity most likely]][[/note]] to Hater's plan, keeps interrupting him to take photos. Hater, fed up with Wander yells "I'd wish you'd leave me alone for five seconds!" The Celestial Being nonchalantly grants it and ignores/is unable to grant Hater's request for a do-over. Cue collective FacePalm from both armies.
-->'''Celestial Being:''' Yeah okay, I can swing that.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'', Amber stumbles upon a wishing well that offers her three wishes. Considering that she's a princess, she probably didn't need to wish for a new tiara, especially since she already has a whole closet full of them, but that's what she did.
* Not exactly a wish, but in ''WesternAnimation/The7D'' episode "Knick Knack Paddy Whack," the Glooms steal The Pearl of Wisdom, which will answer one question once its shell is opened. After a scuffle with the 7D, Grim finally gets the shell open and wonders where Hildy is, so she can ask her question. The pearl takes this as his question, answers it, and promptly closes again.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' titled "Wishbones" featuring Thromnambular, the Wishing Skull. When Nergal Junior gets ahold of the skull, he actually benefits because he does this, seeing as Thromnambular is a JerkassGenie who tends to twist and pervert wishes so they end up bad for the wisher. Junior can't decide what to wish for, [[GenreSavvy well-aware that it could backfire on him]], and eventually says that [[DidISayThatOutLoud he wishes he knew what to wish for]]; Thromnambular grants the wish and leaves (as in, letting him know what he wanted to wish for, but not actually giving him a chance to wish for it). And he was the one who probably got off the lightest - at least he knows what he wants.
** PlayedStraight in an early episode, "A Dumb Wish", where Billy discovers a magic lamp and unleashes a genie, Grim's Mom. All of the wishes come in rhetorical blunders, culminating in [[spoiler: Mandy wishing everyone off the face of the earth.]] She even does a TitleDrop for it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode "Chicken, He Clucked", a guy hates chickens so much, that he actually summons a demon to make [[DealWithTheDevil the standard bargain]] in exchange for ridding the Earth of them. The demon actually tries to talk him out of it, saying he can grant him immortality or rulership of a fairly large country, but the guy insists. (Later, the demon is so humiliated at having to grant such a silly request, he [[EnemyMine enlists the help of the Ghostbusters]] to void the contract.)

* Towards the end of the ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'' episode, "Orangutango", King K. Rool wins a dance contest hosted by Cranky Kong, where the grand prize is one wish from the [[MacGuffin Crystal Coconut]]. While K. Rool tries to decide what to wish for, Klump does a dance involving jumping jacks, which has annoyed K. Rool [[RunningGag throughout the episode]]. K. Rool then screams, "[[NoIndoorVoice I WISH YOU WOULDN'T DO THAT!]]", [[StatusQuoIsGod causing the Crystal Coconut to grant the wish, then float back to its safe]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' episode "Where's the Bone?", the dogs, while searching for Little Dog's favorite bone (which is on his head the whole time), come across a genie, who offers to grant three wishes for them. Little Dog wishes he knows where his bone is, and the genie tells him it's on his head. Little Dog, ignoring this, wishes that the genie put him down. He then wishes he and Big Dog have left the area and they're teleported away.

* ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'': In "To Kingdom Come", Ord finds a shell on the beach that he learns can grant wishes after he wishes for a hat like Max's and gets it. His discovery of the shell causes all of his friends to bombard him with requests for wishes of their own which causes him to become angry and thoughtlessly wish to be somewhere far away from them. When this wish teleports him into a locked castle that he's forbidden to ever leave, he panics and wishes for all of his friends to be with him, [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot only to be told by them that not only could he have just wished himself out of the castle instead of trapping his friends in it too]], but the shell grants only {{three wishes}} and he just used up the last of them.
* The Season 3 ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "The Ricklantis Mixup" has [[AlternateSelf Fat Morty]] offer his Panini Maker to the Wishing Portal for "a million sandwiches."
* The "I wish you'd be quiet" variant is used in the ''WesternAnimation/DorothyAndTheWizardOfOz'' episode "Abraca-Oops!" when Wilhelmina prepares to use a wishing stone to wish that she had Dorothy's ruby slippers, only to accidentally wish that [[BumblingHenchmenDuo Frank and Lyman]] would be quiet for 10 seconds so she can think after they annoy her by trying to influence her decision.

* In a Swedish commercial for Aladdin Chocolates, three tourists are visiting a bazaar and one of them -- while the others are distracted -- accidentally releases a genie from a lamp. The genie says they get three wishes, but the tourist is so stunned by the experience that he can only say "Aladdin!" ([[IAmNotShazam presumably thinking that's the genie's name]]) and gets a box of chocolates. The second tourist turns around, sees the genie, and exclaims "Aladdin!" as well, and gets another box. Then the third tourist turns around and the thing repeats again. Task done, the genie flies away, while the tourists stand there with their chocolate (which they don't even seem to have noticed) and shout for the genie to come back because they're supposed to have their wishes granted.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'':
** Girls are able to have one wish granted in exchange for being made into {{Magical Girl}}s. Mami suggests that they could even wish for something silly like cake. Played straight in [[spoiler:the first timeline, in which Madoka became a Magical Girl in order to save the life of a cat -- to be specific, the cat in the OP.]]
** In hindsight, Mami's own wish was this. Her wish was to live after being in a car accident, but upon contracting and becoming a magical girl, she would have gained supernatural durability and rapid healing, allowing her to easily survive. The fact that she could have saved her parents as well but didn't is a major part of her guilt complex.
* Seen in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', where Nagi's mother is telling a young Nagi about wishing on a shooting star... and she proceeds to wish on one for manju buns. Nagi chastises her.

* A chapter of ''Manga/NagasareteAirantou'' nets youngest character Yuki three wishes. She uses the first to make herself bigger, the second to go back to normal after the genie in question makes her taller without actually changing her figure, then uses the third wish to age herself up properly. She learns after the last that wishes put on people only last until sundown, so the second wish to restore her back to normal was wasted. Everyone else who got wishes at the time either wasted them on treats or went the MundaneWish route.
* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', when Miaka is told she can make three wishes, and they can be for anything she wants ([[spoiler: [[SecretTestOfCharacter Not really]])]], she thinks about typical teenage-girl desires (popularity with boys, being thinner). Later, she starts to think about things like making her and Yui friends again, being able to pass her high school entrance exams, getting home safely, and even for Nuriko to be happy. [[spoiler:She ends up actually using her wishes to 1) resurrect Yui, 2) give Tamahome the power he needs to kill [[BigBad Nakago]], and 3) restore peace and order to the universe.]]

* In ''Anime/{{Sarazanmai}}'', Keppi tells the main characters that in exchange for giving him shirikodama, he'll give them Dishes of Hope that can grant them wishes. Enta grabs the Dish he's offering them and asks if he could wish for a year's supply of cucumber rolls. A giant cucumber roll immediately drops down on them, and then Enta realizes that the Dish has broken and he's wasted his wish.

* A variation in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics''. In issue #35, after Sonic collects his one billionth power ring, he's taken to a special zone where he meets the Ancient Walkers. The third says he may ask him one question. Sonic, without thinking, says "Only one?"
* PlayedForLaughs in an ''ComicBook/{{Archie Comic|s}}'' where Archie, Reggie, and Jughead are spontaneously wishing for money. Archie wishes for a million dollars, Reggie wishes for a billion dollars, and Jughead, upon seeing a restaurant offering two burgers for half a dollar, wishes for fifty cents.
* During the "Solomon's Mines" StoryArc, ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' (the third one) once encountered a GenieInABottle while adrift at sea (his fishing boat had been taken by a storm), who offers him three services in return for having been set free. Believing the genie to be a hallucination brought on by sunstroke and dehydration ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane which he very well may have been]]), The Phantom's first wish is to be put down and for the genie to stop rocking his boat. The genie complies, lampshading the trope in the process.
* One issue of the ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpy'' comic book ended with Ren, Stimpy and a lumberjack in a cabin floating on the river, about to go over the InevitableWaterfall. Suddenly, [[DeusExMachina the Good Fairy appears before Stimpy]] and offers to grant him one wish. Ren is overjoyed until Stimpy immediately [[KindheartedSimpleton wishes for world peace.]] The story ends with a newspaper announcing a worldwide truce as the cabin plunges over the waterfall and Ren screams, [[TooDumbToLive "YOU EEDIOT!"]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' Ask Blog, ''[[http://askudonge.tumblr.com Just a Useless Bunny]]'', has [[http://askudonge.tumblr.com/post/22637751907 this post]].
-->'''Question:''' If a little creep comes and says he is called [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Kyubey]] and wants to make a contract... What would you wish?\\
'''Reisen:''' I would wish for him to LEAVE.\\
'''Kyubey:''' Okay. [[DealWithTheDevil Contract sealed]].\\
'''[[ButtMonkey Reisen]]:''' WAIT! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!

* ''FanFic/AManOfIron'': A group of knights, including Jaime Lannister, discuss what they would ask the UltimateBlacksmith to make for them. Jaime opts for a sword, and is booed down for wasting his wish on something so boring. Jaime just shrugs and says that he is famous for being good with a sword, and it would be even more wasteful to spend his wish on something he can't use.
* [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Alya]] in ''Fanfic/AlyaAndTheHaremReality'' used this to steal Gabriel's victory from him, trying to waste his Miraculous wish on something that would lead to no changes in reality. She ultimately wishes that people loved [[LovedByAll Marinette]], being the best idea she could come up with in a few seconds that seemed like it would change nothing. Ultimately, while the wish did prevent Gabriel from getting what he wanted, it was not harmless, as the wish just made Marinette more loved (hence the title).

* The ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish'', plays this for laughs. Wakko loses a haypenny early in the movie and resolves to find some way to get the town what they want. When he finally gets the titular wish, Wakko wishes for ''two'' haypennies. This also turns out to be a SelflessWish, as those haypennies grant the wishes of all the other characters, save [[ButtMonkey the mime]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'': Webby uses her first wish on a baby elephant while having [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome nowhere to hide it where it won't be seen]]. She uses another wish to bring her toys to life, with no way to control them. In both cases, Webby's wish starts causing havoc, and one of the nephews has to use one of their wishes just to undo the damage. Not that the nephews are much better, wishing for things like hang gliders, train sets, and giant ice cream sundaes.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' movie ''WesternAnimation/DaffyDucksFantasticIsland'', after the treasure map that controls the wishing well is accidentally destroyed by Daffy and Yosemite Sam, the well gives them, Speedy Gonzales, and the Tasmanian Devil three wishes before bidding them farewell. Daffy decides that Speedy gets dibs on the first wish, himself the second, and Sam the third. Speedy wishes for a burrito and Daffy gets angry, wishing the burrito was on his nose. Daffy then decides that Sam should do the humane thing and use the final wish to get the burrito off Speedy's nose, but Sam beats Daffy to the punch, having already wished for a new pirate ship so he can get revenge on Bugs Bunny before he could come back and get them off the island, much to Daffy's chagrin.

* In the original ''Film/{{Bedazzled|1967}}'' (1967), Stanley is using the seven wishes he's traded his soul to the Devil for to win the girl of his dreams. After a few wishes haven't panned out, he wonders how she's doing, absently sighs "I wish I was a fly on the wall" and before he can take it back... George doesn't quite play fair with him. At one point he asks Stanley if he'd like a raspberry parfait. It's only at the end that Stanley learns that was one of the wishes.
* In the ''Film/{{Bedazzled|2000}}'' (2000) remake, Elliot wishes for a Big Mac and a Coke as "a test". The Devil simply takes him to a [=McDonalds=] and makes him pay for the meal because "there's no such thing as a free lunch". This eventually becomes a minor plot point, similar to the parfait example above. Strangely, this happens ''before'' Elliot signs the contract. It can be assumed that the contract also counts wishes granted before it's signed.

* In ''Film/TheNeverendingStoryIITheNextChapter'', Bastian uses wishes on all sorts of stupid things like the ability to juggle. Even more wasteful, at one point he wishes for a staircase, then finds it only goes up so far, so he wishes for the rest of the staircase ''one step at a time''. Did we also mention [[TooDumbToLive that Bastian ''loses'' a memory for every wish he makes]] (though to be fair, he didn't know that at the time)?

--> Three friends who have been lost in the desert for days come across a genie's lamp and rub it at the same time. After being freed, the genie promises to grant them all one wish. The first man wishes he lived on a tropical island surrounded by beautiful women. The second man wished he was a successful businessman in the big city. The third man says, "I'm lonely, I wish my two friends were here."

'''Bear:''' ''[laughs]'' That's a stupid wish. For my second wish, I wish that every female bear in the world was madly in love with me!\\

'''Bear:''' ''[laughs harder]'' That was even worse than your first wish! You're terrible at this. For my last wish, I wish for an enormous, luxurious den that can accomodate my new harem!\\
'''Rabbit:''' ''[gets on the motorcycle, puts on the helmet, and drives away at top speed, yelling]'' I WISH THIS BEAR WAS GAY!

-->'''Client:''' What's your rate?
-->'''Lawyer:''' I charge $50 for every 3 questions asked.
-->'''Client:''' That's kind of expensive don't you think?
-->'''Lawyer:''' Maybe... so what's your third question?

* In "Lester", Creator/ShelSilverstein has the classic Aesop about greed. The story goes that a young boy encounters a goblin that grants him one wish. The boy, in his greed, wishes for two wishes, which he gets, surprisingly enough. So with each wish, he wishes for two more wishes, giving him four wishes. And with each of those wishes, he wishes for two more, giving him eight. This goes on for some time, until the boy dies, presumably from old age. All that's left of him is a humongous pile of unused wishes. The narrator of the story then invites the reader to take a few, and warns the reader not to "waste your wishes on wishing."
* One short story in ''Curses, Inc.'' has a teenage girl meet a witch who can grant wishes at the cost of a year of the wisher's lifespan for each wish. Despite this cost, the girl gets greedy and makes an enormous number of increasingly frivolous wishes, including a wish for beauty that the witch herself says that she's already pretty enough to not need and a wish to undo her first wish to have a boy love her after she grows bored with him. The story, as you can probably predict, ends with her dying ignominiously.

* In a ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' game of "Scenes From A Hat" where the players had to come up with "Bad Choices to Make When Your Genie Grants You Three Wishes", Colin's response is "Uh, two Cokes and some chips."

* In an episode of ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' Sabrina's diminutive StalkerWithACrush Roland gets [[NewJobAsThePlotDemands a new job]] as a {{leprechaun}}. Sabrina grabs him which makes Roland contractually bound to give her three "Wish Coupons" (instead of the traditional pot of gold, which was apparently phased out). Sabrina immediately uses the first one to make Roland go away, Salem convinces her to use the second to allow him to become human again for a week and she ends up carelessly saying "I wish Roland was here to help" while holding the last coupon when things go badly.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': In "[[Recap/TheXFilesS07E21JeSouhaite Je Souhaite]]", Anson Stokes found a LiteralGenie and his first wish was that his boss would shut the hell up. Poor Mr. Gilmore really got smooth, unbroken skin where his lips had been before.

* Troy from ''Series/{{Community}}'' once stated that he would use two of his three genie wishes on signed pictures of actor Creator/LeVarBurton, then wish for a million wishes... but he would probably use them all on more signed pictures of [=LeVar=] Burton.
* ''Series/YoungSheldon'' has a slight variation: When Sheldon gets anaesthetised while at a dental appointment, he hallucinates visiting a circus attraction where he gets to meet Thoth, Egyptian God of Wisdom, and ask him any one question. When Sheldon asks "Can you really answer any question I can ask you?" Thoth responds in an irritated tone, "Kid, are you ''certain'' you want ''that'' to be your question?", then gives him a chance to rethink what he wants to ask.

* A version of the sausage story under Folklore was done as a skit in ''Series/BetweenTheLions'' (Season 1, Episode 21, aptly named "Sausage Nose"), except that their third wish kept going ("...and a new cottage, and a new stove, and a new..."). It worked, somehow.
* In Franchise/TheMuppets' skit on ''Disneyland 35th Anniversary Celebration'', Miss Piggy tells the story of how, on her first visit to Disneyland, she wanted to be Cinderella, and instead got a job cleaning the castle until her Fairy Godthing Gonzo offered her three wishes. She wishes his nose would blow up, then that she hadn't said that, and then that Gonzo would take this seriously. So, out of wishes, she ropes Gonzo into a magic-free plot to get the real Cinderella out of the picture.

* The ''Website/CollegeHumor'' sketch [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2jMsx8Aphg The Real Game Genie]] has a guy accidentally summon a genie while playing VideoGame/SuperMarioBros The guy, mistaking him for a ''Game'' Genie, uses all three of his wishes on Mario cheats, even as the beleaguered genie tries to explain that he's a real, actual genie.

** According to [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials,]] [[spoiler:Nagisa Momoe/Charlotte had a wish to share cheesecake with her dying mother. Upon realizing that she could have used this wish to ''heal'' her mother (which she apparently didn't wish for because she didn't believe it could be done), she rocketed past the DespairEventHorizon and immediately became a Witch.]]

** A variation occurs later in the series, where Bulma meets Lord Zuno, the wisest person in the universe, and is granted three questions. She wastes two of them, the first by saying "Only three?!" and the third by asking him to confirm the information she got from her second question. Jaco gets one question and asks what Bulma's bra size is, in order to prove that Zuno is legit; she gets mad at him for squandering the question, but he points out that she's worse because she wasted ''two''.
** Another episode of ''Super'' has Goku collect the Dragon balls intending to use them to wish to resurrect King Kai as he promised, however several of his friends intervene wanting a wish of their own[[note]]18 wants to ask for a nice thing to do for Krillin, Roshi wants a car of beautiful girls, Trunk and Goten want to get into the wishing without having a wish thought out between them, and Ooolong's [[RiddleForTheAges wish is never revealed]] though everyone assumes it [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten underwear]][[/note]], plus one of the wishes get used up to cure of a Pan of an illness that normal medicine couldn't. The rest of the wishes are so simple to deal with that Bulma is able to simply buy everyone what they would have wished for[[note]]She advises 18 that Krillin would want to spend time with his wife and their daughter most of all, she hires a car of beautiful girls to escort Roshi, she pays 18 to get rid of Oolong, and she suggests Trunk and Goten think over an actual wish for Shenron[[/note]] in a bid to get her own wish granted, which she offers to Goku in exchange for retrieving a rare element from the center of the Earth. [[spoiler:It ends up being AllForNothing, [[ShaggyDogStory as Beerus destroys the element and sabotages her time machine construction so she wouldn't risk damaging the timeline, and Shenron gets so tired of waiting for a wish that he just leaves before Goku can complete his promise to King Kai]]]].

** PlayedStraight in an early episode, "A Dumb Wish", where Billy discovers a magic lamp and unleashes a genie, Grim's Mom. When she gives the trio one wish each, Billy can't make up his mind and [[HilariousInHindsight like his cousin Jr. would later do]], wishes to know what to wish for, which would've been for a volcano. With Billy's wish squandered, it's Grim's turn to make a wish. Billy recommends stupid things for him to wish for, and Grim tries telling Billy to butt out. This argument irritates Mandy, causing her to grab the lamp and wish that Grim and Billy would shut up, sealing their mouths shut and making Grim unable to wish. Mandy drops the episode's title regarding her own wish and promises to give the last wish to whoever makes her the happiest. Unfortunately, they just drive her up the wall, and she wishes for everyone in the whole wide world to go away. This last wish ends up being a {{Subverted}} example as, after a brief moment of seemingly regretting her dumb wish making the entire earth's population vanish except for herself [[spoiler: [[WhenSheSmiles Mandy smiles]] and says, "perfect."]]

* In the alternate true ending of ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}} Plus 2'', the stick offers the professor and his assistant one wish. The assistant wishes to remove the professor's hat, as she's never seen him without it.