Be careful what you ask for.

Be careful what you ask for.

Because there are people out there ready to grant you your wish. People like me. People who will take your words literally, out of context, or straight out of your mouth. Realists, jokers, pranksters, or “the universe.” You really gotta watch out for that last one.

TRUE story:  A good friend of mine who loves to solve riddles, crimes and read mystery novels once wrote a letter to the LAPD asking if she could work there as a police officer. She was much younger at the time, living in a small town a VERY long distance from California. She did receive a response via mail from the LAPD containing a very warm invitation saying they would seriously consider her application! Her folks were not too happy about it, I’m guessing, as she never did join the LAPD.

But it’s a very interesting thought experiment, no? Asking for what you want (the more direct, the better) and waiting to see what happens! Not to be confused, of course, with “wishing upon a star” and “magical thinking.”

Here are a few examples of what a person might receive if said person asked specifically for what they wanted:

I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN HOW TO DANCE

 

 

I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DEFEND MYSELF IN A DANGEROUS SITUATION

 

OTHER EXAMPLES OF GETTING EXACTLY WHAT YOU ASKED FOR

James Fridman is a Photoshop expert, but instead of making people “perfect,” he is known for showing them just how absurd their quest for perfection really is. He takes requests via his Twitter and uses his skills to incite laughter and thought. ~W. Teubner, memes.com

Here he gets a request to remove someone from a group photo:

 

Watch your spelling folks:

Someone asks to be added to a picture:

This one just plain cracked me up:

This is terrifying:  getting your wish and then ending up in a children’s storybook.

And finally, grammar matters!

I really, really want Adobe Photoshop now. I’ve been laughing so hard just putting this post together. Like all morning. I wonder what my neighbors must think. Whoops, nope that was NOT me asking to find out what my neighbors think. Please, please, don’t give me that information. Thanks.