Plans That Didn’t Go As Expected - Part 3

Some plans, however well-thought-out, can have hilariously unexpected outcomes. Sometimes, these waylaid plans result in minor inconveniences, while others end in unbelievable disasters. From hilariously-misguided attempts to help the planet to the plane that shot itself out of the sky, let’s check out some plans that didn’t go as expected.

The Failed Buddhist Lobster Release

There’s an old saying that goes, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”, which nicely summarizes a fiasco that occurred in England in 2015. As part of a “life-release” ceremony, two Buddhist monks purchased £5,000 worth of crustaceans from a wholesale fish supplier and set them free off the coast of Brighton.

Their hopes were that, by returning the animals to the wild, they could rack up some good karma, but the reality was much less positive. It turned out, the crabs and lobsters the Buddhists released into Brighton’s coastal waters were non-native species, and their unchecked presence would cause untold damage to the existing ecosystem.

Upon discovery of the monks’ reckless act, local authorities were forced to spend thousands re-capturing the invasive species to minimize the devastation caused. As for the Buddhists, what started off as a £5,000 bad idea ended up costing them an additional £15,000 in fines. They may not have been enlightened, but their bank accounts certainly were.

Family Covered In White Paint After Car Crash

Here’s a free pro-tip you probably never considered before. When driving home after buying a load of house-paint, make sure you load the paint cans into the trunk of your car. Why? Well, in the off-chance you end up in a car accident on the way home, if the cans are in the main part of the car, you might end up like the family below.

These unlucky motorists, while unharmed, were left totally embarrassed after a large white paint can exploded in a minor fender-bender in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The tub of paint was reportedly catapulted forward from the back seat in the impact, popping its lid and spilling its contents. While their plan had been to redecorate their home, it ended up being the interior of their car, as well as their bodies, that received a new paint-job.

He Wore All His Clothes On Plane To Avoid Luggage Fee

Sometimes, it feels like the biggest scammers of our time are airline companies. With hidden costs at every turn, it’s not particularly surprising that a Scottish man tried to sneakily save some cash while flying in 2015. To avoid paying extra to check in an additional bag on a flight from London to Glasgow, James McElvar emptied his suitcase, donning all of his extra clothing at once.

Despite wearing 12 layers of clothing, security allowed him onto the plane with little more than a raised eyebrow. The plan went smoothly until James was on the plane, awaiting take-off. Overheating, he began sweating profusely and feeling nauseous, but wasn’t allowed to stand up to remove his additional layers until the plane was up in the air. Before long, James started uncontrollably vomiting, and passed out shortly afterwards.

Thankfully, an off-duty paramedic onboard took care of James until the plane landed at its destination, and he made a speedy recovery in hospital. On the one hand, you could argue the money-saving plan went totally off the rails. But on the other hand, thanks to the UK’s free healthcare, James still saved that £45!

Elderly Woman Spins During Helicopter Rescue

When a 74-year-old woman named Katalin Metro set out on a hike in Phoenix, Arizona in 2019, she never could’ve anticipated how her day would end up. Along the trail, Katalin lost her footing and fell, leaving her injured and in need of rescue.

Luckily, rescue soon arrived in the form of a helicopter, but little did Katalin know, her nightmare was just beginning. When Katalin was strapped into a stretcher and lifted skyward, the air forced down from the helicopter’s rotor sent her into an increasingly-rapid, dizzying rotation, leaving her fearing for her life.

While the scene may have resembled something out of a slapstick comedy movie, Katalin didn’t find it so funny. She claimed the 175 violent rotations left her with worse injuries than her initial fall, and is now suing the city of Phoenix for $2 million. Hopefully, an agreement is reached soon, before the situation spins any further out of control!

The Cobra Effect

At the height of the British Empire’s rule over India, a now-famous story emerged about the British government dealing with a snake problem. As the high number of venomous snakes in the city of Delhi was proving dangerous for locals and imperial agents alike, the British government reportedly started offering bounties for dead cobras. Initially, this proved successful, as countless locals began delivering reams of dead cobras in exchange for cash rewards.

Soon, though, the plan was completely derailed, as locals began breeding their own cobras solely for the reward. With the scheme’s purpose utterly undermined, as soon as the authorities cottoned onto the cobra-breeders’ sneaky plan, the reward program was scrapped. At this point, the failure reached hilarious heights, as the newly-bred and now-worthless cobras were set free, resulting in an increase in the wild population after all!

Toy Yoda Lawsuit

In April 2001, the manager of a Hooters restaurant in Panama City, Florida provided his staff with an intriguing incentive to boost sales. He told his waitresses that whoever sold the most beer that month would enter a prize-draw with other participating stores for a chance to win a new Toyota.

Enticed by the offer, one waitress, Jodee Berry, worked extra hard for a chance at the prize, and to her joy, was announced as the winner at the month’s end. But when her boss took her out to the parking lot to present her with her prize, there was no car waiting. Instead, there was a little green doll of Yoda from Star Wars: a literal “Toy Yoda”. The contest, it turned out, had been little more than an April fool’s prank.

While the manager found his little play on words very amusing, Jodee refused to be the butt of the joke. Instead, she sued the branch’s overseeing company, Gulf Coast Wings Inc., for breach of contract and fraud, and won! While the settlement’s exact pay-out was undisclosed, one of the attorneys involved in the case revealed that Jodee’s winnings would enable her to buy whatever type of Toyota she wanted.

Messy Eater

There are many things that can go wrong on a dinner-date, but that list increases substantially when you’re having dinner with a lizard. Twitter user Conner Hallmark learned this the hard way in 2018, when he attempted to enjoy a nice meal at the dinner table with his pet iguana, Iggy. While Conner had no problems eating his soup, Iggy encountered some trouble with his salad.

Conner later confirmed that Iggy was perfectly fine after his tumble, and being a lizard, you'd doubt he minded much that his salad had been on the floor.

Phallic Graffiti In California Road To Protest Potholes

In 2017, residents of one road in Placerville, California were growing tired of the increasing number of potholes that, despite countless complaints, the city refused to repair. After one resident’s number plate fell off while driving over one of those potholes, and he subsequently received a ticket for driving without it, he’d had enough.

He took to the streets with a can of spray-paint, marking the potholes with messages like “what are taxes for”, as well as a few phallic images for good measure. As he’d hoped, his graffiti drew attention to the potholes, but not with the results he’d hoped for.

Instead of dispatching crews to repair the potholes, the city spent taxpayer money on teams to remove the graffiti, leaving the potholes intact! Sounds like Placerville’s city planners might need a priority check, otherwise the graffiti may come back, only bigger!

Investors Buy Up The Wrong Zoom

From offices to schools, video communications app Zoom saw a colossal growth in usage between 2019 and 2020. With such an increase in popularity, it’s no surprise that investors flocked to Zoom, as it seemed a guaranteed way to grow their money. For those who invested in Zoom Video Communications, it proved a solid bet. For those who accidentally invested in the similarly-named Zoom Technologies, a Chinese cell-phone parts manufacturer, it was a whole other kettle of fish.

Due to the similarities in the two companies’ names, investors mistakenly flocked to Zoom Technologies, resulting in an 1,800% increase in share price, which subsequently plummeted when investors realized their error. Which, of course, was great for those who sold their Zoom Technologies stocks at their peak, but not-so-great for those who stuck around for the crash that followed.

Eventually, to save other investors the trouble of investing in the wrong company, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission halted trading in Zoom Technologies. Presumably, much to the dismay of the company who, just for a moment, tasted a level of success they’d neither expected nor earned.

Suspended Player Disguises As New Player

When one of their star players was suspended before the start of the 2019 football season, Cardinal Ritter College Prep school in St. Louis decided to play dirty. At the season’s opening game, a new player appeared on the pitch who looked remarkably similar to the number 4 running back who’d been banned. Only, this running back was wearing a number 24, and he was registered under a totally different name.

It soon became apparent to the teams facing Cardinal Ritter Prep that this new player was more than just a doppelganger for the banned player. Noticing the distinctive identifying tattoos and warm-up routine the player began each game with, opponents realized number 24 was the banned running back himself in disguise.

When the attempted deception came to light, the coaches who’d encouraged it attempted to play dumb, claiming they didn’t realize they’d broken any rules. But, given that they’d very clearly submitted the player to the league using a completely fake name, the league authorities didn’t buy a word of it. The entire coaching staff were fired, and the whole team was banned for the season.

Boyfriend Disguised In Burka For Proposal

In 2017, Brad Podray proposed to his girlfriend Hannah in an elaborate way that exceeded her expectations, and, thanks to a twist he hadn’t accounted for, his expectations, too. The premise of his proposal was to trick his girlfriend, an illustrator, into thinking she’d been invited to a job interview for an exciting Saudi Arabian film project. At the interview, his girlfriend met the film company’s representative, as well as his silent assistant, dressed up in a full-coverage burka.

But, unbeknownst to Hannah, the company was fake, and it was actually Brad underneath that burqa. The “interview” consisted of Hannah being given the task of observing the veiled assistant in various poses, then turning around and sketching her from memory.

Only, the 3rd time this occurred, while Hannah was sketching away, Brad disrobed, and got out his engagement ring, ready to surprise Hannah when she turned back around. Granted, Hannah was surprised. But her reaction wasn’t quite as Brad had hoped.

Turned out, Hannah had been planning to reject Brad if he surprised her with a proposal, only to immediately propose to him in return! Never before has a real-life Uno reverse card been so heart-warming.

Phones Falling From The Skies

Back in 2017, pilot Blake Henderson inadvertently provided a video testament to the strength of the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone when he accidentally dropped it from a moving plane. While flying a small airplane, Blake attempted to capture some footage on his phone, when turbulence struck. This caused him to drop his phone, which was sucked straight out of the window, 1,000 feet down into what seemed like certain doom.

But, miraculously, the phone survived, and continued recording as it landed in a family’s yard below! Seemingly cushioned by the bushes it fell into, the phone was soon picked up by the family, who initially mistook it for one of their own.

This ain't my phone (Unedited) by Robert Ryan

After the perplexed family figured out the mysterious phone wasn’t theirs, they managed to get hold of Blake’s family, which wasn’t too difficult seeing as the phone was still unlocked. Eventually, they pieced together the unbelievable sequence of events that had led to the phone appearing in their yard.

Photographer Jack Drain wasn’t quite so lucky when a similar situation occurred for him in 2019. While filming for Action News Jax with an iPhone in one hand and a GoPro in the other, Jack extended his phone-holding hand a little too far toward the window. In an instant, his phone was sucked out, and his face said it all in the clip below.

Video shows moment phone was sucked from plane by WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando

Jack’s phone, sadly, wasn’t found by any gardeners on the ground, or anyone, for that matter. I guess video multi-tasking is something best reserved for when your feet are planted firmly on the ground.

F-11 Tiger: The Fighter Jet That Shot Itself Down

In September 1956, an F-11 Tiger fighter jet was test-firing its guns on a test-flight off the coast of New York state, when something truly crazy happened. Seemingly without reason, the plane’s windshield shattered, and the engine was almost entirely destroyed. The pilot, assuming he’d collided with a bird, crash-landed near Grumman's Long Island airfield, and barely made it out with his life.

But the real reason the plane sustained damage had nothing to do with birds. Upon analysis, it was found that several of the plane’s own bullets had somehow torn into it, with one being found lodged inside the engine. But how? It turned out, after the pilot fired a stream of 20mm cannon rounds, he entered a steep descent, while accelerating in speed. At the same time, the bullets were decelerated due to drag as they passed through the air, while naturally descending as gravity did its thing.

In one of the craziest coincidences of all time, the plane ended up flying into the path of the bullets, before decelerating slightly. At this point, several moments after being fired, three of the bullets shot straight through the plane, narrowly missing the pilot, and forcing him to crash-land.

Man Blows Up Kitchen While Trying To Swat Fly

There are few things more annoying than a fly buzzing around your home. But that annoyance was elevated to terror for one elderly man in the French region of Dordogne in September 2020. When the man attempted to kill the fly with an electric swatter, an explosion suddenly tore through his home, destroying part of his kitchen and a section of his roof.

Triggering the fly swatter’s electric spark, it turned out, had ignited a gas leak that, unbeknownst to the homeowner, had been spilling out from a cylinder in the house. Miraculously, the man survived the incident with little more than a burned hand, as the flames spread back to the gas cylinder, which exploded at some distance from the homeowner.

Woman's Passport Photo Fail

When a woman from Austin, Texas was issued her new passport, she assumed her picture would be identical to the one she submitted. However, when she opened it up, she found this staring back at her.

Thanks to a printing error, she’d been left looking like something out of a sci-fi flick. Fortunately, the state department offered a free replacement in light of the humorous blunder, though it wasn’t the first time an error like this had happened. This became clear after her boyfriend shared the image on reddit, where another unfortunate victim of head-stretching came forward.

Weeping Jesus Statue & Sewage Water

In 2012, members of a Catholic Church in Mumbai discovered a miracle or so they thought. Seemingly without reason, water was trickling from the fingertips and toes of a statue of Jesus Christ. Amazed, members of the church began gathering this so-called "holy water", with some even drinking it as a blessing.

Soon, however, Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku caught wind of the odd phenomenon and went to see what was really going on. Upon investigating, Sanal realized there was nothing miraculous at play at all. Instead, the plumbing from a nearby toilet, the waste pipe of which passed underneath the statue, had become blocked.

The pressure of the blockage had been forcing sewage water up into the wooden statue, where it trickled out through small holes. The "holy water" people had been sipping was really just sewage, and the only miracle at play was that more people hadn’t got sick from drinking it!

Friends Buried His Head In The Sand, Then Seagulls Came

You can’t beat a relaxing day at the beach. But when one man’s buddies suggested he let them bury him up to his head in the sand, it ended up being far from relaxing. That’s because, after his friends buried him, they threw chips around his head, luring in the beach’s hungry seagulls. The seagulls had their fill, and in return, left a parting gift of their own, a big dollop of poop, right on the buried man’s head.

Cat Poops In Rice Cooker

Training a cat to use a litter tray can be a tricky process. That may explain the confusion that occurred for one web user’s cat, who ruined what was planned to be a nice dinner, after the feline confused steamed rice for kitty-litter.

Given rice’s vaguely kitty-litter-like appearance, situated within a cat-sized enclosure, you can kind of see where the mix-up occurred, but no amount of seasoning is going to salvage that meal.

Girl Turns Pink After Misusing Bath Product

When Twitter user Abi Shenton ran herself a bath one evening back in 2016, she was expecting a nice, relaxing experience, enhanced by dissolving a delightful-smelling bath-bomb in the tub. But after bath-time had finished, Abi dried off, and looked in the mirror to see an extremely pink version of herself staring back. This dyeing effect appeared to have come from the bath-bomb she’d used, but try as she might, she couldn’t scrub it off.

She contacted Lush, the company who manufactured the product, and they informed her that what she’d used wasn’t a bath bomb at all. It was actually condensed bath oil, which was supposed to be diluted and used in small quantities. Considering it resembled close to Lush’s actual bath-bombs, it was an understandable mistake, but one that took 3 days of washing to remove from Abi’s skin.

Another Twitter user experienced a similar problem with an actual bath-bomb sold by Kroger, which had clearly skipped over the testing phase before hitting shelves. The bomb dyed the unfortunate girl a vibrant shade of blue for several days, drawing countless hilarious comparisons online.

Printer Fails

Office printers, and the seemingly-endless stream of errors they seem to encounter, are a source of rage for workers around the world. But some printer malfunctions shared online put the standard, "error in paper tray" issues to shame. Like this school printer, shared by an Imgur user, which experienced a serious toner leak back in 2012.

A similar case happened at a Redditor’s workplace, after the toner cartridge was installed incorrectly, causing it to spray in all directions when someone attempted to print. Web users were quick to pair the disastrous scenes up with other suitably comedic images, like this one of a man who manufactures powdered activated carbon for a living.

In his own words, "I sometimes get dirty at work’", though not from printers. While the picture-combo didn’t show the real aftermath of a toner disaster, you can’t help feeling this wasn’t far from the reality for whoever was standing nearby when it happened.

Online Shopping: Expectation VS Reality

While buying clothes online is certainly more convenient than heading into a physical store, there are times when seeing the product in person first makes all the difference. It certainly would’ve helped this fellow, who purchased what was being sold online as a man’s tank top. Unless there was a serious mix-up in shipping, the seller may be a little confused when it comes to fashion.

A similar case of wildly different expectation-versus-reality occurred when someone ordered this cute-looking giant teddy online, only for it to arrive with disturbingly long legs. Either the seller is a master of forced perspective, or they’ve got a very unusual sense of humor.

Flipping The Iceberg

When you’re a born adventurer, you come to expect the unexpected. But nothing could’ve prepared daredevil explorers Mike Horn and Fred Roux for the nail-biting turn of events that occurred when they attempted to scale an iceberg in the Arctic circle.

The huge chunk of ice floating in the freezing waters caught their attention while sailing nearby, prompting them to don their climbing gear and attempt to reach the top. However, as they ascended, the iceberg began to tilt slowly, leading to this:

UN ICEBERG SE RETOURNE PENDANT QUE JE L’ESCALADE 😱 (l’eau est un peu froide) by Mike Horn

Narrowly escaping an icy grave, the pair were swept out of the iceberg’s path before it could crush them. Despite being extremely cold and wet, they made it out unscathed, and decided to share their video online as a lesson on precisely what not to do in the Arctic.

If you were amazed at these plans that didn't go as expected, you might want to read part 2. Thanks for reading!