Lucy came home after a long week of babysitting, her face pale and her eyes filled with tears. My heart sank the moment I saw her, as my daughter rarely cried, and when she did, it was never like this—silent sobs, her chest rising with every shaky breath, her body radiating the kind of hurt that makes a mother’s heart ache.
I rushed to her side, placing my hands on her shoulders gently. “Lucy, what happened?” I asked softly, trying to keep my voice steady.
She wiped her tears away but didn’t speak right away. Her hands shook as she fiddled with her sweater, and I could tell something was deeply wrong. After a moment, she finally looked up at me, her voice barely audible.
“Mom, Mrs. Carpenter didn’t pay me for babysitting her kids,” Lucy whispered.
I frowned in confusion. “What? Why not?”
“She said it was a ‘life lesson,’ that I should’ve gotten everything in writing. Then she slammed the door in my face!” Lucy’s voice cracked, and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “She said babysitting was hard work, and that was payment enough!”
I could feel my blood starting to boil. Mrs. Carpenter had refused to pay my daughter for babysitting all week, dismissing it as a lesson in responsibility? My fists clenched as I tried to stay calm for Lucy’s sake.
Lucy’s voice trembled as she continued. “Her kids were terrible, Mom. They wouldn’t listen to me, they threw toys at each other, and when I tried to make them do their reading, they said, ‘Mom says we don’t have to.’ I worked so hard all week, and she acted like it didn’t matter.”
“Oh, sweetie,” I whispered, pulling her close. At 15, Lucy was trying so hard to be responsible, and this was her first real job. “How much did she owe you?”
“I babysat for four hours each day for five days… so $220. I was going to use it for an art course I really wanted to take,” she sniffled.
Without hesitation, I reached for my purse and counted out the money. “Here, you earned this.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Mom, no. She’s the one who owes me, not you.”
“Don’t worry about it. You worked hard, and you deserve to get paid. I’ll take care of Mrs. Carpenter myself,” I said, hugging her tightly. “I’m going to make sure she understands that cheating you isn’t something she can get away with.”
As Lucy headed to the kitchen for a snack, I began planning. I wasn’t going to let Mrs. Carpenter get away with this. But I knew that confronting her in anger wouldn’t work. I needed a smarter approach—one that would teach Mrs. Carpenter a lesson of her own.
That night, I lay awake thinking about Lucy’s excitement when she first got the babysitting job. She had been so proud, so eager to prove she could handle responsibility. And now, Mrs. Carpenter had robbed her of that joy. I tossed and turned, replaying the events over in my mind. By the time morning came, I had a plan.
At 10 a.m., I knocked on Mrs. Carpenter’s door, forcing a pleasant smile onto my face. She answered, looking surprised to see me.
“Rebecca! What brings you by?” she asked.
“Oh, I just wanted to thank you for the valuable life lesson you gave Lucy,” I said sweetly, watching as confusion flickered across her face. “You know, the one about contracts and trust?”
Mrs. Carpenter’s smile turned smug. “Well, yes. I’m glad you understand. Children need to learn things the hard way sometimes.”
“Oh, absolutely,” I replied, pulling out my phone. “I’ve been telling everyone about it. In fact, I posted about it in our neighborhood group.”
Her smile faltered. “Posted? In the neighborhood group?”
I showed her the post, along with the flood of comments from other parents in the neighborhood. Mrs. Carpenter’s face paled as she read through them.
“Melissa said she’d never trust someone who treats kids like that,” I said. “And Janet from the PTA? She thinks we should bring this up at the next school board meeting. Says it reflects poorly on the community.”
Mrs. Carpenter’s eyes widened in panic. “Rebecca, I didn’t mean for this to go so far—”
Mrs. Carpenter’s confidence crumbled, and she stammered something about a misunderstanding. But I wasn’t interested in her excuses. I gave her a final smile, turned on my heel, and left.
Later that evening, Lucy came rushing through the door, an envelope in hand. “Mom! Mrs. Carpenter paid me! She said there was a misunderstanding about when she was supposed to pay.”
I smiled, pulling her into a hug. “That’s great, sweetie.”
As Lucy headed upstairs, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied. Some people might say I’d been too harsh or petty, but I didn’t care. My daughter had worked hard, and she deserved to know her efforts had value. Sometimes, the best lesson isn’t about taking the high road—it’s about showing your child that no one has the right to take advantage of them.
Most likely the worst guess in Wheel of Fortune history is this one
losses. If you were the contest winner, or even if you just did ok, you would want everyone to see the show. A participant who was directly involved in the latter situation would rather not take part in the program once more. So what should you do in these circumstances? Shall you hide your face in shame or laugh?
The Worst Mistake on the Fortune Wheel
Regardless of how a competitor handles it, it does provide the audience with a good amount of entertainment. Matt, a Wheel of Fortune contestant, just made what was probably the worst mistake in the history of the show. Matt gave a really elaborate performance on this particular episode. He won in the end and received $23,350, in case you missed it, so he probably doesn’t feel too horrible about his horrible error in this episode.
However, that kind of horrible error often overshadows the entire episode. The three participants’ goal in this particular round was to complete a word problem as fast as they could. The puzzle consisted of three words in the category “people.” There are two alternatives available to participants: they can try to guess a single letter or the complete sentence. In reference to Matt, he asked if the sentence contained the letter “N.” It was, and here is how the issue manifested itself: N_ T – _ N _ R _ T _ _ N TH_
It required a moment for him to deduce what the term might be. To everyone’s surprise, he answered with a term that didn’t contain a “N.” “The Greatest Buttercut,” he pronounced. It’s unclear exactly what Buttercut meant to say, but it was obvious that his statement didn’t fit the puzzle! The selected answer was THE NEXT GENERATION. You can see the amusing error here:
There Are Still More Mistakes That Need to Be Fixed
However, Matt is not the only Wheel of Fortune participant to have made a humiliating mistake. Since the show’s 1975 premiere, several notable blunders have occurred. Kevin, a contestant in 2017, approaching the word puzzle. In “A STREETCAR NA_ED DESIRE,” the play’s title, he just needed to finish one letter. After he turned, he was able to select a consonant. Kevin made the decision to say, “Naked,” much to everyone’s surprise and hilarity. Of course, the answer was A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.
In 2009, Sacramento, California native Lolita McAuley was participating in a speed round. This suggests that the letters would appear on the board at random after each interval of time. The winner is the first person to buzz and guess the entire answer. Lolita was faced with the following under the “Thing” category: S_LF-PO_T_ _ _T. McAuley buzzed in response, saying, “SELF-POTATO.” Again, a puzzling and entertaining reply. The appropriate reaction was SELF-POTRAIT.
Julian, a University of Indiana student, was on track to win $1 million more recently, in 2014, following many lucky spins. To access a unique version meant just for college students, he simply needed to utter the words “mythological hero Achilles.” Sadly, he mispronounced it; instead of saying “AY-chill-es,” it should have been pronounced “AH-kil-ies.” After that, he had to fill in the blank: “WORLD’S FASTEST A.” In this case, he chose “c” even though “man” was the final word. When he finally reached the “things” area, he had to make a “on-the-spot decision.” His guess of “On-the-spot dicespin” was the weakest one he made.
Do you think Matt’s mistake was as big as these current ones? Tell us in the section that follows!
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