“The best laid schemes o‘ mice and men…” As poet Robert Frost said, some schemes often don’t go quite the way we plan.

Such was the case for a would-be motel robber in Deridder, La. This man, while caught up in his excitement, forgot to punch eyeholes in the plastic garbage bag he was pulling over his head to mask his face in the Park Motel last May and recently was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Needless to say, even with a knife in hand, this lack of planning left J. Douglas Creswell, 51, looking more harmless than intimidating as he tugged at the bag to make eyeholes and asked the motel clerk to hand over the money. Unaffected by the “threat,” she simply declined and the embarassed criminal left, thinking the ordeal was over with.

But his escape from the botched holdup and embarassment were short-lived. The police were hailed and the unsuccessful bandit was arrested.

The lesson Creswell has learned the hard way is that there is indeed some truth to the old exhortation to “plan ahead.”