A friend recently told me about an idiom in french that translates to "was it worth the cheese?". This is in reference to a folktale about a fox and a raven which supposedly goes as follows:

A fox encounters a raven holding a piece of cheese in it's beak.

"Wow Raven, you look stunning today", said the fox.

"Gee thanks", mumbled the raven through the cheese.

"Your plume looks great, and what a stunning beak. I would love to hear you sing a song!", said the fox.

The raven blushed, and as the raven opened it's beak to sing, the fox snatched the cheese and ate it.

"The flatterer is not the one who pays for the flattery. I hope this lesson was worth the cheese", quipped the fox as it ran off into the woods, leaving behind a sad, cheeseless, but hopefully wiser, raven.

In short, the idiom, "was it worth the cheese?" asks if a bad situation was worth the lessons learned from it. It is, of course, preferable to be wise from the start and keep your cheese, but hindsight is always 20/20, and it often takes lived experiences to recognize undesirable situations.