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Almighty Janitor: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[Detective Conan]]'': Conan is just a kid (in appearance, at least), and [[Not Now, Kiddo|nobody ever listens to kids]]. Once he has solved a crime, he usually has to resort to his tranquilizer wristwatch and voice-changing bow tie in order to relay his deductions through a handy [[Sock Puppet]].
* One episode of [[Sgt Frog]] has Private Tamama become the new Platoon Leader. When the old Platoon Leader Sergeant Keroro complains that [[Lampshade Hanging|a lower-ranking officer shouldn't be allowed to lead a platoon]], it's pointed out that he (technically) follows this trope, as he is outranked by Sergeant Major Kululu.
* In ''[[Rosario
* On a both literal and organizational level there's the Junk Guild in the ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' universe, which are just that: the guys who go cleaning up debris in space and even on Earth. They are not to be underestimated however, (especially [[Gundam SEED Astray|Lowe Gear]]), and have their own lines of Mobile Suits (even a Gundam or two). by the end of the first Bloody Valentine War, the Junk Guild was in possession of a Prototype of the [[Wave Motion Gun]] the final battle of the war was fought over.
* Somewhat justified, and played straight in two ways in ''[[Beet the Vandel Buster]]''. When the title character returns to his town for the first time in ages, he's a rather measly level 11. Turns out he hadn't gone to the appraisers (required in order to level up) in 3 years, and thus was actually a level 28. The other way he qualifies for this trope is that despite this level, he's still lower than what is normally expected for someone who has the universe's equivalent of a super move - in fact he has ''five''.
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*** Amusingly subverted in one scene where Fatso has been pushing the boundaries just a little, and so the XO drops by to hold an unannounced inspection of the incinerator (where no officer has gone for years) and innocently orders Fatso to turn the incinerator on so that he can see how it works. When both men know perfectly well that Fatso has approximately half a ton of bootleg liquor hidden in there, but neither one can admit it. Fatso is forced to destroy his entire stash and from that point on learns to moderate his activities to what the officers can get away with not seeing.
{{quote|'''The XO''': He must have had enough in there to stock the Army-Navy club bar. I thought he was going to swallow his teeth when those bottles started bursting. It sounded like the 20mm guns did during Okinawa.}}
* In [[Ursula K. Le Guin
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
*
*** Additionally, every time Lu-Tze is somewhere in the history, he will just start to work at a place that will be relevant for the history and no-one ever wonders about that, because he's just there and takes care of janitor stuff.
** Nanny Ogg, it is hinted, is a more powerful witch than Granny Weatherwax. Granny knows all about what people fear, but Nanny can make herself at home anywhere, among any kind of people, largely by asking people about the mundanities like their families and health problems. In one case she manages to get where she needs to be because nobody bothers to question an old lady who's prepared to do the washing-up.
*** The distinction is even simpler than that; Granny is an incredibly powerful witch, and expects everyone she meets to ''know'' that, at all times, so she invariably behaves as though she is an incredibly powerful witch.<ref>
** Not to mention the Ankh-Morpork milkman Ronnie Soak (seen in ''[[Thief of Time]]''), who turns out to be
** And the true heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork, who keeps the peace, inspires the populace to actually be half-decent every now and then, and [[Fisher King|alters the place to his will]]. {{spoiler|Captain Carrot of the City Watch.}}
*** In that case, ''everyone'' knows it. It's just in everyone's best interest to keep it that way, which he encourages.
*** Of course, he does manage to use the authority to Vime's great annoyance in ''[[Jingo]]''.
** In ''[[
** ''[[
** There's also Mrs. Whitlow, Unseen University's head housekeeper. She terrifies the senior faculty with her ability to make sure beds get made and meals get cooked, something even the most powerful wizard can't do with their magic.
* Frequently appearing in Chinese Wuxia novels. If an old janitor figure (sweeper, kitchen-servant, etc.) appears in the story and is not promptly killed off, there's a good chance of him or her being a supremely skilled martial artist in disguise.
** Example:
*** Also quite likely the model for Lu-Tze in ''[[Discworld]]'' (see above).
* ''[[The Dresden
* In ''[[Catch-22]]'', the two lowliest soldiers are shown to have the most power.
** Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen is a mail clerk who intentionally gets himself busted back down to Private whenever he can. Because he controls the mail and the mimeograph machine, he can intercept or forge any order he pleases. This makes him the most powerful man in the military, but he uses his power mostly to amuse himself.
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* While not quite almighty, the snowman janitor in the Lair of the Ninja Snowmen in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' is just as powerful and ninja-y as the rest of snowmen there.
{{quote|''In the icy wastes of Mount McLargehuge, where the most elite of ninja snowman assassins are trained, even the guy who mops the dojo floor is fully capable of kicking your ass. Try not to bleed on the floor -- you'll only make him angrier. ''}}
* ''[[Pokémon]]'':
** After fighting through the Battle Company of Castelia City in [[Pokémon Black and White]], you get the singular opportunity to face [[Subverted Trope|the chairman]] of the Battle Company, Janitor Geoff.
* [[Ratchet and Clank]] has an odd example of this. The plumber appears in almost every series, giving little tips and the like to help Ratchet along. However, occasionally he appears to know WAY more than he's letting on, such as when, in one game, he says "See you next year," alluding to his appearance in the next game, and telling Clank that {{spoiler|"Five minutes should do," right before Ratchet dies, and Clank must face himself with the choice of saving his best friend, or letting him die and avoid potentially harming time and space. He remembers the advice, goes back five minutes, and no disasters occurred. Who knew a plumber knew so much about time and space?}} or that Clank would need to know the information anyway?▼
** Played straight with, Larry - the Medali Gym Leader - in ''[[Pokémon Scarlet and Violet]]''. He is your typical white collar salaryman who has been "assigned" gym leader duty by his boss (whom he doesn't like) and like most such people, is overworked and constantly complaining about his job. He looks like the typical accountant, and that may well be what he is. He uses Normal type Pokemon, as he feels those are reflective of himself. Has quickly become a [[Breakout Character]], as so many fans identify with him.
▲* [[Ratchet and Clank]] has an odd example of this. The plumber appears in almost every series, giving little tips and the like to help Ratchet along. However, occasionally he appears to know WAY more than he's letting on, such as when, in one game, he says "See you next year," alluding to his appearance in the next game, and telling Clank that {{spoiler|"Five minutes should do," right before Ratchet dies, and Clank must face himself with the choice of saving his best friend, or letting him die and avoid potentially harming time and space. He remembers the advice, goes back five minutes, and no disasters occurred. Who knew a plumber knew so much about time and space?}} or that Clank would need to know the information anyway? In fact, he was originally voiced by [[Scrubs|THE Janitor]].
* Nathan Copeland of [[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle]] is an assassin ranked second from the bottom out of a whopping 51 combatants, but is easily more skilled, agile, and powerful than nearly half the killers above him. Justified, as he says he simply joined the ranks and hung around at the bottom waiting to [[Blood Knight|fight Travis.]]
* Cyrus in ''[[Dawn of War]] 2'' is a veteran of multiple campaigns and has served two decades in the deathwatch, and could easily make a much higher rank if he sought it, but is content with being a scout sergeant in charge of training the chapter's initiates. The reason for this is because Cyrus' unorthodox (though often highly successful) tactics has made him unpopular with several of his peers and superiors, but by remaining in charge of training he is able to ensure that all the generations of space marines he trains will be molded to his way of thinking.
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* Commander Shepard in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. The whole third games revolves around Shepard uniting the various races, ending millennia old conflicts that were thought to be impossible to reconcile and forming a [[Badass Army]] to take on the Reapers. Admiral Hackett even acknowledges that while he knows he'll be the one leading the charge, there is no doubt that everyone is there because they're following ''Shepard''.
* Meet [[Oddworld|Abe]], meat packing slave and former Employee of the Month turned savior of the Mudokon race (well, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|maybe]]). He also has psychic mind powers that can open portals made of birds and [[Mind Control|control his enemies]].
* Sakuya Izayoi in ''[[Touhou]]'', loyal maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, dreadfully powerful fighter with [[Time Stands Still|time manipulation abilities]], very proactive, assertive, knowledgeable about all of the mansion's internal affairs, and pretty much flawless at her job, to the point that rumors claim she is the true mistress of the mansion.
== Web Animation ==
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** Schlock himself, as well. He's just a sergeant, but he's easily the most dangerous mercenary in the company, is smarter than he looks, and used to own the company but gave it back for a pittance. Although he usually doesn't, he can basically ignore orders at will.
* A (sadly now defunct and lost to the internet) webcomic that took place at a magic academy had, near its start, a near riot by a bunch of magic using students picking on a non magic user. This is ended when a mysterious figure appears, sending everyone scattering. The figure is revealed to be an extremely intimidating individual, with, among other features, glowing gauntlets of power. Said individual then pulls out a mop and starts cleaning up the mess, revealing himself to be the janitor. Probably a [[Justified Trope]], since it would require someone extremely powerful to fix the kinds of messes that a bunch of irresponsible kids playing around with the fabric of the universe could cause.
* Inverted [
* The Temple of [[Random Number God|Phred]], in [[Dubious Company]], has the almighty janitor's closet, which houses the divination pool. The high priest admits that it [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|didn't draw]] as much attention as the [[The Casino|card tables.]]
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Harold the janitor in ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78FodtyGko&feature=sub The Elevator Show]''.
* Parodied by [[the Onion]] Radio News: "At the University of Chicago this week a janitor gave the planet some much needed breathing space after bumping the [[Doomsday Clock]] back by 30 minutes while dusting it. The janitor has been awarded the status reserved for living gods and flown to Japan to sweep up around an out of control particle accelerator."
* The Red and Blue Blood Gulch Teams from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' are simulation soldiers, just meant to be test subjects for new equipment and cannon fodder for Freelancer training. Despite this status, they tend to come out on top of situations where regular UNMC Marines and Freelancers just die. Most recently{{when}} and most notably, they took out the Meta.
* An episode of ''[[Freeman's Mind]]'' has the titular character thinking of how the janitors must have the highest survival rate of Black Mesa employees caught in the catastrophe: They have a mop for use in melee, know the terrain, and have the keys to all the locked doors he keeps running into.
* Despite the "no universal canon" nature of the [[SCP Foundation]], a character named Wilhelm Grungkok starred in exactly one tale written a few years ago.{{when}} He's still brought up now and then, is one of the longest-surviving members of the Foundation that hasn't been augmented in some way (mostly because he knows when to duck), and between cleaning up the messes of the various "detainees" and overhearing conversation, the man's brain probably contains half the database of a multinational shadow organization for whom the phrase "knowledge is power" is a quaint starting point. And the poor slob still can't even get employee of the month
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Class of the Titans]]'', the school janitor [[Sdrawkcab Name|Mr. Suez]] turns out to be Zeus, King of the Gods.
* "Yohnny the Yanitor" from ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' gets so fed up with the title character staying behind to work after school, forcing him to stay late as well, that he turns the whole school into an obstacle course to get revenge. Though he lost, so to speak, he had some [[Badass Normal|badass]] skills for a janitor.
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* ''[[Flying Rhino Junior High]]'' has Buford, a former CIA agent, now custodian of the titular school. His expertise is usually called upon to help the students deal with "The Phantom's" latest reality-warping attack on the school. In one episode, a running ''shoutout'' to James Bond, he gets to supply the four main students with spy gadgets.
* ''[[Futurama]]'': "Scruffy. The Janitor." Who is really not almighty at all, but just as lazy and incompetent as the rest of the crew, but owns three times as much stock in Planet Express as any other employee except for Dr. Zoidberg—who, while not a janitor, also fits this trope because he is considered worthless by his coworkers and yet actually owned 51% of the company until he traded his stock to "That Guy" (Steve Castle) for a sandwich.
* ''[[Hong Kong Phooey]]'': "Is it Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? Could be!"
** Though, in HKP's case, he's not so much an Almighty Janitor as he is an [[Idiot Hero]] with a [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]].
* Agent Dark Booty from ''[[Invader Zim]]'' is a borderline example. He's a high-ranking member of a secret society dedicated to protecting humanity from paranormal threats, and Dib's contact in the group. We never actually got to see him in action before the series ended, but the indications up to that point are that he really is or was as much of a [[Badass]] as that indicates. His day job? Janitor at a NASA facility.
** Sizz-Lorr is likely one of the biggest and most powerful of the Irken race, yet he runs a
* One episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' featured the school janitor who was actually Canada's greatest secret agent, working undercover. The ending implied that [[Here We Go Again| his replacement was Sweden's equivalent]].
* ''Moville Mysteries'' features a school janitor who is a former archeologist and adventurer. He devoted his life to keep contained an evil elder god named ''Polipotanaketl'' which he accidentally released some years before.
* ''[[ReBoot]]''. After becoming an adult and surviving the games, Enzo becomes an incredibly strong fighter, both physically and mentally. However he is still technically a Guardian cadet because he never had the chance to attend the Guardian academy.
* The Janitor from ''[[Recess]]''. One episode had the kids discover that he was a math genius, whereupon he got scouted by the military and by
* While not exactly as low as a Janitor and technically high ''ranking'', Optimus Prime of ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' is in charge of a group of lowly Space Bridge repairmen after screwing up somehow when he was applying for the Elite Guard, respected only by his team. He lacks self-esteem and wants to be a hero more than anything. He's working on it. This has led some to call him "Maintenance Prime", after an insult given to him by [[Jerkass|Sentinel]] [[The Neidermeyer|Prime]].
** And Bulkhead, a big low level rube who is 100% [[The Big Guy|big guy]]... {{spoiler|and the universe's greatest space bridge expert.}} He was at least
** Also Prowl, another member of Prime's crew, who happens to be one of the most badass Ninjas on Cybertron. His reasons for being held back were a combination of {{spoiler|early life pacifism, and a [[Heroic BSOD]] after his master died.}}
** Also Ratchet, a vet of the Great War and is bonded to the single most powerful Autobot weapon in existence. Which is also their ship. Seriously, outside of Bumblebee, the entire "lowly maintenance crew" are absurdly overqualified for their low station.
* I wonder if ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' qualifies.{{verify}} Terry is, after all, officially (and de facto) Wayne's errand boy.
** If Terry doesn't, Alfred most certainly does
* ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]'' has Janitor Poopatine, who as you may have guessed is a parody of [[Star Wars|Emperor Palpatine]].
* ''[[Swat Kats]]: The Radical Squadron'' fits this pretty well. Due to them getting screwed over by their superior officer, Jake "Razor" Clawson and Chance "T-Bone" Furlong are given a life sentence of tending to a military junkyard. Ironically, this job gives them ample access to most of the technology they need to build their crime-fighting arsenal.
* ''[[Ben 10]]''. The first few seasons (and associated live action films) established that there is a powerful alien fighting force that takes cover identies such as school teachers, mailmen and phone repair people.
** Hell, they even call themselves The Plumbers, a job most would consider as low or lower than the janitor!
* Jim Morales of ''[[Code Lyoko
* Lenny and Carl from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' apply to this; despite being blue-collar workers who are typically as incompetent as Homer, it's later revealed that they are not only important figures in the Stonecutters (ranked 12 and 14 respectively), but are of higher standing ''than their billionaire boss Mr. Burns.''
** Lenny and Carl are also revealed to have Masters Degrees in Physics, implying that they aren't so much incompetent as simply [[Brilliant but Lazy|incredibly lazy]] when it comes to doing their jobs. It should also be noted that Lenny once took over from Mr. Burns after he went temporarily bankrupt and in more than one episode set in the "future", we see Lenny in charge of the Nuclear Power Plant.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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*** Because it's not hard enough: At least with medicine, even if your certification ''is'' transportable and you are, technically, free to practice—there's several countries that require foreign-trained medical professionals to pass special exams. If it requires you have obtained particularly specialized vocabulary? If you're not fluent in the language, you could ''easily'' be better off taking the janitorial or cab driving job instead...
* [[Tom Petty]] (of The Heartbreakers) once worked at the University of Florida. On the music faculty? No. Workaday administrative drone? Nope. Student assistant? Not quite. He was a groundskeeper.
* [
* [[
** Similarly, Jack White has his own one-man upholstery business, Third Man Upholstery, before he started [[The White Stripes]] with his then-wife. The business failed, but he used the Third Man name later for his record label and record store.
* Bill Crawford was a janitor at the US Air Force Academy. However, in 1976, one cadet, while reading a book on [[World War II]], discovered that Mr. Crawford had in fact earned the Medal of Honor while serving in the Army. It turned out the janitor had single-handedly taken out 3 machine gun emplacements that were preventing his platoon from advancing. He was believed dead, and the MOH was awarded posthumously. However, he had actually been captured and placed in a POW camp until rescue. His badass nature did not falter in the camp, where after being clubbed with a German guard's rifle, he disarmed the guard and beat him unconscious. The reason he hadn't told anyone at the academy that he was a Medal of Honor holder? "That was one day in my life and it happened a long time ago."
* Played with in the case of Bill Leasure. On the surface, he seemed like an unambitious traffic cop, who went out of his way to avoid promotion so he could stay at the bottom tier of law enforcement, filling out tickets and incident reports. He actually made his living moonlighting as a ''criminal mastermind''. He did assassinations, committed insurance fraud, was involved with a stolen car ring, and even ''stole luxury yachts''.
* Bill Pennington of Profound Decisions Live-Action Roleplay. He's the head of the Red Caps (site maintenance and set-up), and is known to have amongst other things waded into the waste storage tanks to retrieve the things that keep blocking up the toilets. He's also a really friendly guy. On the same note, his son Matt (owner of the company) has described his job as "making sure the toilets don't run out of loo-paper".
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** Also applies to the IT staff at most companies.
* [http://kotaku.com/5866158/creator-of-mario-zelda-says-im-retiring-will-make-smaller-games Shigeru Miyamoto plans to assume a lesser position at Nintendo], presumably to spend more time developing.
* According to figures collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130914000833/http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/why-did-17-million-students-go-to-college/27634 there are over 5,000 janitors in the U.S with Ph.D.
* Nurses. Who do, in fact, run everything. The epitaph of many a failed doctor is “angered the nurses”. Without them on side (or actively hindering you) it’s nearly impossible to get anything done, and no one will be sympathetic.
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