And Stay Out!

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You've Seen It a Million Times. Alice has had enough of Bob's crap. She tells him off, turns on her heel, and marches out of his life for good, announcing "I'm leaving" as she slams the door behind her. A moment later, Bob bellows, "And Stay Out!"

This is a Stock Phrase and the archetypal example of an entire range of behaviors which boil down to attempting -- usually unsuccessfully -- to save face by recasting a negative consequence of one's own actions as a deliberate positive effect, in a kind of Xanatos Gambit-after-the-fact. Unfortunately, such attempts are often immediately obvious for what they are, and will come across to anyone else as just lame attempts to look good. This is most frequently used a Comedy Trope, but can have its place in drama as well, where Bob's attempt to save face may involve something more (and/or more drastic) than just yelling at a person who's no longer there.

Note that an instance of this trope does not have to be based around a literal doorslam -- it can be any kind of attempt to save face in the wake of a disappointment or embarrassment. Typical phrases other than the trope namer shouted in moments like this include things like "No one walks out on me!", "You'll regret this!", and "You'll never work in this town again!" Sometimes the speaker is trying to convince anyone watching... and sometimes he's trying to convince himself.

Compare "You Can't Fire Me, I Quit!" Contrast Screw This, I'm Outta Here, which depending on the context, may prompt an instance of this trope.

Not to be confused with another stock phrase, "Get out and stay out!", which lacks the hypocritical context and overtones, and is in fact a genuine case of Bob tossing Alice out on her ass.

Examples of And Stay Out! include:

Music

• The phrase isn't used in Alabama's song "I Showed Her" about a man whose wife walked out on him, but the trope is there:

I guess I showed her How much she had to lose Showed her, who was really who I know she's hurtin' now Looks like I showed her

• Similarly, John Waite's "Missing You" expresses the trope without using the exact phrase, as the singer tries to convince himself that his love's departure affects him not at all:

I ain't missing you at all since you've been gone away I ain't missing you, no matter what my friends say

Web Original

• Frequently seen on TV Tropes in 2012, when various wiki contributors made it known they were leaving because they did not approve of the measures the staff had chosen to impose in the wake of The Second Google Incident. Fast Eddie or other staff would routinely lock the accounts of such departing users and blank their troper pages as "punishment" for quitting the wiki.

Western Animation

• Invoked in the Simpsons episode "Santa's Little Helper", when Homer lets the cat out, and slams the door behind it while bellowing, "And stay out!"
• Similarly invoked for comedic purposes in the episode "Pest of the West" of SpongeBob SquarePants, where as SpongeBob rides out of town, the local Dastardly Whiplash character shouts "And stay out!"