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{{trope}}
{{quote|"'Busman's holiday' is an expression which refers to when people do the same thing on vacation that they do in their everyday lives, such as plumbers who visit the Museum of Sinks, or villains who disguise themselves even on their days off."
|'''[[Lemony Narrator|Lemony Snicket]]''', ''The Penultimate Peril''}}
As Lemony Snicket explains above, a [[Busman's Holiday]] is a vacation spent doing things similar to one's normal work. The phrase dates from a (British) period when a "bus" was a horse-driven coach. But the driver got one day a week off, during which the same "bus" would be driven by someone else. The busman might well take a ride in his own bus to make sure the stand-in driver wasn't mistreating ''his'' horses.
A detective, for example, goes on holiday. While he or she is on that holiday, a murder will take place in the vicinity and they will be [[Closed Circle|forced to solve that case.]] If the killer actually knows the detective is there, they're either very stupid, very [[Pride|arrogant]] or is plotting something big.
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This trope is much more likely than not to be lampshaded. Often, upon finishing the impromptu adventure, the hero insists on returning back to work immediately stating he needs a vacation from his ruined vacation.
In [[Anime]], [[Hot Springs Episode
The simplest explanation for this phenomenon is that a regular vacation [[Watsonian Versus Doylist|wouldn't make a very entertaining episode.]] For when it ''does'' see [[Heroes Gone Fishing]].
{{examples|Examples}}▼
Often overlaps with [[Horrible Camping Trip]], [[Amusement Park of Doom]], [[Carnival of Fear]], and [[Summer Campy]].
== Anime & Manga ==▼
* In ''[[Full Metal Panic]]'', even if the characters go to a beach or some other spot to relax, Sōsuke still manages to find a robot that needs piloting, a team of ridiculous villains who need an ass-kicking, or some other situation that requires his special skills.▼
▲* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', even if the characters go to a beach or some other spot to relax, Sōsuke still manages to find a robot that needs piloting, a team of ridiculous villains who need an ass-kicking, or some other situation that requires his special skills.
** Alternately, [[Stuff Blowing Up|he makes one]] [[No Social Skills|by accident]].
* The [[Monster of the Week|monsters of the week]] normally only ever attacked the one specific Tokyo district where ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' and her friends lived (Azabu-Juuban, if you were wondering). However, whatever remote location they decided to go for vacation, the [[Class Trip]], or a [[Beach Episode]] invariably either just happened to have one there too... or was the home of such oddities as baby pleiosaurs, or ghosts.
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** Who mistakenly attributes it to ''Mouri'', and not Conan. Dr. Agasa and Sonoko (Conan's other mouthpieces) sometimes get this treatment, as well. Eventually he ''lampshades the lampshade'' by deciding to let it drop, since it's becoming silly.
** This is occasionally (but rarely) justified when Mouri is invited because he is a detective, and someone suspects something will happen. Ironically, in later adventures, his fame as a detective often gets him invited places where crimes are to happen by people who have absolutely no foreknowledge or suspicions that these crimes are going to take place.
* The third story arc of ''[[
* Most of the heroes' day-offs end up like this in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. There's the airport fire the Aces helped put out during their vacation four years before ''StrikerS'', the Forwards' one-day break in ''StrikerS'' which turned into a mission when they discovered a certain [[Mysterious Waif]], the entire [[Night of the Living Mooks|Marriage incident]] that occurred in ''[[Audio Adaptation|Sound Stage X]]'' around the same time Subaru arranged a reunion with the other Riot Force Six members, and even in ''[[Spin Offspring|ViVid]]'', [[Fair Cop|Enforcer Teana]] found herself needing to help with a police report regarding Hegemon Ingvalt during her time off.
** Though, as the "Holiday Trip" arc of ''ViVid'' (in which the cast gets together for a chance to do some training) shows, the girls ([[The One Guy|and Erio]]) themselves [[Married to
** Averted in Sound Stage M4, in which the Yagami family's day off goes without incident.
* Episode 5 of ''[[
* In a ''[[
* ''[[Kiddy Grade]]'' episode "Day/Off" - which turns out to be anything but.
* In ''[[
* Every single breather episode in ''[[Bleach]]'' will end with a fight against a Hollow, regardless of how much sense it makes in context. The only exceptions are the breathers that follow the Zanpakuto arc, where they fought against a Sword Beast in every episode.
* In ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', [[Superhero|Kotetsu]] finally makes use of his vacation days to visit his daughter in the tenth episode. {{spoiler|He gets as far as the bridge out of Sternbild before it blows up right in front of him, heralding the start of a citywide terrorist attack.}}
* In the ''[[
** Turnabout Prophecy has this happen not only for Phoenix, but also for Franziska, who filled in at the "thong" fortune tellings because one of her father's friends asked her, and ends up as prosecutor for the trial of Russi Clover.
* Subverted in ''[[Monster (
* Averted in ''[[
* Inverted in ''[[Rental Magica]]'' - when the company goes to the seaside on business, all but two of the characters decide to take a holiday while they're there.
== Comic Books ==
== Comics ==▼
* [[Tintin]] can't go anywhere, ever, for any reason without something happening.
* Used to humorous effect in the [[Beach Episode]] of DC's ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (
** The trope is then subverted in the following issue when, on the way back from their vacation, the Legionnaires discover that the Fatal Five have taken advantage of their absence to attack the Legion Outpost while only a few Legionnaires are there to fight them off. Whoops.
* [[The Flash]], [[
* [[Black Canary]] goes on a vacation in ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' #50 and is promptly abducted into her next case. The name of the issue? "Busman's Holiday", of course.
* [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Cyclops is told by Professor X]] to take a holiday, and he does. Over the span of a four issue miniseries, he has to fight off two supervillains, a paramilitary unit and a tentacled monster. Not quite a straight example, since he was only told to take time off from leading a team and he mostly succeeded.
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* Jenkins from ''[[Atomic Robo]]'' gets attacked by a beach full of mooks when he is forced to go on vacation.
** And that's only part of it. His week off is entirely spent in destroying a crime syndicate. However, this is ''[[Memetic Badass|Jenkins]]'' we're talking about; a week fighting drug lords is ''relaxing'' to him.
* In her spare time, Ninjette from ''[[
* There was a ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' cartoon in ''[[Disney Adventures]]'' with this very name. He keeps getting in Latin Darkwing's way. At the end, the Latin [[Expy]] takes a Busman's Holiday in Darkwing's city.
* [[Superman|Clark Kent and Lois Lane's]] relaxing honeymoon away from the rigors of investigative reporting (which in the DCU, ''especially'' in Metropolis, means "escaping from Apokolips-backed gangsters and uncovering [[Mega Corp|Lexcorp]]-financed [[Supervillain Lair
* Way back in Superman #76, Clark Kent
== Fan Works ==
* ''[[The Secret Return of Alex Mack]]'': Alex comes to realize that trouble seems to lurk, waiting for her anywhere she goes for any reason. Lampshaded toward the end of the story:
{{quote|Jack grumbled, “You’d think you could go one stinking vacation without finding trouble.”
“Yes sir,” Alex agreed unhappily.}}
== Films -- Live Action ==
* The ''[[Scooby
* In ''[[What About Bob?]]?'' Richard Dreyfuss' psychiatrist character, Dr. Leo Marvin, goes on vacation to get away from his neurotic, clingy patient Bob Wiley. Bob follows him, and his continued antics lead to the following exchange:
{{quote|
'''Dr. Leo Marvin:''' I'M RELAXED!
'''Dr. Catherine Tomsky:''' Take a vacation.
'''Dr. Leo Marvin:''' I'M ON VACATION! }}
* ''[[
** The irony of the
* In ''[[Speed 2]]'', the super cop protagonist goes on a cruise vacation with his girlfriend that, naturally ends up being [[Die Hard
* In ''[[The Transporter|Transporter 2]]'', the French detective from the first film takes a vacation to America just when the Transporter gets mixed up in another caper. The detective spends his vacation sleuthing around the local police department.
* Played with in ''[[The Net]]'', in which [[Sandra Bullock]]'s character Angela is working on debugging a computer program using her laptop, while on vacation at the beach, not because she is forced to, but rather because that's the way she is. It is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] by the male lead{{spoiler|/main villain}}, also a computer programmer, who first meets Angela during this incident.
* ''[[Rush Hour]] 2'' has Carter and Lee on
* [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in the old joke where a journalist goes to interview Tom Thumb, the circus midget. A six-foot-tall man arrives. The journalist asks "Are you Tom Thumb?" and the man replies "Yes. Today is my day off."
== Literature ==
* [[
** [[Hercule Poirot]] had this happen to him several times, most notably in ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1934) and ''Death on the Nile'' (1937), but also in ''Murder in Mesopotamia'' (1936) and ''Appointment with Death'' (1938).
*** Lampshaded in ''The Hollow'', where Poirot mistakes the murder scene for a prank, and is unamused.
*** In "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", the murder scene ''is'' a prank, laid on in Poirot's honour by some youngsters holidaying in the same
** [[Miss Marple]] had this in ''A Caribbean Mystery''.
*** Lampshaded in ''Nemesis'', in which Miss Marple considers that her tendency to stumble into crimes is similar to an "accident prone" friend of hers who has been in four taxi accidents.
** At least half the stories about professional problem-solver Parker Pyne involve him trying to take a holiday only to wind up having to solve the problems of his fellow-
* Possibly [[Older Than Radio]]: In a couple of the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' stories (''The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle'' (1893) and ''The Devil's Foot'' (1910)), Holmes has worked himself almost to the point of a nervous breakdown, prompting Watson to drag him off on a vacation. Of course they immediately run into a mystery that needs
* In [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]' ''Busman's Honeymoon'', super-sleuth [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] goes on his honeymoon with his detective novelist wife, only to run slap bang into a locked room murder mystery.
** In lampshading the trope, ''Busman's Honeymoon'' is pretty much the trope namer, but the trope also occurs in ''The Nine Tailors'' (murder following Peter on vacation) and ''Have his Carcase'' (murder following Harriet, Peter's future wife, while she is on vacation).
* The equivalent expression in Diane Duane's ''[[Young Wizards]]'' books is "Wizard's Holiday", which became the title of the seventh book.
* A couple of ''[[
** This trope is [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[
* In the ''[[Finnegan Zwake]]'' novels, Finn's mystery-writer uncle is followed wherever he goes -- [[Latin Land]], [[Qurac]], the [[Land Down Under]]
* God forbid the [[Babysitters Club]] could take one vacation without babysitting, not matter how contrived. The sole exception was ''Stacey's Lie''. Oh, and even if they went on vacation without Mallory's five-billion younger siblings or Kristy's step-siblings, then there would be some parents who for some stupid reason needed a sitter for the exact amount of time they'd be there.
* Similarly,
** Same goes for the [[Hardy Boys]]. Each franchise has over 500 stories, and a normal vacation isn't
* In Peter Tremayne's ''Sister Fidelma'' novels, Fidelma, a Dark Ages defence lawyer, seems to keep finding murders when she's off-duty, whether she's attending the fair at a neighbouring kingdom or on pilgrimage to Rome.
* [[Biggles]] complains of this when his squadron finds itself being shuttled around the world in one of his World War 2 adventures.
* Played with in ''[[
** He eventually accepts, on the condition that he plays a [[Dumb Muscle|barbarian]] with "enormous thews."
** In the short story "Day Off", after securing a rare entire day to himself and planning to spend it with his girlfriend, Harry instead spends most of it dealing with the same kind of havoc he usually has on his plate, although of an unusually trivial variety, such as his werewolf friends getting supernatural fleas (for the record, it's of the "unusually trivial variety" because the story was written for a story anthology called "Blood Lite," in which an author challenged some of her sci-fi/horror writer friends to take a shot at comedy.)
* Referred to by name in the Jonathan Kellerman novel ''Bones''.
* Played with in the ''[[In Death]]'' series. Roarke even uses the exact term when suggesting to Eve this might happen. One of Roarke's relatives does find a dead body, but the case is quickly solved by local PD, leaving no investigation needed by Eve.
== Live Action TV ==
* A British [[Game Show]] [http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Busman's_Holiday of the same name] was broadcast in the late eighties/early nineties. The contestants were in teams based on their profession, and the prize was a trip to an exotic country... to work.
* Any time Jessica Fletcher (of ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]'') leaves Cabot Cove, she immediately gets involved with a case. Technically, crime solving's [[Amateur Sleuth|not her "real" job]], but it might as well be as far as the series goes. (One wonders if Cabot Cove's unusually-high murder rate actually ''drops'' when she's gone... As a stand-up comedian once said, "Wherever that little white woman goes, people ''die!''")
** The show even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] it once.
* This also happens to Lt. [[
* Scully on ''[[
* One episode of ''[[
** In Season 4, they actually do all go to Vegas for a bit of a vacation and to visit Lorne. Of course, it ends up that Lorne has been held hostage for some time and is being forced to read destinies, so they have to rescue him. It is duly lampshaded:
{{quote|
'''Gunn:''' Now we do that fighting-for-our-lives thing that we do. }}
* This happens to [[House (TV series)|House]] quite a bit. In the Season 2 episode "Deception," House is at an OTB parlor when the woman he's chatting with has a seizure. Without telling anyone he's a physician, he tells bystanders to have her sent to his hospital after noticing an interesting rash on her abdomen. In the Season 3 episode "Airborne," Cuddy and House are flying back from a medical conference (which may therefore not count as a vacation) in Singapore when one of the passengers falls ill. In Season 4's "You Don't Want To Know," Cole and Kutner are at a magic show in Atlantic City when the magician passes out in the middle of the Chinese Water Torture trick. It happens to both House and Thirteen in Season 5: in "Lucky Thirteen," the eponymous character has a one night stand with a woman who starts seizing shortly after they finish; "Locked In" has House injured in a traffic accident out-of-town only to wind up in the hospital next to a man with a rare form of severe paralysis. In the two-part Season 4 finale, it's given a much more [[Amateur Sleuth]] slant, as {{spoiler|Amber's use of a certain flu medication would not have been a medical problem if House's presence hadn't caused her to be in a bus accident that damaged her kidneys.}}
* In the ''[[Homicide: Life
* In the aptly-named "Captain's Holiday" episode of ''[[Star Trek:
** Make this every "shore leave" episode of Star Trek ever. Bonus points if the crew member in question has been ordered to take time off by the chief medical officer.
* ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]''; any time Jessica goes ''anywhere'', vacation or otherwise, someone is going to be murdered. Of course, [[Doom Magnet| that tends to happen]] when she stays at home too.
* In the ''[[
** [[Lampshade
{{quote|
'''Captain Stottlemeyer:''' That's true.<br />▼
'''
'''Captain Stottlemeyer:''' [[Continuity Nod|There was the time you went on vacation, and then on the airplane...]]
'''Adrian Monk:''' These things happen!
▲'''Adrian Monk:''' It happens!<br />
'''Adrian Monk:''' It happens!
'''Natalie Teeger:''' To you! }}
** Natalie even concludes at the end of the episode that fate makes Monk go to these places JUST SO he will be there to solve the murders...
** Noticeably, the coincidental nature of the trope is played straight-on in "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert," where Monk and Natalie just ''happen'' to be by the port-a-potties when maintenance employees find a body in one of them.
** Played straight in "Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs" when Monk and Stottlemeyer go to a playoff game with tickets for the press box with Bob Costas ([[As Himself]]), but Monk discovers an attempted murder and a murdered quarterback [[Hidden in Plain Sight]] by being dressed as a passed out fan.
* In the ''[[
** Eleven's first series keeps doing this too: in "[[Doctor Who
** In "The Time of Angels", Eleven and Amy's trip to a museum is cut short by a discovering a homing black box with temporal co-ordinates sent 12,000 years earlier by an old friend. The same friend later (earlier from her point of view) also defaces one of the first cliffs in existence to call the Doctor in the series 5 finale.
** Eleven's first Christmas episode is ostensibly set during a honeymoon. So, why is the
** In the 2008 Christmas special "The Next Doctor", the Tenth Doctor lands in [[Victorian London]] to see the sights...then another Doctor appears to apprehend a Cybershade and the plot begins.
** Ten explores a New Earth hospital with Rose, only to end up having Rose's mind taken over by a presumed-dead enemy and the hospital hiding a dark secret.
** The Fifth Doctor spends a bit of time trying to get to The Eye of Orion, the most peaceful place in the universe. When he finally gets there, he gets roped into the events of The Five Doctors.
* Technically not the same, but... in ''[[Engine Sentai Go-onger]]'', the rangers are all unemployed, but their former jobs mimic the vehicle basis of their Engine partners/mecha (Go-on Red, for example, was a former
* Hammy British detective series ''Rosemary and Thyme'' also suffered from this trope. While its leads are primarily gardeners, they moonlight as detectives. Whenever they're off somewhere fixing a garden- sometimes abroad, however much this stretches belief- someone pegs it, and it ALWAYS has something to do with their primary calling. It verges on the ridiculous at times, but never had something ridiculous in a verge.
* None of the major characters in ''[[The Sentinel (TV series)|The Sentinel]]'' can go on vacation without ending up being chased by armed goons.
* In ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' Ned's visits to a magic show, a cooking contest, and a swimming show all end up with mysteries to be solved. One wonders if death isn't following him around in a way other than the obvious.
* In the ''[[Star Trek:
* The ''[[
** Also "The Girls Night Out Job" and its counterpart "The Boys Night Out Job" where each half of the team independently finds itself drawn into a completely unrelated job during their days off.
* When Lightman of ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'' goes on a vacation in season 2, not only does he get pulled into a case while there but he spends the whole time spying on his team by webcam. Well, except for Ria, who he calls down to help him.
* [[James Herriot]] spent his real-life honeymoon tuberculin-testing cattle. The incident made it into both the book and TV series ''[[
* In the ''[[Due South]]'' episode "Burning Down the House" Fraser spends his vacation up north on an epic pursuit of a man for littering.
* In the ''[[
* Whenever [[Inspector Lynley]] takes a holiday, it's a fair bet that it won't be much of a holiday. He even manages to nose his way in on an investigation when he's ''suspended!'' This man takes [[Married to
* In the [[Covert Affairs]] episode ''Half a World Away'', Auggie goes on vacation to Istanbul, having volunteered to help with the sound setup for a major jazz festival. His setup picks up a voice he recognizes as the terrorist who blinded him, and his vacation turns into an unofficial op.
* In the ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' episode ''Kidnap'', Jim and Barney are on vacation, and Jim is planning a tennis game like it's a mission, talking about the opponent's weaknesses and how to go after him.
* Happens unintentionally to JD in the ''
== Video Games ==
* In the western version of the story of ''[[Tails Adventure]]'', the title character was taking one of these after his previous adventure, only to be woken up by a bomb going off in the forest.
* Some fans wonder whether the Mushroom Kingdon's travel agent is the most notorious villain in the ''[[Super Mario]]'' franchise, given how often this happens to Mario and his friends:
** ''[[
**
** And in ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', he thinks he's just there for some cake, at least until some Lakitu with a camera talks to him as if he knows he's going on an adventure.
** And
*** And pretty much the exact same festival in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', which Bowser also attacks.
**
**
** For that matter, ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' starts with Mario simply heading to Rogueport to join Peach in searching for treasure. He runs into [[The Dragon]] the second his ship arrives, and it just gets worse from there.
* Whenever the protagonist in the ''[[Ace Attorney (Visual Novel)|Ace Attorney]]'' series takes an interest in anything, someone will die in connection to it. Many members of the [[Economy Cast]] [[Lampshade Hanging|pick up on this]], but think it's ''them'' with the bad luck.▼
** ''[[Luigi's Mansion|Luigi's Mansion 3]]'' starts with Luigi, Mario, and Peach invited to a holiday at what seems to be a luxurious 3-star hotel, which is actually a trap set by the hotel's owner, a [[Loony Fan]] of Luigi's foe King Boo.
▲* Whenever the protagonist in the ''[[
** This continues in the [[Gaiden Game]], ''Ace Attorney Investigations.'' The second case has Edgeworth on an airplane. When he goes to use the in-flight elevator, there's a body inside.
*** Yep, it's a murder. {{spoiler|And poor Edgeworth's the first suspect. At least he'd already taken the vacation beforehand.}}
** It happens again in the sequel when Edgeworth goes to a speech that the president of Zheng Fa gives in his honor, and there ends up being an assassination attempt {{spoiler|which was staged, as a way for the president to regain popularity and for the killer to murder his rival}}.
* A bit of a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]] [[Crisis Core]]'' is that every time Zack attempts to take a vacation at Costa del Sol, he ends up having to save the town from some sort of monster attack and thus completely ruins his vacation. At least these missions allow for [[Fan Service]]...
* The entire plot of ''[[
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', a Commander Shepard with the War Hero background was on shore leave on Elysium when the Skyllian Blitz hit. Being a crack spec-ops soldier, [[Badass|Shepard only did what came naturally...]]
* In an example of the original definition, the [[Final Boss]] of ''[[Touhou|Phantasmagoria of Flower View]]'', Sikieiki Yamaxanadu, is a [[The Judge|judge]] [[Celestial Bureaucracy|of the Dead]] who spends her working hours deciding whether to send a given soul to hell. She is [[All There in the Manual|stated]] to spend her free time going around and lecturing sinners (so that she doesn't ''have'' to send them to hell).
* In ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]: Ripto's Rage,'' Spyro and Sparx decide to go on vacation to the theme park Dragon Shores... only to get picked up by the Professor and Elora, who need him to save the world for him. Although they do occasionally remember that he's technically on vacation and throw him a bone, mostly, he doesn't get to relax like he wants to until the very end.
* In ''[[Demonbane]]'', the group take a vacation after Hadou mansion was damaged in previous battle. At first, it seem to be a [[Breather Episode]] [[Beach Episode]], they do encounter the villains like [[Mad Scientist|Dr.West]] and [[
* ''[[Far Cry| Far Cry 3]]'' Starts with you and a group of friends taking a vacation on a tropical island to celebrate one of them getting his pilot’s license, and quickly turns into a battle for survival fighting cruel pirates, savage predatory animals, and having to get magical tattoos - and possibly sacrificing your girlfriend - simply to live.
* ''Duke Caribbean'', the DLC for ''[[Duke Nukem 3D]]'' which shows what happened during Duke’s post-game R&R. Well, aliens “happened” it seems, showing up to set up a new breeding ground and ruin Duke’s vacation. At least the aliens dress for the occasion here with sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts. In fact, seeing as Duke is using water pistols and exploding pineapples to fight them, it’s hard to say whether this is real or whether he’s just on a bender after drinking too many fruit-flavored tropical cocktails.
* ''[[Dead Island]]''; Okay, you start as a tourist at the beautiful - fictional - Royal Palms Resort on Banoi, a (fictional) tropical island off the coast of Papua New Guinea, when for unknown reasons (possibly a mutated strain of Kuru, [[Excuse Plot| but that’s not important]]) the other guests are turned into zombies. Cue fighting for your life..
== Web Comics ==
* The beginning of [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0565.html this] episode of ''[[
* Dewey the librarian in ''[[Unshelved]]'' spends his day off [http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20080726 reading].
** As a librarian myself, we all do this. We don't have time to read at work.
* [http://www.shortpacked.com/2011/comic/book-13/03-fishin-chicks/huffington/ This] ''[[Shortpacked]]'' shows that Ethan apparently spends his days off straightening up the toy aisles of other stores.
* Dvorak in ''[[Freefall]]'' currently is a [[Mad Scientist]], but used to be a common household robot. Thus [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03046.htm cleaning is a nostalgic activity] as well as not very demanding.
== Web Original ==
* It became a running joke in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' that superheroes should never go on vacation, because when they do, something bad always happens. Supervillains attacked [[Disney Theme Parks|Walt Disney World]] while the heroes are attending in [[Secret Identity]] with their families. The Caribbean resort they go to gets hit by a hurricane and the entire island needs rescue and evacuation. The cruise ship they sail on is attacked by a kraken. A werewolf stalks the tourists to the mountain lodge they've escaped to. The Atlanteans attack if they go to the beach. It was just easier for them to stay home some days.
* The girls of Team Kimba can't go anywhere in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' without ''something'' happening, or someone attacking them. Over Christmas break, the six girls go to six different cities. Six fights with badguys.
== Western Animation ==
* Many ''[[Scooby-Doo]]'' episodes. Very noticeable on ''[[What's New, Scooby
** There was also an episode of ''[[The 13 Ghosts of Scooby
** [[Lampshade Hanging]] in one episode of ''What's New'': Fred announces that they're going to visit his uncle's museum, in an abandoned castle next to a graveyard. Shaggy laments "Aw, man, we're not even ''waiting'' for the monsters to find us any more!" So instead they do what Scooby wants and go to a dog show. There's a monster.
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' does a lot of traveling as part of her "charity work"; but, on top of that, any family vacation, cheerleading away game, or visit to her Nana's house inevitably runs headlong into something evil.
* ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' episode, "Bustman's Holiday".
* An episode of ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' has Team Lightyear take a vacation together. Of course, [[Plucky Comic Relief]] XR immediately gets involved with a mob of bounty hunters and everyone winds up in a gunfight.
* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (
* 1970s [[Saturday Morning Cartoon]] ''[[The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan]]'' runs on this trope.
* In an episode of ''[[
* ''[[Martin Mystery]]'': No matter what they do, Martin, Diana and Java always have to deal with something supernatural. They visit an aunt in the countryside? They're attacked by a [[Scary Scarecrows|possessed scarecrow]]. They buy a guitar, or a typewriter, or some random stuff on the Internet? It's magic and evil. They go on a corporate retreat? Time for an ''[[Evil Dead]]'' [[Whole
* Anytime the girls of ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' try to relax, a mission is not too far away.
* [[Played With]] on ''[[Batman
* In the ''[[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|Doctor Who]]'' adventure game ''TARDIS'', Amy [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]] that a lot of the Doctor's holidays always go wrong. The Doctor is upset by this, trying to prove Amy wrong by heading to 23rd century London, only to lead into the cliffhanger for the next game, involving alien sharks and flesh-eating shadows.
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Chief Wiggum goes to the beach in uniform because "crime doesn't take a vacation", then it cuts to Fat Tony and his henchmen playing volleyball.
* In ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'', Jake's Dad took him into a camping trip. There, he met a village of sprites needing help against the Jersey Devil. In another episode, a family reunion was interrupted by a bunch of magical sharks.
* [[Popeye]] and Olive tried to take a vacation from their treasure-seeking business and ended up looking for the lost treasure of [[Marie Antoinette]]. In the end of that episode, somebody asked them to look for an artifact that belonged to [[Joan Darc]]. They refused.
* [[Goofy]] once took a vacation from his job as a dishwasher and used a credit card to pay for expenses. Once he ran out of credit, he had to wash dishes to pay for his bill.
* In the third ''[[Hotel Transylvania]]'' movie, Dracula doesn't exactly appreciate a cruise vacation, as he sees it as the same as being at a hotel - his actual job - just on water.
* ''[[Gravity Falls]]'' ''is'' this Trope. It starts when Dipper and Mabel's parents send them to their great uncle Stan's place for the summer, feeling they "need some fresh air". Then Dipper finds a mysterious Journal, and the fun starts...
* ''Any'' time [[Inspector Gadget]] tries to take Penny and Brain for some R&R, [[Da Chief]] is certain to interrupt and give him with some new crisis to deal with. Fortunately, Gadget is [[Catch Phrase| "always on duty"]], as he says.
== Real Life ==
* [
* This can be true of any profession, but computer programmers are unusual in that it's downright ''expected''. Any good programmer who doesn't cook up useful widgets for his phone, or contribute to some open source project, or hack together little video games, or ''something'' in his free time is an odd duck.
* [http://www.analog.com/en/amplifiers-and-comparators/operational-amplifiers-op-amps/products/RAQ_Make_Do_Issue61/resources/faq.html?display=popup "When told that work is work and spare time is not for engineering, I am concerned that the candidate's world view is not really that of a successful engineer."]
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* Writers. Since the invention of the laptop (and, frankly, even before that, the notepad) have made it so easy, and since their job isn't exactly physically demanding (mentally, on the other hand...), it's not uncommon for them to occasionally scribble down ideas that they might elaborate on later. Although, they usually do enjoy their vacation, with the occasional burst of writing during downtime, such as before bed.
* How often do you hear stories about a crime such as a robbery getting foiled because one of the people nearby happens to be an off-duty or retired police officer who steps in to stop them?
* In early December 1941, experienced naval salvage expert Lieutenant Commander Lebbeus Curtis was relaxing in Hawaii while awaiting transport to Northeast Africa for a planned job in Eritrea. Naturally, he was put in charge of salvage efforts at Pearl Harbor.
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[[Category:Older Than Radio]]
▲[[Category:Tropes On a Bus]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Plots]]
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