Delegation Relay: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Dodoria''': "Get 'em."|''[[Dragonball Z Abridged]]''}}

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'': "Mind the boat", eventually coming down the parrot, who then passes it on to the mute Mr. Cotton.

* From ''[[Spaceballs]]'':

'''Sandurz:''' (over the PA) DO SOMETHING! }}

* Charlie Chaplin's ''[[The Great Dictator]]'': A huge gun fails to fire properly, and the bullet just drops out of the barrel. The general turns to the colonel and says: "Check the bullet". The colonel turns to the captain and gives the same order. The captain gives the order to the lieutenant. The lieutenant delegates to the private (Chaplin). The private turns to his left... and finds out that there's nobody left to delegate to, so he has to do it himself.

* The Disney Movie ''[[The Cat from Outer Space]]'' did this as a running gag several times with a set of Army officers led by Harry Morgan who were chasing the titular cat.

'''Sergeant''': Yes sir! }}

* ''[[Bugsy Malone]]''. "Get Babyface, get Babyface, get Babyface..." and so on down the line until they actually get to Babyface.

* In ''[[Land of Oz|Ozma of Oz]]'', the Tin Woodsman's army consists of 100 soldiers, only one of whom is not an officer. The one time they actually fight, All the generals give the order to attack, which is then passed down to all the officers of the next rank down, and so forth until every officer has sounded the order to charge in decreasing order of rank, at which point the one private attacks the Nomes.

* In ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone|Harry Potter]]'' when the mail arrives one morning, we get this exchange as the Dursleys and Harry are having breakfast:

'''Vernon''': Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley. }}

** An unusual instance of [[The Worf Effect|Worf]] being [[Genre Savvy]].

* ''[[The Young Ones]]'' use this when someone has to answer the door.

'''Neil:''' (louder) There's someone at the door, Neil? }}

* A Truth in Television closed-circle variant, immortalized in ''[[Dilbert]]'': An employee asking a question directed at higher-ups may find that the task of answering it is delegated back down... to the same employee.

** Another ''[[Dilbert]]'' comic:

'''Guy 3''' (thinking) What's a memo?. }}

*** A third Dilbert example: The [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] gives Dilbert a task. Dilbert says he's too busy, so the boss tells him him to delegate it to Alice. She tells the boss she's too busy, so he tells her to delegate to Asok. He's also too busy, and told to delegate it to a random employee. The employee accepts but doesn't mention the fact that he's quitting the next day. The boss thinks "I solved four problems today."

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', the Mob Penguin Supervisors of the Penguin Mafia have been known to do this:

== Web Original ==

* An episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' has Mr. Burns order a subordinate that a package must absolutely be mailed today. A [[Delegation Relay]] ensues, ultimately ending at Homer, who promptly runs the package back to Mr. Burns's office, who angrily tells Homer that his name is on the ''return'' address.

** Also from ''[[The Simpsons]]'':

[Maggie, being a baby, just lies there] }}

* The third episode of ''[[Transformers Prime]]'': Optimus leaves Arcee in charge of the team (including the humans) while he and Ratchet leave on a mission. Arcee promptly goes off on patrol with Bumblebee and leaves Bulkhead in charge. Repeat until there are only two kid sidekicks left in the entire base.

'''Raf''': In charge of who? }}

** Also, when the Decepticons lose control of their space bridge.

'''Starcream''': Soundwave! What is happening?! }}