Eternal Employee
A character who works at a business or store and seemingly is scheduled for all hours of the day. Whenever any main characters drop in, he or she is always on the clock. This particular person may own the business in question, or they may just be a low-level employee. What's important to note is that they are always at work.
It doesn't matter if it's day or night, they'll be there. Computer problem going to wipe out civilization? No problem, Bob's got your back at the local Big-Mart. Aliens invading you say? Don't worry, Alice will help you at the local Ray Gun store. It's flu season, and you need to some medicine? Don't worry, Dr. Ell Egal has some nice pills for you, and they probably work, too. After all, the good doctor never seems to be sick. In fact, none of the Eternal Employees ever seem to get sick, and never take personal days.
Rain or shine, you can count on these characters to always be at work. Always working. Always.
An exception to the rule is if the characters are featured in a Day in The Limelight episode. Often played for humor.
A Sub-Trope of Economy Cast. See also, Married to the Job. Contrast Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?.
Comic Books
- The Undertakers of Lucky Luke will as standard offer you funerals 24 hours a day.
Live Action
- Mr. Mobsy of The Suite Life shows seems to be working for Mr. Tippon 24/7 when not forced to do something else.
- Krystal from Dead Like Me.
- Wanda from Corner Gas seems to always be working at the gas station. But to be fair, her boss Brent lets Wanda get away with everything she wants to do, so she probably enjoys practically living there if only Brent would leave her alone.
- Despite this, Brent chose himself to be his own employee of the month in an episode.
- Likewise, the town's only two police officers are rarely seen off-duty, although they don't do much to begin with.
- Rob Schneider's character from the "makin' copies" sketches on Saturday Night Live turned this Up to Eleven by never seeming to even leave his desk.
Newspaper Comics
- In the Garfield comics, Irma is always seen at the diner.
Webcomics
- Dora from Questionable Content may fit here, as she seems to always be at the coffee shop. She does have a slight excuse though, since she owns it.
- They mention that she works so much that she doesn't sleep all that much, and she has much less free time compared to the rest of the main cast. This might explain her occasional bad days.
Western Animation
- Apu Nahasapemapetalon and Moe Syslak on The Simpsons.
- Averted in Futurama; the guy who works at the 7/11 shop is always there when the protagonists are shopping, but he's seen outside of it occasionally (although he's hard to recognise without his suit of plexglass armour, as the DVD commentory points out).