George Jetson Job Security/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A company fires its employees for whatever reason it feels.

  • Straight: Bob, a longtime employee of Trope Co, gets fired for losing a three-legged race with his boss, Mr. Pointyhair.
  • Exaggerated: Bob gets fired for looking at Mr. Pointyhair funny.
  • Justified:
    • Bob's repeated firings are indicative of his lack of desire to work with others.
    • Bob wasn't that great a worker, and his job wasn't a truly vital function, so firing him doesn't hurt that company in the long run.
  • Inverted: Ultimate Job Security
  • Subverted: Bob is in Mr. Pointyhair's office, expecting a dressing-down and the phrase "you're fired". Instead, he only gets the dressing-down.
  • Double Subverted: Then Mr. Pointyhair's superior comes in to fire Bob.
  • Parodied: Bob's resume is shown. The employment history alone would kill a tree if printed.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Firing Bob for something so inconsequential causes his coworkers to start to distrust Mr. Pointyhair, to the point where they all quit and the Trope Co office is forced to shut down.
    • Alternatively, the repeated firings take a heavy psychological toll on Bob, who is either Driven to Suicide or just driven crazy by his inability to hold regular employment.
  • Reconstructed: The repeated firings eventually teach Bob a valuable lesson, and he starts to build the crucial skills he needs to last at a job.
  • Zig Zagged:
    • Given the nature of this trope its hard to think of a good example for zigzagged.
    • e.g. Bob is fired from his job for something inconsequential, then promptly rehired for something equally inconsequential. Then fired again, and rehired again. The sequence continues until neither Bob nor Mr. Pointyhair is certain whether Bob still works here. Exaggerated
  • Averted: Bob is not fired for anything inconsequential.
  • Enforced: "We need to show that the boss is zany! Let's have him fire an employee for no reason!"
  • Lampshaded: "Let me guess...I'm fired."
  • Invoked: "Somehow, I doubt this job will last much longer than the others."
  • Defied: Mr. Pointyhair refuses to fire Bob after the team-building incident.
  • Discussed: "You lost your job again, Bob? All right, back to the want ads..."
  • Conversed: "Haven't any characters in these sitcoms heard of a wrongful termination lawsuit? I mean, sheesh!"

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