High Turnover Rate: Difference between revisions

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* The live-action ''[[Casper the Friendly Ghost|Casper]]'' movie. The villainess brings in a priest, ''[[Ghostbusters|Ray Stantz]]'' and even a wrecking crew. Eventually, the protagonist's father, a psychic psychiatrist, is contacted to try and exorcise the house.

* [[This Is Spinal Tap|Spinal Tap]]'s drummers have a tendency to expire in a number of strange ways. Two of them spontaneously combusted.

* ''[[The Addams Family ~~(TV)~~|Addams Family Values]]''. The family go through nannies at such a rate, the agency finally suggests they get a Dobermann instead. The one nanny who can handle Pugsley and Wednesday {{spoiler|is a [[Black Widow]] after Uncle Fester's money, and the general hardiness of the Addamses drives even her [[Ax Crazy]] -- well, Ax Crazier}}.

* ''[[The Addams Family|Addams Family Values]]''. The family go through nannies at such a rate, the agency finally suggests they get a Dobermann instead. The one nanny who can handle Pugsley and Wednesday {{spoiler|is a [[Black Widow]] after Uncle Fester's money, and the general hardiness of the Addamses drives even her [[Ax Crazy]] -- well, Ax Crazier}}.

* The therapists [[Good Will Hunting|Will Hunting]] goes through before Robin Williams comes along.

* ''[[Rango]]'' discovers that the position of sheriff of the town of Dirt is like this, complete with a brief shot of a cluster of graves in the town cemetery.

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'''Armstrong:''' '...But they don't check out.' Well, that doesn't seem like a long list.<br />

'''Corinne:''' Huh! ''(Pushes button on list, revealing it's a '''very''' long list folded over several times)'' }}

* ''[[Men in Black (~~Film~~)|Men in Black]]:'' It's implied that no one stays Jay's partner for very long.

* ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]:'' It's implied that no one stays Jay's partner for very long.

* In the original "Yours, Mine, and Ours", after the Frank's wife died he tried to get a house keeper to mind his 10 children, all of whom were angry over their mother's death and fathers negligence (he spent much of his time gone in the Navy.) They were all shown storming out horrified at the children. The final housekeeper actually set up the first real meeting between the main couple when she embarrassed his eldest daughter to the point that she fainted, necessitating a trip to the infirmery where the Helen works.

== Literature ==

* In the ''[[~~Discworld (Literature)|~~Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld ~~(Literature)~~/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'', Moist von Lipwig takes on the job of Postmaster General after several previous occupants of the post died in odd accidents. Given the ruin he was put in charge of he'd assumed these deaths had occurred when they stopped delivering mail decades earlier, and was distraught to learn that it had been last month - none of the recent appointees had survived long enough to clean the place up.

* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'', Moist von Lipwig takes on the job of Postmaster General after several previous occupants of the post died in odd accidents. Given the ruin he was put in charge of he'd assumed these deaths had occurred when they stopped delivering mail decades earlier, and was distraught to learn that it had been last month - none of the recent appointees had survived long enough to clean the place up.

** Equally, Kings/Patricians before Vetinari and Archchancellors before Ridcully used to have quite short tenures; one king was killed mere seconds after his coronation, and became known to history as King Loyola the Aaargh. Patricians always seemed to end up going crazy and needing to be replaced or assassinated, while the wizards were firm believers in [[Klingon Promotion]]. Vetinari got around this by [[Vetinari Job Security|being irreplaceable]], Ridcully by being virtually unkillable.

*** The last patrician before Vetinari, Mad Lord Snapcase, lasted about a decade. Homicidal Lord Winder is also implied to have lasted a good while. The Archchancellors, by comparison, were replaced once per book, implying tenures counted in single-digit months.

* Passepartout's predecessors in ''[[Around the World In Eighty Days]]'' couldn't live up to Phileas Fogg's exacting standards.

* Passepartout's predecessors in ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]'' couldn't live up to Phileas Fogg's exacting standards.

* In [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''The Rowan'', Afra Lyon takes up the role of second-in-command of Callisto Tower, where the Prime in charge, The Rowan, has gained a reputation for going through them like gum (a combination of candidates being unwilling or unable to cope with her temperamental nature and her simply sending them packing because she didn't like them). He later becomes her best friend and later, in "Damia" {{spoiler|her son-in-law}}.

* The infamous Defense Against the Dark Arts post in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' novels. Which was [[A Wizard Did It|literally jinxed]] {{spoiler|by [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] when he was refused the job.}} It's not explained how he did this, or why Dumbledore doesn't abolish the post and replace it with something non-cursed.

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== Live Action TV ==

* A [[Running Gag]] on the ''[[Gilmore Girls]]''. Lorelai's mom Emily can't keep a maid because she has such strict guidelines on how she wants things to be done.

* In the second series of ''[[~~Black Adder~~]]'', Edmund mentions that Head Executioners have a nasty habit of getting into nasty accidents, such as [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much|accidentally brutally stabbing themselves]] in the stomach [[Cut Himself Shaving|while shaving]]. Inevitably, this is just before he gets the job in question.

* In the second series of ''[[Blackadder]]'', Edmund mentions that Head Executioners have a nasty habit of getting into nasty accidents, such as [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much|accidentally brutally stabbing themselves]] in the stomach [[Cut Himself Shaving|while shaving]]. Inevitably, this is just before he gets the job in question.

** Most amusingly, when Blackadder assumes the latest Head Executioner was murdered, he is informed that though they usually are, this time the man just signed his name on the wrong dotted line and they came for him while he slept:

{{quote| '''Blackadder''': He should have told them they had the wrong man.<br />

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** In the last season, Murphy has to stand before a [[Joker Jury]] made up of all her fired secretaries. After Murphy gives her [[Reason You Suck Speech]] and they let her go, she meets up with one secretary who had perfect qualifications and no trouble with the job whatsoever. Murphy can not remember firing her.

* The Doublemeat Palace in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' has a suspiciously high turnover rate - it turns out to be because of a customer who loves the taste of the employees. Fast food servicing indeed.

* ''[[~~Danger UXB (TV)|~~Danger UXB]]'', being about bomb disposal, mentions this early on.

* ''[[Danger UXB]]'', being about bomb disposal, mentions this early on.

* ''[[~~Twenty Four~~]]'' milks this trope, particularly in the arena of who will be the president in any given stretch of episodes and the high mortality rate of Jack's bosses. The number of the latter is debatable depending on who all you count as being is boss (i.e. all direct superiors or just agency directors?) but there are no fewer than 6 people that have been presidents in 24's 8 seasons. The number rockets to 9 if you include whoever was president in season 1, Logan's vice president taking over when he resigns and take President Taylor's resignation in the series finale into account.

* ''[[24]]'' milks this trope, particularly in the arena of who will be the president in any given stretch of episodes and the high mortality rate of Jack's bosses. The number of the latter is debatable depending on who all you count as being is boss (i.e. all direct superiors or just agency directors?) but there are no fewer than 6 people that have been presidents in 24's 8 seasons. The number rockets to 9 if you include whoever was president in season 1, Logan's vice president taking over when he resigns and take President Taylor's resignation in the series finale into account.

* Gene Roddenberry's ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' is both a straight and meta example, given the high turnover rate of its cast and characters. Due to assorted production and inter-personal issues, main actors tended to leave the show after only a season or two, leading to a constantly changing roster of lead characters (which also had elements of [[Klingon Promotion]], ironically enough, as each departing character tended to have their role in the plot replaced by the supporting character most directly under them). In fact the only character who lasted through all 5 seasons was the secondary antagonist and [[The Starscream|Starscream]], Agent Sandoval.

* While they do usually manage to last a couple seasons each, ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'' goes through Assistant D.A.s at a pretty brisk pace, especially when you consider the core of the S.V.U. department has remained constant throughout the years. About 50% eventually ended up being terminated with prejudice (in one case seemingly ''literally'', and another case actually literally) for one reason or another.

* Don Draper on ''[[Mad Men]]'' cannot keep a secretary for the life of him. Season 4 was the biggest highlight of this and near the finale people started taking guesses on what will happen to his latest, Megan.

* In the ''[[Misfits]]'' world, ''do not'' become a parole officer. You will die, your body will never be found, and, seemingly, [[Police Are Useless|the authorities will ignore your disappearance]].

* A high-ranking Vulcan on ''[[Star Trek Enterprise]]'' tells T'Pol that before her, no Vulcan liaison had lasted more than a few weeks on the Enterprise.

* A high-ranking Vulcan on ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' tells T'Pol that before her, no Vulcan liaison had lasted more than a few weeks on the Enterprise.

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* Troubleshooters (the ''player characters'') in the RPG ''[[Paranoia]]''; there's a ''[[Killer Game Master|reason]]'' they come in cloned six-packs.

** Asking what that reason is is treason, which is punished by summary execution.

* The Cheiron Group of ''[[~~Hunter: The Vigil (Tabletop Game)|~~Hunter: The Vigil]]'' goes through employees at an alarming clip. Which is why the player characters can get signed on.

* The Cheiron Group of ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]'' goes through employees at an alarming clip. Which is why the player characters can get signed on.

== Videogames ==

* In one of the ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni]]'' [[Visual Novel|Visual Novels]], it's mentioned that working for the [[Big Screwed-Up Family|Ushiromiya family]] pays really well, but most servants can't handle the stress.

* In one of the ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' [[Visual Novel|Visual Novels]], it's mentioned that working for the [[Big Screwed-Up Family|Ushiromiya family]] pays really well, but most servants can't handle the stress.

* In the ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' game, it's implied the reason that the team refers to the player primarily by nicknames (specifically "Rookie") is due to this trope since your primary purpose after all is to be the team Guinea Pig for highly dangerous experimental technology.

{{quote| '''Venkman''': Ah-ah, no names, Ray. I don't want to get too attached to this one.}}

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== Webcomics ==

* The webcomic ''[[~~Freefall (Webcomic)|~~Freefall]]''... every other mechanic Sam has taken on has run away screaming within a day. In some cases literally. But of course, Florence IS a bit different...

* The webcomic ''[[Freefall]]''... every other mechanic Sam has taken on has run away screaming within a day. In some cases literally. But of course, Florence IS a bit different...

* A short arc in ''[[Suicide for Hire]]'' focuses on a normal business offering nachos and other foods to contrast the eponymous job, while tweaking the trope a bit by having the main character be unsuccessful. The [[Crapsack World|incredibly idiotic customers]] typically drive any worker intelligent enough to add insane within a few days. Arcturus lasts a few days before trying to strangle a man with red rope licorice, and only a week before trying to murder a man over a burger. That's still beating the spread by four days.

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* The Emperors of Trisol (the water people planet) of ''[[Futurama]]'' tend to last only a week on average. When Fry ascends to the throne we see his royal portrait is already followed by blank frames for Fry's Assassin and Fry's Assassin's Assassin.

** It's implied a few times throughout the series that Professor Farnsworth was used to a somewhat high turnover of the flight crew until the present one managed to avoid death. The dangerous-sounding missions might have something to do with it. On one occasion when the crew doesn't return as soon as anticipated, Farnsworth is seen already welcoming a new crew to Planet Express.

* In the episode when Mrs. Beakley was introduced on ''[[~~Duck Tales~~]]'', she is preceded by a montage of nannies terrorized by the nephews' antics, but unlike the others she immediately learns their names and can differentiate them.

* In the episode when Mrs. Beakley was introduced on ''[[DuckTales]]'', she is preceded by a montage of nannies terrorized by the nephews' antics, but unlike the others she immediately learns their names and can differentiate them.

* Happened to the Sheriff of Scabstone in ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'', the job being taken by Bloaty and Squirmy as the old sheriff continued running across the Fatlands.

** Also happened to Heffer during his stint as a security guard at Conglom-O.

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== Web Original ==

* Level-D personnel are the [[~~SCP Foundation (Wiki)|~~SCP Foundation]]'s equivalent of [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]]. (They're recruited from death row inmates for a reason.) As if the extremely lethal positions they're given aren't bad enough, all Level-D personnel are killed one month after being demoted to this level. There is [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-181 one exception], but that's only because he's actually an SCP; a few others have also been exempted because they're needed for long-term study, and one particular set gets three months at least because their work is both vital to the Foundation, and requires technical skills they need to be trained in. Even the Foundation needs lab techs.

* Level-D personnel are the [[SCP Foundation]]'s equivalent of [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]]. (They're recruited from death row inmates for a reason.) As if the extremely lethal positions they're given aren't bad enough, all Level-D personnel are killed one month after being demoted to this level. There is [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-181 one exception], but that's only because he's actually an SCP; a few others have also been exempted because they're needed for long-term study, and one particular set gets three months at least because their work is both vital to the Foundation, and requires technical skills they need to be trained in. Even the Foundation needs lab techs.