Mistaken for Special Guest/Playing With
Basic Trope: A random visitor is mistaken for a Very Important Person who is scheduled to come by.
- Straight: Alice is about to check in to the hotel where the cast works when the manager mistakes her for Beatrice, the guest speaker at the convention being held there.
- Exaggerated: ...and is then mistaken by the concierge for a contractor, mistaken by the chef for a food inspector, mistaken by the bartender for a job applicant, mistaken by a job applicant for the bartender...
- Downplayed: The desk clerk mistakes Alice for the very wealthy jet-setter Beatrice, and tries to sell her on the most expensive room in the hotel.
- Justified: Alice is a guest speaker for a convention at another hotel but thinks she's at the other hotel, so she has no reason to disagree.
- Inverted: Beatrice, a guest speaker for one day of a convention, is escorted out of the hotel because she doesn't have a room reservation.
- Subverted: Alice is dragged, obviously confused, through the building to the convention hall and onto the stage ... where she jokes about being lost in the renovations to the building since her last visit, then confidently and eloquently delivers her speech.
- Double Subverted: ...during which Beatrice shows up and it is found that Alice is in the wrong hall.
- Parodied: Alice is mistaken for a President, despite not resembling him in name, hair, face, height, weight, skin tone, gender, or species, but none of the cast listens to her protestations.
- Deconstructed: No one listens to Alice's protests that she's not Beatrice. She has to give the speech, which she bombs, thereby damaging Beatrice's reputation, which earns her some legal troubles along the way.
- Reconstructed: Alice doesn't know what she's talking about, but she still gives a decent enough speech to where no damage is done.
- Zig Zagged: Alice is dragged through the building to the convention hall, where it's revealed after a period of time that she's actually in the wrong hall...at least, that's what the directory says, but it was out of date, and she's actually in the right place.
- Averted: "Wait, isn't check-in at the front desk?" "Oh, I apologize -- I thought you were the guest speaker for the convention. Yes, it is."
- Enforced: "I've got good news and bad news: our Celebrity Star is in, but only for five minutes of shooting. I know we advertised it, but I don't think we can make a whole episode out of that." "Oh, ye of little faith, watch and learn..."
- Lampshaded: "You thought she was me? What kind of cockamamie operation are you running, anyway?"
- Invoked: Alice pretends to be Beatrice to gain access to the convention.
- Exploited: The owner invited Beatrice to give the speech because the staff's inevitable screwup makes a good excuse to deny them raises.
- Defied: The manager arranged for the guest speakers to have admission badges in advance of the convention.
- Discussed: "But ... if you're Beatrice, who's delivering the speech in the auditorium?"
- Conversed: "Wouldn't the employees know what the special guests looked like?"
Oh, Celebrity Star, you're finally here! Come along, we need you at Mistaken for Special Guest to say a few words...