Professional Butt-Kisser: Difference between revisions

Like the name says, the Professional Butt-Kisser is a career sycophant and [[Yes-Man]]. They don't care who is in charge so long as they're the right hand man. If their current boss were to meet an untimely end (or just get fired/demoted) they will [[Les Collaborateurs|happily offer their services]] to their replacement, even if they just saw how the new boss killed the old one! Despite their desire to be close the reins of power, they never harbor any [[Ambition Is Evil|ambitions]] of [[The Starscream|their own boss-hood]], much less [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|betraying their current boss]] (weeell... until the new one pushes them out of the job, anyway).

 

 

It's worth mentioning that despite the utterly slimy nature of the character, they tend to get off fairly lightly in terms of [[Call It Karma|divine]] [[Laser-Guided Karma|retribution]]. It may be because of the [[Stepford Smiler]]-like lack of malice, or the lack of concrete evil deeds.

 

{{examples}}

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Diethard from ''[[Code Geass]]'' is one of these, a Britannian newshound who joins the Black Knights largely because he sees them as the winning party. {{spoiler|Later, once Lelouch is exposed and betrayed by the Black Knights, Diethard gleefully switches sides and joins Schneizel in his quest to conquer the world.}}

* [[Transformers Cybertron]] 's Thunderblast is this meets [[My Girl Is a Slut]]. She doesn't want to be the most powerful, unlike most of the serious villains - she wants to have the ear (and maybe more) of the most powerful. YMMV on whether she is also a parody of [[Ms. Fanservice]].

 

* There is a character exactly like this in the trope-filled novel ''Stolen from Gypsies''.

* The Igors in ''[[Discworld]]'' work like this -- perfectly loyal until the torch-and-pitchfork brigade come calling, then it's out the back door to find a new master. Genre-savvy characters have taken advantage of this to ask them how to get in and out unobtrusively.

{{quote| '''Tobias:''' How exactly do you program a computer to kiss butt like that?}}

* Mr. Collins of ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' is the Regency equivalent of this; while Lady Catherine de Bourgh is not exactly his boss, he does depend on her goodwill for future advancement, and ensures this goodwill (or, given Lady Catherine's overall disagreeable character, something close to it) through shameless grovelling to the point where he's sucking up to her when she's not even in the local vicinity. {{spoiler|He even fulfills the "switching allegiances when necessary' part of the trope; when Elizabeth and Darcy are rumored to be engaged to marry, he writes Elizabeth's father a letter expressing Lady Catherine's condemnation of the engagement. Mr. Bennet writes back once the engagement becomes a reality and points out that, if he was to get in Darcy's good books, things would be even better for him. Mr. Collins' objections suddenly cease.}}

* Dwight Schrute in ''[[The Office]]''. Aside from the few episodes he's fired (and [[George Jetson Job Security|promptly rehired]]) or trying to usurp Michael's job.

* Phil Smith on ''[[The Thick of It]]''.

* [[Played for Laughs]] and subverted with Evaristo Espina from the "La Oficina ("The Office") segment in the Chilean humor show ''Jappening con Ja'', who had almost all the marking of the trope but is also fiercely loyal to his boss. He's [[Ensemble Darkhorse|so iconic]] that in Spanish Chilean slang, the word "espinita" is actually used to define the trope itself.

* Hodges on ''[[CSI]]''. He's always out to kiss up to the boss and doesn't really have any ambition, he wants to stay in the lab where he's happy. Grissom used to get terribly annoyed at him sometimes.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Pious Augustus in ''[[Eternal Darkness]]: Sanity's Requiem'' if he's working for Ulyaoth.

 

 

== Web Comics ==

{{quote| '''Qarr:''' See, the first lesson of being 18-inches tall is: Find someone more powerful than you are, and glue your lips to their ass.}}

 

** Sunstorm (Sycophant Starscream) heaps praise and compliments on ''everyone''. He especially praises the original and most brilliant Starscream, {{spoiler|and later Megatron.}} Of course, he's not nearly as awesome as you, wonderful article reader. ''You're so cool!''

** Lugnut too, though only for Megatron. He seems to not only ''worship'' Megatron in the most literal sense of the term, but he actually ''swears by him'' -- and he doesn't hesitate to remind Megatron of this fact in person. Even the megalomaniacal leader of the Decepticons sometimes gets tired of it, but keeps Lugnut around anyway because he's completely reliable.

** Averted by Waylon Smithers, whose devotion to Mr. Burns is genuine and absolute (and, well, more than just professional). It's also implied in one episode to be quite literal in Smithers' case, as he asks Mr. Burns, when the latter claims during a meltdown that he has nothing left but to kiss his sorry ass goodbye, if he could kiss Mr. Burns' ass.

** Played straight with his lawyers though, who absolutely refused to inform him he was making bad decisions even when he was losing everything. Hell, when he did, they still said he made all the right moves and when he called them out, they agreed in the exact same way.

 

{{reflist}}