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One-Hour Work Week: Difference between revisions
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A vaguely-defined job that somehow pays well, yet gives the character a conveniently enormous amount of free time for the plot. Common jobs include columnist and artist -- a decent writer can indeed pump out a newspaper column in about an hour if under the gun (though the resulting column itself is not guaranteed to be decent). Nevermind the fact that most columnists have ''other'' responsibilities at the newspaper like editing and reporting -- you know, the things journalists actually go to school for. Usually you'll never see the job actually performed, except in a few throwaway scenes, and don't expect the character's job to ever be a plot point. Somehow it always pays enough for a place with [[Friends Rent Control]].
The reason for this trope is that going to have adventures while you're supposed to be working is not a good work ethic (unless you have the kind of job that's a conceivable part of), and no audience wants to watch someone at work with nothing interesting going on for any long amount of time. However, when you only ever see a lot of free time, and at times of day when the character really should be working, [[Fridge Logic|you may wonder]] how the character manages to earn anything.
For the childhood equivalent of this trope, see [[Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?]]. Compare [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]] (who are literally their profession [[In Name Only]]) and [[What Exactly Is His Job?]] (when the profession isn't even named).
This can also be contrasted to shows that take place primarily around the profession (when the profession itself is exciting enough, or can be made exciting through creative license), where the focus can be almost entirely on [[Work Com|the work itself]]. Examples are ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'' for medical drama, ''[[Band of Brothers]]'' for drama about soldiers, and ''[[MASH]]'' for both.
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* ''[[Yotsubato]]'' is [[Playing with a Trope|an interesting case]]. Mr. Koiwai is a <s> trainspotter</s> translator, which basically means he works from home on his computer and can set his own hours provided he meets his deadline. Of course, this serves as a good excuse to have him home with lots of free time to play with his daughter, Yotsuba. Note, however, that being a working-at-home translator is indeed a real occupation and we do see Mr. Koiwai working a fair bit; he often requests that Yotsuba not disturb him sometimes in order to get more work done, giving her a perfect excuse to spend time with friends or neighbors.
* Deconstructed in episode 8 of ''[[Best Student Council]]''. On the eve of a difficult exam, one character remarks that the protagonist, Rino, has done nothing but play ever since she arrived at the school, leaving her unprepared for the test. Rino spends the rest of the episode studying {{spoiler|and barely passes}}.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Durarara!!]]'', where Mikado and Anri are surprised to learn that [[Otaku|Walker and Erika]] actually ''do'' have jobs--Erika makes jewelry, and Walker's an ice-sculptor. They're freelance, though, so their schedules are flexible.
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Ed is a state alchemist for the military, but doesn't seem to do anything the military asks of him. He seems free to swan off with his brother to Dublinth (although he could have still been on medical leave), wander the countryside without any immediate obligation to call in or report, and even act against the government's plots without bothering to inform his superiors. When he DOES do something useful like fight off terrorists, it's often because he ended up in the situation by accident. He is also clearly paid a ridiculously large sum of money for this, including a research grant of which he spends fairly casually.
** It's shown early on that State Alchemists are supposed to either do research or fight as [[Super Soldiers]]. Even though most people would guess that Edward is doing the latter, he's officially supposed to be researching the Philosopher's Stone.
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** Clark Kent is too--They wanted him to have a job where he could plausibly disappear for hours a day to save the world without raising too much suspicion from his co-workers.
* Belgian comic book hero [[Tintin]] is supposedly a journalist. This is rarely mentioned, and the only time he is ever seen writing an article or explicitly doing actual journalism is in ''Tintin in the Land of the Soviets''.
** He introduces himself as a journalist and occasionally takes out a book to take notes in an interview, but really he's a detective in all but name.
* [[Blacksad]]'s sidekick Weekly, a scrawny little weasel journalist, tries to convince Blacksad that the nickname is because his work is so good that he can get away with only showing up at the office once a week or so. Eventually he admits that it's because the pungent odor Blacksad noticed when they first met has given rise to an office rumor that "weekly" is how often he bathes. He never elaborates on how often he actually shows up at the office, so he might be encouraged to stay out in the field to save his coworkers from his scent, but he evidently wasn't kidding about the quality of his work, because either way he's still employed.
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