Comically Small Bribe: Difference between revisions

Hey, you. Yes you. I'm looking for some... information. What, you can't disclose that? Maybe this '''shiny new quarter''' would change your mind.

 

 

Common variations are:

* Attempting to use [[Monopoly]] money or a minor coupon in place of real cash.

* Doubling the payment of voluntary or forced labour, and when they refuse on the the grounds that double of nothing is still nothing, the briber offers to triple the payment.

 

Sometimes gets inverted; the initial bribe is very large, at least by the standards of the person offering it. The other character refuses it but accepts something comparatively worthless instead, maybe even making the reduced counter-offer themselves. This is more likely to be a dramatic example than the normal way around-- typically because the person taking the "bribe" has reasons of their own to do what's asked of them, but want to make a statement of some sort with the token payment. A specific example common in the real world is taking a single dollar (or local equivalent) as payment for services rendered; this is done because both sides have to give '''something''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration in order for a legal contract to exist].

 

Can also apply to unusually small payments, tips, or demands. Usually [[Played for Laughs]]. Contrast [[Worthless Yellow Rocks]], where the characters treat something as being less valuable than it is, rather than more valuable. Compare [[Not Rare Over There]], where something is valuable to someone, but only because they need it and can't find it.

 

== Advertising ==

{{quote| '''Punk kid''': I've got nothing to say to you... but ''Andrew Jackson'' on the other hand...<br />

'''Bob''': Jackson, huh?... ''[opens wallet]'' He's not in, do you have anything you'd like to tell Abe Lincoln and the Washington twins? }}

* In the ''[[I Carly]]'' episode iWant a World Record, Spencer tried to bribe the representative of the world record book into overlooking the four seconds the webshow was off the air (his sculpture drew so much power that it briefly knocked out the power) with skee ball tickets. Upon realizing that they were tickets and not money, he promptly took them back so he could get a giant harmonica.

* At a time when [[The Beatles]] were being offered millions to reunite, a 1976 ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch had producer Lorne Michaels making an on-air appeal to the group, offering them a check for $3000 to perform on the show. [[John Lennon]] and [[Paul McCartney]] happened to both be in NYC and watching the show that night, and were amused enough to briefly entertain the idea of [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|heading over to the studio just for the hell of it.]] They then talked themselves out of it, sadly.

* ''[[Galactic Civilizations]] II'''s [[Artificial Brilliance|eerily cunning AI]] realizes when you try this on your rival leaders. Proposing that someone enter an exclusive alliance with you, declare war on everyone else and give you all their techs and planets in exchange for 1 credit will be treated as a grave insult, and depending on the leader may very well lead to war.

** On the other hand, while the AI is aces at managing its economy to the fullest, it rarely builds up overly large savings to negotiate with. Furthermore, what wads of cash it has it tends to blow them away in rush-bought (or worse, leased) spaceships as soon as a war begins. Which means that should the war go pear shaped for them they are often reduced to begging for peace in exchange for all they have: 5 shiny credits.

* The first guard of McNeil Manor in ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' will let you past for 50 zenny. That's about the price of five healing herbs. McNeil is a ''really'' cheap employer.

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'', there are two little girls on Windfall Island who won't tell you anything they know unless you pay them 2 rupees. [[I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You|And even then, they try to be dodgy about it.]]

** In another one, Homer was trying to find Lisa and decided he needed to look from a high spot. He then bought several baloons, which he used to bribe someone into helping him. It also worked.

* There's a subversion of the [[Briefcase Full of Money]] in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Gnomes": a global coffee company executive attempts to buy Tweek's coffee shop with an empty briefcase.

** In ''[[The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie]]'', Spongebob attempts to bribe Dennis with "Goober Dollers". He's unimpressed.

** Mr Krabs once switched places with Plankton, saying he could do a better job at stealing the formula than him, for 1 dollar.