5,104
edits
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Difference between revisions
→Video Games
m (removed Category:I Need an Index by Monday; added Category:White Collar Tropes using HotCat) |
|||
| (7 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
Line 3:
{{quote|'''Marge:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|We've met you many times, Ms. Naegle]]. [[Trope Namer|Why do you keep changing jobs?]]
'''Lindsay Naegle:''' I'm a ''sexual predator''.
|''[[The Simpsons]]'', "Blame it on Lisa"}}
{{quote|'''[[Jack Benny]]:''' You again!! Every time I met you, you have another job! You're my waiter, my bellboy, my shop clerk! Now you're a lawyer?!?
'''[[Frank Nelson]]:''' Well, at least ''I'' am trying to better myself in life, what's your excuse?
|''[[The Jack Benny Program]]''}}
This is a [[Recurring Character]] that exists to fill in random jobs at any variety of businesses the main characters visit. And we mean ''any'' variety, no setup or explanation necessary.
Line 13 ⟶ 15:
{{examples}}
== Anime
* Touya in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'', and as is typical of the trope, it isn't clear if he keeps ''changing'' jobs or if he is just holding down a ''phenomenal'' number of part time jobs all at the same time. In a variation, though, he's the main character's brother and unknown [[Secret Keeper]], as opposed to just being a background joke character with no importance to the plot.
** Sakura herself comments that her brother holds a LOT of part time jobs, because Touya wants to make and save as much money possible, so he could go to college without being a burden for his father.
Line 45 ⟶ 47:
==
* The character of Mabel in ''[[Cathy]]'' shows up as a clothing store clerk, travel agent, bank teller, etc.▼
* Uncle Ruckus of ''[[The Boondocks]]'', everything from ice cream trucks to school buses to janitorial duty.▼
* ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'': Rat has been everything from a stockbroker to an oil executive.▼
* [[Donald Duck]] has done many different jobs. Many of them while forced by Uncle Scrooge to do so.
** His uncle Scrooge is no slouch either: before becoming rich he did the shoe shiner, the firewood (later peat) seller, cared for cows on the boat that brought him to America, the sailor on his uncle's river boat, river captain, sailor again, cowboy, a brief stint as a sailor on the ''Cutty Sark'', an actor for the Wild West Show (according to Buffalo Bill, Scrooge actually came up with the idea!), the prospector, another stint as a sailor to pay the travel for Klondike, and the prospector again. After becoming rich he did the banker, directed a sawmill, armed ships,
* ''[[Big Nate]]'' has "School Picture Guy", who when not the photographer has shown up as a clown, a reporter, etc...▼
* Hieronymus Jobs in one story by [[Wilhelm Busch]]. (He's just the 18th century equivalent of a spoilt upper class son.)
== Fan
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/803437/1/Roadtrip_Around_the_USA Roadtrip Around the USA]'', a humorous ''[[Inuyasha]]'' fanfiction, has Sesshomaru in this role. Kagome and crew are traveling to all fifty of the United States. Any time they stay in a state for any length of time, they will find Sesshomaru has a job there relevant to what they are currently doing. The author even encourages people to spot how many times he pops up. The only time the group ever arrive anywhere before Sesshomaru, it was because they ran him over on his way to work.
Line 81 ⟶ 79:
* A bunch of activists in ''[[PCU]]'' keep changing causes.
* Bruce Campbell's unnamed character moves upwards in society through the ''Spider-Man'' Trilogy. In the first movie he's a wrestling announcer, in the second he's an usher at a posh theater, and in the third he's working at a fancy French restaurant (speaking with an awful fake accent).
== Literature ==
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Shawn Ogg in the
** [[CMOT Dibbler|Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler]] is another prominent example. Sure, he inevitably returns to his primary business of selling what are technically sausages "inna bun", but whenever a new industry begins to form in Ankh-Morpork, you can rest assured that Throat will try to cash in on it. All while employing the same level of quality control that he does with his sausages.
** Ponder Stibbons, the [[Only Sane Man]] at Unseen University, keeps acquiring new job titles and duties simply because no one else wants them. By [[
* In ''[[Star Wars: Knight Errant]]'' this become a plot point: the Protagonist Kerra Holt slowly discovers how not one, but several bystanders change their occupations during the brief stay at Arkadia's base of operations. She eventually discovers that inhabitants are constantly rotated between absolutely different positions on a completely random basis: it serves the Sith purpose in a pretty twisted way.
== Live-Action TV ==
Line 94 ⟶ 91:
* In ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'', Bulk and Skull had a different job-of-the-week, sometimes losing it (or saying [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]) onscreen.
* In ''[[Engine Sentai Go-onger]]'', Hanto's got a different part-time job every time his work situation comes up.
* ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'' introduced [[Frank Nelson]] as the omnipresent clerk who gave Benny trouble across multiple industries, and at one point lampshaded in the above quote. (The role originated on the radio show, making this trope marginally [[Older Than Television]].) He was identifiable by his bald head, mustache, and [[Catch Phrase]] "Yeeeeeeeees?" Nelson played this same role on many other shows including ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', ''Sanford and Son'', and even a [[Garfield]] TV special. After his death, a similar character showed up on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', explaining his odd cadence with "I had a stroooooooke!"
** Jack Benny's show also brought us Mr. Kitzel, who started as a hot dog vendor but eventually took on all sorts of random jobs.
** ''[[The Simpsons]]'' character even has, in one episode, a Brazilian lookalike who says, "''¿Siiiiim?''"
* Sgt Joe Friday and Off Bill Gannon turn up in just about every police division from Bunco to Citizens Complaints, on ''[[Dragnet]]''.
** This was deliberate on the part of series creator/producer Jack Webb -- they weren't supposed to be specific characters so much as "everymen" representing all police.
* Kirk from ''[[Gilmore Girls]]''. It is eventually lampshaded when out of the blue, he overbids Luke in a real estate deal:
{{quote|'''Luke:''' Where the hell did you get that much money?
Line 108 ⟶ 106:
* [[Stan Freberg]], in a few episodes of ''[[Roseanne]]''.
* In ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'', one crewman (Lt. Leslie) filled a bewildering number of jobs aboard the ''Enterprise''. He has been a security guard, helmsman/weapons officer, navigator, medtech, bridge crewman, technician, engineer and transporter chief.
** This is actually true of ''all'' [[Red Shirt
** Between ''[[The Next Generation]]'', ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' and his back story, Miles O'Brien has been a tactical officer, flight controller, security guard, a transporter chief, tactical officer again (briefly), one of the greatest engineers in the galaxy, and then moves on to teaching at Starfleet Academy. Not a bad career path for an enlisted man.
** Fellow [[Transplant]] Worf has been communications officer, security chief, tactical officer, ambassador, lawyer (okay, that one's sorta cheating. He played his [[Identical Grandson|identical and identically named grandpa]] in a TOS movie.) and back to tactical whenever crossing back over for the TNG movies, and when Data was thought to be dead, Worf was the one who was going to get ''his'' jobs, too (meaning he'd have been doing his, Tasha's, and Data's jobs ''all himself at once'' had Data's death been for real.)
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. Out of sheer need and a desire to be useful (so the nice people don't kick him off) Neelix has been a jack of all trades. Morale officer, cook, diplomat, babysitter and much more as the plot calls for it. His background had given him a deep understanding of these jobs.
* In ''[[Charles in Charge]]'', Ben Stein played an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] in various settings (bank, mental institution). Initially played as [[Inexplicably Identical Individuals]], but [[Lampshaded]] in his last appearance, when it is revealed that delusions of grandeur have led the character to repeatedly "promote" himself to increasingly higher-status positions.
* Mr. Haney on ''[[Green Acres]]'' appeared whenever Oliver needed a specific service or item.
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** Well, "copilot" implies actually having piloting skills, since the primary function of a copilot is to act as a backup pilot when necessary. Also, we see Helo piloting a Raptor during {{spoiler|the assault upon the Resurrection Hub}}. Much like the real-world US Navy aircraft carrier commanding officers, it seems that Colonial officers aren't eligible for command unless they have some amount of stick time in a cockpit.
* Major Marks, recurring character in the [[Stargate Verse]], has been an officer aboard '''all five''' of the Air Force's star ships over the course 3–4 years of three shows. No explanation has been given for his frequent transfers, and in one instance he might have been in two places at once.
* Xander in Season 4 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' had a new job in just about every episode. This was the season where his friends went to college and he was trying to find himself. Eventually, he settles into a construction worker.
* Mr Pitt appears in all three parts of Alan Plater's Beiderbecke Trilogy, having taken what he describes as a 'sideways career move' each time.
* This is Shawn's entire background before forming the eponymous detective agency in ''[[Psych]]''. He seems willing to keep this up if it helps the case, too, as when he took a job at the museum in "From the Earth to Starbucks."
* In [[Disney Channel]]'s ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'', a woman appears in some of the episodes of the first two seasons, sporting a new job, and it's not like she only does normal jobs either - she also appears at the [[Wizarding School]]. She is easily identified through her monotone voice and short, dark hair and always seems to hate whatever she is doing for that episode.
* After being {{spoiler|fired from Shortywood}} on an episode of ''[[Pit Boss]]'', Ronald switched jobs constantly. {{spoiler|He did get his old job back, though.}}
Line 128 ⟶ 126:
* Nick on ''[[My Family]]'' had a new job in almost every episode. On one occasion, he was able to afford a motorbike because he'd been saving up the severance pay every time he was fired.
== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* The character of Mabel in ''[[Cathy]]'' shows up as a clothing store clerk, travel agent, bank teller, etc.
▲* Uncle Ruckus of ''[[The Boondocks]]'', everything from ice cream trucks to school buses to janitorial duty.
▲* ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'': Rat has been everything from a stockbroker to an oil executive.
▲* ''[[Big Nate]]'' has "School Picture Guy", who when not the photographer has shown up as a clown, a reporter, etc...
==
* Wrestlers often go through many personae in their career. Newer wrestlers may be given gimmicks related to cover up their relative lack of experience, and older wrestlers may be given them to cover up declining skills. Sometimes, it's to give a wrestler a change of pace when one characterization has become stale.
** In the mid 90's, a common trope was the Wrestling Professional. One of the classic examples is Thurmond "Sparky" Plugg, later Bob "Spark Plug" Holly, who was a wrestling race car driver. Also around at the time, T.L. Hopper, the wrestling plumber, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, the wrestling garbage man, and The Big Bossman, the wrestling prison guard. Most of these characters can safely be called [[wikipedia:WrestleCrap|WrestleCrap]].
Line 137 ⟶ 140:
* [[Wrestling Doesn't Pay|If wrestling bothered to pay, maybe they wouldn't need to switch jobs so much.]]
* This became part of Mick Foley's persona, late in his career: At various times, he had been the [[Psycho for Hire]] Cactus Jack, [[Surfer Dude]] Dude Love, and [[Psychopatic Manchild]] Mankind. Foley played them off less as jobs than as alternate personalities, culminating in a memorable Royal Rumble where Foley competed as ''all four'' of his personae (He got eliminated as Mick Foley, went back stage and came back out as Cactus Jack, rinse and repeat as Dude Love and Mankind).
== Puppet Shows ==
Line 143 ⟶ 145:
** In the '70s Grover frequently appeared as a door-to-door salesman, usually calling on Kermit the Frog. Each time he'd be peddling a different item, and always something a frog would have no use for: earmuffs, toothbrush, nose warmer, etc.
* Gwen on ''[[Johnny and the Sprites]]''. She liked to try out a lot of different jobs as her aunt had a saying that "You never know what you can do until you try out something new."
== Radio ==
Line 150 ⟶ 151:
* [[Hancock's Half Hour]] had an unnamed character the writers called 'Snide', who has a different occupation in every episode he appears in. The minute Kenneth Williams (who also played [[Round the Horne]]'s Julian) coos " 'ello", the audience burst out laughing, anticipating Tony's horrified reaction.
▲== Theater ==
* In Gilbert and Sullivan's ''The Mikado'', the character of Ko-Ko is the Lord High Executioner. The character of Pooh-Bah is "The Lord High Everything Else". In fact Pooh-Ba changes jobs ''between sentences''. He could cook the books to hide the cost of the wedding, but as arch-bishop he has a moral obligation to hand himself over to the chief of police (again, himself).
* A rather creepy version is the baritone guy in ''Death in Venice'', who appears in seven different forms and jobs. It's the same singer, and, well, most likely a symbol for {{smallcaps|[[The Grim Reaper|This guy]]}}.
* The appropriately named Common Man in ''[[A Man for All Seasons]]'' fills all the various minor odd jobs in the play.
* In ''[[Our Town]]'', the narrator himself appears in the play several times, each time having a different job.
== Toys ==
Line 162 ⟶ 161:
* The ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' toys would often include the turtles in various jobs such as soldiers, spies, samurai, emergency services etc. Those jobs make sense considering the turtles' heroic nature, but when you have ''Surfer Michelangelo'' or ''Rock Star Leonardo'', it's getting out of hand.
** ... well, if you watched the 80s cartoon, Surfer Michelangelo would be far more likely than soldier or spy!
== Video Games ==
* Namingway from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]] DS'', for very meta reasons. He finds his calling 17 in-universe years later in ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]'', however, as the Challenge Dungeon Manager.
* Stan from the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' Series is running a different business in each game. In order, they are: used ship salesman, used ''coffin'' salesman, life insurance salesman, time-share representative and attorney-at-law-who-makes-a-side-income-by-selling-souvenirs-based-on-his-cases. His job changes are often explained as a result of something that Guybrush did in the previous game.
* Sybil Pandemik from [[Telltale Games]]' ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam & Max]]'' adventure games. She has a different job in every episode of Season One, and each of them is coincidentally useful in solving the case.
Line 171 ⟶ 169:
** All throughout Season Three, whenever you meet someone new (at least for that season) it takes a snapshot of them, and provides (usually) three "useful" facts about them. {{spoiler|When Sybil shows up, it shows "former Psychotherapist, Former Brain Surgeon" and trails off the screen. You can ''hear the amount of jobs she's had speeding up and continuing to list past the screen!''}}
** Sam refers to it as "Attention Deficit Career Disorder", or something like that, which is an apt name, as with each career change, Sybil gushes about how convinced she is that she's finally found her one true calling.
* Larry Butz in ''[[Ace Attorney]] Phoenix Wright'' switches jobs between cases, usually to get closer to his latest girlfriend. By the end of the trilogy, he seems to have found his knack in painting. {{spoiler|It
** Wendy Oldbag, meanwhile, is a security guard in a different venue every time she shows up. The first time it's justified—she snipes at Phoenix about how Global Studios fired her following the first game. {{spoiler|Although in ''Investigations'' she seems to have taken a part time job wearing costumes for Gatewaterland. Edgeworth wishes she'd kept the mask on.}}
** Maggey Byrde is more or less forced into this due to her bad luck.
Line 178 ⟶ 176:
*** [[Squick]]y that she's clearly Wario's love interest, then. Or at least a cosplaying fangirl.
** She's now also been a Wario Park (aka theme park) employee in ''[[Wario Ware]] Snapped'', and in the latest game, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61OpO7r4vho an explorer like Indiana Jones]!
** Not to mention that in ''Smooth Moves'', she's not just a cheerleader in her level, but also a steamed bun vendor in Young Cricket and Master Mantis's level.
* In ''[[Psychonauts]]'', you meet a mysterious [[Almighty Janitor]] occupying various jobs in various locations. {{spoiler|He turns out to be the legendary superspy Ford Cruller, the commander of the Psychonauts, and it later turns out that his mind was shattered into fragments in the past. He's not keeping an eye on things with his different jobs, each one is a different fragment of his mind.}}
* A good deal of the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' cast. To date, Mario alone has been a carpenter, a plumber, a [[Dr. Mario|doctor]], a demolitionist, [[The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach|a grocer]], a pizza delivery man (in the ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' record album), a kart racer, and a toy maker, ''on top'' of constantly rescuing Peach from Bowser.
** And all that is if you don't count referenced cameos in games not specifically mentioned as something involving the [[Universal Adaptor Cast]]. He's also played baseball (''Baseball''), refereed tennis matches (''Tennis''), and even worked the count in the boxing ring (''[[Punch-Out!!]]''). This might explain why Mario holds the record for most appearances in a video game.
* Funky Kong in ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' has been a plane/helicopter salesman, ran a boat hire firm in the third game, ammunition/weapon maker in Donkey Kong 64 and racer in [[Mario Kart]]!
** Less of a reach, though, as all of his ''DKC'' services involve building and subsequently selling/renting machines. As for ''Mario Kart'', just about everyone in the extended Mario universe seems to do that (presumably he built his own karts.)
* In ''[[No More Heroes]]'', protagonist Travis earns his money in both games by doing every job imaginable, however, his boss in each job is always the same. It probably has something to do with "the unspoken laws of Santa Destroy" he keeps babbling about.
* According to the ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' [http://www.teamfortress.com/war/demo/01.htm War! Update comics]{{Dead link}}, the RED Demoman's father held something like thirty jobs simultaneously. (The Demoman himself works three jobs.)
* Besides being [[The Hero]], [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]] himself has had many oddjobs. A world traveler in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]'', a blacksmith's apprentice in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|A Link to the Past]]'', ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap|The Minish Cap]]'' and ''A Link Between Worlds''. Finally a rancher in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]''. These jobs later turn out to be [[Chekhov's Skill]]s when helping others on side quests or fighting a monster.
** Those are [[Reincarnation|actually]] [[Legacy Character|different Links]]. Albeit his run from hero in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]'' to adventurer in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|Majora's Mask]]'' may count.
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'': Name's Lucas Simms. Town sheriff. And mayor too... when the need arises.
* Bea Bear from the ''[[Spy Fox]]'' series. The game ''Operation Ozone'' had her explain why she changed jobs.
* Sheep Man in ''[[Mega Man 10]]'' originally herded sheep; he was built for that purpose. He got bored and worked to test static cling at a textiles factory. He grew bored of this too and was about to change jobs once again when he was inflicted with Roboenza and went berserk.
* Sans from ''[[Undertale]]'' is of the "having multiple jobs running concurrently" disposition, with him manning two sentry stations, having an illegal hot dog stand, a stand-up comedy gig in MTT Resort {{Spoiler|and even appears to judge you in the Last Hallway in New Home's palace before meeting Asgore}}. In a subversion, he doesn't seem to take seriously ''any'' of those jobs and he keeps slacking as much as possible.
{{Quote|'''Sans:''' what, haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before? fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks.}}
Line 198 ⟶ 196:
** And Senor Cardgage, who has been, so far, a mortgage seller, an used car salesman, an "Intregway" seller, an author and a movie theater usher.
* Many characters in ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' have been seen with various jobs, but Lumpy is definitely the worst offender. He's been a farmer, surgeon, carol singer, etc.
== Web Comics ==
Line 207 ⟶ 204:
* Recon A. Dye serves this purpose in ''[[Pokémon-X]]''. Yes, the [[Author Avatar]]. Leads to a lot of [[You Look Familiar]].
* Earl of ''[[CRFH]]'' personifies this trope.
* Butterwort, the insane one-eyed rabbit, in ''[[Murry Purry Fresh and Furry]]'' is always showing up in various jobs. Lampshaded [https://web.archive.org/web/20120514174826/http://www.murrypurry.com/?p=441 here].
* Vess MacMeal from [[Platypus Comix]] would have had multiple jobs if not for the cartoonist's inability to come up with anything for her to do other than appear in one ''[[Keiki]]'' comic (as a spokesgirl for a blackmailing service) and star in one story of her own (as a struggling teacher). Incidentally, her name intentionally sounds similar to that of [[Tress MacNeille]], who voiced Lindsay Naegle, the ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' character who inspired this trope's name.
== Web Original ==
Line 215 ⟶ 211:
* Played with in ''[[The Joker Blogs]]'': the Joker recruits a homeless man named Ted to help film his exploits. Over the course of about half an hour (if that), Ted claims to have been a camerman for the news, a priest, a medic and a delivery man. It's unclear if he's desperate to sound useful or just off his nut.
** [[The Killing Joke|Sometimes he remembers it one way...]]
== Western Animation ==
Line 274 ⟶ 269:
* Mr. Ford on [[Frisky Dingo]]. He's been a mental hospital worker, a pet store clerk, polling consultant for Killface's presidential campaign, political analyst for a news show, US Secretary of State, and US President.
** '''Mr. Ford:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|"Yeah, my ass is everywhere isn't it?"]]
== Real Life ==
Line 288 ⟶ 282:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Occupation Tropes]]
[[Category:White Collar Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]
| |||