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You Get What You Pay For: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
== [[Film]] ==
* In the ''[[A Sound of Thunder]]'' movie, the boss of the safari company shutting down a key component of the time machine to save power contributed to the catastrophe at hand.▼
== [[Literature]] ==
* The "Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness", as outlined in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[
{{quote|A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an ''affordable'' pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars... A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time ''and would still have wet feet''.}}▼
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* In an episode of ''[[The King of Queens]]'', Doug decides to give Carrie eye surgery for her birthday so that she no longer needs glasses. However, she ends up going through a much longer than usual adjusting period almost completely blind. Turns out that Doug decided to not go to the surgeon Carrie's boss recommended but another one due to the fact that the latter had coupons. Carrie is understandably upset and forces Doug to take her to the other one.
* Classic example in ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', where Basil's overriding of his wife's decision to hire Mr. Stubbs for some repair work in favor of the cheaper O'Reilly leads to disastrous results, such as having no door to the dining room or kitchen. He also hired his totally incompentent Spanish waiter, Manuel bacuse he's cheap.▼
* On ''[[The Red Green Show]]'', this is the general attitude of Possum Lodge toward the idea of hippie "free love".▼
* In the ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' episode "Who's a Pretty Boy?" Denzil hires Del and Rodney to paint his kitchen because they're so much cheaper than a professional painter. [[Hilarity Ensues]].▼
* On an episode of ''[[30 Rock]]'', Jack makes Liz get LASIK eye surgery, but being that it's Dr. Spaceman, it's decidedly third rate (it's called LASIG instead). Later in the episode, Jack makes her cry and the tears ''literally'' pour down her face. When Jack asks what's happening, Liz sobs, "This is how I cry now! Ever since you made me get that off-brand eye surgery!"▼
* A common theory among fans of ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' is that the reason [[Big Bad|Emperor Gruum]] kept failing was because, after many Zords supplied by Broodwing failed, Gruum started to demand free jobs from him. Broodwing doesn't seem like the type who would give his best merchandise to a deadbeat.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Deadlands]]'' Reloaded has rules for inferior "el cheapo" gear.▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Psychonauts]]'', during the Brain Tumbler experiment Raz will tell Sasha about seeing "very weird things". Sasha exclaims "Ack! Why did I have to buy the CHEAP Brain Tumbler?". Turns out cheapness has nothing to do with it...
* In ''[[Uncharted Drakes Fortune|Uncharted: Drake's Fortune]]'', Gabriel Roman expresses his frustration in dealing with Eddie Raja:
Line 18 ⟶ 35:
'''Navarro''': You wanted someone cheap.
'''Roman''': Ah, yes. Well, you get what you pay for, I suppose. }}
* In the beginning of ''[[Day of the Tentacle]]'', the Chron-O-John fails because Dr. Fred used a synthetic diamond instead of a natural one.▼
▲* Classic example in ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', where Basil's overriding of his wife's decision to hire Mr. Stubbs for some repair work in favor of the cheaper O'Reilly leads to disastrous results, such as having no door to the dining room or kitchen. He also hired his totally incompentent Spanish waiter, Manuel bacuse he's cheap.
* In ''[[The Adventures of Willy Beamish]]'', Willy and friends get a free pizza with a coupon. Unfortunately, it doesn't come with ''their'' choice of topping, and it gives Willy a bad case of gas that gets him in trouble with the school bully sitting at a nearby table. The girl sums up the situation with "you get exactly what you pay for..."▼
▲* On [[The Red Green Show]], this is the general attitude of Possum Lodge toward the idea of hippie "free love".
▲* In the ''[[A Sound of Thunder]]'' movie, the boss of the safari company shutting down a key component of the time machine to save power contributed to the catastrophe at hand.
== [[Web Animation]] ==
* ''[[Tower of God]]'': On the Floor of Test, food costs money for the examinees. The currency is points earned from the exams, so people generally buy the bad food.
* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' spoofing the story of Moses, Lisa and Milhouse escape a badly designed [[Death Trap]], with Lisa noting, "Slave labor. You get what you paid for."▼
== [[Web Comics]] ==
▲* [[Deadlands]] Reloaded has rules for inferior "el cheapo" gear.
▲* In the ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' episode "Who's a Pretty Boy?" Denzil hires Del and Rodney to paint his kitchen because they're so much cheaper than a professional painter. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* What gets the ball rolling in ''[[Erfworld]]'' is a spell to summon "the perfect warlord" that ends up a [[Summon Everyman Hero]] spell because the overlord running the show refused to purchase the spell support plan. Possibly [[Subverted Trope|subverted]]: later events suggest that, while Parson is hardly the warlord that Stanley ''wanted'', he is the warlord that Stanley ''needs''.
* In ''[[Kid Radd]]'', a couple of flunkies were given ten grand to buy the very best assassin to kill Kid Radd while he's in jail. The flunkies decided to get a discount ninja for twenty bucks and keep the rest. The ninja couldn't hit a broad side of a barn.▼
== [[Western Animation]] ==
▲* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' spoofing the story of Moses, Lisa and Milhouse escape a badly designed [[Death Trap]], with Lisa noting, "Slave labor. You get what you paid for."
* In an episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'', [[Harmless Villain|Dr. Drakken]] angrily complains about the [[Surrounded by Idiots|shortcomings of his henchmen]]; [[The Dragon|Shego]] scoffs at him for being too cheap to hire better ones from [[Arms Dealer|Jack Hench]].▼
* [[Hippie Teacher|David Van Driessen]] hired [[Beavis and Butthead]] to clean his house as a means of teaching them about the value of hard work. They end up destroying his irreplacable collection of 8-track tapes, but they turn out to be unwittingly giving Van Driessen [[Laser-Guided Karma]] when he only pays them a dollar each.▼
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Truth in Television]]. Computers/cell phones are designed to last only 3 or so years, or less if they can blame stuff on damage.
** Also, companies that build products to last ~30 years might not last that long, because of a low turnover rate.
** As true as this is for products, it is ''especially'' true for services. House cleaners, cooks... cheaper is more expensive.
▲* The "Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness", as outlined in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld/Men At Arms|Men At Arms]]'':
▲{{quote|A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an ''affordable'' pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars... A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time ''and would still have wet feet''.}}
▲* In the beginning of ''[[Day of the Tentacle]]'', the Chron-O-John fails because Dr. Fred used a synthetic diamond instead of a natural one.
▲* In ''[[The Adventures of Willy Beamish]]'', Willy and friends get a free pizza with a coupon. Unfortunately, it doesn't come with ''their'' choice of topping, and it gives Willy a bad case of gas that gets him in trouble with the school bully sitting at a nearby table. The girl sums up the situation with "you get exactly what you pay for..."
▲* In ''[[Kid Radd]]'', a couple of flunkies were given ten grand to buy the very best assassin to kill Kid Radd while he's in jail. The flunkies decided to get a discount ninja for twenty bucks and keep the rest. The ninja couldn't hit a broad side of a barn.
▲* On an episode of ''[[30 Rock]]'', Jack makes Liz get LASIK eye surgery, but being that it's Dr. Spaceman, it's decidedly third rate (it's called LASIG instead). Later in the episode, Jack makes her cry and the tears ''literally'' pour down her face. When Jack asks what's happening, Liz sobs, "This is how I cry now! Ever since you made me get that off-brand eye surgery!"
▲* In an episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'', [[Harmless Villain|Dr. Drakken]] angrily complains about the [[Surrounded by Idiots|shortcomings of his henchmen]]; [[The Dragon|Shego]] scoffs at him for being too cheap to hire better ones from [[Arms Dealer|Jack Hench]].
* [[Real Life]] example: Namco's American chain of arcades (Aladdin's Castle, Time Out, Cybertainment, etc.) all get their machines from Namco's home office in Illinois, which always tries to get cheap, broken-down used games and then try to fix them up. With special emphasis on "try", because it usually doesn't work, and they frequently end up spending more money failing to fix a game than it would've cost to buy a brand-new machine. They've driven many of their own arcades out of business this way.
* [[Real Life]] example that led to one of the most unfortunate events in modern history: during the construction of the Titanic, White Star Line chose to cut costs by using lower quality components which backfired horrifically when the ship struck an iceberg and wasn't made of high enough quality material to stay together for the rest of the voyage.
▲* [[Hippie Teacher|David Van Driessen]] hired [[Beavis and Butthead]] to clean his house as a means of teaching them about the value of hard work. They end up destroying his irreplacable collection of 8-track tapes, but they turn out to be unwittingly giving Van Driessen [[Laser-Guided Karma]] when he only pays them a dollar each.
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[[Category:Stock Aesops]]
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