History Main / CantGetInTroubleForNuthin

* This happens amusingly often in ''AvatarTheLastAirbender.'' In "The Waterbending Scroll," Katara steals the titular scroll, which is extremely rare and valuable. Even though the pirates she stole it from came after her and try to get it back (and even though Zuko tries to use the scroll to barter for Aang), by the end of the episode, no lesson is learned and they get to keep the scroll! In "The Runaway," Aang, Sokka, and Toph are scamming people for money, which Katara is against... because it will draw attention to them, not because the scamming is wrong in and of itself. This concern proves to be justified later, as Combustion Man catches Katara and Toph because of all the attention they're getting, but the kids get to keep all their stolen money and, again, no {{Aesop}} about not stealing is learned.

* ''30 Rock'' - after attaining A-list celebrity status, Tracy desperately wants out. He tries disgracing himself publicly, but all of his boorish antisocial antics are embraced as the quirks of a genius artist by an adoring public.

* At the beginning of a weeklong arc in {{Foxtrot}}, Roger declared that he was going to take Jason golfing after school the following day, never mind that Jason was clearly utterly uninterested in the game. The final panel of the Monday comic that week showed Ms. O'Malley, Jason's teacher, on the receiving end of a hailstorm of paper darts, yelling "Jason Fox, are you ''trying'' to get detention!?" (His scheme failed, of course.)

* On an episode of ''[[ICarly iCarly]]'', Carly and Sam are planning a big fiftieth-webcast show. Sam gets detention for the night on which the show was being held, though, so Carly and Freddy decide to broadcast the show from detention. Trouble is, no matter what they do, it backfires (Carly pulls a fire alarm; there was a real fire. Freddy grafitti's a window; it gets washed off. Carly breaks a teacher's chair; she's so happy that she gets a paid vacation she doesn't investigate. Etc.) Eventually, Carly gets detention for doing...well, nothing, from an [[SadistTeacher evil teacher]] and Freddy hides in a closet.
** [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous She slammed her locker.]] For some reason, only the [[SadistTeacher Sadist Teachers]] have a problem with this, but they still manage to give people detention for it.

* In the [[OHenry O. Henry]] short story ''The Cop and the Anthem'', Soapy the bum wants to spend the winter in jail, but can't get arrested for anything. [[spoiler: That is, until the end of the story, where he decides to get a job just before his arrest for loitering.]] This story was adapted into a Freddy The Freeloader sketch on TheRedSkeltonshow.
* In Terry Pratchett's {{Discworld}} series, there is a character named "Done It" Duncan, for his habit of telling the city watch, "Whatever it was, I done it!" in order to be given a bowl of soup and a night in jail out of the cold. They never believe him, but sometimes let him stay anyway. Of course, he is a valuable source of information, as he often reveals who the real perpetrators were. "It was me, not Coalface's boys like everyone says".

** No, they would, they've been actually caught two times: Their mother freaked out and was furious each time, though each was undone through time travel.

* There was a ''KingOfTheHill'' where Hank for some reason was trying to get arrested. Being a very by-the-book character, he walks into a convenience store without a shirt or shoes on, and points this out to a cop there who replies that "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service" is store policy and not the law. Even the cashier says that he doesn't really enforce it.
** It was so that he could go to jail and be locked up with Bill so he could apologise for removing the tattoo of Bill's name on his head.

* In [[DoctorDoolittle Doctor Doolittle's Return]], Dr. Doolittle tries in vain to get himself thrown into jail, so that he can write his book in peace and quiet. When he finally succeeds, the animals break him out and he has to start over again.

* Played for Laughs in ''Chopper'' as Mass Murderer Mark Reade confesses to shooting a man in Self Defense to The Police,even bringing the Murder weapon.When the Police don't believe Him,He claims that He has "Never been as Insulted in His whole Life".He later laments that He used to be a dangerous Criminal and now can't even get arrested

* There was a ''KingOfTheHill'' where Hank for some reason was trying to get arrested. He walks into a convenience store without a shirt or shoes on, and points this out to a cop there who replies that "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service" is store policy and not the law. Even the cashier says that he doesn't really enforce it.

* Pedro Lopez, a South American man who killed over 300 people across three countries, confessed his crimes and was told to push off and stop shitting them. This denial continued until a flash flood unearthed a mass grave. A mass grave containing Pedro's victims.

Occasionally the character will find that the person they are impersonating is a CompleteMonster or the TokenEvilTeammate, so anything nasty that they do actually comes off as ''nicer'' than usual.

In the second form of the trope, reminiscent of a SpringtimeForHitler plot, a character wants to be punished in order to escape a worse fate. Perhaps they want to be sent to bed without a disgusting dinner, or arrested so they don't freeze to death outside.

* ''ElGoonishShive'': the first arc involving Ellen.

* ''Wringer'' has Palmer deliberately getting detention so his "friends" (who take great pleasure in killing pigeons) won't see his pet pigeon follow him home.

Occassionally the character will find that the person they are impersonating is a CompleteMonster or the TokenEvilTeammate, so anything nasty that they do actually comes off as ''nicer'' than usual.