History Main / EvenBeggarsWontChooseIt

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddAndEddy'', an extremely sleep deprived Edd is looking for any bed to sleep in, since his own is not available. Upon seeing Ed's extremely disgusting bed, he declares "Not if it was the last bed on Earth" and continues searching.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddAndEddy, an extremely sleep deprived Edd is looking for any bed to sleep in, since his own is not available. Upon seeing Ed's extremely disgusting bed, he declares "Not if it was the last bed on Earth" and continues searching.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'': in "The Jerky Girls", Riley and her friends attempt to sell jerky for their [[ScoutOut Happy Hornet]] troop. It turns out to be so bad, hungry wolves refuse to eat it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'': In one episode, Garfield tried to get rid of an [[PolkaDork accordion]] of Jon's but his effort to give it away only result in it getting quickly returned. Heck, even trying to ditch it in the lake prompts a ''mer-man'' to swim up and throw it back.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'': Riley and her friends were once selling jerky. It was so bad hungry wolves refused to eat it.

* Many organisations that accept donations of used clothes refuse to take clothes that are actively damaged as opposed to just worn. This is actually a justified version of this trope, since they know that if they don't draw an easily identifiable line they will get a certain amount of clothes that are too ruined to be any use at all, and sorting through donations for passable clothes will require manpower they don't have. Being choosy gets the beggars dressed more reliably.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'', Captain Von Trapp tells Maria she must put on a better dress than the one she has on before meeting his children as their new governess. Maria states she doesn't have one, as she is a nun and when nuns enter the convent, their worldly clothes are given to the poor. The Captain then asks why she still has the one she's wearing now. Maria replies: "The poor didn't want this one."

* Inverted in ''Film/MaterialGirls''. The beggars ''would'' choose the beautiful Dolce and Gabbana clothes Music/HilaryDuff's character donates to charity, but not many homeless people are a size 0.

* Lampshaded in ''Film/ZorroTheGayBlade'' when Bunny Wigglesworth tells a crowd of peasants, "Remember my friends, there is no shame in being poor, only in dressing poorly!"

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'':
** In an episode, Elaine sells muffin tops, and needs to dispose of the stumps (making them without stumps just isn't the same, you see). Both a homeless shelter and a garbage dump reject them. However, [[FatBastard Newman]] gleefully accepts the opportunity to dispose of them all by eating them.
** In "The Smelly Car", Jerry's car becomes infected by a valet's terrible BO, which proves to be a borderline eldritch presence that spreads to everyone and everything that has been inside the car and simply cannot be gotten rid of, even with extreme deep cleaning. At the end, Jerry parks the car next to a homeless guy, gets out, makes a big show of leaving the keys on the seat, and walks away. The homeless guy gets in, takes a whiff, and the episode ends on a freeze-frame of his disgusted face which all but says even he isn't going to take it.
** In one episode, Jerry discovers that his GirlOfTheWeek used to date [[SitcomArchNemesis Newman]]. Not only that, but ''Newman'' was the one who ended the relationship because he didn't think she was pretty enough for him. Since Jerry thinks Newman is one of the most loathsome and repulsive human beings on the planet, and that it would and ''should'' take a miracle for any woman at all to want to go out with him, the idea of dating someone that even ''he'' rejected is too much for Jerry to bear.
--->'''Jerry:''' All I could think of when I was looking at her face... was that '''''Newman''''' found this '''''unacceptable'''''!
** In the Festivus episode, Kramer brings home some leftover stock from the bagel shop. It's only after Jerry and George have tied in that he mentions that the homeless got first pick and these were the ones they wouldn't take, [[NauseaFuel after running their hands all over them.]]
** In one of his comedy bits, Jerry speculates that the reason so many people are unemployed is because they're too easily disgusted:
--->'''Jerry:''' Yes, my family is starving and my electricity's been cut off and I can't pay my rent, but there is ''no way'' I am cleaning ''THAT'' up!

* ''Series/DesperateHousewives''. When Martha Huber is collecting clothing for Edie (after her house burned down), Lynette apologizes for the unstylish quality of her own donated items. The older woman states "Beggars can't be choosers", then sees some items of Lynette's and reiterates "Of course we don't need to rub salt on the wound."

* [[Radio/ThePhilHarrisAliceFayeShow Phil Harris]]' "The Thing" (the song that provides the current page quote) follows the life-long HumiliationConga of a man that finds a thing (which is never described) on the beach and everybody who sees it gets outraged that he has it (even Saint Peter himself gets angry, ''sending the poor man to Hell just for owning it''). Sure enough, he tries to give it away to a poor man (after trying to pawn it off ended with the shop keeper kicking him out and threatening to call the cops) and the poor man decides to run away when he sees it.

[[folder:Newspaper]]

%%* WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd has been known to make insults like this for his reviews.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', a guy who hasn't eaten for days crawls into the Krusty Krab begging for food, but when he was offered some he rejects it because the Krusty Krab lacks "pizazz". He then crawls away still begging for food... service... ''atmosphere''!

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' features the [[GirlPosse Fashion Club]] collecting clothes for the homeless. They invoke this trope, assuming that the homeless will have standards of clothing as high as their own, and reject nearly everything they are offered.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'': Riley and her friends were once selling jerky. It was so bad hungry wolves refused to eat it.
* Little Costume Buddy from ''WesternAnimation/FatDogMendoza'' is initially such a bad salesman he couldn't sell water to a man dying of thirst in a desert, in contrast to Fat Dog selling ice to Eskimos.
* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Meg is desperate for male attention, but even she wouldn't go out with Neil Goldman. She even use her internship on the local new program to make a segment about it.
-->'''Tom Tucker:''' Thank you Meg. I guess it goes to show you that beggars ''can'' be choosers.

* ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'': Mrs. Prevert tries to invoke AppealToWorseProblems on when one of her kids doesn't like her cooking, saying "starving children in Africa would eat this food!". Only for the kid to say "send it to them!" Cue the next sketch showing said African kids opening up care packages with Mrs. Prevert's dinner and sending it back, preferring to starve.

* ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'': Mrs. Prevert tries this on when one of her kids doesn't like her cooking [[AppealToWorseProblems "starving children in Africa would eat this food!"]]. Only for the kid to say "send it to them!" Cue the next sketch showing said African kids opening up care packages with Mrs. Prevert's dinner and sending it back, preferring to starve.