History Main / ForgotToPayTheBill

* The plot of the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' short "Moving Day" is set in motion by the fact that Mickey and DonaldDuck haven't paid the rent in six months.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In one ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip, Calvin explains to his teacher that he couldn't do his homework because his parents didn't pay the ''[[GravityScrew gravity]]'' bill.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' one time asked Jon if he forgot to pay the nature bill because it suddenly rained on such a sunny day.
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In an episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Penny, who is often broke, asks if she can watch TV at the guy's apartment, because there's something wrong with her cable. When Sheldon asks if she paid her bill, she responds "Ugh- you sound just like the guy from the cable company". [[/folder]]

* One issue of ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' taking place on the moon has a band of robbers suffocating because they hadn't paid the oxygen bill for their hideout.

* In an episode of Series/TheBigBangTheory Penny, who is often broke, asks if she can watch TV at the guy's apartment, because there's something wrong with her cable. When Sheldon asks if she paid her bill, she responds "Ugh- you sound just like the guy from the cable company". [[/folder]]

* In an episode of Series/TheBigBangTheory Penny, who is often broke, asks if she can watch TV at the guy's apartment, because there's something wrong with her cable. When Sheldon asks if she paid her bill, she responds "Ugh- you sound just like the guy from the cable company". [/folder]]

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[[folder: Anime]]

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[[folder: Film ]]

* Happens in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' after [[spoiler: Bane ruins Bruce's fortune. Electricity to Wayne Manor is shut off not long after, because he can't afford it anymore.]]

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

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[[folder: Web Original ]]

--> '''Worker 1:''' Did you forget to pay the electric bill?\\

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

** He pays it after, but it doesn't change anything.

One good indicator of a BrokeEpisode is some commodity to be lost due to not having enough money to pay the bill for it, or forgetting to pay the bill at all. Or sometimes it'll simply be a mistake that causes the MagicalComputer or some vital piece of AppliedPhlebotinum to be unavailable [[ContrivedCoincidence at the most drama-inducing moment possible.]]

In other settings, characters may think this has happened when actually another factor, such as a [[KillTheLights someone cutting wires]], is to blame.

TruthInTelevision for some payment plans, particularly for electricity or gas; up until the mid-1980s, the standard method of paying for these in Britain and possibly some other countries was to actually feed coins into a device rather like a parking meter, and someone from the supplier would come round once a month to collect it. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensuing]] as the protagonist fumbles around trying to put a coin into the meter and turn the handle by torchlight was once a SitCom staple. The modern equivalent uses RFID-based "keys" that can be charged up with funds at the post office or most convenience stores, leaving you royally shafted if the meter is ticking down and everything's about to shut.

[[folder: Anime ]]

* ''Film/DieHard'': Al Powell makes a joke about this after the FBI cuts off the electricity to the tower the terrorists are inside of.

* Speaking of ''Rocko'', in another Joe Murray cartoon called ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'', "Prickly Pining Dining" has Lumpus taking out the campers to a restaurant to eat after their own chef goes sick thanks to his own cooking giving him food poisoning. Lumpus realizes he forgot to bring cash and tries wringing loot out of the campers (all they have are frogs, lollipops and pocket lint) and Lumpus resorts to ditching the restaurant. They only get away when the bear's already cutting down their bus doors.. then they realize they left the Jelly Trio back there.

* Speaking of ''Rocko'', in another Joe Murray cartoon called ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'', "Prickly Pining Dining" has Lumpus taking out the campers to a restaurant to eat after their own chef goes sick thanks to his own cooking giving him food poisoning. They eat until they're all grumbling from being so full and when the waiter (a bear with a chainsaw) hands them the bill, Lumpus realizes he forgot to bring cash with him and tries wringing some loot out of the other campers (all they have are frogs, lollipops and pocket lint) and Lumpus resorts to ditching the restaurant. They only get away when the bear's already cutting down their bus doors.. but minutes later they realize they left the Jelly Trio back there.

* Frequently happens in ''Series/{{Shameless}}''.

In other settings, characters may think this has happened when actually another factor, such as a someone cutting wires, is to blame.