History Main / KickedUpstairs

* Lampshaded through literal use in RayBradbury's ''MartianChronicles''. One character, an example of TheGoodCaptain, starts to have qualms about colonizing Mars and leaving no traces of the native culture. In a later story in the collection, it's revealed he was stationed on a farther away planet in the solar system and thus literally "kicked up stairs."

* The DungeonsAndDragons supplement ''Fiendish Codex II'' reveals that Devils are at risk of having this happen to them. A devil starts out as a mindless weak creature known as a Lemure, but through time and patience can be promoted to more intelligent and powerful forms. Since devils are natural schemers, they tend to plot against and backstab their superiors a lot. If a devil's superior wants to be rid of him, but can't come with a good reasonfor punishment, he may instead promote him to a stronger but less troublesome form. Although devils love gaining more might, they hate the thought of becoming dimwitted brutes incapable of plotting against others, so this fate is considered undesirable.

Sometimes someone working for an organisation cannot be eliminated, but isn't actually wanted in his role. Perhaps he's far too eager but incompetent, or is good but has some crazy ideas, or just annoys everyone. Rather than being eliminated normally, he can get "promoted" beyond the point where he gets to do anything damaging or given a role that serves no useful functions. Or he can be given a "vitally important task" that really isn't worth the effort (and may even be a SnipeHunt). Alternatively, the role assigned might be significant, but the main advantage of putting the character there is that it would be a long way from anyone else you care about.

Name comes from British politics, where the "Upstairs" in question is the House of Lords. Being given a title like "Lord" or "Baroness" sounds a great reward for a career in politics - until you realise that it disqualifies you permanently from sitting in the House of Commons, where all the real decisions are made. ''YesMinister'' seems to have popularised the phrase.

* When he is [[ReassignedToAntarctica transferred to the North]] by the Führer, Falman of ''FullemtalAlchemist'' is promoted to Second Lieutenant, but transferred to Fort Briggs, which in the middle of nowhere [[spoiler:and put to work scraping off icicles]].

* In the Michael Douglas film ''Disclosure'', the main character is under investigation for sexual harrassment, brought about by the conniving FemmeFatale. Considering that the evidence is mostly her word against his, one of the solutions suggested is that Douglas's character accept a lateral transfer, with the same pay and benefits, from the company's Seattle location to an office in Texas. He immediately refuses, as he knows that the Texas location is due to be shut down and most of its employees laid off, making the whole exercise a roundabout firing in disguise.

* Used to kick off ''HotFuzz'', in which Nicholas Angel is promoted to sergeant because he's so damn good at his job, he's showing everyone else up. Unable to kick him out due to his extreme competence, they promote him to a sleepy little village- except as it turns out, [[ReassignmentBackfire it's not actually all that quiet]].

->''Chief: "(startled) Er... yes I can, I'm the Chief Inspector."''

->''"Nick: With respect, sir! You can't just make people disappear!"''
->''"Chief: (startled) Er... yes I can, I'm the Chief Inspector."''

->Nick: ''"With respect, sir! You can't just make people disappear!"''
->Chief: ''"(startled) Er... yes I can, I'm the Chief Inspector."''
-->--'''HotFuzz

* When he is [[ReassignedToAntarctica transferred to the North]] by the Fuhrer, [[FullmetalAlchemist Falman]] is promoted to Second Lieutenant, but transferred to Fort Briggs, which in the middle of nowhere [[spoiler:and put to work scraping off icicles]].

The more popular theory says though, that Ludwig conspirited Berg Castle's head of fishing (a remaining ''loyalist'') to pick him up with a boat, and row him onto the other side of the lake, where he would be exiled into Austria by his [[KissingCousins Childhood Cousin Sweetheart]], Elizabeth (informally "Sissi"). But the plan [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]], as gendarmes caught up with Ludwig while he waded out into the sea to his master of fishing's boat, and shot him in the back. The master of fishing is said to have witnessed it all. To silence him, authorities made him the mayor of the town ''shortly after'', and gave him a gift of money (several million Euros by today's standards). Yep, the last part's actually factual, too. And too much of a coincidence...

* When he is [[ReassignedToAntarctica transfered to the North]] by the Fuhrer, [[FullmetalAlchemist Falman]] is promoted to Second Lieutenant, but transferred to Fort Briggs, which in the middle of nowhere [[spoiler:and put to work scraping off icicles]].

* In ''BabylonFive'', Londo is given a post as advisor to planetary security. He recognizes that the promotion is actually "a leash" intended to force him to return to Centauri Prime where he can be watched and kept under control.

* Also known as "yellowing" in naval jargon. Until 1864, the Royal Navy promoted captains to flag rank by strict seniority. They couldn't promote a competent captain to rear-admiral until they had promoted everyone ahead of him in the Captains List. To get around this, the Admiralty would kick incompetents upstairs by promoting them but not giving them any command, i.e leaving them "on the beach". They had the half-pay of rear-admirals but no prospect of command or promotion. Now, the senior commands were organised (again by seniority) into "red", "white", and "blue" squadrons, and those officers not given any command were made rear-admirals "without distinction of squadron". They were spoken of as the "Yellow Squadron" (because of yellow beach sand).

* This is the reason that TroperTales has its own section of the site - so nobody has to look at it.

* In ''{{Bleach}}'', during a flashback arc, it's revealed that Aizen got his ascension to Vice Captain quickly because the Captain of his squad back then, [[spoiler:Hirako Shinji]], deeply distrusted him and wanted to keep him in a position where he could control him closely. Unfortunately, he didn't realize on time that Aizen was a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] in the making...

* Used to kick off ''HotFuzz'', in which Nicholas Angel is promoted to sergeant because he's so damn good at his job, he's showing everyone else up. Unable to kick him out due to his popularity, they promote him to a sleepy little village- except as it turns out, [[ReassignmentBackfire it's not actually all that quiet]].

*** More or less. It was a mix of this and ReassignedToAntarctica. After losing his wife when his ship was destroyed in battle against the Borg at [[ContinuityNod Wolf 359]], Sisko was burnt out and wanted a quiet, out-of-the-way command where he could finish up his tenure and retire from Starfleet. However, the Prophets decided that he was their new [[TheMessiah messiah]] and the whole thing turned into a ReassignmentBackfire against ''himself''.

** Which is nothing compared to the ruler of the universe, who does nothing but live in a shack with his cat.
*** Important men regularly come to him for his advice on events, such as wars, and the like.

*** These days, being a Commissioner is, while not exactly a promotion, not exactly a step down, as the European Commission has much, ''much'' more actual power than it did in the '80s. On the other hand, it will still likely kill your domestic political career, which is why most British ECs have been Lords who were retiring from politics anyway (with the bizarre exception of PeterMandelson--ahem,[[strike:[[StarWars ''Darth'']] ]]''Lord'' Mandelson--who [[TheStarscream seems to still have his eye on absolute power at home]]).

*** These days, being a Commissioner is, while not exactly a promotion, not exactly a step down, as the European Commission has much, ''much'' more actual power than it did in the '80s. On the other hand, it will still likely kill your domestic political career, which is why most British ECs have been Lords who were retiring from politics anyway (with the bizarre exception of PeterMandelson--ahem, ''Lord'' Mandelson--who [[TheStarscream seems to still have his eye on absolute power at home]]).

* Elaine from ''{{Seinfeld}}'' has to kick a recently promoted employee further upstairs after it becomes apparent that he's not the right man for the job. The other employees aren't too happy, since he was supposed to be fired in the first place, but Elaine didn't have the heart to do it.
** It wasn't that she didn't have the heart; it's that the guy was borderline AxeCrazy and she was scared of disgruntling him.

* After one too many clashes with Henry Ford II, Lee Iacocca was moved from president of Ford Motor Company to some impressive job title - with a run-down office in a parts warehouse in a rough part of [[MotorCity Detroit]] (mind you, this was in TheSixties, before "rough part of Detroit" became [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautology tautological]]). A job offer from Chrysler moved him from this to being the first modern "celebrity CEO."

* In [[LoisMcMasterBujold Bujold's]] ''Falling Free'', engineer Leo Graf recognises his new boss on the Cay Project, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Bruce Van Atta]], as some annoying twit he recommended for promotion to a desk job for the express purpose of getting the annoying git out of his way. Bruce thought it was a favor, and Leo eventually regrets it.
** He regrets it almost right away. But he eventually ''really'' regrets it, when Brucie-baby [[spoiler: turns from petty bureaucratic obstruction to attempted mass murder.]]

* When he is [[ReassignedToAntarctica transfered to the North]] by the Fuhrer, [[FullmetalAlchemist Falman]] is promoted to Second Lieutennant, but transferred to Fort Briggs, which in the middle of nowhere and put to work scraping off icicles.

* In ''Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie'', Mr. Bean is selected (with much relieved cheering by board members) to represent Britain as an expert on art sent to America, just to get temporarily rid of him from his position as a security guard at the museum (firing him is out of the question seeing as the chairman has an inexplicable fondness for Bean).

* In TheThickOfIt, MP Julius Nicholson tries to get involved in the government's public relations activities, treading on the toes of the press officers whose job it is and who actually know what they're doing. He antagonises everyone with his mad policy ideas, to the point where they start to believe he is actually unhinged and dangerous. He is promoted to the position of "Blue-Sky Thinker" to the Prime Minister... a meaningless job title given to him to make him think he has some actual power and to keep him quiet.