History Main / OnlySaneEmployee

** In ''Film/JurassicPark'', [[GreatWhiteHunter Robert Muldoon]] isn't arrogant like Wu or idealistic like Hammond; he's all too aware of the dangers of Jurassic Park and the raptors in particular. He knows they could likely never be displayed as park animals and should all be destroyed. Hammond dismisses him as an alarmist, but a lot of deaths could have been avoided if his warnings had been heeded.

* Reine in ''LightNovel/DateALive'' often plays this role with the Fraxinus crew, especially when Kotori isn't around to keep the vice-commander in check.

** Even in the bars where Taffer can barely stand the majority of the staff, there are usually one or two employees whom he regards as being worthwhile. In a few instances, these employees are also the resident ButtMonkeys simply because everyone else is so dysfunctional that they take it out on them. Case in point: Bryan (a.k.a. "Syck"), the bouncer at O'Face (who keeps trying to talk owners into listening to what Taffer has to tell them, and ends up getting fired after the episode airs), and Cerissa, the server (who gets unjustly fired after she's physically assaulted by her own manager and returns to her job only to see the manager, whom Taffer forced the owners to fire, return to the bar after he had walked out), in "Punch-Drunk and Trailer-Trashed."

%%* Dennis in ''Series/AufWiedersehenPet''. Usually.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Miss Brooks is oftentimes the only reliable person at Madison High School. Surprisingly often she is called upon to get Principal Osgood Conklin out of trouble or alternatively to stand up to his dictatorial edicts, i.e. "Blue Goldfish", "Public Property on Parade", "School on Saturday", "Wakeup Plan". Other times, she's just around to save the day for a student, i.e. "Stuffed Gopher" and "Two Way Stretch Snodgrass".
* The former {{Trope Namer|s}} is Liz Lemon, Creator/TinaFey's character on ''Series/ThirtyRock''. Her day-to-day life as head writer of the [[ShowWithinAShow Show Within the Show]] involves keeping two divas from killing each other, dealing with a [[ExecutiveMeddling Meddling Executive]] and managing [[WritersSuck the childish band of writers]]. However, in her private life, she's just as eccentric and misguided as the rest of the cast.
** To a lesser extent, Pete from the same show, as he has to take care of Liz when she goes off the rails herself, as well as (apparently) dealing with the NBC pages. Although in later seasons, Pete seems to be going off the deep end himself, more so than usual.
* Possibly the title character of ''Series/UglyBetty''. She babysits her boss 24/7, but she often comes to rescue of everyone else in the main cast, including the ones who treat her badly, not to mention the times she saved the entire magazine.
** Also the titular character of ''Series/YoSoyBettyLaFea'', who, while not exactly babysitting her boss, seems to have internalized that "Secretary of Presidency" actually means "make all things possible so the boss doesn't screw up his job", doing things from shielding the boss' fiancée from finding out about his sexual escapades (and distracting the exes so they don't reach the man), to actually creating a full finances plan with a healthy dose of fiscal trickery so the company doesn't go bankrupt under her boss' administration.

* Dave Nelson from ''Series/NewsRadio''.
* Jen in ''Series/TheITCrowd'' -- in fact, the first episode has her appointed head of I.T. by the semi-sane CEO, Denholm Reynholm; despite her lack of computer knowledge, she realizes her people skills would help raise the status of the department. Some episodes play with this by having ''her'' go completely off-the-rails over something which, although apparently more 'normal' than the geeky lifestyle she is surrounded by, she [[SeriousBusiness goes really overboard in taking seriously]], leading to Roy or even Moss having to hold the {{sanity ball}}.
* Polly in ''Series/FawltyTowers''.
* Andy Travis from ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati''.
* Ted Crisp from ''Series/BetterOffTed'', head of R&D for Veridian Dynamics - when he's not helping Lem and Phil with their problems he's keeping Veronica from doing something even more blackhearted than the last blackhearted thing she's done or "[[WillTheyOrWontThey totally not flirting]]" with Linda.
* In ''Series/{{Primeval}}'', Captain Becker is flat-out told that this is his job description. Babysit the [[BunnyEarsLawyer scientists]], don't get sucked up in their insane theories, don't let them get themselves killed, and, if he has time, review the security of the base.
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow''
** Kermit the Frog, although he even subverts it: "Me not crazy? I hired the others."
** Scooter is one to a lesser extent when he isn't being pressed-gang into one of [[ThePrimaDonna Miss Piggy's schemes]], often remarking on how insane their coworkers are. [[TheComicallySerious Sam the Eagle]] likes to ''think'' he's the only sane one involved in the production of the show, but he is very mistaken.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}''
** Will Schuester.
** Also Principal Figgins considering some of the crazy and demanding teachers he has to deal with.
** Coach Beiste has fallen into this role, occasionally even realizing that she is working in an insane asylum that masquerades as a high school.
* Cuddy in ''Series/{{House}}''. It's even lamp-shaded by Chase once when she goes off the rails: "Stopping the madness is ''her'' job!" "Somebody's gotta be Cuddy's Cuddy."
* On ''Series/{{Bones}}'', it was FBI Agent Seely Booth's job to work with the no social skills "squints." Then Dr. Camille Saroyan was hired to oversee them all (including Dr. Temperance Brennan, despite what Brennan may think sometimes) so she can be this.

* Lt. Fick of ''Series/GenerationKill'' seems to be the only officer in the battalion with much interest in actually surviving the invasion of Iraq. In addition to leading his own eccentric BloodKnight platoon, he spends a large amount of time making sure the other officers don't get their platoons killed.
** However, somewhat averted when you look deeper into the source material: most of the company commanders were untested in combat, and falling back on their training and what little experience they had. In fact, one company commander's assistant, who was viewed as a brown-nose by all the men in the company, actually turned out to be one of the most competent and respected commanders when he was promoted.
* On ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', the employees at Dunder-Mifflin can be grouped into "sane" and "insane", although this definition is fluid and many characters have drifted over time. Notably, many characters who started out very sane have since dove off the deep end (Jan, Ryan, and Toby, though he recovered). Some characters who are insane have flashes of sanity or at least competence (Michael, Angela, Andy, and even Dwight), and some characters are sane but helpless (Phyllis) or apathetic (Stanley, Darryl). Jim and Pam are usually portrayed as sane, though sometimes they let their flights of fancy get the better of them, and, as a recurring theme, whenever Jim finds himself in a leadership position, he is far less competent (since his worst fear is "becoming Michael"). By far the most rational, level-headed character in the office is Oscar, and in more recent seasons he has taken to [[LampshadeHanging pointing this out]] repeatedly. (He cites himself, Jim, Pam, and Toby as the "coalition of reason", and when Jim and Pam took their honeymoon, complained that the ratio of sane-to-insane employees was disrupted.)
** While Oscar is often shown as having more knowledge than anyone else, the job of looking after the insane characters falls squarely on Jim's shoulders. He had to defuse Michael's and Dwight's schemes for years. The clearest example is when he goes along as they prank another company branch because left to their own devices they would have used explosives. Oscar sometimes gives background comments, but he never misses work time to do damage control.
** In the final season Jim manages to trick Dwight into acting as his own Only Sane Employee. Dwight gets promoted to manager and Jim is the assistant to the manager. However, he convinced Dwight to also assume the role of the assistant to the assistant to the manager. This means that when Dwight has a crazy idea, he passes it to be implemented by Jim who passes it right back to Dwight who then realizes that it is crazy and abandons it. This works so well that by the end of the series, Dwight becomes a rather competent, reasonable, and sane manager. This plus some selective firings has the extra effect of reducing the level of crazy in the office by a massive amount.
** Played with to the point of inversion in the British version, where so far as can be determined most of the employees are reasonably sane (with one or two exceptions, such as Gareth); they just happen to be managed by a deluded, egocentric AttentionWhore.

* Ally and Georgia were more or less this in ''Series/AllyMcBeal'' - though Georgia was clearly the more level-headed as Ally is completely bonkers in her personal life. This may be why Georgia was often paired with Richard in cases, trying to drive sense into a guy who was in it to make money and destroy the law as a bonus. By contrast, Ally usually worked well with John because she was the only one who ''understood his neuroses''.
* Laura from ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire''. ''Most'' of the problems come from Mr. Brittas, but the other staff are plenty dysfunctional too.
* Chuck Bartowski from ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' is this... at least he is at the Buy More, not so much at his [[PartTimeHero other job]] though.
** It's due to this trope that he's the AlmightyJanitor. Chuck is really the one who runs the Buy More.
* Daníel from ''Series/{{Naeturvaktin}}'' is the only regular character who can do a decent job. His boss is a dictatorial bully who offends every customer he meets, and his only co-worker is a [[TheDitz ditz]] who's usually either slacking off or (incompetently) trying to make his fortune in showbiz.
* Dennis in ''Series/AufWiedersehenPet''. Usually.
* Series/JonathanCreek deserves a special mention, as his day job is mentioned by name in the RealLife section below. He's also usually TheStraightMan to [[TheWatson Maddy]] or [[ReplacementScrappy Carla]].

** This is the role of Hand of the King. It's even lampshaded in the first episode;

* Trudy in ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' does the actual day-to-day running of the house with no help from Victor whose only concern is keeping his secrets secret.

* With all the eccentrics in his team, [[TeamDad Gibbs]] from ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' does seem to be running a daycare centre instead of an investigations unit sometimes.
* ''Series/MadMen'': Ken Cosgrove is one of the few people at Sterling-Cooper without some crippling character flaw or big secret. He's the only guy to complain about safety before the infamous [[spoiler: lawnmower-meets-foot]] incident, and the first to call for an ambulance after. Pete has to use his wife's connections to sell a short story, and Paul's one-act play screams "HerCodenameWasMarySue", but by season five Ken has quietly published over 20 stories under a pen name - and is embarrassed when his colleagues find out.
* Paige in ''Series/{{Scorpion}}''. Her job is to "translate" the geniuses of Scorpion to the rest of the world, but there is an unspoken assumption that she will also help them deal with the parts of the real world they find confusing/frustrating. Cabe also qualifies, but as he is not technically an employee, but rather the one providing the jobs, he might better be described as a 'sane employer'.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Foggy Nelson is the only member of the Nelson & Murdock trio who doesn't have big secrets or an active desire to get involved in dangerous situations like Matt Murdock or Karen Page do.
* ''Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2017'': Jacquelyn Scieczka is far more competent and rational than her boss, Mr. Poe (which, admittedly, [[AdultsAreUseless isn't really a high bar to clear]]). Unsurprisingly, as one of the show's few non-useless adults, she's working for [[MilkmanConspiracy V.F.D.]]
* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''[[TheSlacker George]]'' becomes this at Kruger Industrial Smoothing.
-->'''George:''' "We don't care and it shows."

* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''[[TheSlacker]] George'' becomes this at Kruger Industrial Smoothing.

** And let's not forget that Sasami pretty much keeps the house in order and running properly within the OVA contiuum. And every other continuum, to some small extent.

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', unlike [[DeathSeeker the rest of Millennium]], the Doktor has more orthodox goals, like continuing his research. He sometimes gets exasperated with his more eccentric colleagues and their antics. Considering his research will in the end benefit mankind, he is '''somewhat'' better than the rest of them. The fact that he's the Only Sane Employee while still being a Nazi scientist in a perpetually blood-stained lab coat says more about the rest of Millennium than it does about the Doktor. However, given he gets pretty pissed when Walter starts badmouthing them as a group, he holds some level of camaraderie among his more unstable colleagues along with being the right hand man of the Major.

* Mina Murray in ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. She even states that she is "In charge of this menagerie." Well, when your team consists of an old opium-addicted hunter; a science-pirate; an insane, lecherous invisible guy, and a wussy doctor who can turn into a rampaging behemoth, 'menagerie' is the only word to describe it. She takes it to the point that she's the ''de facto'' leader of the group, as she's the only one normal and grounded in reality enough to actually keep them together and pointed in a relatively useful direction.

** The comic strip is what happens after the last sane guy ''quits'', replaced by the biggest {{Cloudcuckoolander}} of them all. And when those who once tried to keep everything under control (Dilbert, Wally and Alice) flat out gave up and started exploiting the system for their own personal gain.

* ''Film/DontLookUp'': Dr. Ogelthrope of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office is the only sane employee ''for the entire U.S. government!'' He helps Mindy and Kate from the get go while pretty much everyone else in the Orlean administration obstructs the efforts to save the world, is a {{Jerkass}}, or both.

** Also at Unseen University where this role is filled by Ponder Stibbons, the Archchancellor or the Librarian, depending on what job needs doing. Rincewind is also an example, as after his running days are over, he seems to accrue any title no one else wants. (At one point, it's shown that Ponder has taken on so much extra work - which the senior wizards were happy to pass off to him -- that he actually the controlling stake in running the University.)

** While we're at it we may as well give mention to Sam Vimes. As far as city employes go he's the sanest one around. Compared to Moist Von Lipwig, Collon, Nobby, all the wizards, even Carrot. Sam always gets the job done, no matter what else is going on. One of the early books attributed this to a medical condition called being knurd; he always operates on a mental state a few drinks ''below'' sober.

** Clark Edison, one of the interns, also falls into this category. He prefers a professional environment, often expressing annoyance when the topic of conversation switches from investigation to the episode's side-plot. Which makes it all the funnier on the rare occasion that he joins in, and the others think that his reaction is 'too much'.

** While Oscar is often shown as having more knowledge than anyone else, the job of looking after the insane characters falls squarely on Jim's shoulders. He had to defuse Michael's and Dwight's schemes for years. The clearest example is when he goes along as they prank another company branch, because left to their own devices they would have used explosives. Oscar sometimes gives background comments, but he never misses work time to do damage control.
** In the final season Jim manages to trick Dwight into acting as his own Only Sane Employee. Dwight gets promoted to manager and Jim is the assistant to the manager. However, he convinced Dwight to also assume the role of the assistant to the assistant to the manager. This means that when Dwight has a crazy idea, he passes it to be implemented by Jim who passes it right back to Dwight who then realizes that it is crazy and abandons it. This works so well that by the end of the series, Dwight becomes a rather competent, reasonable and sane manager. This plus some selective firings has the extra effect of reducing the level of crazy in the office by a massive amount

* Poor, poor Paul Lewiston and Carl Sack in ''Series/BostonLegal''. Shirley Schmidt is usually this in regards to Alan and Denny, and is the serious, sober face of Crane, Poole and Schmidt, but seeing as how her first appearance onscreen was an innuendo-laden bit of banter with Alan Shore in the men's room, well...

--> '''King Robert''': Lord Eddard Stark, I would name you The Hand Of The King.
--> '''Ned Stark''': I'm not worthy of the honour.
--> '''King Robert''': I'm not trying to honour you, I'm trying to get you to run my kingdom while I eat, drink, and whore my way to an early grave!

--> '''Castiel''': Why won't any of you ''[[SurroundedByIdiots listen]]''?!

* MissionControl from ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic'' no doubt believes himself to be this, and he's not that far off. As upper management is never seen, he is the sole consistent professional on the Space Rig. His job involves getting four violent alcoholic idiots into a drop pod and making sure they mine out the planet's valuable minerals, while also bringing them back alive if they can manage it. The various stupid dwarf antics that players get up to clearly get on his nerves, but he manages retain (most of) his composure and directs his short bearded rowdies into making Deep Rock Galactic fantastically rich.

* If you take your shirt off in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' and call SIGNT, Snake will ask if he can take off his pants. SIGNT reacts in disgust and wonders if he's the only sane man of the unit. For the record, the rest of the unit consists of a British officer obsessed with James Bond and his own Britishness, a doctor obsessed with B-movies and [[{{Foreshadowing}} cloning]], and a veteran soldier obsessed with [[ExtremeOmnivore eating everything that moves]].
** On antagonist side, we got [[TheAce The Boss,]] who is basically a paragon of sanity among the... [[BunnyEarsLawyer eccentricities]] that is [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Cobra]]. Not to mention babysitting [[PsychoElectro Volgin]] and [[YoungGun Ocelot]], among other things. And it wasn't always success for her (*cough*Davy Crockett*cough*).

** [[spoiler:Immediately after Intelligence is disbanded]] things go south for the Empire in a hurry. Darth Malgus rebels, splitting the Empire in two, the Emperor gets killed and the Empire loses several key battles throughout the galaxy, among them Corellia. It gets so bad that Darth Marr has to send player on a suicide mission to Makeb to get Isotope-5 so the Empire gets a ''chance'' at survival. It's not only implied but extremely likely none of this would have been necessary if Imperial Intelligence had been there to keep things in check. The mere fact that Darth Marr even knows about Makeb is simple dumb luck as Darth Marr informs Imperial Agent players that he only knew that Isotope-5 had been found on Makeb due to files he found in Keeper's office before Intelligence was liquidated.

* Zoe from ''Webcomic/CthulhuSlippers'' is both literally and figuratively the only sane employee at Cthulhu Corp...at least so far. Everyone else is either a psychopath, a cultist or an [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abomination]].

'''Reeve:''' I heard it's very, very powerful. Top of the line technology!\\

'''Palmer:''' OH! Well that's easy. First you take both your hands, and you make a telescope out of them! And then! What you see in the night sky there? That's one space! And then! You take one billion gil -- which is how much one space costs, by the way -- And then! You toss it into a fire! ''[[[MusicalisInterruptus music comes to a dead stop]]]'' And the smoke delivers the payment to space! And ''that's'' how ya buy space!\\

* Edd (Double-D) from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' is the only one capable of making the Eds schemes even come close to working. Ed is a complete moron and Eddy is a greedy self-serving jerk; Double-D has to pick up all of the slack as a result. Even then, FailureIsTheOnlyOption when one of Ed or Eddy's many {{Fatal Flaw}}s come into play.

* Hank Hill in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' is the only reason that Strickland Propane is still in business, especially in the later seasons as his co-workers grew more quirky. Business owner Buck Strickland is a KarmaHoudini simply because Hank pulls him out of trouble at every opportunity when Buck's vices catch up with him. It's deconstructed in that Buck is acutely aware that Hank's misplaced loyalty is the only reason why his company stays in business; whenever Buck becomes more hands-on, [[PointyHairedBoss he screws everything up]]. Buck has come close to firing Hank a few times, but never does because that would kill his "golden goose" and send him into bankruptcy.

* Isoroku Yamamoto was very much this in the Japan naval staff before WWII. He was the only Japanese admiral who had ''any'' idea of British and American national character and industrial might, and warned seriously ''not'' getting into war with the Americans as it would end in the complete annihilation of Japan.

* In the world of Webcomic/GirlGenius, Moloch von Zinzer is ''literally'' this. Most of the people he works with and for are [[MadScientist Sparks]], with a tendency to slip into TheMadnessPlace. von Zinzer is an ActionSurvivor DeadpanSnarker and usually the one who comes up with the most simple and effective solutions - like 'cut the power to the overloading machine about to kill us all'.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss''.
** Among the demons in I.M.P., Moxxie seems to be the one that's the most on-track when it comes to their actual work, trying his best to keep everybody else in line and get their jobs done right, as well as struggling with his employer's [[NoSocialSkills rather unprofessional habit]] of barging in on [[HappilyMarried he and Millie's life]] outside of work (Millie herself [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight tends to roll with Blitzø's antics]]). It's a little subverted in the first episode, in which ''Moxxie'' is the one who fumbles at carrying out a hit... but this is due to him being [[TokenGoodTeammate the only one who's especially concerned with the potential innocence of their targets]]. So on the whole, he is ''very much'' this. It's even implied that he has heart problems due to all the insanity constantly going on around him.
** Fitting for his role as Moxxie's {{Foil}}, Collin serves this role for C.H.E.R.U.B. While he may be just as much of a PunchClockHero as Cletus and Keenie in regards to not caring how innocent his charges are, his complete lack of FantasticRacism and other vices means he is the only one who does the job for the sake of goodness instead of personal gain.

* In ''Machinima/FinalFantasyVIIMachinabridged'', Shinra consists of [[TheDitz morons]], [[AxCrazy psychopaths]], [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs moronic psychopaths]], and Reeve Tuesti.

* The premise of the [[CasualVideoGame casual]] ''VideoGame/MissManagement'' TimeManagementGame. Every NPC employee comes with a set of weird quirks; the player character is the manager, and the main aim is to keep the staff from having nervous breakdowns while ''somehow'' getting enough work done to finish the level.
* If you take your shirt off in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' and call SIGNT, Snake will ask if he can take off his pants. SIGNT reacts in disgust and wonders if he's the only sane man of the unit. For the record, the rest of the unit consists of a British officer obsessed with James Bond and his own Britishness, a doctor obsessed with B-movies and [[{{Foreshadowing}} cloning]], and a veteran soldier obsessed with [[ExtremeOmnivore eating everything that moves]].
** On antagonist side, we got [[TheAce The Boss,]] who is basically a paragon of sanity among the... [[BunnyEarsLawyer eccentricities]] that is [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Cobra]]. Not to mention babysitting [[PsychoElectro Volgin]] and [[YoungGun Ocelot]], among other things. And it wasn't always success for her (*cough*Davy Crockett*cough*).
* In many {{M|assivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame}}MORPGs, a more experienced player in a group will often be put in these positions. The real challenge isn't in fulfilling their own role, rather keeping others from [[LeeroyJenkins doing overtly stupid things]].

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': While Ragnar isn't super sane, he's clearly the only competent member of Burland's army. Thankfully, he's very competent.
* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' has [[BurgerFool Pizza]][[DeadpanSnarker pants]] playing this role for [[SuckECheeses ICE-E'S P"E"ZZA]], a fast food joint introduced as [[ShapedLikeItself being closed due to forcing all the employees to stand outside in mascot suits]]. His co-workers consist of [[PerpetualSmiler Blue Ears]], who has NoSenseOfPersonalSpace and regularly spills slushies on co-workers while giggling, [[CloudCuckoolander The Warrior]], who [[NoIndoorVoice terrorizes customers with war chants]] and [[HotBlooded pounds the pizzas into blobs with 'THE WIZARD'S FIST']], and Purple Guy, who is [[LoonyFan very enthusiastic about ICE-E]] and may or may not actually work there. He maintains [[ApatheticClerk a level of sanity]] despite this.

* In more recent years, Creator/KeijiInafune seemed to serve this role for Creator/{{Capcom}}, being quite possibly the only employee there who both wanted to do something other than turning CapcomSequelStagnation UpToEleven and had the ability and clout to do so. (In fact, ''VideoGame/LostPlanet'' and ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' were facing cancellation more or less for not being a sequel, so Inafune intentionally made their "demos" go way over budget for the sole purpose of being able to say [[SunkCostFallacy "we've poured all this money into it, why cancel it now?"]]) Then he resigned from Capcom because he didn't want to spend the rest of his career making half-baked sequels. In no time flat, Capcom made a series of questionable decisions, each of which managed to annoy fans more than the last, culminating in a massive counterattack in response to the cancellation of ''VideoGame/MegamanLegends 3''.

* In WebAnimation/{{hololive}} the woman known as Friend A ("Yuujin A", or A-chan) tends to end up depicted this way whenever she appears, as she is not an actual idol but rather support staff (and a close friend of the group's original idol Sora, hence the moniker), though one who has become popular enough in her own right to have her own avatar design. Her occasional appearances are generally in collaborations with several others as an emcee, as she does not have her own channel on [=YouTube=]. That's the "employee" part -- the "only sane" part comes from the fact that the actual idols in hololive routinely get into silly shenanigans and engage in behavior that is counter to the traditional image of a pure, wholesome "seiso" Japanese idol, while she herself does not (though that doesn't mean she doesn't get affected by it sometimes). This is more pronounced in the "hologra" shorts where each members' tendencies during livestreams are put into skits and more deliberately invoked -- skits where A-chan shows up usually have her act as a normal human trying to make sure the group's idols are doing well and keeping up with their work, which in the shorts is...rather rare.

* Rossiu, from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', after the timeskip, is the only one in the [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Dai-Gurren Junta]] (with the possible exceptions of Kittan who has enough of grasp on legal matters to point out everything wrong with Simon's KangerooCourt and Leeron who just wants to do Science!) with any ability to run things. At all. Seriously, they're shocked by his development of standardization and law courts. It ''might'' just be because he's the only one who grasps the concept of sitting down and thinking about things, rather than just running off to blow something up. Of course, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope when he takes it too far]], their complaints began to make sense...

* Rossiu, from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', after the timeskip, is the only one in the [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Dai-Gurren Junta]] (with the possible exception of Leeron, who just wants to do Science!) with any ability to run things. At all. Seriously, they're shocked by his development of standardisation and law courts. It ''might'' just be because he's the only one who grasps the concept of sitting down and thinking about things, rather than just running off to blow something up. Of course, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope when he takes it too far]], their complaints began to make sense...

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', unlike [[DeathSeeker the rest of Millennium]], the Doktor has more orthodox goals, like continuing his research. He sometimes gets exasperated with his more eccentric colleagues and their antics. Considering his research will in the end benefit mankind, he is '''somewhat'' better than the rest of them. The fact that he's the OnlySaneEmployee while still being a Nazi scientist in a perpetually blood-stained lab coat says more about the rest of Millennium than it does about the Doktor. However, given he gets pretty pissed when Walter starts badmouthing them as a group, he holds some level of camarderie among his more unstable colleagues along with being the right hand man of the Major.

* Only a few of the captains under Yamamoto in ''Fanfic/PleaseStopEatingTheHellButterflies'' are this, as the rest range from 'disturbed but do their jobs well' to 'disturbed and they only stay on the payroll because they don't have better options'. These are the Captains Ukitake and Konamura, as well as Yamamoto's Vice Captain Sasakibe.

** Among the demons in I.M.P., Moxxie seems to be the one that's the most on-track when it comes to their actual work, trying his best to keep everybody else in line and get their jobs done right, as well as struggling with his employer's [[NoSocialSkills rather unprofessional habit]] of barging in on [[HappilyMarried he and Millie's life]] outside of work (Millie herself [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight tends to roll with Blitzø's antics]]). It's a little subverted in the first episode, in which ''Moxxie'' is the one who fumbles at taking out the group's client... but this is due to him being [[TokenGoodTeammate the only one who's especially concerned with the potential innocence of their targets]]. So on the whole, he is ''very much'' this. It's even implied that he has heart problems due to all the insanity constantly going on around him.

** Among the demons in I.M.P., Moxxie seems to be the one that's the most on-track when it comes to their actual work, trying his best to keep everybody else in line and get their jobs done right, as well as struggling with his employer's [[NoSocialSkills rather unprofessional habit]] of barging in on [[HappilyMarried he and Millie's life]] outside of work (Millie herself [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight tends to roll with Blitzø's antics]]). It's a little subverted in the first episode, in which Moxxie is the one who ''fumbles'' at taking out the group's client... but this is due to him being [[TokenGoodTeammate the only one who's especially concerned with the potential innocence of their targets]]. So on the whole, he is ''very much'' this. It's even implied that he has heart problems due to all the insanity constantly going on around him.

** Among the demons in I.M.P., Moxxie seems to be the one that's the most on-track when it comes to their actual work, trying his best to keep everybody else in line and get their jobs done right. It's even implied that he has heart problems due to all the insanity constantly going on around him.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** Stan, especially since season 6. His {{catchphrase}} gesture in any silly situation will see Stan squeezing his eyes tightly shut and [[FacePalm pinching the bridge of his nose]]. Often accompanied by "Oh goddamnit..."
** Kyle as well on occasion, as long as it has something to do with Cartman.
* Frankie from ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''.

** Frank Grimes from the episode "Homer's Enemy" is also this, [[spoiler:[[GoMadFromTheRevelation though not for long]].]] Although with the addition of Smithers, he's technically the *second* sane employee.

* The Assistant Director's job on a film is to be this to the crew. The Director is the one who manages the actors (so this to an extent) and has the final say, it's up to the AD to keep the whole shoot organised. In fact, ask ''anyone'' who has ever been involved with directing a production of any sort; they will be the first to tell you that their job is to keep track of ''everything''... including the director's head. And probably his sanity as well.
* Any real life Stage Manager in the theatre or for a band. Their job description is literally "make things run smoothly."
* High school choir director/musical theater directors tend to this. Dealing with 50 or so eccentric and hyperactive teenage singers every day is the Liz Lemon Job of Liz Lemon Jobs.
* Occasionally an employee will be hired for common sense rather than for technical skill. This employee is usually in charge of some business that involves lots of technical skill but whose employees are mostly without common sense. For example, computer engineers usually have much technical skill but little common sense so an executive with common sense is hired to oversee them and make sure they don't do unnecessary things. ("But if we overclock the server, we'll be able to maximize efficiency by streamlining the process and-" "Not if it ''explodes''." "Oh. Right.")
* And quite often, the employee with the actual technical skills will feel like this as well. ("What you're asking for is physically impossible." "But we already promised it to our customers! Can you fix it anyway?")
* Office Administrators. Especially in settings where they work alone (meaning, no personal assistant or junior secretary) and are therefore the only ones capable of doing their jobs.
** Avoid this kind of work at all costs. It combines low pay, high responsibility and unfortunate accusations of "attitude problems" if you give any hint you are aware of the first two to your colleagues.

** With the [[TroubledProduction troubled]] release of ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'', however, fans have realized he may not have been as sane as he appeared to be....

* Edd (Double D) from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy''.

** Stan, especially since season 6. His extremely frequent {{catchphrase}} gesture in any situation in which he is forced to play Liz Lemon (usually to a bunch of ''adults''), he will squeeze his eyes tightly shut and [[FacePalm pinch the bridge of his nonexistent nose]] in one of the most expressive and dead-on displays of utter exasperation ever witnessed. Often accompanied by a muttered "Oh goddamnit..."

* Hank Hill in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', especially in the later seasons as his co-workers grew more and more quirky. Also, his role in his group of friends. Things tend to deteriorate rapidly when Bill and Dale (sometimes Boomhauer) are left to their own devices. Consider the episode where Boomhauer accidentally gets committed to an asylum because the people in Houston [[MotorMouth can't understand him]]. He calls Dale, who ends up there too (he tried to sneak in as if he were a secret agent), and ''he'' calls Bill, who checks himself in voluntarily. Finally, at this point, the grudgingly admit they need Hank, who gets the matter resolved in minutes.
* Bob the Tomato, on ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales''.

* Harvey in ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'', especially around his boss, Phil. For a ''very loose'' definition of "Sane".
* Lana Kane of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', especially in the later seasons.

* Waylon Smithers from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is pretty much the only person at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant who actually knows what he's doing. Several episodes show that Homer is just the worst of an ''extremely'' stupid and incompetent workforce. A few episodes have portrayed Smithers as quietly arranging for this to be the case to keep the owner (Burns) completely dependent on him.

* Moxxie from ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss''. Among the demons in I.M.P., he seems to be the one that's the most on-track when it comes to their actual work, trying his best to keep everybody else in line and get their jobs done right. It's even implied that he has heart problems due to all the insanity constantly going on around him.