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** [[spoiler: During the Wano Arc however, the rulers of the World Government's member nations vote to have the Warlord of the Sea system abolished outright, AndThereWasMuchRejoicing.]]
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Made a long-overdue edit to the Jeff Fisher example, considering he has been out of the NFL for several years now.


* Creator/ShepardSmith was anchor for right-leaning Fox News for 23 years, and had no qualms whatsoever about challenging the party line on an astonishingly regular basis and making conservative and liberal guests alike look like idiots when they didn't have their facts straight, including calling out Republican Senators for blocking the 9/11 First Responders' healthcare bill, asking why so many Republicans are firmly seating themselves "on the wrong side of history" regarding gay marriage, harshly condemning Fox's spreading of panic about ebola, using a PrecisionFStrike to punctuate his vehement opposition to [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique torture]], and utterly debunking the idea that climate change isn't real. Virtually every clip of him on Website/YouTube has at least one comment wondering why he hadn't been fired yet. He was also responsible for the highest-rated show on the channel (and the second- or third-highest-rated news show ''on TV''), polled as the second-most-respected news anchor in the country, and had been with Fox News since there's ''been'' a Fox News. He really was ''just that good''. When he finally did walk away, he did so entirely on his own initiative.

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* Creator/ShepardSmith was anchor for right-leaning Fox News for 23 years, and had no qualms whatsoever about challenging the party line on an astonishingly regular basis and making conservative and liberal guests alike look like idiots when they didn't have their facts straight, including calling out Republican Senators for blocking the 9/11 First Responders' healthcare bill, asking why so many Republicans are firmly seating themselves "on the wrong side of history" regarding gay marriage, harshly condemning Fox's spreading of panic about ebola, Ebola, using a PrecisionFStrike to punctuate his vehement opposition to [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique torture]], and utterly debunking the idea that climate change isn't real. Virtually every clip of him on Website/YouTube has at least one comment wondering why he hadn't been fired yet. He was also responsible for the highest-rated show on the channel (and the second- or third-highest-rated news show ''on TV''), polled as the second-most-respected news anchor in the country, and had been with Fox News since there's ''been'' a Fox News. He really was ''just that good''. When he finally did walk away, he did so entirely on his own initiative.



* Ike Perlmutter, chairman (formerly CEO) of Marvel Entertainment, appears to have this. He has acquired such a stake in Marvel thanks to his toy company helping the comic company get out of bankruptcy that Disney can't fire him despite virtually no one in the company liking him thanks to his excessively cheap ways (Creator/MickeyRourke was originally offered just $250K to co-star in Iron Man 2) and less-than-subtle bigotry (it was reportedly his doing that there were few Black Widow toys for years, and he said all black people look the same as his excuse for replacing Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle as War Machine, and it is well known that he stonewalled Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther movies for years). After Kevin Feige got sick of this and presented several billion dollar box office hits as proof of his own competence (and that Perlmutter was TheLoad), the best Disney could do was restructure Marvel Studios in 2015 so Feige is now completely in charge of the movies and reports directly to Disney's chairman, leaving Perlmutter to just run the TV side of Marvel, and to an extent, the comics. His stock has rather fallen with the spectacular failure of the ''Inhumans'' TV show and their push in the comics at the experience of fan-favourites, the ''X-Men'', reportedly on the grounds that Marvel didn't have the rights. Disney decided to chip away at Perlmutter's entrenchment by shuttering Marvel Television and giving resposibility of all Marvel-related film-and-TV development to Feige. Pearlmutter was eventually let go in March 2023
* Jeff Fisher, Head Coach of the St. Louis/LA Rams and, before them, the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans. With the exception of two seasons, he's been a Head Coach since 1995. In that time, he has had 6 playoff appearances (of which he's lost 3 times in the first round). He's had a .500 record or lower in 16 of his seasons as a head coach. He has also not had a record above .500 since 2008, spanning his final 2 seasons in Tennessee, and his last 4 in St. Louis/LA, and not including the current (2016) season. Overall, his coaching record with both is barely above .500. For comparison, following the 2015 season, former Giants head coach Tom Coughlin was fired (or rather asked to resign) for having 3 consecutive sub-.500 seasons and 1 playoff appearance in 7 years, despite having won 2 Super Bowls with the Giants. In 2016, Jeff Fisher received a contract extension in the middle of what will be a 5th consecutive sub-.500 season with the Rams.

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* Ike Perlmutter, chairman (formerly CEO) of Marvel Entertainment, appears to have this. He has acquired such a stake in Marvel thanks to his toy company helping the comic company get out of bankruptcy that Disney can't fire him despite virtually no one in the company liking him thanks to his excessively cheap ways (Creator/MickeyRourke was originally offered just $250K to co-star in Iron Man 2) and less-than-subtle bigotry (it was reportedly his doing that there were few Black Widow toys for years, and he said all black people look the same as his excuse for replacing Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle as War Machine, and it is well known that he stonewalled Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther movies for years). After Kevin Feige got sick of this and presented several billion dollar box office hits as proof of his own competence (and that Perlmutter was TheLoad), the best Disney could do was restructure Marvel Studios in 2015 so Feige is now completely in charge of the movies and reports directly to Disney's chairman, leaving Perlmutter to just run the TV side of Marvel, and to an extent, the comics. His stock has rather fallen with the spectacular failure of the ''Inhumans'' TV show and their push in the comics at the experience of fan-favourites, the ''X-Men'', reportedly on the grounds that Marvel didn't have the rights. Disney decided to chip away at Perlmutter's entrenchment by shuttering Marvel Television and giving resposibility responsibility of all Marvel-related film-and-TV development to Feige. Pearlmutter was eventually let go in March 2023
* Jeff Fisher, Head Coach former head coach of the St. Louis/LA Rams and, before them, the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans. With Titans and later the exception of two seasons, he's been a Head Coach since 1995. In that time, he has had 6 playoff appearances (of which he's lost 3 times in the first round). He's had St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams, was notorious for having his teams finish around a .500 record or lower in 16 record for much of his 23 years coaching in the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague, yet he inexplicably still kept his job. And in the seasons as a he finished above a .500 record, his teams went one-and-done half the time and another where his team fell just short of winning the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl. Though he left the Titans after 2010, he would become the head coach. He has also not had a record coach of the Rams, where his team never finished above .500 since 2008, spanning in all of his final 2 seasons in Tennessee, and his last 4 in St. Louis/LA, and not including the current (2016) season. Overall, his coaching record with both is barely above .500. For comparison, following the 2015 season, former Giants head coach Tom Coughlin was fired (or rather asked to resign) for having 3 consecutive sub-.500 seasons and 1 playoff appearance in 7 years, despite having won 2 Super Bowls five years with the Giants. In 2016, Jeff Fisher received a contract team. It seemed like this trope would continue on after he signed an extension in the middle of what will be a 5th consecutive after yet another sub-.500 season with the Rams.season, but he was ultimately fired a week later.
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Fixed a green link.


* The nanny in ''Film/JustGoWithIt''. She is clearly uninterested in her job and often uses her hours to do things other than take care of Katherine's children (such as hit on men and watch {{Showtime}}). But somehow, she stills holds down the job and even joins them in Hawaii.

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* The nanny in ''Film/JustGoWithIt''. She is clearly uninterested in her job and often uses her hours to do things other than take care of Katherine's children (such as hit on men and watch {{Showtime}}).Creator/{{Showtime}}). But somehow, she stills holds down the job and even joins them in Hawaii.
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* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Angela had apparently given this to [[Characters/FamilyGuyPeterGriffin Peter]]. No matter how much trouble he gets into, he's never gotten the punishment of losing his job at the brewery. Exemplified best in "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing", when Peter burned down a children's hospital on the job. This was forgotten about until the very end of the episode, when Angela brought it up again and said that she called the cops. Peter was arrested, [[StatusQuoIsGod but the judge only sentenced him to a week in jail]].

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No aversions, please.


*** [[spoiler:Averted by the end of the Reverie Arc. The shit they pulled throughout the story led to the abolishment of the Warlord System, with their former 'allies' gladly baying for their blood immediately after.]]
* Team Rocket of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. Despite almost never succeeding in anything, as well as spending large amounts of money on HumongousMecha, Giovanni still hasn't just fired them.
** Since he no longer pays them, and [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned them to Hoenn/Sinnoh]], it's likely that Giovanni simply doesn't consider them to be a part of the organization anymore. Letting them roam on their own is much simpler than filling out the paperwork necessary to fire them.
** Eventually averted. After Jessie, James, and Meowth wind up taking credit for the takedown of Team Galactic, Giovanni assigns them to be the Rocket Admins of Unova, at which point the massive confidence boost makes them incredibly effective at their job.

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*** [[spoiler:Averted by the end of the Reverie Arc. The shit they pulled throughout the story led to the abolishment of the Warlord System, with their former 'allies' gladly baying for their blood immediately after.]]
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
**
Team Rocket of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. Rocket. Despite almost never succeeding in anything, as well as spending large amounts of money on HumongousMecha, Giovanni still hasn't just fired them.
** Since he no longer pays them, and [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned them to Hoenn/Sinnoh]], it's likely that Giovanni simply doesn't consider them to be a part of the organization anymore. Letting them roam on their own is much simpler than filling out the paperwork necessary to fire them.
** Eventually averted. After Jessie, James, and Meowth wind up taking credit for the takedown of Team Galactic, Giovanni assigns them to be the Rocket Admins of Unova, at which point the massive confidence boost makes them incredibly effective at their job.
them.



** For years, Courtney. She was rude to customers, and did very poorly at her job, but she never seemed to get close to be fired, with Stuart flat out saying he kept her on over more competent cashiers because her wages were lower. This was finally averted when Marla, [[RankUp who was promoted to store manager]], fired her. She hasn't been seen since 2013.

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** For years, Courtney. She was rude to customers, customers and did very poorly at her job, but she never seemed to get close to be fired, with Stuart flat out saying he kept her on over more competent cashiers because her wages were lower. This was finally averted when Marla, When Marla [[RankUp who was gets promoted to store manager]], fired her.however, Courtney finally gets fired. She hasn't been seen since 2013.



* Averted by "The Second Act" episode of ''Series/TheMiddle''. After three seasons of her not, as far as we've ever seen, actually selling a car, Frankie gets laid off, and her boss suggests she wouldn't be likely to be rehired.



* AgentMulder in ''Series/TheXFiles'', and to a lesser extent AgentScully and Skinner. Averted when he got a less understanding boss than Skinner.

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* AgentMulder in ''Series/TheXFiles'', and to a lesser extent AgentScully and Skinner. Averted when he got a less understanding boss than Skinner.



* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Mr. Crocker. Everybody, including the principal of his school, thinks he's crazy, his students constantly fail their tests since Crocker actually enjoys handing out F's, and don't forget how cruel he gets on March 15, yet he still has his job. In real life, a teacher like that would have been fired a dozen times by now. In his first appearance, Crocker mentions his tenure is so good he could get away with killing one of his students' parents with one of his fairy catching devices. This was averted in the Latin American and Dutch dubs of said episode however, in which Crocker stated he would get life in prison if he killed Timmy's parents (yet he was so convinced they were fairies he was willing to take that risk).

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* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Mr. Crocker. Everybody, including the principal of his school, thinks he's crazy, his students constantly fail their tests since Crocker actually enjoys handing out F's, and don't forget how cruel he gets on March 15, yet he still has his job. In real life, a teacher like that would have been fired a dozen times by now. In his first appearance, Crocker mentions his tenure is so good he could get away with killing one of his students' parents with one of his fairy catching devices. This was averted in the Latin American and Dutch dubs of said episode however, in which Crocker stated he would get life in prison if he killed Timmy's parents (yet he was so convinced they were fairies he was willing to take that risk).



* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Wendy Corduroy quite proudly and unrepentantly [[TheSlacker doesn't ''do anything'' whilst at work]] and on the odd occasion that she does, [[ApatheticClerk it's not with a lot of enthusiasm or effort]], and yet she holds down her job. Stan outright state that he'd fire her if he could--but he never does.
** Averted in the episode 'The Deep End', where Mr. Poolcheck is a much less apathetic boss than Stan is, and fires her from stealing from the snack bar.

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* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Wendy Corduroy quite proudly and unrepentantly [[TheSlacker doesn't ''do anything'' ''[[TheSlacker do anything]]'' whilst at work]] work, and on the odd occasion that she does, [[ApatheticClerk it's not with a lot of enthusiasm or effort]], and yet she holds down her job. Stan outright state states that he'd fire her if he could--but could, but he never does.
** Averted in the episode 'The Deep End', where Mr. Poolcheck is a much less apathetic boss than Stan is, and fires her from stealing from the snack bar.
does.



* Averted in characteristic fashion in the Soviet Union under Stalin - the idea was that if anyone made themselves indispensable, it was time to dispense of them because they were working against Soviet ideals and trying to take advantage of others and their expertise. But it was more like Stalin wanted to get rid of anyone who could ever hope to be a threat. This caused predictable problems in fields like wartime intelligence.

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* Averted Subverted in characteristic fashion in the Soviet Union under Stalin - the idea was that if anyone made themselves indispensable, it was time to dispense of them because they were working against Soviet ideals and trying to take advantage of others and their expertise. But it was more like Stalin wanted to get rid of anyone who could ever hope to be a threat. This caused predictable problems in fields like wartime intelligence.
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* In the U.S., members of Congress who represent safe states or districts are notoriously difficult to remove, as voters generally keep blindly voting them into office, and members of their own party are reluctant to challenge an incumbent. While there are mechanisms to remove members, since the Civil War, only ''two'' members of Congress have been successfully expelled.

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* In the U.S., members of Congress who represent safe states or districts are notoriously difficult to remove, as voters generally keep blindly voting them into office, and members of their own party are reluctant to challenge an incumbent. While there are mechanisms to remove members, since the Civil War, only ''two'' ''three'' members of Congress have been successfully expelled.

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* Commander Shepard from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' does a few questionable things ([[MortonsFork one way or the other]]) and has this mainly because the main government of the galaxy is TooDumbToLive and refuses to believe evidence of their impending doom. Repeatedly. But they're so needed that they get ResurrectedForAJob, and can get reinstated as a Spectre and still continue to screw up whatever he wants to their heart's content. The Council does ask that they keep their cowboy ways to the Traverse and the Terminus Systems, but that's an empty request and Shepard knows it.

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* Commander Shepard from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' does a few questionable things ([[MortonsFork one way or the other]]) and but still has this mainly because the main government of the galaxy is TooDumbToLive and refuses to believe evidence nature of their impending doom. Repeatedly. But they're position makes them [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections explicitly above the law]]. While the Council hesitates to admit it, Shepard is so needed that they get ResurrectedForAJob, and can get reinstated as a Spectre and still continue to screw up whatever he wants they want to their heart's content. The Council does ask that they keep their cowboy CowboyCop ways to the Traverse and the Terminus Systems, but that's an empty request and Shepard knows it.



* In a ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' scene, Kikuno casually walks away from her employer even as said employer realizes that Kikuno disobeyed orders to scare a potential ally half to death. This is probably because Kikuno is willing to keep the Kirijo Group's '''many''' crimes secret, one of few people capable of perceiving the Dark Hour, and a skilled gunner, making her almost impossible to replace.

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* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'':
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' [[VideoGame/Persona4 through]] ''VideoGame/Persona5'' have the PlayerCharacter enjoy a OneHourWorkWeek in which they can take on a variety of part-time jobs and maintain a completely random schedule without getting fired. You can go one day, get paid for that one day, and then not come back for months. ''5'' justifies it by having the places Joker/Ren works be so desperate for help they don't care if he vanishes for months, and even offer bonuses for simply ''showing up'' on hectic days.
**
In a ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' scene, Kikuno casually walks away from her employer even as said employer realizes that Kikuno disobeyed orders to scare a potential ally half to death. This is probably because Kikuno is willing to keep the Kirijo Group's '''many''' crimes secret, one of few people capable of perceiving the Dark Hour, and a skilled gunner, making her almost impossible to replace.
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** It's worth noting that tech companies have gotten smart about this and will fire someone on the spot for attempting this. There are strict guidelines about code syntax to make it easy to read, and breaking them is grounds for immediate termination, precisely because they don't want to lose six months of work upon replacing the only person who understands the program. How they approach policy violations depends on the offense; incompetent or bizarre coding styles will likely start with performance plans (if it's a longstanding issue that the person has been spoken to about, and isn't clearly rooted in malicious intent), while inserting malicious code as job security (e.g., dead man's switches that will nuke large amounts of code if not regularly maintained) is grounds for immediate termination, as is coding that is clearly done intentionally poorly or incomprehensibly.

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** It's worth noting that tech companies have gotten smart about this and will fire someone on the spot for attempting this. There are strict guidelines about code syntax to make it easy to read, and breaking them is grounds for immediate termination, precisely because they don't want to lose six months of work upon replacing the only person who understands the program. How they approach policy violations depends on the offense; incompetent or bizarre coding styles will likely start with performance plans (if it's a longstanding issue that the person has been spoken to about, and isn't clearly rooted in malicious intent), while inserting malicious code as job security (e.g., dead man's switches that will nuke large amounts of code if not regularly maintained) is grounds for immediate termination, as is coding that is clearly done intentionally poorly or incomprehensibly.incomprehensibly... if caught in time.
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** The main duo have never once shown any ounce of competence at their fast food job and have gotten the place closed for health code violations at least once, not to mention blatant workplace violations such as fighting each other in an attempt to earn workman's comp or going "on strike" and just refusing to work for no reason. Yet they were never shown having been fired.

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** The main duo [[Characters/BeavisAndButtHeadTitularCharacters Beavis and Butt-Head]] have never once shown any ounce of competence at their fast food job and have gotten the place closed for health code violations at least once, not to mention blatant workplace violations such as fighting each other in an attempt to earn workman's comp or going "on strike" and just refusing to work for no reason. Yet they were never shown having been fired.

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* Monarchy. There is often [[OffWithHisHead only one way]] to fire a monarch. Hopefully they KnowWhenToFoldEm.



* Royal kings and queens usually reign over their countries until they die. Getting rid of them prematurely usually required drastic action like regicide or [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized full-on revolutions.]] Many countries have subverted this by turning into constitutional monarchies where the monarch "reigns, but does not rule", in that almost all the practical business of running the country is handled by elected officials and legislatures while the monarch serves a ceremonial role. In recent times, a few royal scandals have caused so much public uproar that the monarch or other member of the royal family is KickedUpstairs or ReassignedToAntarctica, such as Spain's former King [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I Juan Carlos I]] and Britain's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Andrew,_Duke_of_York Prince Andrew, the Duke of York]].

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* Royal kings and queens usually reign over their countries until they die. Getting rid of them prematurely usually required drastic action like regicide [[OffWithHisHead regicide]] or [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized full-on revolutions.]] Hopefully they KnowWhenToFoldEm. Many countries have subverted this by turning into constitutional monarchies where the monarch "reigns, but does not rule", in that almost all the practical business of running the country is handled by elected officials and legislatures while the monarch serves a ceremonial role. In recent times, a few royal scandals have caused so much public uproar that the monarch or other member of the royal family is KickedUpstairs or ReassignedToAntarctica, such as Spain's former King [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I Juan Carlos I]] and Britain's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Andrew,_Duke_of_York Prince Andrew, the Duke of York]].
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* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': The title character can always get his consultancy position back, even if the police commissioner wants him gone, because he's friends with the mayor of New York. In one episode, when the mayor is a murder suspect, the new captain makes it clear that if the mayor is forced out of office, Castle is out on his ass as well. But then Castle ''does'' something that gets him tossed -- he goes to a mob family for help in identifying the killer, leading to the killer's death in a mob hit, a situation so serious that even the mayor can't protect him -- but he gets his job back by [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment committing assault and being sentenced to community service as an NYPD consultant]].

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* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'': The title character can always get his consultancy position back, even if the police commissioner wants him gone, because he's friends with the mayor of New York. In one episode, when the mayor is a murder suspect, the new captain makes it clear that if the mayor is forced out of office, Castle is out on his ass as well. But then Castle ''does'' something that gets him tossed -- he goes to a mob family for help in identifying the killer, leading to the killer's death in a mob hit, a situation so serious that even the mayor can't protect him -- but he gets his job back by [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment committing assault and being sentenced to community service as an NYPD consultant]].
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** Lionel Hutz is a terrible lawyer, and yet (at least up until [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim the tenth season]]) the Simpsons would only hire him whenever they needed a lawyer, even when they clearly knew the law better than he did. It might just be because he's extremely cheap.

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** Lionel Hutz is a terrible lawyer, and yet (at least (until he ended up until [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim the tenth season]]) in ActorExistenceLimbo) the Simpsons would only hire him whenever they needed a lawyer, even when they clearly knew the law better than he did. It might just be because he's extremely cheap.
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* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Mr. Crocker. Everybody, including the principal of his school, thinks he's crazy, his students constantly fail their tests since Crocker actually enjoys handing out F's, and don't forget how cruel he gets on March 15, yet he still has his job. In real life, a teacher like that would have been fired a dozen times by now. In his first appearance, [[SadistTeacher Crocker]] mentions his tenure is so good he could get away with killing one of his students' parents with one of his fairy catching devices. This was averted in the Latin American and Dutch dubs of said episode however, in which Crocker stated he would get life in prison if he killed Timmy's parents (yet he was so convinced they were fairies he was willing to take that risk).
-->"If they survive, they're '''FAIRIES!!''' If they don't, '''I HAVE TENURE!!'''"

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* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Mr. Crocker. Everybody, including the principal of his school, thinks he's crazy, his students constantly fail their tests since Crocker actually enjoys handing out F's, and don't forget how cruel he gets on March 15, yet he still has his job. In real life, a teacher like that would have been fired a dozen times by now. In his first appearance, [[SadistTeacher Crocker]] Crocker mentions his tenure is so good he could get away with killing one of his students' parents with one of his fairy catching devices. This was averted in the Latin American and Dutch dubs of said episode however, in which Crocker stated he would get life in prison if he killed Timmy's parents (yet he was so convinced they were fairies he was willing to take that risk).
-->"If -->'''Crocker''': If they survive, they're '''FAIRIES!!''' If they don't, '''I HAVE TENURE!!'''"TENURE!!'''
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* While Dr. Cunningham from ''Series/TheCultureVultures'' is almost always in trouble for his lax attitude concerning his job, he always manages to charm his way out of trouble.
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* Commander Shepard from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' does a few questionable things ([[MortonsFork one way or the other]]) and has this mainly because the main government of the galaxy is TooDumbToLive and refuses to believe evidence of their impending doom. Repeatedly. But s/he's so needed that s/he gets ResurrectedForAJob, and can get reinstated as a Spectre and still continue to screw up whatever he wants to his/her heart's content. The Council does ask that s/he keep his/her cowboy ways to the Traverse and the Terminus Systems, but that's an empty request and Shepard knows it.

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* Commander Shepard from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' does a few questionable things ([[MortonsFork one way or the other]]) and has this mainly because the main government of the galaxy is TooDumbToLive and refuses to believe evidence of their impending doom. Repeatedly. But s/he's they're so needed that s/he gets they get ResurrectedForAJob, and can get reinstated as a Spectre and still continue to screw up whatever he wants to his/her their heart's content. The Council does ask that s/he they keep his/her their cowboy ways to the Traverse and the Terminus Systems, but that's an empty request and Shepard knows it.



** Averted in the episode 'The Deep End', where Mr. Poolcheck is a much less apathetic boss than Stan is, and fires her from stealing from the snack bar,

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** Averted in the episode 'The Deep End', where Mr. Poolcheck is a much less apathetic boss than Stan is, and fires her from stealing from the snack bar,bar.
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** Some people, mostly anti-union types and people that really love import cars, cite this as the reason for the decline in the quality of American cars starting from the mid-70s through at least the bailouts in 2009 (and depending on your opinion, maybe still to the present day). The United Auto Workers, or UAW, is one of the largest and most powerful unions in the country, and once you're in it's all but impossible to get rid of you. The belief is that a lot of these union workers just stopped caring about their jobs (assuming they bothered to show up at all) because they knew there'd be little if any consequences if they screwed up. The thing is though, the UAW for the most part only has contracts with the 3 American automakers - General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler - and only with factories located inside the U.S. Foreign automakers for the most part are non-union, so the perception is that they don't suffer this problem. Of course there's [[TheAllegedCar/RealLife plenty of terrible cars]] made by foreign automakers out there too, which shoots a pretty big hole in this theory.
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* While Cook from ''Film/NoKidding'' may be good in the kitchen, she somehow doesn't get the sack for constantly being drunk, skipping her work to sleep in, or when she breaks a load of crockery during a drunken episode.
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* The BBC's ''Series/{{Banished}}'' has a spectacularly lethal version of this. Because they're the only Western settlement in Australia and the next nearest settlement is months away by ship, the penal colony utterly depends on their one and only blacksmith Marston, to the extent that the Governor is willing to let other convicts starve to death in order to overlook Marston's food theft. It's only when Marston [[spoiler:is killed by the person he was starving]] that those in charge realise how ludicrously they behaved because they thought he was indispensable. When the replacement blacksmith [[spoiler:is about to be shot]], ''he'' tries to pass himself off as indispensable, but Major Ross clearly wants to avoid this trope.

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* The BBC's ''Series/{{Banished}}'' ''Series/{{Banished|2015}}'' has a spectacularly lethal version of this. Because they're the only Western settlement in Australia and the next nearest settlement is months away by ship, the penal colony utterly depends on their one and only blacksmith Marston, to the extent that the Governor is willing to let other convicts starve to death in order to overlook Marston's food theft. It's only when Marston [[spoiler:is killed by the person he was starving]] that those in charge realise how ludicrously they behaved because they thought he was indispensable. When the replacement blacksmith [[spoiler:is about to be shot]], ''he'' tries to pass himself off as indispensable, but Major Ross clearly wants to avoid this trope.
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Corrected a typo I noticed last moment (on my previous entry re: Halo 3: ODST).


* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' has the squad's sniper, Romeo, who has no shortage of disciplinary problems (to include being very antagonistic and disrespectful to other members of his squad, including the squad leader, and eying up an attractive officer with a comment thrown in as well during the game's prologue) that by all right should have gotten him discharged. Luckily for Romeo, he's an exceptionally talented sharpshooter, and just so happens to be serving the military during a war for survival against a genocidal alien empire, so with the circumstances being as severe for humanity as they are by the events of the game, the UNSC doesn't really have the option to cut him loose.

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* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' has the squad's sniper, Romeo, who has no shortage of disciplinary problems (to include being very antagonistic and disrespectful to other members of his squad, including the squad leader, and eying up an attractive officer with a comment thrown in as well during the game's prologue) that by all right rights should have gotten him discharged. Luckily for Romeo, he's an exceptionally talented sharpshooter, and just so happens to be serving the military during a war for survival against a genocidal alien empire, so with the circumstances being as severe for humanity as they are by the events of the game, the UNSC doesn't really have the option to cut him loose.
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Added an example based on Romeo from Halo 3: ODST.

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* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' has the squad's sniper, Romeo, who has no shortage of disciplinary problems (to include being very antagonistic and disrespectful to other members of his squad, including the squad leader, and eying up an attractive officer with a comment thrown in as well during the game's prologue) that by all right should have gotten him discharged. Luckily for Romeo, he's an exceptionally talented sharpshooter, and just so happens to be serving the military during a war for survival against a genocidal alien empire, so with the circumstances being as severe for humanity as they are by the events of the game, the UNSC doesn't really have the option to cut him loose.
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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': The titular character, as his mother is the head of [=ISIS=], but the entire cast under her supervision could count, with countless cases of insubordination, incompetence, using company equipment for personal use, drug use on the job, and unprofessional sexual behavior, yet no one has been fired. It also helps that Archer is actually a highly effective field agent, if primarily in matters involving violence and assassination.

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': [[Characters/ArcherSterlingArcher The titular character, character]], as his mother is the head of [=ISIS=], but the entire cast under her supervision could count, with countless cases of insubordination, incompetence, using company equipment for personal use, drug use on the job, and unprofessional sexual behavior, yet no one has been fired. It also helps that Archer is actually a highly effective field agent, if primarily in matters involving violence and assassination.



** Homer Simpson shouldn't be working as an inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He is grossly incompetent and monstrously stupid. He frequently leaves his job to pursue insane "lifelong dreams" and spur-of-the-moment opportunities. Yet no matter how badly he screws up, even if he leaves, even if he's ''fired'', he always comes back. The show has offered several explanations for why this is:

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** [[Characters/TheSimpsonsHomerSimpson Homer Simpson Simpson]] shouldn't be working as an inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He is grossly incompetent and monstrously stupid. He frequently leaves his job to pursue insane "lifelong dreams" and spur-of-the-moment opportunities. Yet no matter how badly he screws up, even if he leaves, even if he's ''fired'', he always comes back. The show has offered several explanations for why this is:



* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Squidward Tentacles may be this trope incarnate. He openly despises [[BurgerFool his job at the Krusty Krab]], often belittles and insults the customers to their faces, regularly sleeps on the job, and occasionally dumps his workload on [[{{Workaholic}} SpongeBob]]. It's even implied from time to time that he's actually ''trying'' to get fired. And yet, [[TheScrooge Mr. Krabs]] never ''does'' fire him. It's even a [[CuttingCorners plot point]] in the episode "[=SpongeBob=], You're Fired" -- Mr. Krabs states that the only reason he's firing [=SpongeBob=] instead of Squidward, despite [=SpongeBob=] being a ''far'' more competent employee, is because Squidward has "seniority".

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* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsSquidwardTentacles Squidward Tentacles Tentacles]] may be this trope incarnate. He openly despises [[BurgerFool his job at the Krusty Krab]], often belittles and insults the customers to their faces, regularly sleeps on the job, and occasionally dumps his workload on [[{{Workaholic}} SpongeBob]]. It's even implied from time to time that he's actually ''trying'' to get fired. And yet, [[TheScrooge Mr. Krabs]] never ''does'' fire him. It's even a [[CuttingCorners plot point]] in the episode "[=SpongeBob=], You're Fired" -- Mr. Krabs states that the only reason he's firing [=SpongeBob=] instead of Squidward, despite [=SpongeBob=] being a ''far'' more competent employee, is because Squidward has "seniority".
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* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Wendy Corduroy quite proudly and unrepentantly [[TheSlacker doesn't ''do anything'' whilst at work]] and on the odd occasion that she does, [[ApatheticClerk it's not with a lot of enthusiasm or effort]], and yet she holds down her job. Stan outright state that he'd fire her if he could--but he never does.
** Averted in the episode 'The Deep End', where Mr. Poolcheck is a much less apathetic boss than Stan is, and fires her from stealing from the snack bar,
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** For years, Courtney. She was rude to customers, and did very poorly at her job, but she never seemed to get close to be fired, with Stuart flat out saying he kept her on over more competent cashiers because her wages were lower. This was finally averted when Marla, [[RankUp who was promoted the store manager]], fired her. She hasn't been seen since 2013.

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** For years, Courtney. She was rude to customers, and did very poorly at her job, but she never seemed to get close to be fired, with Stuart flat out saying he kept her on over more competent cashiers because her wages were lower. This was finally averted when Marla, [[RankUp who was promoted the to store manager]], fired her. She hasn't been seen since 2013.
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* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Squidward Tentacles may be this trope incarnate. He openly despises [[BurgerFool his job at the Krusty Krab]], often belittles and insults the customers to their faces, regularly sleeps on the job or dumps his workload on [[{{Workaholic}} SpongeBob]], and it's even implied from time to time that he's actually ''trying'' to get fired... and yet [[TheScrooge Mr. Krabs]] never ''does'' fire him. It's even a [[CuttingCorners plot point]] in the episode "[=SpongeBob=], You're Fired"; Mr. Krabs states that the only reason he's firing [=SpongeBob=] instead of Squidward, despite [=SpongeBob=] being a ''far'' more competent employee, is because Squidward has "seniority."

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* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Squidward Tentacles may be this trope incarnate. He openly despises [[BurgerFool his job at the Krusty Krab]], often belittles and insults the customers to their faces, regularly sleeps on the job or job, and occasionally dumps his workload on [[{{Workaholic}} SpongeBob]], and it's SpongeBob]]. It's even implied from time to time that he's actually ''trying'' to get fired... and yet fired. And yet, [[TheScrooge Mr. Krabs]] never ''does'' fire him. It's even a [[CuttingCorners plot point]] in the episode "[=SpongeBob=], You're Fired"; Fired" -- Mr. Krabs states that the only reason he's firing [=SpongeBob=] instead of Squidward, despite [=SpongeBob=] being a ''far'' more competent employee, is because Squidward has "seniority.""seniority".
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** Mayor Quimby is exemplified by the city's motto ''[[CanisLatinicus Corruptus in Extremis]]'' -- he's easily bribed over ''anything'' and is a chronic womanizer, and yet he can't be removed from office, possibly because he rigging the elections.

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** Mayor Quimby is exemplified by the city's motto ''[[CanisLatinicus Corruptus in Extremis]]'' -- he's easily bribed over ''anything'' and is a chronic womanizer, and yet he can't be removed from office, possibly because he rigging rigs the elections.

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** Homer Simpson shouldn't be working as an inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He's grossly incompetent, monstrously stupid, and frequently leaves his job to pursue insane "lifelong dreams" and spur-of-the-moment opportunities. Yet no matter how badly he screws up, even if he leaves, even if he's ''fired'', he always comes back. The show has offered several explanations for why this is:

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** Homer Simpson shouldn't be working as an inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He's He is grossly incompetent, incompetent and monstrously stupid, and stupid. He frequently leaves his job to pursue insane "lifelong dreams" and spur-of-the-moment opportunities. Yet no matter how badly he screws up, even if he leaves, even if he's ''fired'', he always comes back. The show has offered several explanations for why this is:



** Chief Wiggum is a morbidly obese and grossly incompetent cop. He rats out his own undercover men by accident, and he releases dangerous criminals on the condition that they go to ''his son's party''.
** Principal Skinner is respected by nobody and barely manages to keep the school open. His teachers are not much better, as they show precious little care for their students and violate basic health principles by smoking and drinking in class.
** Mayor Quimby is exemplified by the city's motto ''[[CanisLatinicus Corruptus in Extremis]]'' -- he's easily bribed over ''anything'' and is a chronic womanizer, and yet he can't be removed from office (although he's probably rigging the elections).

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** [[BadCopIncompetentCop Chief Wiggum Wiggum]] is a morbidly obese and grossly incompetent cop. He rats out his own undercover men by accident, accident and he releases dangerous criminals on the condition that they go to ''his son's party''.
** Principal Skinner is respected by nobody and barely manages to keep the school open. His teachers are not much better, as they show showing precious little care for their students and violate violating basic health principles by smoking and drinking in class.
** Mayor Quimby is exemplified by the city's motto ''[[CanisLatinicus Corruptus in Extremis]]'' -- he's easily bribed over ''anything'' and is a chronic womanizer, and yet he can't be removed from office (although he's probably office, possibly because he rigging the elections).elections.



* Tenure for academics is not quite this, but it's very, very close. Although granting it is supposed to be based on credentials and accomplishments (and limit favoritism and arbitrary dismissals as well as foster loyalty), it's not uncommon for members of a tenure-granting board to try to block people they don't like from becoming tenured just because it means they'll be stuck with them as coworkers for the foreseeable future - sometimes decades.

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* Tenure for academics is not quite this, but it's very, very close. Although granting it is supposed to be based on credentials and accomplishments (and limit favoritism and arbitrary dismissals as well as foster loyalty), it's not uncommon for members of a tenure-granting board to try to block people they don't like from becoming tenured just because it means they'll be stuck with them as coworkers for the foreseeable future - -- sometimes decades.



:: Although, he was finally fired shortly after getting that last contract extension.
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Cut page.


* Creator/ShepardSmith was anchor for right-leaning Creator/FoxNews for 23 years, and had no qualms whatsoever about challenging the party line on an astonishingly regular basis and making conservative and liberal guests alike look like idiots when they didn't have their facts straight, including calling out Republican Senators for blocking the 9/11 First Responders' healthcare bill, asking why so many Republicans are firmly seating themselves "on the wrong side of history" regarding gay marriage, harshly condemning Fox's spreading of panic about ebola, using a PrecisionFStrike to punctuate his vehement opposition to [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique torture]], and utterly debunking the idea that climate change isn't real. Virtually every clip of him on Website/YouTube has at least one comment wondering why he hadn't been fired yet. He was also responsible for the highest-rated show on the channel (and the second- or third-highest-rated news show ''on TV''), polled as the second-most-respected news anchor in the country, and had been with Fox News since there's ''been'' a Fox News. He really was ''just that good''. When he finally did walk away, he did so entirely on his own initiative.

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* Creator/ShepardSmith was anchor for right-leaning Creator/FoxNews Fox News for 23 years, and had no qualms whatsoever about challenging the party line on an astonishingly regular basis and making conservative and liberal guests alike look like idiots when they didn't have their facts straight, including calling out Republican Senators for blocking the 9/11 First Responders' healthcare bill, asking why so many Republicans are firmly seating themselves "on the wrong side of history" regarding gay marriage, harshly condemning Fox's spreading of panic about ebola, using a PrecisionFStrike to punctuate his vehement opposition to [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique torture]], and utterly debunking the idea that climate change isn't real. Virtually every clip of him on Website/YouTube has at least one comment wondering why he hadn't been fired yet. He was also responsible for the highest-rated show on the channel (and the second- or third-highest-rated news show ''on TV''), polled as the second-most-respected news anchor in the country, and had been with Fox News since there's ''been'' a Fox News. He really was ''just that good''. When he finally did walk away, he did so entirely on his own initiative.
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* Reibey from ''Fanfic/ResonanceDays'' constantly belittles the people around him, including his own allies, intentionally made his empire seem as ObviouslyEvil as possible, and is a member of the one species that is HatedByAll for justifiable reasons. One of his allies also internally complains about how phenomenally StupidEvil he is, and even the author describes him as immature and not all that bright. That said, he is in control of the one resource that cannot be gotten anywhere else, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever true death]], and despite everyone hating his guts, no one wants to risk getting rid of him and potentially losing it.

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* Reibey from ''Fanfic/ResonanceDays'' constantly belittles the people around him, including his own allies, intentionally made his empire seem as ObviouslyEvil as possible, and is a member of the one species that is HatedByAll for justifiable reasons. One of his allies also internally complains about how phenomenally StupidEvil he is, and even the author describes him as immature and not all that bright. That said, he is in control of the one resource that cannot be gotten anywhere else, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever true death]], and despite everyone hating his guts, no one wants to risk getting rid of him and potentially losing it. In fact, a few years before the story takes place, TheAlliance nearly succeded in getting rid of him until every other faction in the world threatened to join the war on Reibey's side if they didn't quit it.
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* Reibey from ''Fanfic/ResonanceDays'' constantly belittles the people around him, including his own allies, intentionally made his empire seem as ObviouslyEvil as possible, and is a member of the one species that is HatedByAll for justifiable reasons. One of his allies also internally complains about how phenomenally StupidEvil he is, and even the author describes him as immature and not all that bright. That said, he is in control of the one resource that cannot be gotten anywhere else, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever true death]], and despite everyone hating his guts, no one wants to risk getting rid of him and potentially losing it.

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