History Main / WhatExactlyIsHisJob

* Rossweisse in ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD''. While she serves as Rias's second [[ChessMotifs Rook]], she has no personal connection to the plot, and no Sacred Gear or other interesting powers. Averted much later, when she's finally given a focus chapter and her character and motivations are fleshed out considerably.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'': For the longest time, it hadn't been revealed what type of field Gohan is studying for a living and what he exactly does in his scholar job. ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' portrays him a bit of an OmnidisciplinaryScientist due to him helping out Bulma in preparing the spaceship. ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'' reveals that he's studying insects, but it doesn't go into detail if he's studying just insects or other animals.

* At least two of the job types described in [[https://www.cracked.com/blog/9-types-job-that-will-destroy-your-soul/ this]] essay could be this, and both are known to make up fake or dumbed-down job descriptions when discussing their work in social settings. The Laughingstock because [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets their job is considered worthy of ridicule]] (even if it requires a great deal of skill, specialized licensure, and pays more than most of the people laughing at them make). And the Assistant Cromulationist, because their job is very technical and hard to describe, especially to people who are either HopelessWithTech or just not familiar with that line of work.

** Milton is even more extreme, hanging around at Initech for five years without even technically ''having'' a job there--no one told him he'd been laid off, and due to an error in Payroll, he was still receiving a paycheck until the Bobs fixed it.

* The ''Film/JosieAndThePussycats'' movie explicitly lampshades that Alexandra has no logical reason to be hanging out with the band except that she was in the cartoon.

* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' Rebecca Howe became the manager of the bar when Sam had retired. Upon his return as bartender, and especially after he became co-owner with her, her duties were so fuzzy that Carla actually asked "What does she ''do'' around here?"

* If it looks like someone doesn't have a job ''at all'', they're likely a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob or a {{Socialite}}.

Compare the OmnidisciplinaryScientist, who has a [=PhD=] in Everythingology and ''awesomeology'', rather than merely having to be [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything everything]] and awesome, OpenHeartDentistry for medical professionals who don't have a specialty, and TheChick, who is very skilled in caring and diplomacy in a world where ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption.

* An unusual villainous example comes from ''Series/PowerRangersRPM with [[DumbMuscle General Crunch]]. Despite being a general, he's not in the field too often ([[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass though he can handle himself in a fight, surprisingly well in fact]]); it's usually [[DarkChick Tenaya 7/15]] who leads ground battles. Meanwhile, his fellow general, Shifter, is the primary creator of Venjix's [[MonsterOfTheWeek attack bots]] (and following Shifter's [[EnemyCivilWar going rogue]], [[EnigmaticMinion General Kilobyte]] takes his place). Crunch is mostly comic relief ([[DumbassHasAPoint and on one occasion]], [[LampshadeHanging points out the flaws in Venjix's plans]], which [[AmusingInjuries gets him blasted into a pile of scrap]]), though [[ADayInTheLimelight he does create a monster once]] when Venjix is absent (Tenaya and Shifter have their own plan), even [[MakeMyMonsterGrow beginning the growth download]] (and in a CallBack to his [[GenreSavvy genre savviness]], immediately grows the attack bot once it gets to Corinth).

->''"But that monster messed with the wrong crew. With Candy's spirit, Grenda's strength, Dipper's brains, and...uh...Soos here, we'll get five hundred pieces of candy and have fun doing it too!"''
-->-- '''Mabel Pines''', ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', "Summerween"

*** Data is officially the ship's Operations Officer, but is often shown working in several different departments including Science, Engineering, and Medical, as a result of his extremely large knowledge base. He's also the ship's Second Officer, putting him third in the chain of command after Picard and Riker.

Compare the OmnidisciplinaryScientist, who has a [=PhD=] in Everythingology and ''awesomeology'', rather than merely having to be [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything everything]] and awesome, OpenHeartDentistry for medical professionals who don't have a specialty, and TheChick, who is very skilled in caring and diplomacy [[TierInducedScrappy in a world where]] ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption.

-->-- '''Mabel''', ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', "Summerween"

* ''Series/{{Conan}}'':, it's a running gag that no one seems to know what associate producer Jordan Schlansky does all day, and no one can get a straight answer out of him, apart from "various duties" and the likes, and that it is not his responsibility to inform anyone, including his superiors, what that entails.

* ''VideoGame/AstralChain'' has Marie Wentz, the only member of Neuron without some sort of specialization and/or potential as a Legionis. Sure, she does administrative scut work, but one wonders why a special police unit operating with secret clearance brought in a nobody traffic officer to do that. Some endgame files hint Yoseph just needed enough warm bodies at desks to get Neuron recognized, so he hired a useful idiot and promptly forgot Marie existed.

* In the ''VideoGame/DetectiveUnited'' series, we know that Agent Dorian Brown is a member of the Mystery Trackers, which is an ancient secret cabal dedicated to protecting humanity against the worst supernatural threats. In the first game, he himself explains that he's the head of a very specialized department which handles particularly complex cases. Having been a Mystery Trackers agent for more than twenty years, he is ''very'' good at his job, and he keeps things ''very'' tightly under wraps. And... that's really all we know. "Additional information is classified."

** Lampshaded by Vivienne, if the Inquisitor asks about her opinion of Varric.
--->'''Vivienne:''' What exactly ''is'' Varric's role in the Inquisition? Aside from [[VitriolicBestBuds irritating Cassandra]].
** Varric also apparently handles a lot of the more exotic procurement issues thanks to his extensive trade contacts. For instance he can supply Iron Bull with cocoa that nobody else has ever heard of.

* The job title of "Project Coordinator" can be vague even for those who have it. Alternatively, "Project Administrator", "Project Developmental Specialist"...really, anything with "Project" in the title, as they are, by design working on special projects that can vary from week to week, day to day, and hour to hour.

* Bard's Tower, a company that coordinates and arranges writers and artists (called "the talent" during these operations) appearances at fandom conventions -- including making sure they have copies of books to sell, advertising their appearances, making sure the talent has hotel space, and so on. In addition to the talent, the company's booths always employ someone whose official job title is "[=LoM=]-[=ToP=]" (it means '''Lo'''w-'''M'''an on the '''To'''tem '''P'''ole"). This person's job is essentially to fix any problems that come up for the talent, including fetching bottles of water and lunches, informing fans of the talents movements, and in one notable case, ''literally'' fighting off a crazed fan who tried to attack one of the visiting writers until the on-site security could get there.

* ''Film/LivingInOblivion'' is an independent film, with an ensemble cast, about making an independent film. When the director (Steve Buscemi) [[RantInducingSlight goes berserk on his crew after one disaster too many on a shoot]], he calls each one out by name and reels off their failures in their jobs. When he gets to a production assistant, wide-eyed with panic, he hesitates and squints at her, "Who are you? What do you fucking do around here, anyway?"

* For most of the first season of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'', nobody knew why Harry was on the mission. They then revealed that he was the radio link with their home planet. He eventually gets sad about this fact, since he's essentially equipment. It was frequently implied that his ''main'' function was TeamPet.
** One ad for the series blatantly lampshaded this. It introduced each member of the team, and their role; Dick, the mission commander, Sally, the security officer, Tommy, the information officer, and Harry, the...um...well, they had an extra seat.

* Series/GroundFloor: No one knows what Tori does in the office. She only comes in to sleep after spending the night clubbing and is only seen awake when she's goofing off with the rest of the maintenance staff.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Boomhauer's job/source of income on the show was given multiple explanations: one was that he was a former electric lineman on worker's comp, another was that he doesn't work because he lives off the money he won in a lottery, and a third explanation was that Boomhauer came from a moderately wealthy family and lived off a trust fund set up for him. The last episode "To Sirloin With Love" reveals that Boomhauer actually ''does'' have a job: [[spoiler:he's a member of the Texas Rangers.]]

* ''Anime/RinneNoLagrange'': Be it at being an extra participant in any activity or saving the Earth, Jersey Club does it.