History Main / WorkOffTheDebt

* ''Literature/SpiceAndWolf'' subverts this a little. While Lawrence insists that Holo sticks with him until she's paid off her debt, and she agrees to do so, it's merely their excuse for travelling together, [[EveryoneCanSeeIt and it doesn't fool anyone]]. Except Amarti, who assumes that Lawrence is tying her down. They set him straight, but not before lightening his purse quite a bit.
** Further played with when Lawrence sees Holo's wolf form. Holo is worried that Lawrence won't want anything to do with her. Lawrence responds by ''demanding'' that she continue travelling with him, as her rampage had damaged some of his property.

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!!Examples

* A Georgia lottery commercial had a couple consigned to washing dishes at a restaurant in which they dined as the man attempted to pay his bill with Monopoly money.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/{{Aggretsuko}}'': In Season 3, Retsuko isn't watching her gear shifting while in a parking lot and rams a van belonging to a scary-looking guy by the name of Hyodo. Hyodo says he won't press charges if Retsuko works to pay off the repairs for the damage she caused, with Retsuko guessing he's some gangster or trafficker that wants her to do some shady dealing after work. Turns out Hyodo's [[SheepInWolfsClothing just the manager of an underground idol trio]] and needs an accountant to balance his books.
* In ''Anime/TheBigO'', the reason R. Dorothy starts working as Roger's maid is that she can't pay off the fee for the negotiating he did for her.
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': If a very rich and very bitchy person is the AssholeVictim in a case, chances are one of the suspects will be a person they forced into this. Whether they're {{red herring}}s or the actual {{sympathetic murderer}}s, that's something else.
* In a cute omake for ''Manga/DGrayMan'', Allen is shown wearing a frilly apron, washing dishes, and taking food orders at the cafeteria in the Black Order. His reason? Because apparently [[AbusiveParents General Cross]] got him more into debt, so he has to work it off.
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': In "[[Recap/DigimonAdventureE23OhFriendWereGarurumon WereGarurumon's Diner]]", Matt helps Joe work off a debt he's incurred since their money isn't accepted in the digital world. (American dollars are accepted but Japanese yen aren't.) As is often the case with debt slavery, Vegiemon finds countless excuses, such as wasted ingredients, spills, burnt food and so on (often caused by deliberate trickery), to add extra days to Joe's debt, ensuring he'll never actually pay it off and he'll have to do unpaid work in perpetuity. When Tai and T.K. arrive this trick is revealed, Matt's Crest of Friendship activates when Joe is captured by Vegiemon, after which [=WereGarurumon=] beats the daylights out of the owners and they finally go free.
* Happened in one episode of ''Manga/DokonjoGaeru'' with Hiroshi at a ramen restaurant. He sent Pyonkichi (the frog on his shirt) to get the money, but it took so long for him to return (he lost the money and had to earn it back by helping other people for reward money), that by the time he came back Hiroshi washed every dish at the restaurant, making his hands sore. They don't take this lying down, however: they give the store owner the money, then proceed to take the clean bowls outside and dirty them again with sewage water, much to the cook's dismay.
* This kicks off the plot of ''Manga/GhostHunt'' - Mai accidentally injures Kazuya's assistant and breaks his expensive camera. Not being able to afford a replacement, she has to act as his assistant until the debt is paid. She later discovers that, because Naru-chan's equipment is insured, he didn't technically need to get her help to pay for the replacement. He just wanted extra help and the broken camera gave him an excuse. Lin's injury was more reasonable grounds, though.
* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellArise'' military {{cyborg}}s are essentially serfs to their units until they pay off the cost of their prosthetic bodies.
%%* ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'': The premise.
* ''Manga/HeIsMyMaster'': Izumi needs to pay off a debt incurred by breaking a vase.
* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': The NPC's in Greed Island don't recognize real money as the money used in the game is in card form so Gon and Killua end up washing dishes since, while their meal is free, they still have to pay up for their drinks.
* ''LightNovel/KakuriyoBedAndBreakfastForSpirits'' has the main character Aoi Tsubaki get into this position when she inherits a major debt from her grandfather. Her other option to pay off the debt is to enter into an ArrangedMarriage with the man her grandfather owed the money to and she is determined to avoid that.
* ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'': Fuu was afraid she and her friends would have to do this for the weapons Presea made for them, though they ultimately don't.
* At some point in ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'', Godai is stuck working at a nightclub that he's in debt with. Kyouko thinks he's job-hunting and [[ThroughHisStomach makes him really nice lunches]] to help him; naturally, Godai feels like crap for this. The owner of the club sees said lunches and tells him [[ShipperOnDeck that he must NOT let Kyouko go away.]]
* An episode of ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' had the Hare treating the gang to a night at a fancy restaurant and inn... and then slipping off in the night without paying. Cut to a scene of Golem in a frilly pink apron.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': When Marines fire a cannonball at Luffy's ship, he uses his Gum-Gum Balloon to redirect the projectile... straight towards the Baratie, a floating restaurant. The owner, Chef Zeff, tries to make Luffy work for a whole year, but considers the debt paid off after he saves his business from being stolen by Don Kreig and his pirates.
* The final arc of ''Manga/OnePoundGospel'' has Ryuusei Kurenai, who will lure everyone in his host club to trick them into buying expensive things because his parents sold him to the club to pay a huge debt and now has to pay it off (something he'd have done a long time ago if he didn't take time off work to be a boxer), and won't shut up about that... [[SubvertedTrope Except he's lying about it]], and will admit it. Then again, [[ExactWords the only reason he's lying is]] that [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubverted his debt is twice of what he says]]]].
* In ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', Haruhi is forced to become a host after she accidentally breaks a monumentally expensive vase.
* Aisha in ''Anime/OutlawStar'', working as a waitress rather than a dish washer, although she wound up washing dishes by the end of the episode.
* In ''Anime/PeachGirl'', Kairi Okayasu gets his wallet stolen by street punks at one point. He doesn't realize it until he gets the (rather cheap) bill at a restaurant, and winds up washing dishes.
* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', Black is forced to work for White after she shows him how much she paid to cover for the scenery and equipment he destroyed. Which is just fine for White, as she really needed his Tepig for a movie shooting. In a slight subversion, White proves to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure as she doesn't expect Black to pay off the entirety of the debt. She plans to let him go after just a few more shootings. And this trope is further played with when it turns out that Tep and Gigi make so much money together that Black has most of the original debt payed off anyways. After that revelation, Black and White form a sort of partnership since their respective goals work out better if they stick together. They're even willing to directly help each other out.
* In ''Manga/Reborn2004'', Tsuna's pals order expensive food, then dine and dash. Tsuna has to work off the debt.
* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': IndenturedServitude is the fate of any hunter who falls into debt in the setting, with the OneNationUnderCopyright government taking a very harsh view on it. Akira selling HealingPotion to Revin when he’s TooDesperateToBePicky and Carol charging a high level hunter 10 billion aurum for a night with her, results in those hunters serving Katsuragi and Viola, respectively. Sheryl also ends up advertising all the money Akira has spent helping her as part of a ploy to get other slum gangs to accept her overlordship, since them refusing to help pay Akira back would presumably earn his wrath (as far as he’s concerned paying back Sheryl’s debt is just Viola’s excuse for being kept alive.)
* In ''Manga/SakuraGari'', [[spoiler: the PrincelyYoungMan Souma forces the young servant Masataka to be his lover to return the money that Souma used to pay the debt that Masataka's older brother Takafumi had with the {{Yakuza}}.]] It gets worse: [[spoiler: Souma keeps his side of the bargain... but Takafumi ends up getting killed by the police during a riot after the debt was paid ''and Souma hides this from Masataka while keeping him as his "lover"''. When Masataka finds out, he very understandably blows up at Souma, who only ''then'' [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realises how badly he fucked up]].]]
* In ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'', a procurer for a Yakuza-owned brothel stages one of these on Fuu by bumping into her and causing the "accidental" breaking of a vase, then insisting she work to repay its value.
* [[spoiler: Sakuya Ookochi]] from ''Manga/SensualPhrase'' has this in his backstory, as [[spoiler: his ParentalSubstitute raised him as a musician to pay the huge debt that Sakuya's mom Reiko left behind after her death.]]
* ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'' subverts this a little. While Lawrence insists that Holo sticks with him until she's paid off her debt, and she agrees to do so, it's merely their excuse for travelling together, [[EveryoneCanSeeIt and it doesn't fool anyone]]. Except Amarti, who assumes that Lawrence is tying her down. They set him straight, but not before lightening his purse quite a bit.
** Further played with when Lawrence sees Holo's wolf form. Holo is worried that Lawrence won't want anything to do with her. Lawrence responds by ''demanding'' that she continue travelling with him, as her rampage had damaged some of his property.
** Lawrence ends with a bad bargain that not only bankrupted him but also ended with him having a debt of 47 gold coins which he has to pay in two days or face 10 years of rowing a long distance ship or working in a mine[[note]][[FateWorseThanDeath A fate that is described as one that is dark, full of torment and too much to bear]][[/note]]. He TakesAThirdOption [[spoiler: by using his connections and the help of his creditor he chooses to smuggle gold into the city, which is no easy feat but he happens to have met [[ChekhovsGunman just the right person for the job.]]]]
* The title character of ''Manga/SquidGirl'' is stuck working at the Lemon Beach House to work off her debt, although in her case she's working to pay to fix the hole she blasted in the restaurant's wall. When she asks how long it will take, Eiko replies that it would take her 5 or 6 years to pay it all off. Even a [[CuteMonsterGirl squid girl]] who until recently had no concept of debt or money realizes that this is ridiculous:
--> '''Ika''': "What kind of lame wage are you paying me, [[VerbalTic de geso]]?!"
* ''Anime/TenchiUniverse'' episode 19 "No Need For Runaways!" The group is eating at a diner in a space truck stop. After two punks steal their CoolSpaceship the Yagami, most of the group rushes off in pursuit. Ayeka and Sasami are left behind but have no money to pay the bill. They're still washing dishes 92 hours (almost 4 days) later.
* ''Manga/XxxHolic'' has Watanuki having to pay off an increasingly larger debt of working for Yuuko. [[spoiler:It's not even his debt, but Syaoran's. Though by building his own set of relationships and memories, Watanuki is cementing his own existence.]]
* This is the basic premise of ''Manga/ZombieLoan'', with characters who are BackFromTheDead having to work off the literal life debt they owe in order to stay alive as "Z-Loaners".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* ''Fanfic/FireEmblemRekkaNoKenAStoryRetold'': Lyndis' Legion manages to defeat Lundgren thanks to female merchant Anna supplying Michael with a Master Seal, which Lyn uses to get the upper hand in the fight, and an Aum Staff, which she uses to bring Michael BackFromTheDead after he was mortally wounded by Lundgren. Several chapters later, Anna arranges for Michael to work off the fifty-thousand gold he owed her for the two items during the one-year TimeSkip.
* ''Fanfic/GuardianBlue'' has a variation. Since as a police officer, Nick was going to start receiving government pay checks anyway, he pays off his debts from his tax evasion by having a chunk taken out of his wages.
* The ''Series/Daredevil2015'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WhatTheyWouldntDo'' sees Matt form an acquaintance with Sarah, a woman who has been forced into working for one of Wilson Fisk's old shady front companies to repay her father's gambling debts.
* Many Baravadans work off their debts to the gods (which are not at all uncommon, more like bank loans than anything else) in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached.'' One way to do it is to make sure the magical baths are still running in the empty, run-down hotels so the occasional traveler can wash up comfortably.
** Lyndess refused to do any kind of work for the debt she owed the gods, so they exiled her to Ketafa as punishment. No one knows what her problem was, but they've taken to calling her “Lyndess the Example” because she's a reminder that the gods don't take debt avoidance lightly.
* In the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/18791527 Xenophiles' Dinner Club]]'', Cassie, Aftran, Ax, and Marco accidentally go to the wrong restaurant, instead of the one where Rachel's mom knew the chef. They end up paying their bill through dishwashing, which becomes a problem when they start approaching the 2-hour morph limit.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BarbaryCoast'': In "Funny Money", a young [[TheGamblingAddict gambling addict]] who owes money to Cash quits gambling and goes to work at Cash's casino as a bookkeeper to pay off his debts.
* Almost happens in the ''Series/BlackLightning'' pilot, where Jennifer goes to The 100 club and starts chilling with Will, until Will is "summoned" to his cousin Lala's office, with the goons dragging Jennifer with him, assuming her to be Will's girlfriend. When Lala points out that Will owes him a lot of money, he decides that Will's "girl" should start working off Will's debt at Lala's motel/brothel. Luckily, [[ElectricBlackGuy her dad]] blasts into the club and rescues her.
* In the ''Series/CaitlinsWay'' episode "Caitlin's Trust", Caitlin wrecks Jim's brand new ATV while taking it for a joyride (Long story short, she thought that he'd purchased it using money paid to him by the government to take care of her and she took the ATV for a joyride because she was angry about it). As it turns out, [[spoiler: he paid for the ATV out of his own pocket. He'd been secretly putting the government checks in a trust fund for Caitlin.]] When this comes out, he lets her (and Griffen, who was also in the ATV) do community service to work off the debt. In a twist on the trope, this is actually the lesser of two evils, as the alternative would have been to file criminal charges against her, which would result in her being taken away from Jim and Dori and sent to juvenile detention.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' had Norm painting the office to work off his huge bar tab.
* In ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' Don Ramón is often hired by Señor Barriga to do some work in the vecindad, such as fixing a wall or painting, in exchange of some of the months of rent he has yet to pay.
* In an episode of ''Series/CornerGas'', Lacey catches Oscar counterfeiting, when she says she has something in mind for him, the scene cuts to him washing dishes, when Lacey walks in and tells him she just wants him to pay her off in real money.
* An extreme case of this was the basis of seasons 2 through 5 of ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'': The four girls were working off damages inflicted to school property (with RichBitch Blair's parents not bailing her out as a growth experience).
* In ''Series/FamilyMatters'', after Steve accidentally destroys a chunk of the Winslows' house, he uses his transformation chamber to turn into his alter-ego, Stefan, so he can perform at a local night club in hopes of earning money to pay Carl back for the damages. He ends up making enough money, and then some.
* ''Series/ILoveLucy'': Lucy and Ethel complain about not having equal rights to their husbands and demand as such. Ricky and Fred agree and they head out for dinner, however, Ricky explains the situation to the manager and has the girls given separate checks. Since Lucy and Ethel were expecting their husbands to pay for their food, they don't have the money and are forced to wash dishes. They do get even for this stunt at the end of this episode.
* In the ''Series/KenanAndKel'' episode "Attack of the Bug Men". The duo is trying to prevent the former's family from returning home to find that it had been robbed. When Kenan's parents request their bill, he secretly steals his father's wallet, and they are forced to wash dishes. All of this is deliberately done to buy time for the police to arrest the burglars and recover the stolen furniture, and for Kel to unload that furniture back into the Rockmore residence. [[spoiler: Kel, being Kel, ruined the plan by unloading different furniture for liking it better than he likes the stuff he should have unloaded.]]
* Hal in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', sweeping floors in a convenience store.
* In an episode of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', the Bundys went to dine at a restaurant and realized they have forgotten the money at home. Bud and Kelly went home to pick it but decided to keep it for themselves and let their parents fend for themselves. Once Al told Peg she'd probably be forced to wash dishes to pay the bill, she quickly devised and implemented a plan to escape and it worked.
** And the time Al had to work as a bellhop to pay off fraudulent credit card debts. And the time Peg had to work a fast-food job to pay off her Patty Bright makeup debt. And another time when Al had to work at a gas station after his family spent all the gas money buying snacks.
** One episode has Al cleaning up a bar to pay the bill and it's implied it's usual.
* In a compilation video of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', Kermit and Miss Piggy dine out at a fancy restaurant. Piggy orders increasingly more courses as the video goes on, until the very end...
-->'''Kermit:''' ''(with the bill in hand)'' I think you better go on without me.
-->'''Piggy:''' Oh, alright, fine. I'll see you later. ''Kissy-kissy!'' I may go get some pizza. ''(exits)''
-->'''Kermit:''' Yeah, I may stay and wash the dishes...
* One ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch featured Creator/PabloPicasso (played by Creator/JonLovitz) having a grand time at a seaside cafe and freely handing out his autograph to patrons and staff in place of money. Dishwashing ensues when management refuses to accept a signed napkin as payment on the check.
-->'''Picasso:''' "What a ''revoltin''' development!"
* ''Series/Scoundrels2010'': Cal is forced to work for Mr. Hong as a lackey to pay back for ruining a precious family relic while he was stealing his mansion.
* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George comes up with an idea for ''Jerry'', the ShowWithinAShow, that one of the characters owes Jerry a lot of money and so has to work as Jerry's butler by court order to pay off the debt.
* Tsuyoshi in ''{{Series/Sh15uya}}'' had to do this.
* This is the entire premise of ''Series/SideHustle''. Lexi, Presley and Munchy accidentally destroy the prize boat of their principal (and Munchy's dad). He threatens to make them pay off the debt with labor at the school but they come up with an app to land various odd jobs to cover the debt.
* ''Series/That70sShow'': The gang head out to a fancy restaurant, but when the time comes to pay the bill, they don't have enough money. Micheal, Hyde, Jackie, Kelso, and Fez head off to get some money, but we later find out it was a prank on Eric and Donna with the hope this might happen. Eric and Donna are forced to do a Dine and Dash and later repay their friends for the prank.
* In "The Great Ping Pong Scam" from ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', Robbie orders a large amount of caviar, unaware of its price. As the gang doesn't have enough money to pay for this, Tori ends up paying the debt by singing for the guests of the restaurant.
** Later in "How Trina Got In", Tori and Robbie must work at Nozu after they forget their wallets and can't pay a bill for their food.
* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': Sheldon takes on a paper route to pay George after he dismantled the refrigerator, costing his father $200 to get it restored. Though what makes this ironic is that Sheldon is trying to pay off George as soon as possible even though George directly told him, "I don't care ''how long'' it takes, you're gonna pay me back every cent of this!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In the beginning of ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' you move to the new town, but when it comes time to pay for the house, you don't have enough money. So the store owner (who also runs the realty business) makes you his assistant for a while to work off the debt.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the Hawke siblings work for an entire year to pay off the mercenaries/smugglers who helped the family enter Kirkwall.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'', after Erik [[spoiler:loses his memory and is caught stealing food from the stores of the ''Salty Stallion'']], he promises to make it up to the party, offering to wash the dishes or whatever they want. They assure him no such thing is necessary.
* In ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'', when Frederic Chopin, Polka, Beat and Salsa are rescued by a Baroque Ship, Beat asks Prince Crescendo if there's anything they can do to thank them, and suggests "This little squirt [Salsa] could wash dishes for you!" Salsa is not amused, but Crescendo says that it's fine, that they don't owe him anything. Later, however, when a pirate ship shows up to menace the Baroque Ship, the party goes aboard to fight off the pirates.
* Two instances of this in ''VideoGame/EvolutionWorlds'':
** Mag's family has been living with such a massive debt to the Society that they have to constantly pay the organization to stay afloat, all due to Mag's father never paying after going missing. [[spoiler:It gets ''even worse'' by the end of the second game]].
** The same story happened to Chain, but her family sold off their house to pay the debt. In hindsight, now they all live in a bus and are barely living by because of Chain being the only source of income.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', the merchant O'aka ends up in deep debt to some Al Bhed moneylenders after a business deal goes bad. You can either turn him over to the Al Bhed looking for him, or you can take him onto your airship and buy items from him until you pay off his 100,000 gil debt. If you pay off his debt, he'll reopen his shop and start selling some very useful items at fire-sale prices. If you turn him over to the Al Bhed, they put him to work at an excavation site in the desert to pay off his debt. A different sidequest allows the player to make 100,000 gil in one go (with some SaveScumming), at which point it's just a matter of having enough inventory space to store all the purchases.
* At the start of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', the protagonists set out for Noctis' wedding in the [[CoolCar Regalia]], which proceeds to break down. They end up having to do some work for Cid, owner of the Hammerhead garage and an old friend of the King, to help pay the bill.
* {{Exploited| trope}} in ''Videogame/{{Fire Emblem Path of Radiance}}'' if you recruit Makalov. Ike mentions that he's paid off all of Makalov's numerous debts from the company's coffers, but since the debts were lawful, it means Makalov now had a very high debt to Ike. Best get fighting to work it off.
* Gets discussed in a converstation in one of the intruductory missions of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', where Roman boasts about his gambling to his cousin Niko:
->'''Roman:''' They call me "The Janitor."
->'''Niko:''' Because you can't pay your debts and they make you mop the floor?
->'''Roman:''' No, I'm the Janitor because I always clean up. I always win, get it?
->'''Niko:''' I seriously hope your cards are better than your nicknames.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has Micheal chase after his wife's yoga instructor whom she slept with. In a fit of rage, Michael pulls down a support beam on a house that the man fled to and destroys the entire house. Turns out that not only the house did not belong to the yoga instructor, it belonged to Martin Madrazo, the local drug lord, who is now threatening Micheal unless he repays him $2.5 million. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops.]] You do eventually pay off the debt, but it takes up until the halfway point of the story for the debt to finally be resolved and collecting the money yourself outside of story missions doesn't count. The incident kicks starts the main story and Micheal, through an optional phone call, even lampshades the situation by saying that if he hadn't pulled down that house, he wouldn't be in the mess that he is in now. Later in the story, Madrazo commissions Michael and Trevor to do an assassination mission. Except he ordered them to do it for free after their debts were paid, and Trevor got antsy. Trevor responds by ''biting his ear off and kidnapping his wife''. After Michael pays off Madrazo one last time and Trevor (reluctantly) returns Madrazo's wife, Madrazo agrees to stay the hell away from them both.
* In one quest on Kashyyk in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', the player encounters a man being forced to work to pay off a debt that is not even his: His crewmates took off in their ship without settling up their bill first, and as the last crewman around the debt fell to him. You can offer to pay the debt for him, but he refuses since he does not want to just switch his work to you, and the creditor says the value of service such a skilled mechanic can bring in is better than the actual amount of cash owed. [[spoiler: During the course of the game you can discover that the creditor is actually running a con; he had '''killed''' the missing crewmates so as to ''force'' the debtor to work for him.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', you can break the chandelier of the Lumpy Pumpkin to get a Piece of Heart. Doing so will piss off the owner, starting a series of sidequests where he makes you work to repay the chandelier.
* In ''[[Creator/ZapDramatic Move or Die]]'', Carla breaks a vase of Mrs. Grimm's, and she makes her do this.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'':
** Qara is shanghaied into the party after nearly burning down the Sunken Flagon, an inn owned by the [[PlayerCharacter Knight-Captain's]] adoptive uncle. To pay for the damages Duncan forces her to use her magical talents to help the party, and has her tending bar when the group is at the inn.
** Duncan calls in a favor from a NoodleIncident to get Bishop to help the party track the githyanki that attacked the Flagon and kidnapped Shandra Jerro. Bishop stays afterwards for his own reasons.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/Persona5''. During the Priestess Confidant, Makoto (the Confidant in question and a party member) meets her new friend Eiko's boyfriend Tsukasa, a host, and becomes suspicious of him, although she admits she doesn't have any actual evidence. That changes when Eiko mentions that Tsukasa broke a bottle of sake at work, and she's taking on work to help him pay it back. It turns out that Tsukasa is a notorious scam artist who's used this trick before, tricking his so-called girlfriends into getting into debt for their sake so that they'll sell their bodies. With the player character's help, Makoto manages to find proof of this and save Eiko from such a fate.
* ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': This is the main issue driving the plot. Louie's ship was attacked by a space bunny while delivering a load of golden pikpik carrots, putting Hocotate Freight in debt. Olimar returns with treasure and the company's President sends Olimar and Louie back to the pikmin planet to get more treasure to pay off the debt.
* ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest II''. This happens if you don't have enough money to pay the restaurant bill with your date. Even worse with the credit cards being overextended. Only shown in narrative text that you have to wash the dishes and not awarding you points.
* In ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'', the player is a young girl named Recette whose father took out a large loan before going adventuring [[DisappearedDad and not coming back.]] A fairy, Tear, is sent to work out repayment of the debt with her. Together they run an RPG item shop and send adventurers to collect loot for them to sell.
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'': The Sprite debuts in a show at Gaia's navel, claiming to be working off a 50,000 GP debt. [[spoiler: It's a scam run by Sprite and a dwarf.]]
* Almost the entire point behind the mercenary work in the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' series. The Great Fox mothership was purchased/built by Fox's father, James, who racked up a huge bill for the ship. The bill was passed down to Fox after James was killed(?), so Fox and his crew do mercenary-for-hire work to pay off the rest of the bill.
** Amusingly, this causes a lot of repercussions to the team. In the 64 game, they could have easily paid the whole debt and lived a life of complete luxury had Fox accepted the offer to work for the Cornerian Army. Turning it down comes to bite them ''hard'' in their asses a few years later with not enough mercenary work, leading to Falco ditching them, the ship falling into decay, and the cockpit area gathering lots of trash (especially large pizza boxes). Once their adventures in Dinosaur Planet/Sauria ends with success and they later get to help out Corneria once more in ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'', it turns out the debt still haunts them, which becomes even worse after everyone but Krystal (till Fox drives her away out of unnecessary worry for her well-being) and ROB 64 leave the team.
** ''VideoGame/StarFoxZero'' tellingly averts all of the above by pointing out during any run in the game that the earnings for the team are two extra digits long.
* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenI'', the team runs into Vincent [=DeBoule=], a man who claims to be an aristocrat, yet lacks the funds to pay for a meal at the inn that he just ate. He runs off and leaves your team to foot the bill. If you currently lack the money for the food, the owner forces your group to wash dishes to pay off the meal. Fortunately, since the meal is only 200 potch and you likely have an amount in the hundred thousands, you likely won't end up working it off (unless you do it on purpose to see the scene).
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', you're able to sleep at a certain hotel for more nights than the one you initially pay for. If you don't have enough coins to pay for the extra nights, you have to work it off as a bellhop. If you even try to approach the lobby's save block, the manager won't let you save until you were debt free, although you could still save by leaping off one of the people's heads and onto the block before the manager can say anything. Even though you're working off your debt, the guests randomly give you tips in the form of items like a Max Mushroom or Flower Box, which are rare items, so overstaying can be a good thing.
* Chapter 2-3 of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' forces Mario to work off a million-Rubee ([[GlobalCurrencyException not Coin]]) debt after smashing an expensive vase by doing mundane tasks to generate electricity (such as hitting a question block or running in a hamster wheel). The payout for these tasks is ridiculously low, as the house is run by shapeshifting trickster Mimi. [[spoiler:She actually has the requisite Rubees stored in a safe at the top level of the house, but you have to jump through many hoops to get it.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Thief Simulator}}'', this is the plot of the game, as you're working to pay off your debt to the Lombardis after they paid your bail.
* In ''[[VideoGame/TrailsSeries Trails of Origins,]]'' Crow Armbrust's linked victory with Rean Schwarzer [[spoiler: has him claiming that he should have paid off all his debts. Rean meanwhile believes that he still has some.]]
* In ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'' Kyle Brennan is rescued by the Teladi when his X-shuttle malfunctions and strands him in their space without propulsion, weapons or a shield. They stick him with the bill for the repairs and the cost of the shield and order him to remain in Teladi space until he pays off the debt. He has to make money by trading ie buying goods, hauling them elsewhere and selling them for a markup. Which, considering a dynamic economy with fluctuating prices and not much cargo space in your shuttle, makes it quite the grind.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' episode "Hypno Birthday to You", after Jimmy hypnotizes his parents into having them throw his next few birthday parties early, he ends up having so many that his parents think he's now old enough to go off to college and plan to give his room to the clown that they hired for his parties. Sometime after they reveal that they were faking it[[spoiler:, due to the clown breaking Jimmy's Hypno-Beam]], they get slapped with a ShockinglyExpensiveBill. Cut to Jimmy scrubbing floors at his school to pay it off.
-->'''Jimmy:''' No one with a genius IQ should have to scrub floors to pay off a clown! How long does this go on for?\\
'''Sheen:''' [[SummerSchoolSucks Forever, trust me]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Buster's Sweet Sucess", Buster is tasked with selling 20 boxes of chocolate for the school's music program fundraiser, but he has such a huge SweetTooth that ends up eating all of them, meaning that he owes the school $60. He then tries to make his own chocolates to sell and pay off the debt without anybody except [[BestFriend Arthur]] finding out. Unfortunately, the batch of chocolates turned out to be terrible and because Buster didn't taste-test them so he wouldn't be tempted to go on another chocolate binge he didn't know this until angry customers showed up and demanded refunds. Even more unfortunately, Principal Haney was one of the people he sold the bad-tasting chocolates too, which wound up exposing what happened to the original chocolates. The situation is resolved when a long-time supporter of the music program catches wind of the situation and makes a deal with the school and Buster where he'll pay off Buster's debt in exchange for him working in his joke shop for a few hours during the upcoming weekend. The joke shop owner also buys the rest of the bad chocolates to use as a prank item called "Buster's Clusters" so they wouldn't go to waste.
* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsThePrincessAndThePauper'': Erika worked for Madame Carp because her parents borrowed money from Carp to support her.
* On ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'', Cricket works at Big Coffee in order to pay for damages done to the cafe by his antics. He does eventually pay off the debt, which would then mean he no longer has to work, but he then gets himself into an even bigger debt in order to keep his job. Subverted later on, when Chip fires him along with Gloria and destroys the cafe.
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'', this is joked about in "Caillou Becomes a Waiter." When Caillou and his babysitter Julie make a pretend restaurant, the cost for a macaroni meal is four cents, but Caillou tells her she doesn't have any money. She responds that if he can't pay for his meal, he'll have to do the dishes, but says she guesses she can make an exception. He replies that he wants to do the dishes. Afterwards, both he and Julie are at the sink.
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'': "Prickly Pining Dining" ends with the Jelly Beans cleaning the bathroom and Scoutmaster Lumpus working as the restaurant's stuffed moose head.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'': In "[[Recap/TheCasagrandesS3E9DontZooThatMaxedOut Maxed Out]]", Vito owes $10,000 on his tab at the Mercado, so Hector makes him work at the Mercado to pay it off. Vito is so bad at his job and causes so much property damage that Hector bans him from the Mercado. Soon after, Vito gets a job as a window washer to pay off his debt. [[spoiler:In the end, it was revealed that Bobby had accidentally put the decimal point in the wrong place, so Vito ended up owing Hector $100.00 and not $10,000.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/COPS1988'' episode "The Case of the Disappearing Dough", Sundown, Bowser and Highway dine at a fancy restaurant and end up forced to wash dishes because the ink disappeared from the dollar bills they tried to use to pay for their meals.
* The WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck short "China Jones" ends with Daffy being threatened by WesternAnimation/PorkyPig into working off his debt at a [[ChineseLaunderer Chinese laundry]].
-->'''Daffy:''' Well, [[ConfucianConfusion Confucius says "Can't squeeze blood from turnip."]]\\
'''Porky:''' (''produces heavy club'') Confucius also says "Is better to press shirts than press luck."
** Inverted in Daffy's 1967 cartoon "Daffy's Diner"; Speedy Gonzales doesn't have any money and asks Daffy if he could wash dishes in exchange for a meal. However, since Daffy's angry customer El Supremo wants a mouse burger with a real mouse, Daffy has other ideas.
* The WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck cartoon ''WesternAnimation/TheTrialOfDonaldDuck'' has Donald trying to eat his (packed) lunch outside, but it starts raining. After many [[HilarityEnsues comic mishaps]], an angry Donald forces his way into a fancy restaurant so he can eat his lunch in peace. The ''maître d'hôtel'' charges him for eating his own lunch in the restaurant. It comes out to $39.95, but Donald only has a nickel. The ''maître d'hôtel'' responds by taking Donald to court, where the judge forces Donald to choose either to pay a ten-dollar fine or work off his debt by washing dishes in the restaurant for ten days. The trope is subverted because the closing scene demonstrates the problem with this approach, showing Donald breaking dishes nearly as often as he actually cleans them. The ''maître d'hôtel'' begs him to stop, but Donald holds up his court order. (And, of course, knowing [[{{Jerkass}} Donald]], [[LaserGuidedKarma he's breaking the dishes]] ''[[LaserGuidedKarma on purpose]]''.)
** A variation occurs in an earlier cartoon, "WesternAnimation/DonaldsCrime", in which Donald robs his nephews' PiggyBank to pay for a date with Daisy. However, he becomes so guilty about his actions earlier (partially goaded into such by an InteractiveNarrator) that he takes the opportunity to pay back his nephews by taking a job as a restaurant dishwasher.
** Sometimes he is forced to work off a debt to Uncle Scrooge, with the nature of the task varying from polishing coins to tasks of questionable morality and/or legality.
* This ended up being the solution in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' when Doug and Skeeter accidentally broke Mr. Dink's barbecue grill.
* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' when Scrooge temporarily loses all of his wealth due to a years-old contract, he and the group (Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webigail, etc.) eat at a high-end restaurant where they were regulars anyway, saying to put the charge on his account. The contract-holder says the account is his as well, and Scrooge says to "Put it on ''his'' account." The owner doesn't approve of this and puts them to work in the kitchen washing dishes.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'', Jim and Peter, along with Bob the Goldfish and one of Bob's minions, spend about a thousand years of "pseudo-time" washing dishes in a restaurant outside time. And then a further 150 pseudo-years (15%) when Jim insists they have tip the waiter (but the others refuse to do more just to tip the valet).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In "The Big Problem", Timmy wished to be an adult. When he decided to dine at a restaurant, he had to wash the dishes to pay for the bill.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Chris spent an episode doing odd jobs for a neighbor after breaking his window. Of course, the neighbor just so happened to be Herbert.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': Fred and Barney were expecting the Great Gazoo to pay the bill at the restaurant. Their wives got them out of it by using their saved vacation money to settle the bill.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' when it looks like Elzar is about to propose this -- [[BaitAndSwitch but has the gang arrested instead]]. It's only as they're being carted off that Bender suggests working it off and Elzar agrees to "give it a shot". Double subverted as Bender later quits to join the Robot Mafia, and Elzar's response? "'Kay."
* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': Jon and one of the girls he dated had to wash dishes (and some cars) to pay a restaurant bill (and some broken dishes) because Jon forgot his wallet at home. [[spoiler: just one of the several ways on which he blundered with that date]].
* In another WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}}, ''Crazy With The Heat'', WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}, wandering in the desert, [[HollywoodMirage hallucinates a soda fountain]] ran by an Arab sheik. He orders a grand total of six ice-cream floats, none of which he gets to drink because they disappear the moment he tries to. When the sheik asks for the bill, Goofy refuses, and is suddenly holding a pile of dishes for him to wash, under penalty of beheading if he breaks any of them. Unfortunately, in the end, of course, he does when Donald Duck accidentally runs into him, and the sheik attempts to make good on his threat. Our heroes manage to escape in the nick of time.
** And in one cartoon featured on ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' (and earlier, ''Mickey Mouse Works''), in the appropriately-titled ''How To Wash Dishes'', Goofy has a job as dishwasher, but decides to go on vacation, [[BookEnds only to end up washing dishes again]] when his [[CreditCardPlot credit card runs out of credit]] at a restaurant.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** "Dinner For Four" (pictured above): Helga wins a coupon to a fancy French restaurant. When it comes time to pay the bill, it turns out that the coupon was for the fancy French restaurant across the street with a very similar name. Phoebe wonders why Helga didn't just explain the situation to the waiter, rather than order more food while she stalled for a friend to bring a box of cockroaches over, thus causing a greater debt than she already incurred. They had actually gotten away already, then [[TheConscience Arnold]] got them to turn back and wash dishes to pay.
--->'''Helga:''' We've gotta come up with a plan to get out of paying. I just need some time to think. We'll stall. We'll order more food. Lots more food.\\
'''Phoebe:''' But isn't that just exacerbating the problem?
** "Big Gino": It happens again with Sid getting into debt to Big Gino. Gino's gang begins threatening Sid, but Sid gets Arnold to talk to Gino. Gino respects Arnold, so he proposes having Sid work for him for two weeks to pay off the debt. Sid ends up staying with Gino's gang even after the debt is clear, and trouble ensues.
** In "Harold the Butcher", Harold is caught stealing a ham from Mr. Green's butcher shop (that he later ruins) and as punishment is ordered to work off the cost of the ham. He hates the job at first but ends up enjoying it later and wants to continue working there beyond his original sentence. Mr. Green refuses initially because Harold had cost him ''even more'' money in ruined meat while working there, but changes his mind after Harold thinks up a clever way to fill customers' orders that he hadn't thought of.
** In that same episode, after Harold is caught, his parents send him to [[InformedJudaism their rabbi]] to confess what he did. The rabbi mentions that he had a friend during childhood (who may or may not have been the rabbi himself) who stole a vest from a tailor's shop, and had to work there for a period of time so he could learn how much work goes into producing a vest like that and running a business. In fact, that's where the rabbi gets the idea to have Harold work in the butcher's shop.
* In the Creator/WarnerBrothers classic short, ''WesternAnimation/HollywoodStepsOut'', Film/AndyHardy (a recurring role played by Mickey Rooney) gets into trouble, and as usual has to ask his dad for help. Since they can't pay the bill, Andy and dad end up washing dishes to the rhythm of the music being played by the band.
* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'': In the episode "Stow a Way", Brendon, Melissa, and Jason run away from home. when they become hungry, it cuts to them eating at a restaurant with Melissa wondering how they're going to pay for it all. Brendon then offers his own home movies to the head of the restaurant, only for them to be cleaning dishes and mopping.
* When Vinnie gets stuck paying the Duckie's diner bill in ''WesternAnimation/IGotARocket'', he doesn't have enough cash and ends up washing dishes.
* ''WesternAnimation/Invincible2021'': Titan is initially TrappedInVillainy by the fact that he owes an unspecified debt to the supervillain known as Machinehead. Unfortunately for him, he is so talented at crime that even when finally ''does'' pay off his debt, Machinehead [[ResignationsNotAccepted refuses to let him quit]] and [[ShameIfSomethingHappened holds his family hostage]] in order to prevent him from being poached by a rival villain or [[HeelFaceTurn turning hero]]. [[spoiler:This prompts Titan to rat Machinehead out to the Guardians of the Globe and lead them to his hideout.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' episode "Catalogue of Misery" has Jimmy become a deliveryman for Misery Inc. after ordering everything from their catalogue, with Lucius threatening to fire Heloise as further justification. However, Jimmy, being Jimmy, helps to make the delivered products a lot less misery-inducing for everyone, to Lucius' horror.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In Episode 64, Mr. Cat opens a restaurant which is clearly a TakeThat at UsefulNotes/McDonalds, and when Stumpy places a huge order he can't pay for, Mr. Cat forces him to work as an employee.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': At the end of "Members Only", Daffy is working as a washroom attendant at the country club to pay off the debt he had run up on Walter's membership.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'', episode "Bad Fortune in a Chinese Fortune Cookie": After Chugaboom damages the restaurant, the Ant Hill Mob have to work as waiters and dishwashers, [[EpicFail but were even worse at that]].
* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'': In "The Wrath of Waitro", Shaggy and Scooby also had to wash dishes to pay for a restaurant bill, and at the same time, a Commander Cool fantasy came into play. [[spoiler: They washed so many dishes the waiter even gave them some money after they finished]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode, "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS2E11JunkJunkiesDayOfTheFlecko Junk Junkies]]", Rocko owes the Pizza Face Pizza company $500.95 in unpaid bills, and if he doesn't give them the money by the end of the day, he will have to deliver pizzas as punishment. To raise the money, Rocko holds a GarageSale. When Mr. Bighead sees the Pizza delivery truck after arguing with Rocko about how he shouldn't have to pay 25 cents for a cushioned toilet seat, he hides in his house to avoid being noticed, implying that like Rocko, he owes Pizza Face Pizza money. At the end of the episode, Mr. Bighead is seen working for Pizza Face Pizza as a delivery man.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E5BartAfterDark Bart After Dark]]", Bart Simpson has worked as both a carnie and a burlesque house doorman, and possibly more. Marge had to work at said burlesque house after she caused even more damage than Bart did.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E5HomerVsDignity Homer Vs. Dignity]]", the entire family had to work as a mariachi band after they tried to pull a dine and dash.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E7MyPodsAndBoomsticks MyPods and Boomsticks]]", Lisa worked as a living ''myPod'' advertising board to pay for her myTunes downloads. [[SpoofAesop That's what you get for downloading music legally]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In "Pat No Pay", Patrick eats a huge meal at the Krusty Krab but has no money ("But I thought you said you could pay for it!" "[[ExactWords Oh, I'm paying for it]] [[BalloonBelly all right]]... *burp*"), so Mr. Krabs puts him to work at various tasks (none of which involve washing dishes, surprisingly) that he predictably screws up, ending with [[EpicFail the restaurant blowing up and Krabs' money going through a shredder]].
** In "Bubble Bass' Tab", Bubble Bass runs up a huge tab at the Krusty Krab, and since he doesn't have the money to pay for his purchases, Mr. Krabs makes him work his tab off. Bubble Bass is so bad at his job that he disgusts the customers so much that they pay Mr. Krabs to let him off.
:[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' episode "Hypno Birthday to You", after Jimmy hypnotizes his parents into having them throw his next few birthday parties early, he ends up having so many that his parents think he's now old enough to go off to college and plan to give his room to the clown that they hired for his parties. Sometime after they reveal that they were faking it, they get slapped with a ShockinglyExpensiveBill. Cut to Jimmy scrubbing floors at his school to pay it off.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/COPSAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Case of the Disappearing Dough", Sundown, Bowser and Highway dine at a fancy restaurant and end up forced to wash dishes because the ink disappeared from the dollar bills they tried to use to pay for their meals.

* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInThePrincessAndThePauper'': Erika worked for Madame Carp because her parents borrowed money from Carp to support her.

** Taken UpToEleven when Lawrence ends with a bad bargain that not only bankrupted him but also ended with him having a debt of 47 gold coins which he has to pay in two days or face 10 years of rowing a long distance ship or working in a mine[[note]][[FateWorseThanDeath A fate that is described as one that is dark, full of torment and too much to bear]][[/note]]. He TakesAThirdOption [[spoiler: by using his connections and the help of his creditor he chooses to smuggle gold into the city, which is no easy feat but he happens to have met [[ChekhovsGunman just the right person for the job.]]]]

* ''Series/KenanAndKel''. The duo is trying to prevent the former's family from returning home to find that it had been robbed. When Kenan's parents request their bill, he secretly steals his father's wallet, and they are forced to wash dishes. All of this is deliberately done to buy time for the police to arrest the burglars and recover the stolen furniture, and for Kel to unload that furniture back into the Rockmore residence. [[spoiler: Kel, being Kel, ruined the plan by unloading different furniture for liking it better than he likes the stuff he should have unloaded.]]

** Helga wins a coupon to a fancy French restaurant. When it comes time to pay the bill, it turns out that the coupon was for the fancy French restaurant across the street with a very similar name. Phoebe wonders why Helga didn't just explain the situation to the waiter, rather than order more food while she stalled for a friend to bring a box of cockroaches over, thus causing a greater debt than she already incurred. They had actually gotten away already, then [[TheConscience Arnold]] got them to turn back and wash dishes to pay.

** It happens again with Sid getting into debt to Big Gino. Gino's gang begins threatening Sid, but Sid gets Arnold to talk to Gino. Gino respects Arnold, so he proposes having Sid work for him for two weeks to pay off the debt. Sid ends up staying with Gino's gang even after the debt it clear, and trouble ensues.

* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'': Shaggy and Scooby also had to wash dishes to pay for a restaurant bill. [[spoiler: They washed so many dishes the waiter even gave them some money after they finished]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'': In "[[Recap/TheCasagrandesS3E8DontZooThatMaxedOut Maxed Out]]", Vito owes $10,000 on his tab at the Mercado, so Hector makes him work at the Mercado to pay it off. Vito is so bad at his job and causes so much property damage that Hector bans him from the Mercado. Soon after, Vito gets a job as a window washer to pay off his debt. [[spoiler:In the end, it was revealed that Bobby had accidentally put the decimal point in the wrong place, so Vito ended up owing Hector $100.00 and not $10,000.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'': In the episode "Stow a Way", Brendon, Melissa, and Jason run away from home. when they become hungry, it cuts to them eating at a restaurant with Melissa wondering how they're going to pay for it all. Brendon then offers his own home movies to the head of the restaurant, only for them to be cleaning dishes and mopping.

* ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'' ended up doing this once. They had their wallets, but the restaurant reserved the right to increase the prices after a certain hour without telling people(?). Apparently they just really felt like using this trope.
** The price differential can happen in real life when people expect lunch prices and are charged dinner prices--sometimes because they got there just after the time for the price switch and sometimes because the restaurant accidentally (or so they say) gives them the wrong menu.

* Averted in the ''Creator/LaurelAndHardy'' short "Below Zero"; the duo treats a cop to a meal in return for helping them earlier. It turns out that if you can't pay your bill in said restaurant, you don't wash dishes; [[DisproportionateRetribution everyone in the restaurant subjects you to a]] NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Guess what happens to Laurel and Hardy when it's revealed that they can't pay their check?
** Played straight in ''Swiss Miss'', with the added caveat that the boys must work an extra day for any dishes broken in the course of their work. The chef they are put to work under, [[LaserGuidedKarma whom they had earlier subjected to a barrage of insults for not having the desert they wanted]], is only too happy to take advantage of this.

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', where Flycatcher works off his crimes by being a janitor, but keeps getting caught doing the same crime again and has his sentence extended. He does this because he likes being a janitor; it makes him feels fulfilled and he can forget about his other regrets. Becomes a DoubleSubversion when Bill Willingham turns Flycatcher into TinkerbellJesus.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has Micheal chase after his wife's yoga instructor whom she slept with. In a fit of rage, Michael pulls down a support beam on a house that the man fled to and destroys the entire house. Turns out that not only the house did not belong to the yoga instructor, it belonged to Martin Madrazo, the local drug lord, who is now threatening Micheal unless he repays him $5 million. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops.]] You do eventually pay off the debt, but it takes up until the halfway point of the story for the debt to finally be resolved and collecting the money yourself outside of story missions doesn't count. The incident kicks starts the main story and Micheal, through an optional phone call, even lampshades the situation by saying that if he hadn't pulled down that house, he wouldn't be in the mess that he is in now.
** Later in the story, Madrazo commissions Michael and Trevor to do an assassination mission. Except he ordered them to do it for free after their debts were paid, and Trevor got antsy. Trevor responds by ''biting his ear off and kidnapping his wife''. After Michael pays Madrazo one last time, Madrazo agrees to stay the hell away from them both.

* In ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes'', when Summer and Carrie get a little carried away at the local amusement park, they have to [[http://eheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/2111624/work/ spend a few weekends working there]] to pay for the repairs.

* In the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' [[{{Yonkoma}} 4koma]] {{doujin}} ''Webcomic/LifeOfMaid'', Hong Meiling, the Scarlet Devil Mansion's resident ChewToy, talks Sakuya into going with her to an ice cream parlor that they find out is run by [[AnIcePerson Letty]] and Cirno. Meiling tries to eat an entire Super Winter Earthquake, a massive bowl of ice cream that took resident BigEater [[CuteGhostGirl Yuyuko]] 5 minutes to eat, in 30 minutes or less to try to win 30,000 yen. Meiling fails miserably, meaning she has to pay 10,000 yen, and neither she nor Sakuya have that much, so after Sakuya (being [[TimeStandsStill Sakuya]]) bugs out using her time-stopping ability, Meiling has to work off the debt by being a waitress at the ice cream parlor for a while.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Buster's Sweet Sucess", Buster is tasked with selling 20 boxes of chocolate for the school's music program fundraiser, but he has such a huge SweetTooth that ends up eating all of them, meaning that he owes the school $60. He then tries to make his own chocolates to sell and pay off the debt without anybody except [[BestFriend Arthur]] finding out. Unfortunately, the batch of chocolates turned out to be terrible and because Buster didn't taste-test them so he wouldn't be tempted to go on another chocolate binge he didn't know this until angry customers showed up and demanded refunds. Even more unfortunately, Principal Haney was one of the people he sold the bad-tasting chocolates too, which wound up exposing what happened to the original chocolates. The situation is resolved when a long-time supporter of the music program catches wind of the situation and makes a deal with the school and Buster where he'll pay off Buster's debt in exchange for him working in his joke shop for a few hours during the upcoming weekend. The joke shop owner also buys the rest of the bad chocolates to use as a prank item called “Buster’s Clusters” so they wouldn’t go to waste.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'':

* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'':
in the episode "stow a way" Brendon Melissa, and Jason run away from home. when they become hungry, it cuts to them eating at a restaurant with Melissa wondering how there going to pay for it all. Brendon then offers his own home movies to the head of the restaurant, only for them to be cleaning dishes and mopping.

** Played straight in ''Swiss Miss'', with the added caveat that the boys must work an extra day for any dishes broken in the course of their work. The chef they are put to work under, whom they had earlier subjected to a barrage of insults for not having apple pie, is only too happy to take advantage of this.

* ''/Home Movies'':

* ''WesternAnimation/Homemovies'':

* ''WesternAnimation/Homemovies'' in the episode "stow a way" Brendon Melissa, and Jason run away from home. when they become hungry, it cuts to them eating at a restaurant with Melissa wondering how there going to pay for it all. Brendon then offers his own home movies to the head of the restaurant, only for them to be cleaning dishes and mopping.

[[/folder]]