History Main / WorkplaceAcquiredAbilities

* Huey in ''Anime/BibliothecaMysticaDeDantalian'' used to be a military pilot. His battle skills have saved his life more than once since inheriting the key to the Mystic Archive. Dalian was actually pretty impressed. His knowledge of literature has also helped him since his job is basically finding magic books and locking them away so they can't be misused.

* Yorick from ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' is an escape artist and magician by hobby. The various magic tricks he's learned has saved his life on more than on occasion.

To become a hero, one has to train their body and mind so that it can think and act quickly in a life or death situation. They might enroll in a local dojo to learn martial arts or study psychology in order to better understand the human mind. However, there are times when the hero's best training can come from their day job. Being practitioner in a certain field makes it easy for a writer to establish a vital skill a character may possess that will prove useful.

* Simon from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' was a former driller who later piloted a robot; the robot's special weapon is a giant drill.

* In the {{backstory}} to ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' the wizard uses his knowledge of simple stage magic and slight-of-hand to become the ruler of the country through "magic". ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' shows it in detail: He devises a large stage magic trick that allows him to scare off the 2 Wicked Witches, saving the country and making the people choose him as its ruler.

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Like its sister trope ChekhovsHobby, Workplace Acquired Abilities is about skills acquired as part of a character's backstory. Contrast ChekhovsSkill which applies only to skills the hero is shown learning. For times when characters train in sports and apply their athletic abilities in combat situations see IKnowMaddenKombat. Also look toward IKnowMortalKombat for situations related to video games.

** Donna Noble, Super Temp. She can find her way across an office blindfolded. (Or so she claims.)

* One of the books that can be found in ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series tells the story of a young man who was able to learn the skills he needed to become an [[AxCrazy axe wielding]] [[PsychoForHire assassin]] through the chores he was put through while growing up on a farm by an EvilUncle (his first [[AssholeVictim victim]]). You can read [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Axe_Man The Axe Man here]] courtesy of the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.

* Bryan Mills in the ''{{Franchise/Taken}}'' series.

* Arguably, JonathanCreek.

* ''The Persian Boy'' the eunuch Bagoas is a trained dancer. He uses a dance move to kill a soldier who is trying to rape him.

* Many Lost in ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' have "benefitted" from their durance.

* Alice, the main character from ''Webcomic/EvilPlan'' starts the comic looking for a place to work and ends up hired on to build and maintain designs for a super villain. A lifetime of working as an engineer prepared her for the super villain game.

* Makanochi Ippo from ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'' acquired his large amount of strength in his arms and legs by helping out his mother's fishing business.
** Sawada was a great boxer as he understood the capabilities of the human body better than most people because he was studying to be a doctor.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Donna Noble, Super Temp. She can find her way across an office blindfolded. (Or so she claims.)

** In the second ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' game Stiles uses his surgical knowledge and tools to dismantle a computer operated door.

** That story also illustrates, almost perfectly, how many Lost in ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' have "benefitted" from their durance.

** Taken to an even more direct extreme in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'', where Link is conveniently trained to be a railroad conductor -- the only job that will allow him to travel around New Hyrule as needed to complete the adventure.

* The Box Ghost from ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' looks like a longshoreman and is first seen at a port. Hence his status as master of "All things cardboard and square".
** For that matter, the Lunch Lady Ghost used to be a cafeteria lady. One who used meat in her recipe. [[LethalChef Guess what she uses for a weapon]]?

* A borderline case from ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'': Mui, the bun store girl, uses ''tai chi'' to knead and spin dough. She later uses these skills [[spoiler:to help Team Shaolin at the soccer finals.]]

* Film/{{Conan|TheBarbarian1982}} became so strong because in his youth, he was a slave who did some [[WheelOfPain really heavy work]].[[note]]This explanation is exclusive to the movie; in Creator/RobertEHoward's [[Literature/ConanTheBarbarian stories]], he was enslaved only after he was as strong as he was.[[/note]]

* ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Perrin]]'' is made extremely strong due to being an apprentice blacksmith. And also gets his alternate [[DropTheHammer weapon]] from it.
** The same applies for [[Literature/TheBelgariad Durnik]].

* A borderline case from ''ShaolinSoccer'': Mui, the bun store girl, uses ''tai chi'' to knead and spin dough. She later uses these skills [[spoiler:to help Team Shaolin at the soccer finals.]]

* In ''Webcomics/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'', Jones's day job is an apprentice butcher at the local supermarket. During the Nomura Syndrome arc, she's seen skinning and dressing the monsters they kill for food. Later, Commander Badass recruits Jones for the Survival Derby game specifically for her monster-butchering skills.

To become a hero, one has to train their body and mind so that it can think and act quickly in a life or death situation. They might enroll in a local dojo to learn martial arts or study psychology in order to better understand the human mind. However, there are times when the hero's best training can come from their day job or general hobbies. Often times it's a means of acquiring a ChekhovsSkill; however, that trope applies only to skills the hero is shown learning. This trope is about skills acquired as part of a character's backstory.

For times when characters train in sports and apply their athletic abilities in combat situations see IKnowMaddenKombat. Also look toward IKnowMortalKombat for situations related to video games.

** The same applies for [[{{Belgariad}} Durnik]].

* The ''Sales Assistant Voice''. It's hardly heroic, but developing the ability to deal with, help, endear, and even not be intimidated by, a wide variety of people with a calm and professional attitude, is a lot more common in people who have had to work some kind of retail job. Of course, sometimes it [[StopHelpingMe backfires]].