History Main / WorkplaceHorror

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Mayhem}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mayhem_photo_u5.jpg]]]]

* ''The Attendent'': This Creator/TheBBC Radio 4 dramedy series is about an all-night garage attendant who finds himself inexplicably living in a different movie genre every episode. These have included dealing with FrankensteinsMonster, a ZombieApocalypse, and [[EvilTwin evil clones]].

* ''VideoGame/NightDelivery'': You're doing your job of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin delivering packages at night]] to a Japanese apartment complex, but soon start to uncover a twisted conspiracy involving all of the tenants that verges into the supernatural.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': The season 4 episode "It's a Terrible Life" is an AlternateRealityEpisode where Sam and Dean are somehow unrelated co-workers are a large company. When a ghost at the building starts killing people, they are forced to work together to stop the threat. At the end they learn that the angels of Heaven had altered their memories as a SecretTestOfCharacter to prepare them for their fight with the demon Lilith.

[[folder:Art]]
* ''Art/OmegaMart'': The employee training videos are about teaching new hires how to get through a shift at the surreal grocery store, which includes confusing mindbroken customers into buying things, dealing with potentially equipment-destroying messes, and taking breaks when they start to feel disoriented from reality.

* ''VideoGame/NoDelivery'': The employees of a haunted pizza parlor are just trying to make it through their workday while dealing with supernatural horrors. The sequel ''Sorry, We're Open'' takes place in a supermarket.

* ''Art/OmegaMart:'' The employee training videos are about teaching new hires how to get through a shift at the surreal grocery store, which includes confusing mindbroken customers into buying things, dealing with potentially equipment-destroying messes, and taking breaks when they start to feel disoriented from reality.

* Any story in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' mythos that focuses on the horrific aspects of Arkham Asylum will inevitably feature this trope as a plot point. As ''the'' TropeCodifier for BedlamHouse and CardboardPrison in comic books, Arkham is packed with homicidal maniacs, slavering psychopaths, and terrifying serial killers--and that's just the regular population. The super-criminals who are frequently imprisoned there, from the LaughingMad Joker to the [[GreenThumb plant-controlling]] Poison Ivy to the [[ImAHumanitarian human-devouring]] Killer Croc, are also a constant threat. Yet most of the employees are simply nine-to-five Gothamites trying to make an honest living, and the contrast between their everyday lives and those of the insane inmates is quite jarring. To name a few specific examples:

* ''Film/TheBelkoExperiment:'' The employees at an office for a non-profit organization are forced into lockdown and told that they must begin killing each other until only one person is left alive. [[spoiler:The whole ordeal is revealed to only be round one of a twisted social experiment from a MegaCorp]].
* ''Film/CemeteryMan:'' Francesco Dellamorte is a cemetery caretaker tasked with not only burying the dead, but it's just as much a public service to shoot the zombies that keep coming back to life every night.

* ''Series/AshVsEvilDead:'' A possessed doll attacks Ash while he's pulling a shift at his workplace, Value Stop.

* ''Series/{{Severance}}'' is more along the lines of a PsychologicalThriller but is about a MegaCorp that has its employees separate their work memories from those of their personal lives outside of work, essentially creating SplitPersonalities known as "innies" (the half with the work memories) and "outies" (the half outside of work). Naturally this procedure works to prevent both counterparts from finding out the true reality that the other is living in.

* ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives:'' The Magnus Institute's archival staff deals with a lot of this. Special mention goes to [[BodyHorror Jane Prentiss]], who [[spoiler:traps Martin in his apartment and impersonates him over the phone to his coworkers, resulting in him having to live in the Archives for his own safety, and later attacks the Institute, resulting in the death of Sasha and the near-deaths of Jon and Tim]]; Michael/the Distortion, who [[spoiler:lures a statement-giver into its doors, stabs Jon, and traps Tim and Martin in its hallways for two weeks]]; and [[spoiler:Not-Sasha, who murders Sasha, erases almost everybody's memories of her, and [[HumanDisguise pretends to be her]] for a whole season]]. However, as the series progresses and the characters gain more information about the setting their job descriptions gradually shift more towards [[HunterOfMonsters hunters of monsters]]. Also, [[spoiler:it turns out that employment in the Archives is automatically this, as signing an employment contract binds the employee to the Eye, and archival assistants cannot leave their positions unless either the Archivist they work under dies or]] [[spoiler:[[EyeScream they take a different way out]]]].

* ''The Attendent:'' This Creator/TheBBC Radio 4 dramedy series is about an all-night garage attendant who finds himself inexplicably living in a different movie genre every episode. These have included dealing with FrankensteinsMonster, a ZombieApocalypse, and [[EvilTwin evil clones]].

* ''VideoGame/TheClosingShift:'' You play as a barista at a coffee shop during the night shift, but soon discover unsettling clues that a stalker is out to get you.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys:'' The entire premise for most of the games is this. You are a night-shift security guard tasked with watching over animatronics that come to life at night and try to murder you. Usually, you have to survive five nights on the job to complete the main game, not counting extra nights and challenges. Certain games play around with this premise, such as ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'' (which averts this by having you as a child fending off animatronics in a bedroom) and ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' (where you're a technician responsible for maintaining the animatronics and the place).

* ''VideoGame/NightDelivery:'' You're doing your job of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin delivering packages at night]] to a Japanese apartment complex, but soon start to uncover a twisted conspiracy involving all of the tenants that verges into the supernatural.
* ''VideoGame/NightShift:'' A survival-horror game about a gas station attendant named Debra attempting to do her job while [[SerialKiller a customer]] behaves rather strangely...
* ''VideoGame/NoDelivery:'' The employees of a haunted pizza parlor are just trying to make it through their workday while dealing with supernatural horrors. The sequel ''Sorry, We're Open'' takes place in a supermarket.

* ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable:'' While the game is largely light-hearted and comedic, the premise is about the sole remaining employee in an office trying to figure out what happened to the rest of his coworkers. Which is but one of the paths he can take: the further he explores, the more gradual his office is shown to be an EldritchLocation, as well as continuously being influenced by a narrator who seems to change things around on a whim. The themes of who's really in control of the situation can affect both of them, from Stanley [[spoiler:driven to insanity and suicide after realizing the Narrator's presence]] in one ending to [[spoiler:the Narrator [[GoMadFromTheIsolation becoming frantic without Stanley or a Player to bounce off of]]]] in another, to [[spoiler:''both'' panicking over what will happen to them next after ReadingAheadInTheScript]] in yet another.

* ''VideoGame/WhackYour:'' A series of flash games about a VillainProtagonist tasked with brutally killing various caricatures in various ways. The games started with ''Whack Your Boss'' and was popular enough to spawn a few continuations with more ideas.
* ''Working Stiffs:'' This flash game deals with a ZombieApocalypse inside an office building with the employees as survivors.

[[folder:WebVideo]]
* Creator/JamesRolfe's ''The Deader The Better:'' Two men are working at a cemetery where zombies keep popping out of their graves. The men kill off the zombies and clean up the blood and gore afterwards.

A popular genre for horror games.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys:'' The entire premise for most of the games is this. You are a night-shift security guard tasked with watching over animatronics that come to life at night and try to murder you. Usually, you have to survive five nights on the job to complete the main game, not counting extra nights and challenges. Certain games play around with this premise, such as ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'' (where you're a child fending off animatronics in a bedroom) and ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' (where you're a technician responsible for maintaining the animatronics and the place).

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys:'' The entire premise of the series is this. You are a night-shift security guard tasked with watching over animatronics that come to life at night and try to murder you. You have to survive five nights on the job to win.

* ''Film/PoultrygeistNightOfTheChickenDead'': The fictional fast food restaurant [[BurgerFool American Chicken Bunker]] was built on top of an ancient Indian burial ground. The protagonist Arbie, who was working there, and his girlfriend Wendy have to fend off the customers who got turned into zombie chickens.

* ''VideoGame/NightOfTheConsumers'': You are a retail worker trying to keep the store clean while attempting to help rude, unpleasable customers under the threat of summoning the store's manager -- an AmbiguouslyHuman, perpetually grinning man who will ''kill'' the player if they don't do their job.

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': Rogers continues to perform his duties as a butler after the murders start, even though his own wife was one of the victims[[spoiler:until he is murdered himself]].

* ''VideoGame/NightOfTheConsumers'' You are a retail worker trying to keep the store clean while attempting to help rude, unpleasable customers under the threat of summoning the store's manager -- an AmbiguouslyHuman, perpetually grinning man who will ''kill'' the player if they don't do their job.

* ''VideoGame/SpookysJumpScareMansion'' alludes to this regarding the encounter with Specimen 11, which takes place in a ([[EldritchLocation heavily distorted) [[BurgerFool burger joint]]. The monster was discovered under a large abandoned corporate office once owned by a restaurant franchise, and likely had something to do with the paranormal happenings surrounding its stores -- an employee who worked at one noted that customers suddenly became addicted to the beef, the managers became extremely violent [[DisproportionateRetribution towards anyone bringing outside food into the restaurant]], and after having one of the burgers themselves, the employee too became addicted and finally quit after becoming plagued with nightmares about being chased by Specimen 11 in the restaurant.

* ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives:'' The Magnus Institute's archival staff deals with a lot of this. Special mention goes to [[BodyHorror Jane Prentiss]], who [[spoiler:traps Martin in his apartment and impersonates him over the phone to his coworkers, resulting in him having to live in the Archives for his own safety, and later attacks the Institute, resulting in the death of Sasha and the near-deaths of Jon and Tim]]; Michael/the Distortion, who [[spoiler:lures a statement-giver into its doors, stabs Jon, and traps Tim and Martin in its hallways for two weeks]], and [[spoiler:Not-Sasha, who murders Sasha, erases almost everybody's memories of her, and [[HumanDisguise pretends to be her]] for a whole season]]. However, as the series progresses and the characters gain more information about the setting their job descriptions gradually shift more towards [[HunterOfMonsters hunters of monsters]]. Also, [[spoiler:it turns out that employment in the Archives is automatically this, as signing an employment contract binds the employee to the Eye, and archival assistants cannot leave their positions unless either the Archivist they work under dies or]] [[spoiler:[[EyeScream they take a different way out]]]].

* ''Film/PoultrygeistNightOfTheChickenDead'': The fictional fast food restaurant [[BurgerFool American Chicken Bunker]] was build on top of an ancient Indian burial ground. The protagonist Arbie, who was working there, and his girlfriend Wendy has to fend off the customers who got turned into zombie chickens.

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': Rogers continues to perform his duties as a butler after the murders start, even though his own wife was one of the victims[[spoiler: until he is murdered himself]].

* ''The Attendent:'' This Creator/TheBBC Radio 4 dramedy series is about an all-night garage attendent who finds himself inexplicably living in a different movie genre every episode. These have included dealing with FrankensteinsMonster, a ZombieApocalypse, and [[EvilTwin evil clones]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'': The setting is a massive, Brutalist skyscraper called the Oldest House. It was discovered by the FBC by complete accident (having a PerceptionFilter over it that makes it invisible to the rest of New York City) and they had repurposed it into their headquarters ever since. Befitting its place as a NewWeird game, lot of the game's horror comes from the banality of its workplace environment. This ranges from rooms shifting out of nowhere, rooms spontaneously filled with clocks and killer sharks, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s invading through portals, a cursed novel killing its readers in a staff book club and the staff making a SubvertedKidsShow as part of a team building exercise.

* ''VideoGame/HellPie'': The game's hub world and first level is an office building in {{Hell}} -- named Sin Inc. -- and it's portrayed as a pretty hostile work environment. The halls are littered with pools of lava and mangled piles of meat, your coworkers could literally go insane and set up deathtraps out of office supplies should anything happen to the [=WiFi=], and pissing off [[{{Satan}} the Boss]] in any way can result in [[YourHeadASplode a bloody stump where your head used to be]]. All of this is PlayedForLaughs, as the game has a decidedly light hearted tone despite all the nasty stuff within.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

A job can be stressful. There's annoying coworkers, demanding bosses, ghosts and demons trying to murder you during your shift, and low wages. Despite everything, your job is supposed to be mundane and not something to fear for your life.

* Creator/JamesRolfe's ''TheDeaderTheBetter:'' Two men are working at a cemetery where zombies keep popping out of their graves. The men kill off the zombies and clean up the blood and gore afterwards.

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag'': The titular character hires a pair of private investigators to find out what he himself does for a living. Despite encountering several terrifying events and a literally monstrous cult called the Order of the Bird, the pair continue the investigation to its conclusion.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/WillysWonderland'': When [[TheProtagonist the Drifter]] is offered a job to do for the night while his car is being fixed, he's given the assignment of spending the night cleaning up Willy's Wonderland, a local SuckECheese restaurant that's been closed for some time, which the Drifter accepts. What the guy giving him the job doesn't mention is that the restaurant is populated by HostileAnimatronics [[spoiler:who are haunted by the ghosts of a bunch of serial killers]] who will kill anyone that they catch inside of their stomping grounds, with the Drifter being the next intended victim. What [=NOBODY=] expected, though, was that the Drifter is able to fight back against, and [=KILL=] said killer animatronics, which he does... before going right back to doing the job to which he was assigned.