Line #4 PlayingWith/WorthlessForeignDegree


1	'''Basic Trope''': A person who had a high-paying/prestigious job in another country does menial work in the setting of the work.
2	* '''Straight''': Bob worked as a doctor in Troperistan, but works as a janitor in Troperia.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Bob was the CEO of a {{Fiction 500}} company based in Troperistan, but works as a lowly street sweeper in Troperia.
5	** Bob has multiple [=PhDs=] from Troperistan but can only get work as a janitor in Troperia.
6	** Bob was the CEO of a {{Fiction 500}} company and has multiple [=PhDs=] from Troperistan but couldn't even find a single job in Troperia.
7	* '''Downplayed''': Bob worked as a doctor in Troperistan, but can only find work as a medical assistant in Troperia.
8	** Bob needs to retake a residency as his education and experience are considered equivalent to a medical school graduate. Still an annoying set back but one he would get past in a few years.
9	* '''Justified''':
10	** Bob's Troperistanian qualifications and certificates aren't recognized by Troperian hospitals for various reasons.
11	** Bob doesn't speak Troperian very well, if at all.
12	** Employers suspect that diploma mills may be using 'foreign' degrees as a cover.
13	** Troperia has a shortage of doctors and government policy there is to hire native-born Troperian students first.
14	** Or, conversely, Troperia has too ''many'' doctors and as such there just isn't room for Bob.
15	** The quality of medical training (or education in general) in Troperistan is considered sub-par by Troperian standards, so Bob's qualifications and experience carry little weight with recruiters.
16	** Troperia and Troperistan are currently at war, and both countries are very wary of potential infiltrators.
17	* '''Inverted''':
18	** Bob was a lowly janitor in Troperistan, but when he arrives in Troperia, he's offered a job as a doctor.
19	** Justified Inversion: Troperistan is known for its better education quality than Troperia, where Troperistani Diploma mills equate to Troperia's most prestigious university.
20	* '''Subverted''':
21	** The chief of medicine at the hospital where Bob is applying to work acts as if he's going to reject Bob, but hires him.
22	** It isn't so much that his degree is from Troperistan but that his university is a known [[PhonyDegree diploma mill]]. Carol's degree from [[ArtifactTitle Troperian Plantation University]] is accepted.
23	* '''Double Subverted''':
24	** The chief of medicine at the hospital where Bob is applying to work acts as if he's going to reject Bob, but hires him... as a janitor.
25	** It's the [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct Tro]]'''[[ShoddyKnockoffProduct pp]]'''[[ShoddyKnockoffProduct eristan University of medicine]] that is the known diploma mill, not the Troperistan University of Medicine where Bob graduated
26	* '''Parodied''': All the janitors at the hospital have prestigious medical degrees from foreign countries.
27	* '''Zig Zagged''': Bob was a doctor in Troperistan, but can only find menial work as a janitor in Troperia. Alice, on the other hand, was a short-order cook from Troperistan who got a high-paying systems analyst job in Troperia. Charlie, a third immigrant from Troperistan, worked with Bob at their old hospital, and fills a similar job as a surgeon in Troperia.
28	** [[FishOutOfTemporalWater Bob came from Troperia's past.]] His medical knowledge is [[ScienceMarchesOn outdated in some respects]] and would be considered a hilariously dangerous quack. However he finds a high paying prestigious job as a world class history professor as he [[FutureImperfect recognizes where their current history got it wrong]] [[HaveAGayOldTime due to language]] [[GetTheeToANunnery drift]], record corruption and context losses. Bob has mixed feelings about this.
29	* '''Averted''': Bob, a doctor from Troperistan, finds a similar job as a doctor in Troperia.
30	* '''Enforced''':
31	** In a time of widespread xenophobia, the writers can't write a competent and ethically scrupulous foreign character without mass backlash.
32	** Troperistan commissioned this work to curb its BrainDrain by vilifying Troperia.
33	* '''Lampshaded''': "I had ''dignified'' work back home!"
34	* '''Invoked''': "Hey, let's ask Bob the janitor. I'll bet he was a doctor back in Troperistan."
35	* '''Exploited''': Bob the janitor may not be officially recognized as a doctor, but Bob still has the skills of a doctor and people go to see him instead of 'real' doctors because he gives cheap 'advice' and they give him monetary 'gifts'. [[BlatantLies Totally not practicing medicine without a license at all.]]
36	* '''Defied''':
37	** Bob goes to medical school in Troperia at the first opportunity so that he can keep up his rewarding career.
38	** Troperistan and Troperia sign an agreement where each country's medical certification are recognized by the other as having equal validity.
39	** Bob decides to [[BackAlleyDoctor use his skills for those who want things done off the books or procedures not normally allowed.]]
40	* '''Discussed''': Bob asks InhumanResources director Dan [[CouldSayItBut if hospitals in Troperia will honour qualifications earned in Troperistan]].
41	* '''Conversed''': "This show sure doesn't paint a picture of an immigrant-friendly society."
42	* '''Implied''': Bob is a very intelligent immigrant janitor who occasionally makes bitter comments about being meant for better things.
43	* '''Deconstructed''': Bob is extremely depressed because his talents are being wasted on menial work.
44	----
45	Back in [[{{The Old Country}} old country]] I was highly paid computer engineer! Now, I guide people back to WorthlessForeignDegree.
46	----
47	%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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50	%%X
51	%%* '''Reconstructed''': ???
52	%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???
53	%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???

Context PlayingWith / WorthlessForeignDegree