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->''"See this hand? It should have a coffee in it. You have five seconds."''
-->-- '''The Funky Fisherman''', ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder''

This is it. DaChief is having a EurekaMoment and sending out operatives on the EvidenceScavengerHunt, where ''everyone'' has to pull their weight to reach TheSummation. At the end of the line the [[NaiveNewcomer starry-eyed kid]] waits for their instruction. This is their big chance!

And then:

''"You, go get me some coffee. Cream, two sugars, and make sure the lid is tight."''

And the dreams of the coffee-fetcher are quickly smashed. Understandably often done at the expense of the ButtMonkey. Is not necessarily limited to caffeinated beverages, as it has been known to happen with lunch, office equipment, and various other demeaning and unimportant tasks. May overlap with SnipeHunt if the task is
# Imaginary
# {{Impossible|Task}}
# [[WeNeedADistraction Intended to get the person out of the way]]

See also StayInTheKitchen, where an entire gender is asked to get coffee, and ComicallySmallDemand. Sometimes played in situations where the coffee-fetching errand ''is'' as important as everything else, either because [[MustHaveCaffeine it's needed to help the problem-solvers function]] or because the activity [[ThisIsNoTimeForKnitting solves the problem in a way that's not immediately obvious]]. Or sometimes, the coffee isn't important, but it's played that way because the [[NaiveNewcomer coffee-fetcher]] is so naïve that he thinks any task from his boss must be important, or because it just looks that way from the perspective of [[LowerDeckEpisode the lower decks]].

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zxb1eaCLmg In one ad]], Coast Capital Savings, a Canadian federal credit union, advertises a flexible mortgage that allows clients to prepay, re-borrow, and skip one payment a year. Aptly named the You're the Boss Mortgage as it essentially places the customer in charge, one guest takes this to the extent and immediately orders the persons around him to "hold my calls", stop lollygagging, and [[TheTriple do a jig]]. A fiddler rises from behind the counter and the representative does an intricate dance exactly as requested.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/{{Aggretsuko}}'': One of [[MeanBoss Director Ton's]] favorite bullying tactics against Retsuko is to have her make him tea, regardless of what she's in the middle of or that it's well beneath her pay grade. When he [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness doesn't do this during crunch time]] and makes himself coffee instead, it throws Retsuko for a loop long enough for Ton to give her some legitimately good advice about her relationship with her boyfriend..
* In the 2001 anime of ''Manga/{{Cyborg009}}'', 007 asks 003 to get him an espresso to stimulate his creative juices as he writes a novel. 003, who just read [[HerCodeNameWasMarySue an excerpt from the novel]] and thus does not feel too impressed by 007, coolly tells him to get his own.
* Played straight in ''Manga/DeathNote'' when L asks Touta Matsuda to get him coffee. This is done to indicate that because they were waiting, there is nothing else to do. Made even more sad/funny since the reason Matsuda asked how he could be useful was that everyone else in the team had just made something useful for the investigation. Also, it served as a foreshadowing for [[ADayInTheLimelight the next episode]].
-->'''L:''' You really wanna be useful?\\
'''Matsuda:''' Yes!\\
'''L:''' Then could you go and get me another cup of coffee?
* Done in ''Anime/DragonautTheResonance'', with two of the BridgeBunnies being assigned important duties and Megumi being told to get coffee. She doesn't seem too happy about it.
* One of the regular tasks that Mai has to perform after she starts working for Naru in ''Manga/GhostHunt'' is to make tea.
* In ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'', Chiyo volunteers to pick up some drinks for her and Nozaki, but Mikoshiba asks her to pick up some coffee for him on top of it...and then [[StalkerWithoutACrush tries to shadow her every step of the way]] as she does so.
* ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' does this to Honey in the first episode after Tamaki dispatches the other members to gather supplies for Haruhi's "makeover", instructing him to "go have some cake". We then see a shot of him from behind looking dejected as he eats the cake.
* In the ''Anime/ReadOrDie'' [=OVA=]s, Joker issues a series of commands to various departments, ending with sending Wendy to get some tea. In the next episode, all the various departments report that they are ready for their respective duties in the operation, but Joker does not declare them to be ready to begin operations until ''after'' Wendy has served the tea.
* In episode 6 of ''Manga/SgtFrog'', when the other characters are making dinner, Keroro and Tamama are told to go play video games, then to make sandcastles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': In [[Recap/BoBoiBoyS1E8TheDreamWorld the eight episode]], when Adu Du gives the newcomer monster the mission to destroy [=BoBoiBoy=], Probe asks if he has a mission. Adu Du replies yes - to go and fetch him a drink.
-->'''Probe:''' Aw... just that? What am I, a waiter?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''Franchise/GIJoe Declassified'', a mini-series about the team's origin, Hawk doesn't want to ask Scarlett, the team's only woman [[spoiler:until Shooter is revealed at the end of the series]] to get him coffee. So instead, he asks Snake-Eyes. At this point, Snake-Eyes was more of a MadBomber than a ninja, so he makes the coffee using C4. (This is pretty much the extent of what Scarlett and Snake-Eyes do in the mini; they were the focus of the ''Snake-Eyes: Declassified'' mini which came out around the same time.)
* First thing ComicBook/IronMan told Hill to do after he took over ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderman Team-Up'', Peter Parker career-shadows Reed Richards for a day... only to be mistaken for an intern and sent out to buy coffee. By the end of the Story, Spidey has helped stop a Skrull invasion, and the FF chew him out for not getting them their coffee (despite Spidey's efforts to convince them he's not the kid from before).
* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' - Spider Jerusalem treats both his assistants this way. Admittedly he hates to have an assistant and is probably trying to scare them off.
* In ''[[ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy Ultimate Secret]]'', Thor has a better option in mind for himself, the Thing, and the Human Torch.
-->'''Thor:''' Boys?\\
'''Johnny Storm:''' Yes, Thor?\\
'''Thor:''' We go into battle. Do you know what this means? Beer. (pointing at [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Captain Carol Danvers]]) You. Military-industrial-complex drone girl. Bring us beer.\\
'''Carol Danvers:''' Sure. How far up your backside would you like it rammed?\\
'''Thor (smirking):''' Well, I was going to ask for a keg, so...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/AllYouNeedIsLove'' this is usually [[Manga/DeathNote Matsuda's]] job but when L gets annoyed with having to deal with Near's minion he goes out to get his own coffee. That's when the taskforce mutinies in the hopes of making L's coffeeboy-status permanent.
* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'':
-->'''King Kai:''' All right! Now that you've arrived on my planet, we will begin your training! Tienshinhan, Chiaotzu... 10 laps around the planet! Piccolo...\\
'''Piccolo:''' Go to hell! I'm meditating!\\
'''King Kai:''' ...keep doing that. [[ButtMonkey Yamcha]]...\\
'''Yamcha:''' ''[enthusiastically]'' What is it, King Kai? I'm ready for ''anything!''\\
'''King Kai:''' ... wash my car.\\
'''Yamcha:''' ''[[[ComicallyMissingThePoint Enthusiastically]]]'' Ooh! Like in [[Film/TheKarateKid that movie!]] WaxOnWaxOff!\\
'''King Kai:''' ... yeah, go "wax off".
* In ''[[FanFic/MonsterADeathNoteAU Monster]]'' after [[EasyAmnesia losing his memories]] "[[Manga/DeathNote Ryuuzaki]]" becomes the office boy who gets coffee and doughnuts for Aizawa and Matsuda. LaserGuidedKarma?
* At the start of ''Fanfic/NotThatKindaFired'', [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Izuku]] is asked to bring Endeavour his morning coffee because [[DisposableIntern all interns that would normally do it have been fired]]... And since Izuku can't take anymore [[BeleagueredAssistant the triplets from accounting forcing him to do their job]] and quitting carries a huge penalty, he flavors it with a spoonful of ''American mayo'' to try and get fired. Inexplicably, everyone likes Izuku's mayo coffee ([[IAteWhat as long as they don't know what he put in it]]).
* [[http://lazy-lazy-ninja101.deviantart.com/art/Robins-Internship-251918960 "Robins Internship"]] is a fancomic which depicts ComicBook/{{Batman}} using his Robins to fetch him coffee in the Batcave.
* A RunningGag in ''Fanfic/TaylorHebertMedhallIntern'' is that everyone steals her coffee,[[note]] Right up to Max Anders himself[[/note]] because they all like how she makes it. Her coworkers joke that it's the real reason she's hired. [[spoiler:Less funny after the biggest offender is murdered by Shadow Stalker. Taylor lays a coffee cup on his grave, though.]]
* In the closing credits of ''WebVideo/UltimateUtopiaXXIII'', a parody of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, there is a take on ''Franchise/StarWars Episode III: Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Emperor Paplatine tells Vader that now that he has completed Order 66 to execute Order 67: "Get me a latte. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy."
* Subverted in [[http://www.eyrie-productions.com/UF/FI/SOS/requiem.txt this]] ''Fanfic/UndocumentedFeatures'' story, as "get me a danish" turns out to be slang for [[spoiler: "hack into this computer for me"]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBossBaby'', upon Tim discovering that his baby brother can talk and is some sort of corporate executive, the first thing the baby does is to tell him "Get me a double espresso, and see if there's some place around here with decent sushi. I would ''kill'' for a spicy tuna roll right about now," followed by throwing some money at him and suggesting he get a little something for himself as well.
* ''Animation/HappyHeroesTheMovie'': After Big M. fails to defeat the Supermen, the Commander gives him a new mission: order beef noodles and a glass of juice. Big M. assumes he means he wants him and Little M. to eat before they go through with their next plan, but the Commander is just hungry and will give the actual mission afterwards.
* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}'', the villain gives out orders to his henchmen and ends up telling the one named Keith to think of a more scary name.
* ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'': Joy gives the other emotions jobs to do for Riley's first day at school. Sadness' job is to stand inside a "circle of sadness" to keep Riley from being sad.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', on Judy's first day, Chief Bogo reports that the missing mammals case has top priority and assigns officers in the bullpen to investigate different areas of Zootopia. When he finally gets to Judy, she's assigned parking duty. When she protests that she's not a "token bunny", he dismissively responds "Well then, writing a hundred tickets should be easy."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AceVenturaPetDetective'': After Dan Marino is kidnapped, Einhorn walks into the office and orders things like an autopsy report, for no one to talk to the press... "And somebody get me some coffee!"
--> '''Ace''': "Tonight on Miami Vice, Crockett gets the boss some coffee."
* Sent up in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'':
-->'''[=McCrosky=]:''' Hold all takeoffs, I don't want another plane in the air. When the 508 reports, bring it straight in. Put out a general bulletin to suspend meal service on flights out of Los Angeles. Tell all dispatchers to remain at their posts, it's gonna be a long night. How 'bout some coffee, Johnny?\\
'''Johnny:''' No thanks!
* In ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel'', [=McCrosky=] arrives on the scene and barks out an order for a quart of Geritol and a ham on rye (no cheese!).
* In the prologue for ''Film/AlienCovenant'', Peter Weyland is shown interacting with David, an artificial human that is his finest creation, meant to be an immortal 'son' who will carry on his work. When David says something that annoys Weyland however, he orders David to pour him tea, despite the fact that David is across the room and the teapot is right next to him. This gives the audience a CharacterEstablishingMoment of how Weyland really regarded his creation.
* In the movie version of ''Film/{{Annie|1982}}'' starring Aileen Quinn, Mr. Warbucks gives out a long list of orders to a bunch of his staff when he begins the search for Annie's parents. His last order is, "And Sanders -- get me a drink!"
* [[SoldiersAtTheRear Grimes]] from ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' is a DeskJockey with the ability to type and make coffee. He eventually gets drafted to the mission [[GoneHorriblyWrong that devolves into a battle]]... and still makes coffee in the battlefield.
* Agent Smecker of ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'' does this to Detective Greenly whenever he says or does something stupid. And every time Greenly objects, the coffee order gets more complicated. Greenly, of course, can't catch a break, as Smecker does this to him even when he ''correctly'' guesses that the Saints were not fighting several armed men, but ''one man'' carrying ''six guns'', an idea that Smecker immediately dismisses as ridiculous.
* Vikki Hiller is the only female editor on the staff of Bannerhouse Books in ''Film/DownWithLove''. To demonstrate their contempt, her fellow editors ask her to make their coffee, as the percolator is out. She does so, irritated, while explaining the gist of the [[MetafictionalTitle eponymous book]] ''Down With Love'', concluding with, (paraphrased), "Until women are equal to men in the workplace."
* ''Film/TheFlash2023''. Barry Allen complains to Alfred that as the youngest member of the Justice League he tends to get stuck [[DestructiveSaviour cleaning up the mess]]. Then when he's [[RunningGag late for work again]] due to his secret heroics, his boss gives him an earful, telling Barry that after all this time working there he shouldn't be still fetching coffee. [[HypocriticalHumor "Now get me coffee."]] Barry laughs before realising his boss isn't joking.
* Done in TheMovie version of ''Film/TheFugitive''. In one early scene, Gerard sends each of the members of his team off on an errand or evidence gathering, and ends with this exchange:
-->'''Gerard:''' Newman, what are you doing?\\
'''Newman:''' I'm thinking.\\
'''Gerard:''' Well, think me up a cup of coffee and a chocolate doughnut with some of those little sprinkles on top, while you're thinking.
* In ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000'', Kip introduces his crew to his older brother, listing all the great things they can do to help with the car boosting. When he gets to Freb, he says "Freb can order pizzas like nobody's business."
* A version appears at the end of ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch''. The hero has come up with a last-ditch plan to keep the Gremlins from escaping the building, and starts issuing orders along the lines of "Protect Gizmo! Aim the firehose into the lobby! Transfer the electro-Gremlin down here!" He gets to the last, useless, character and says "Marla... smoke." Marla says "right" and takes a jerky puff on her cigarette.
* In ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'', movie director Chaka Luther King asks his production assistant for coffee, smacking the coffee cup to the floor when it is not up to his specification. We'll never know if that production assistant got anywhere in his career.
* ''Film/JudasKiss'': The first thing Detective Friedman does on arriving at the crime scene is to order a uniformed officer to get him a tape recorder and a refill, handing him his empty coffee cup.
* ''Film/TheLastSummer:'' Erin works as a PA who fetches coffee orders at an office and doesn't seem to like it. She says it's only for her college resume.
* ''Film/{{Liliom}}'': Part of how Liliom takes advantage of Julie is shown when lazy, jobless Liliom barks "Go make some coffee" and she willingly submits.
* Mocked in ''Film/MissCongeniality'' when Creator/SandraBullock's character is called up on her radio, told that it's "the usual", and uses her police siren and FBI badge to move through a line under the pretext of "Important business". However, all she's doing is going to Starbucks to get coffee for the office.
* Occurs in ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'', during "The Crimson Permanent Assurance" short: "You haul anchor, you prepare the mainsail, and YOU... put the kettle on." [[SeriousBusiness Then again]], for Britons, there is ''no'' more important task than [[BritsLoveTea putting the kettle on]]. The captain even pronounces the last order [[MundaneMadeAwesome as if it's a matter of great importance]].
* Jamal in ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'' is an assistant at a call center, and is called a "chai wallah" (it means tea maker, although Jamal is not a tea maker in the traditional sense; people who were chai wallahs were often of a low social status and it is used as a jab at Jamal.)
* Perry White does this to Jimmy Olsen in the 1978 ''[[Film/SupermanTheMovie Superman]]'', complete with specification of "black and no sugar".
* In ''Film/ATimeToKill'', Jake, Harry Rex, Lucien, and Ellen are all preparing for the big trial when Lucien decides to give out some instructions to Ellen (Roark):
-->'''Lucien:''' Ms. Roark, I have all the respect in the world for you. I believe in your right to equal pay for equal work and I believe in your right to bear a child or to abort one. But, since you are a law clerk, genderless in my eyes, I think you should be the one to go buy the beer.\\
'''Harry Rex:''' "She" woman, I think that would be an excellent activity for you.
* ''Film/War2007''
** After Crawford rudely takes over the case from the local police, they ask what they're supposed to do. As Crawford has gotten himself bloody doing a JackBauerInterrogationTechnique, he says they can do his laundry.
** [[DaddysLittleVillain Kira Yonagawa]] arrives in the United States to find the local Yakuza chapter gearing up for war with the Triads. She makes it clear that no-one is going to war without her father's approval, and when they start waffling, she holds a knife to the boss's throat and tells his minion to get her a salad. Chef, blue cheese. With dressing on the side.
* Rischka from ''Film/TheWildcat'' is the real leader of her clan of bandits, even though her father is the nominal leader. When soldiers from the nearby fort attack them, she tells her father to bring her coffee. He does, grinding beans and brewing a cup while the bandits are under attack, and bringing the cup to Rischka while she is in a sniper's nest taking potshots at the attacking soldiers.
* ''Film/WrongfullyAccused'' actually has a waitress on site to parody the frequency of this happening in [[CrimeAndPunishmentSeries Crime And Punishment shows]].
* In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', Emma is annoyed when Shaw sends her up on deck to get ice for his drink from a handy iceberg.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The ''Bloodlines'' series by Richelle Mead has Sydney constantly doing this for one of her teachers.
* ''The Bronze Horseman'' by Paullina Simons. Alexander Belov gets annoyed over how everyone is taking advantage of Tatiana to have her fetch and carry for them. When a potential rival for her affections asks her to get him some tea, Belov points out that the samavor is right next to him.
%%* ''Literature/TheDevilWearsPrada'': You, Get Me Coffee from [[BadBoss hell]].
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** The third witch with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (eg, Magrat or Agnes) seems to get this quite a bit. Usually it's "make the tea," but sometimes it's "run a simple errand even you couldn't possibly mess up." Of course, half the time this is because Granny is plotting something, but according to Nanny in ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', this is part of the definition of the [[TheHecateSisters Maiden]]: she makes the tea, the Mother pours it (a play on the British phrase "I'll be mother") and the ... Other One ... drinks it.
** In ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', when Cohen the Barbarian has become emperor, he makes Twoflower grand vizier. And the first order he gives him? "Bring me tea."
** Also, Rincewind's job at Unseen University, up to ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'', was Librarian's assistant. This job is implied to consist of fetching the Librarian bananas, something that Rincewind was actually good at.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** In ''Literature/{{Storm Front|DresdenFiles}}'', Harry Dresden wants to talk to Lt. Murphy in her office, without a cynical coworker listening. Murphy sends the other cop downstairs to get her some coffee. The other cop, who is smarter than he looks, knows exactly what Murphy is pulling and protests that talking to Harry is a total waste of time. But at her insistence, he goes anyway.
** In the short story "Day Off", Harry refuses to let [[spoiler:Molly]] into his lab until she bribes him with coffee.
* In ''Literature/HeirToTheJedi'', the character Fayet Kelen, owner of Kelen Biolabs, would often do this with his minions (he actually called his employees "minions") but then would soften it by doing something like giving them a compliment or asking about their family.
* ''Literature/MillenniumSeries'': A senior officer attempts to pull this on Monica Figuerola in ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest''. When asking a group of men if they want coffee, he turns to her. She coolly replies, "Yes, I'd like some coffee too", thus letting him know in no uncertain terms that she will ''not'' tolerate being treated like an underling.
* ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'':
** When not having them do actual work, Mr. Curtain likes to have his various minions, including his Messengers, Executives, Recruiters and Ten Men do this sort of thing.
--->''Then S.Q. was removing their blindfolds and pressing the intercom button. "Reynard Muldoon and Stic... er, George Washington here for their sessions, Mr. Curtain!" Mr. Curtain's voice came through a speaker: "They must wait. Meanwhile, bring me more juice."''
** Reynie himself [[ExploitedTrope exploits]] this trope by bringing Mr. Curtain ribbons to use as bookmarks for his journal. Mr. Curtain is flattered, considering it to be "a proper attention that had been lacking."
* The novel ''The Paris Enigma'' is about The Twelve Detectives, an elite professional organization of twelve brilliant detectives in various countries, each of whom has an "acolyte" (the official term). The acolytes serve the brilliant detectives, do legwork, and speak when they are spoken to. (Think of them as grad students.) None of them are expected ever to become detectives themselves.
* In the fourth ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' novel, this sums up Mr. Sir's treatment of Charles in a nutshell.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Played absolutely straight in ''Series/AgentCarter''; Peggy is the best agent in the office, but her co-workers are too sexist and stupid to see her as anything but a glorified secretary. Justified due to the show being set in TheForties.
** Played with at the end of season 2: when the rest of the team are working to assemble a complex device, Jack Thompson (a main perpetrator of this trope towards Peggy in season 1) asks what he can do to help. As he has no scientific background (and just a little bit for revenge), Peggy decides that Thompson would be most useful taking dinner orders. [[GracefulLoser He takes it well, though]].
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** When Angel tries to atone for his abandoning his friends by offering to work for them at Angel Investigations, he finds himself exiled to a tiny desk and ordered to make everyone coffee.
--->'''Angel:''' Atonement's a bitch.
** In "[[Recap/AngelS04E12Calvary Calvary]]", when Wolfram & Hart CEO Lilah Morgan hides out at Angel Investigations, Angel tells her to make the coffee -- she responds by breaking all the mugs.
** Harmony's job, though in this case it is blood served in a mug which says "#1 Boss".
--->'''Harmony:''' The secret ingredient is otter!
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** When Oliver Queen promotes Felicity Smoak to be his secretary at Queen Industries (to explain why they're spending so much time together on their secret vigilante team), she absolutely refuses to get him coffee, noting "I worked very hard to get where I am and it wasn't to get you coffee!" Shortly after, she notes that ''someone'' broke the coffee machine. Violently. She does get him one at the end of the episode after he's had a ''very'' bad day, but makes it clear it's a one-time thing.
** When Felicity gets re-hired after Ray Palmer acquires Queen Industries, she assumes she's going to be his assistant, so she goes on a long rant about how she will not, under any circumstances, get him lattes or any other form of caffeinated beverage. Once she's done, Ray introduces her personal assistant, who will be getting ''her'' coffee.
--->'''Ray''': Or are you just anti-latte in general?
* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s''. An EstablishingCharacterMoment for Emma Peel to show her relationship with John Steed. When Steed first turns up at her apartment she's practising her fencing, so she tells him where the coffee is but makes no move to get it. When he asks about the cream she says it's in the fridge. When he suggests he'll take it black she hands him a foil and they start sparring. Steed wins by [[CombatPragmatist wrapping her up in the curtain]]; she unwraps herself to find Steed has fetched the cream himself. When Emma leaves the series however, she tells the female agent replacing her that "He likes his tea stirred anticlockwise", implying that [[ShipTease she has made tea for him on occasion.]]
* In ''[[Series/{{Blackadder}} Blackadder II]]'':
-->'''Blackadder:''' [[BumblingSidekick Baldrick]], go forth into the street and let it be known that Edmund Blackadder wishes to sell his house. [[UpperClassTwit Percy]]... just go forth into the street.
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': Occurs in the episode "Underwater Wedding":
-->'''Mr. Brittas''': Right, Bill, I want you to help Ian and Ronnie get those injured people down the fire escape and into the ambulances, alright? Phil, organise breathing masks and check the rest of the building. Laura, set up a first aid station outside the emergency exit.
-->'''Laura''': Right.
-->'''Mr. Brittas''': Linda, get me a full list of names and addresses of people leaving. Don’t forget compensation forms and damage claims, alright?
-->'''Linda''': Yes, Mr. Brittas.
-->'''Mr. Brittas''': Patrick, make sure the carpark’s clear for the fire brigade. Debbie, get onto the hospital. Get me a full list of casualties, alright? Colin?
-->'''Colin''': Yo?
-->'''Mr. Brittas''': Put the kettle on.
* Xander in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' often gets this job, most notably in "[[Recap/BuffytheVampireSlayerS3E13TheZeppo The Zeppo]]", where the other Scoobies are out finding protection against the impending apocalypse and he is sent for donuts. Of course, by the end of the night he's gotten laid, defused a bomb, and killed some zombies.
* In ''Series/CityHomicide'' Detective Senior Sergeant Sparkes does this to Jen in the first episode, revealing just how much he respects her abilities as a homicide detective. It's quite satisfying when he collapses from a heart attack by the end of the episode and she is reassigned to Stanley's team.
* In ''Series/TheCityHunter'', [[LoveInterest Na Na]] owes [[TheHero Yun Sung]] a favor, which she agrees to repay by doing various tasks such as driving his car and fetching him coffee. Especially the latter. Apparently, it's her fault for making ''really good'' coffee.
* On ''Series/{{Copper}}'', NewMeat police officer Finbar Byrnes is subjected to this from the senior detectives. In one incident he is tasked with catching a wayward sheep in Central Park because Detective O'Brien wants some mutton to bring home to his wife.
* Greg of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' used to be subjected to this type of thing a lot before he was promoted to the field. Since then, the other {{Lab Rat}}s who mainly work in the office get this duty instead.
* In ''Series/DeathValley'' Captain Dashell keeps giving rookie officer Kirsten Landry the scutwork of the office, including checking all the registered werewolves to make sure they are properly locked up during the full moon and following his niece to a [[WildTeenParty party]] to make sure she is not getting into trouble. Kirsten is upset not only because this is the most boring work in the department, but because a lot of it (like following the Captain's niece) is not even part of the department ''at all''. Kirsten joined the UTF (Undead Task Force) to deal with the supernatural problems plaguing the city, there are plenty of cops out there already dealing with kids throwing parties.
* ''Series/TheDefenders2017''. In the first episode, Alexandra is shown meeting in Central Park with Madame Gao to discuss their plans. Alexandra is [[PetTheDog feeding the pigeons]], and casually hands the bag to Gao and tells her to finish feeding them. Given that Gao has previously been portrayed as a mysterious and powerful supervillain in ''Series/Daredevil2015'' and ''Series/IronFist2017'', this shows just how powerful Alexandra is that Gao would act so deferential to her.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The Third Doctor pulls this stunt on feminist reporter Sarah Jane Smith the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior first time]] they meet, much to her annoyance.
*** He also pulls it on TheBrigadier in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E1TheThreeDoctors "The Three Doctors"]]. Lethbridge-Stewart asks if there's anything he can do to help with an investigation, and the Doctor requests a silicon rod. The Brig hands him one, and the Doctor merely uses it to stir his tea.
*** When the Doctor wants to know why scientist Liz Shaw has been replaced with ditzy Jo Grant as his assistant, the Brigadier quotes Liz as saying that all the Doctor wants is "someone to hand you your test tubes and tell you how brilliant you are."
** The Fourth Doctor wasn't keen on having the inexperienced Romana on board the TARDIS to start with. In her [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E1TheRibosOperation first story]], he asks her to stay out of his way and make the tea, before declaring that she probably doesn't even know how to make tea anyway.
** The Tenth Doctor jokes about this [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts when]] meeting Series/{{Torchwood}} for the first time; he has accidentally brought Rose's mother Jackie along in the TARDIS, and tries to pass her off as Rose, aged from having looked into the Time Vortex. Then he tries to get Torchwood to take her off his hands, pointing out that she's good at making tea. Sort of.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords "Last of the Time Lords"]]: Francine Jones has been forced to work for the Master as a servant for a year, which includes getting him coffee. It's implied she might be deliberately making it badly to get any sort of revenge on him she can.
** Inverted with Clara in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "The Bells of Saint John"]], who tells the Eleventh Doctor to get her a cappuccino while she does some computer hacking. The Doctor rather grumpily does so.
* ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}''. A running gripe with Topher's assistant, Ivy. She's at the Dollhouse to do cutting-edge science on NeuralImplanting technology [[MadScience without legal or moral restraint]], but as Topher is an egotistical genius he prefers to do it all himself while using Ivy for routine tasks and fetching his snacks.
* One game in ''Drew Carey's Green Screen Show'', involving the afterlife, has Jeff Davis taking on the role of God; when his "angels" await his first request, he says:
-->"There's a hand here with no coffee in it..."
* ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey'':
** Gus Hedges unwisely pulls this stunt on psychotic office girl Joy Merryweather. A FunnyBackgroundEvent has Joy emptying all kinds of unpleasant gunk into the coffee urn.
** Sally also tries it once and gets coffee with extra Tipp-Ex.
** Gus should stay away from coffee altogether, seeing as how the cleaning lady regularly urinates in his executive coffee machine.
* ''Series/TheExpanse''. Jokingly lampshaded in "Home" by Fred Johnson when his NumberTwo points out that, having been given direct control of Earth's nuclear missiles, he's now the most powerful man in the solar system. She responds by FlippingTheBird Belter-style.
* Inspector Monkfish in ''Series/TheFastShow'' would (in whatever job he was currently performing) order several people to do important things and end with "Put your knickers on and get me a cup of tea!"
* In ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'''s second episode, new guy Sam is asking questions with really obvious answers, annoying the team, leading to the following exchange:
-->'''Ed''': Okay, here's what I want you to do. See these stairs here, where we came in, I want you to do a reverse entry. I want you to go down this hallway, through these doors here. Now be careful, because this is a big road. I want you to cross it. I want you to make an entry into this Timmy's, I'll have a double-double. Jules?\\
'''Jules''': Cream, no sugar.\\
'''Ed''': Spike?\\
'''Spike''': Nah, I'm good.
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', a continual annoyance for Daphne Moon, that verges on being a RunningGag, is when visitors to the apartment (usually Frasier's girlfriends or professional contacts) mistake her for a lowly housemaid and imperiously demand she makes the coffee for them. Coffee is quite often served with extra added snark.
* In the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One Where Rachel Quits", Rachel declares on her last day at Central Perk that now she works in the fashion industry, she will no longer be taking coffee orders. GilliganCut to her at Fortuna Fashions doing exactly that.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
** A DeletedScene from Season 3 has Grand Maester Pycelle coming to ask Lord Tywin for his seat back on the Small Council. Lord Tywin, who's [[VillainsOutShopping busy fishing]], gets annoyed with [[ObfuscatingDisability Pycelle's senility act]] and calls him on it. Pycelle [[ThrowingOffTheDisability straightens up]] and says he can provide more vigorous assistance in future. So Tywin tells Pycelle to take his fish to the kitchen. (Tywin does however let Pycelle back on the Small Council, so it's just a matter of putting him in his place.)
** In Season 4 Tywin tells Lord Mace Tyrell to fetch him a quill and paper. The other Small Councillors look on in amused contempt as he sycophantically obeys.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' sees Sylar use this on the cop who seems to be in charge of a hostage situation while impersonating an FBI agent in the third season.
* ''Series/{{House}}''- House informs his potential hirees of a patient and hands out tasks to about 2/3 of them. Amber asks "What about the rest of us?" Cut to them washing House's car. In regards to people actually getting him coffee, Chase and Cameron each did that a bit. Also he sent Foreman's girlfriend to get him coffee in "Sports Medicine".
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' - After pegging himself as [[TheSmartGuy "the brains"]] and Dee as "[[TheSmurfettePrinciple the useless chick]]" of their group, Mac starts giving everyone jobs to do as part of their latest ZanyScheme. His instructions to Dee: "continue being useless."
* In the 1988 TV miniseries ''Jack the Ripper'', the Detective Sergeant played by Lewis Collins turns up at the East End police station. The uniformed officers sneer when he introduces himself and say, "Around here sergeants make the tea!" Then Chief Inspector Abberline (Creator/MichaelCaine) [[WalkInChimeIn enters and says]] to the station sergeant: "Good, make us some tea then." Becomes a BrickJoke later on when Abberline congratulates another sergeant on making a good cuppa.
* In the 1990's Australian legal mini-series ''Series/{{Janus}}'', one of the regular characters is dumbfounded when he's working with an eccentric barrister who sends him to buy a packet of Rollos in the middle of a trial. Stunts like this make the audience think he doesn't take his job seriously, [[BunnyEarsLawyer but the barrister turns out to be quite skilled]] and wins the trial by picking up a detail that everyone else missed.
* ''Series/{{Life on Mars|2006}}'' - Happened at least once to Chris and Annie. And even more often to Shaz in ''Series/AshesToAshes2008''.
* In ''Series/LoisAndClark'', Perry did this to Jimmy Olsen all the time.
* From a later season of ''Series/MadAboutYou:''
-->'''Arrogant Minion:''' Jamie, you just have to come to terms with the fact that, in the candidate's eyes, we're equals now.\\
'''Jamie:''' "Equals"? ''"Equals"?'' I'm the campaign manager, you're an intern. Why don't you ''get'' me some Equal™?\\
[arrogant minion protests; Jamie glares]\\
'''Arrogant Minion:''' Okay, ''fine.''\\
'''Jamie:''' ''No cream.''
* ''Series/MadMen'': Most of the women working for Sterling-Cooper have this role, and the show plays the trope straight for two seasons. In Season Three's finale "Shut the Door. Have a Seat", [[spoiler:[[AntiHero Don Draper]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Roger Sterling]], [[CloudCuckoolander Bert Cooper]], and [[ButtMonkey Lane Pryce]] have left Sterling-Cooper and formed their own ad agency, Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce]]. Everyone is running around, doing important, time-sensitive tasks. After working for hours around a sea of paperwork, Roger asks [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Peggy]] (formerly a secretary, by now a seasoned copywriter) to get him coffee. Without looking up, she delivers a flat "No."
* In an episode of ''Series/McCloud'', circumstances and [=McCloud's=] girlfriend make a low-level policewoman acting chief. [=McCloud's=] girlfriend then volunteers to help and is sent by the new acting chief to get coffee and donuts.
* In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect" of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms takes control of the San Francisco Police Department's investigation, and their lead agent, Grooms, is ''"not shy about saying so."'' After a few minutes of interrogating the primary suspect, Grooms suggests that Homicide Captain Stottlemeyer get ''himself'' some coffee, so Grooms can be alone with the suspect. Stottlemeyer steps out, fuming at being kicked out of his own precinct's interrogation room.
* Subverted in the ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "O'Malley's Luck": On her second day as Lt O'Malley's assistant, Officer Rawley brings him a coffee. He tells her "I am perfectly capable of getting me own coffee. You weren't hired to fetch an' carry."
* In "The Insurance Man Always Rings Twice" on ''Series/NowAndAgain'', Michael takes a job for Craig Spence, the guy who got the job he wanted at Grand Empire Insurance, that is essentially this in order to get in to figure out how to get the insurance money for his wife, Lisa.
* The above-quoted Funky Fisherman from ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' gives his interns five seconds to prepare his cup of coffee, and then gives them another five seconds to add the cream (but not too much cream).
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Blackout", every [=CI5=] agent is scouring the area looking for a gang of assassins, but that doesn't stop [[InSeriesNickname "The Cow"]] from using one of his top agents to fetch him a QuickNip.
-->'''Cowley:''' Cold morning. ''(He hands Bodie a hip flask.)''\\
'''Bodie:''' [[INeedAFreakingDrink Ah, yes. Thank you, sir.]]\\
'''Cowley:''' It's empty; needs filling.\\
'''Bodie:''' Well, there's nowhere open at this time...\\
'''Cowley:''' Regard it as a test of initiative. Success will be reflected in your yearly assessment.
* In ''Series/{{Quark}}'', the titular hero is always hoping for some important mission, but the leader, The Head, typically has one mission for him since he's an outer space sanitation worker, "Pick up the garbage."
* In one episode of ''Series/Reno911'', the FBI come to Reno, and when the Reno sheriff's office meet them, the Reno people are sent on a coffee run.
* In the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' skit ''Series/UndercoverBoss : Where Are They Now?: Kylo Ren'', [[Film/TheRiseofSkywalker Kylo Ren]] goes "[[EverybodyKnewAlready undercover]]" as an intern named "Randy" on a First Order ship. He learns that the interns do the "bitch work" - clerical work, droid wrangling, and stuff like serving blue milk to rude officers.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':
** One episode plot centering around Elliot screwing up with Doctor Cox's patient and being punished by becoming his official coffee-getter. Her attempts to redeem herself were often misinterpreted as many a FreudianSlip. "Doctor Cox, I want you to know that I'll do anything with you."
** Cox again, from "My Own Personal Hell":
--->'''Dr Cox:''' Keith, you're a fairly strong diagnostician, right?\\
'''Keith:''' Yes, sir.\\
'''Dr Cox:''' I need you to go up to the third floor and figure out what's wrong with that darned coffee machine.
** Cox must love this trope. On another occasion Eliot is trying to look competent in front of a patient, and Cox tells her to get him a donut. She asks if he means a piece of equipment that is often called a donut for its shape, and he clarifies that he means "a glazed donut. And I like sprinkles on half of it, so if you can't find a half-sprinkled donut, just get a sprinkled one and take half the sprinkles off". After she leaves, JD calls him out for being such a jerk, and Cox agrees and asks him to apologize to her for him - while he fetches coffee.
** Cox does enjoy it or at least uses to get rid of interns. In the episode "His Story", resident ButtMonkey Doug Murphy is assigned to him and he sends on him wild goose chases to collect a patient charts and his soda, all of which he is ''revealed to have in his hand.''
* ''Series/ShakespeareAndHathawayPrivateInvestigators'': In "Die We Must", D.S. Keller arrives at the crime scene, details one of the constables to watch the suspects, and then tells Viola, who was the one who reported the crime in the first place, to get him a cup of tea.
* Sebastian Stark of ''Series/{{Shark}}'' is especially fond of doing this to his underlings in the Prosecutor's office, usually keeping the same tone of voice for both the important and non-important instructions.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': Played with as Molly Hooper is the one to offer Sherlock coffee, but Sherlock interprets this is as her fetching coffee for him rather than the two of them having coffee together.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Inverted in "Rocks and Shoals". Major Kira starts each day in Operations with a Cardassian officer bringing her a cup of raktajino. However this shames Kira more than him; as a former Resistance fighter against the Cardassians, it just reminds her of how she's TheQuisling.
* In one episode of ''Series/Teachers2016'', Ms. Snap seems to have pressed her room parent into service as her personal attendant--Mrs. Schneider is seen lint rolling her sweater and bringing her a demitasse while she teaches.
* On ''Series/{{Timeless}}'', the team travels back to 1969 to make sure the moon launch goes off as planned. While they're at NASA, a man keeps telling Lucy to get him coffee. She eventually tells him off in front of the rest of the secretarial staff.
* ''Series/WhyWomenKill'': Sheila has a problem with Rob tapping his cup as a signal to Beth Ann to get up and pour him coffee and while Sheila doesn't tell him to try getting it himself, she does tell him that he can ask politely rather than tap the cup like Beth Ann is a servant. Sheila's husband acts apologetic and tries to pass off his wife as a "militant" who read ''The Feminine Mystique''.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' - Krycek is sent for coffee during a hostage situation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling has a very clear hierarchy where young lions are basically {{jobber}}s and to become a young lion a young boy in the dojo must first live out of a tiny space from which they will be called to do the dishes and laundry of the established wrestlers.
* Davey Richards was made to do menial tasks in the No Remorse Corps by Wrestling/RoderickStrong and Rocky Romero, though rather than having him run errands they most commonly had him stay in place doing extremely non engaging tasks like guarding a door or watching their things while Strong and Romero went out to have fun or do something important.
* Mari Apache served in this role for a month to Wrestling/{{Konnan}} and Las Gringas Locas in Wrestling/{{AAA}} after being pinned in a trios match at ''Triplemanía XVIII''.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* Scooter in ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' is the show's 'Gofer' (go fer coffee, go fer sandwiches). He's quite happy with this though, and used his position as the theater owner's nephew to specifically request it.
* At the beginning of ''Film/MuppetsFromSpace'', Miss Piggy brags about having a job as a TV journalist. When we see her at work, it turns out she's just the coffee pig. The events of the plot see her finagle her way into a gig as an anchor.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Film/LegallyBlonde, TheMusical'', Professor Callahan orders Warner to get him coffee while the legal team is celebrating after their victory in "There! Right There!" He may not have expected him to return, seeing as he [[spoiler:[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty forces a kiss]] on Elle immediately after.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/DyztopiaPostHumanRPG'': This is a battle mechanic in Sho/Taurus's boss fight, where he orders his employee Jasper to heal him with coffee. However, [[spoiler:once Sho's HP is low enough, Jasper finishes him off and reveals he was part of the Vulcanite Resistance all along. He only used his position as Sho's gofer to get access to the latter's computer]].
* Played for a surprising amount of heartwarming in ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'' between Hijikata and Chizuru, who knows that she doesn't have any skills that would be really useful to UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi but desperately wants to do ''something'' to stop being TheLoad. After an inspiring speech in which he tells her that if her motives are genuine she shouldn't [[PoseOfSupplication bow]] but should act on her convictions with her head held high, he sends her off to make him some tea.
-->'''Hijikata:''' The fate of the Shinsengumi rests on this tea. Don't screw it up!
* One exchange in ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'' goes as follows:
--> '''Sig:''' I'll drive! [[TheHero Jak]], you get on the gun. [[SnarkyNonHumanSidekick Daxter...]]\\
''[Daxter looks up, surprised and hopeful]''\\
'''Sig:''' Just get in, sit down, and shut up.\\
''[Daxter grimaces]''
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'' - Estelle and Joshua visit the city of Zeiss to meet with Professor Russell about a mysterious black orbment sent to their father, but which has ended up in their care. They end up escorted to his home and lab by his granddaughter, Tita. Upon arrival, and trying to introduce themselves, they find him completely absorbed in his work, putting the finishing touches on his latest invention. He whizzes away, bumping Estelle aside, and when they catch up with him, he has Tita start helping him with his work, tells Joshua to go fetch a book, and tells Estelle to make him coffee (To be fair, Tita has the engineering background to be useful in the lab and Estelle most definitely does not).
-->'''Professor Russell''': I take it black, by the way. I want it clear as mud!
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor has most of her primary duties done by the ship-board AI EDI. While she does have other duties, her main gameplay role is as your overpaid and overqualified secretary.
* ''VideoGame/NobodySavesTheWorld'': At the start of the game when Nobody meets Randy, he orders Nobody to get a [[OvercomplicatedMenuOrder caramel macchiato, venti, extra shot, half-skim milk, half mountain goat milk, 2 percent foam]]. After the fourth Calamity Dungeon, Nobody [[spoiler:(who is revealed to be the cursed form of Nostramagus, Randy's mentor)]] can turn it around on him by saying "Coffee, black."
* From ''VideoGame/Persona5'', upon learning that your homeroom teacher moonlights as a [[spoiler: FanserviceWithASmile {{Meido}}]] and levelling her Confidant enough, you can call her to wash strange dirty clothes found in a MentalWorld to get equipment, build infiltration tools, or, in a literal example, make coffee (said coffee being a ''very'' effective ManaPotion, but it's still coffee).
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2: University'', the final class for business majors is "Internship: Coffeemaking at Landgraab Enterprises."
* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'': During the final boss of the "Octo Expansion" DLC, everyone has a role to play; Marina will launch her experimental hyper-ink bombs, [[PlayerCharacter Agent 8]] will have to detonate them to coat the boss in ink and disable it, while Pearl will warm up her vocal chords to land the finishing blow with a Killer Wail. When [[CoolOldGuy Cap'n Cuttlefish]] asks if they need him to do anything, Marina sheepishly tells him "You can... uh... be the hype man." He seems to be happy with the role, at least.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/BadDays'': The police chief at a bank robbery tasks Franchise/WonderWoman with bringing coffee to his men rather than dealing with the bad guys. She's not pleased.
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
** Parodied on in an episode of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Cheat Commandos]]''. When Gunhaver is giving out orders to infiltrate the grocery store, he says to the last guy, "Firebert, you stay here and think of a better commando name." It's a running gag in the Cheat Commandos that Firebert (The Cheat in the show's main 'verse) is a terrible commando name.
** In the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "superhero name" Strong Bad, responding to an email from a guy who doesn't realize that Strong Bad isn't a superhero, agrees to change his name to "Strong Badman" if the other guy agrees to call himself "Little Stiny" and wear a little mask and cape and do demeaning tasks for Strong Bad...a job which is normally done by The Cheat, who doesn't appreciate being replaced.
* Used by Sarge in ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', but for every member of his squad (since they're [[ArmedFarces pretty much equally useless]]), ordering [[ProfessionalButtKisser Simmons to kiss his ass]], Donut to [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl run around and scream like a girl]], and for [[LazyBum Grif]] to step in front of any bullets coming towards any commanding officer (Sarge being the only officer). Though Grif is the only one displeased with his order.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Subverted in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. When Zoe applies for an internship at a radio station, she actually ''expects'' to just be a glorified coffee fetcher. This makes being rejected due to lack of experience extra humiliating.
* Used in Jay Pinkerton's ''Spiderman'' parodies [[https://i.gabebw.com/spiderman-jay-pinkerton/18.jpg here.]] ({{NSFW}})
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', The Nostalgia Critic keeps trying to keep Ma-Ti away from the team, until he snaps:
-->'''NC:''' Almost, Ma-Ti. Almost. There's just one more tiny little mission I want you to run--\\
'''Ma-Ti:''' This is stupid! You always send me on these stupid missions, and they don't amount to anything! And they're stupid! Your team doesn't want me because [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway you think heart does nothing]]. Nothing!\\
'''NC:''' Ma-Ti! That couldn't be further from the truth.\\
'''Ma-Ti:''' Okay. What’s this special mission you want from me!?\\
>'''NC:''' The special mission is...\\
''[Ma-Ti looks expectantly]''\\
'''NC:''' ... go get me a coffee.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries'': When Lucky first meets Thunderbolt in "Watch for Falling Idols," Thunderbolt tells Lucky to get him some lunch — "a mineral water and a croissant, if you can find it." Unlike most instances of this trope, however, Lucky is thrilled to do it, because he's so starstruck.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ActionLeagueNow'', of the four members of the Action League, The Flesh has SuperStrength, Thundergirl has the ability to fly, and Stinky Diver has the abilty to shoot with his spear gun. Meltman, however, has [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway the utterly useless ability to melt]], and thus the League often assigns him to get them snacks, including sodas, pizza, and donuts.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' episode "Lights! Camera! Danger!", Jimmy's father Hugh begs director Quentin Smithee for a part in his movie. Quentin reluctantly says he can be "Donut Boy", and Hugh, being TheDitz, thinks the movie is titled "The Adventures of Donut Boy", an undercover cop who plays by his own rules. It was meant to be this trope instead, but Hugh never realizes this, interpretting Quentin's orders to leave the set as preparation for another scene or to increase suspense. Turns into [[spoiler:HoistByHisOwnPetard]] when Jimmy has Hugh feed donuts to the giant killer robot snake to short-circuit it [[spoiler:(Quentin, being Prof. Finnbar Calamitous in disguise, was trying to kill Jimmy and his friends all along)]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Nemesis", when the Peace Master discovers her surveillance system, Princess Bubblegum starts barking orders to the Banana Guards, then tells Peppermint Butler "Make me some chamomile tea so I don't stress out!"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': This was Killer Moth's main job on [[EgocentricTeamNaming Team Penguin]] ("Mm, robust.") At least until he got some upgrades...
* The Creator/PBSKids version of ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'' has an unusually positive example in "The Big Race." Kenny, a bearcub that's probably about the same age as Brother Bear's little Sister Bear, wants to help Brother Bear, Freddy and Too Tall in making a racecar for the big race. They, however, already have things pretty much covered, but agree to let him help out, doing things that are pretty much "you get me coffee" type-of tasks. However, at no time are they ever mean to him and, in fact, treat him as a valuable member of the group. In the end, he is able to help them out when they realize that they're lacking a wheel by providing one from his prized wagon. They decide to let him be the one to drive the racecar at the race, though they pretend to draw straws for it, secretly snapping their own straws behind their backs so that Kenny was guaranteed the longest straw.
* ''WesternAnimation/CamberwickGreen'': In Captain Snort's episode, Private Meek daydreams while on parade. Later, when the Privates are given jobs to do in the village, Meek is chosen last, and given the demeaning task of cleaning the army truck. But he does not even manage this much, as he ends up holding Mrs Honeyman's baby the whole time.
* In "Cub Bouts" on ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsWelcomeToCareALot'', when Wonderheart Bear agrees to help Hugs & Tugs because their friend came down with bearcitis, they ask her to get them food, feeling that she can't do anything else for them because she doesn't have her belly badge powers yet. This becomes the catalyst for the rest of the episode, because Wonderheart is determined to do more than this.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: F.L.U.S.H.", [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain the Toiletnator]] ''really'' wants to help Mr. Boss and the other villains, despite the fact that they ''really'' don't want him to. Mr. Boss finally tells him he can "help" by getting them coffee, although he really does it just to get rid of him, hoping to finish their plan before he gets back. (Unfortunately, it only inspires him to try harder, which makes him mess up their plan ''even worse''.)
* In "Rockstar Ruby" on ''WesternAnimation/DocMcStuffins'', Ruby the rock star toy has quit singing because her microphone is broken and asks Doc to give her another job. She makes Ruby her office assistant and gives her a large stack of papers to file while everyone else sings and plays music until she can't take it anymore.
* Stewie from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' reverses the trope at one point.
-->"You, bring me the Wall Street Journal. You two... fight to the death!"
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': When Stavros Garkos's niece helped him with a plan hoping she'd become the first woman to become Vice-President of Garkos Enterprises in exchange for her help, the plan failed and he blamed her, stating he'd not hire her even if it was to bring him coffee.
* This was a plot point in the unproduced episode "Supertool" of ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'', which revolved around Andy's frustration with his career as a commercial artist for Jims advertising firm. When he thinks he's about to have a chance to prove himself to the higher-ups after the boss asks him to assist with the meeting for the new Chef-A-Roni ad campaign, it turns out he just wants him to run the slide show and make sure everyone has water in their cups.
* In "Secret Frog" from ''WesternAnimation/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriends'', Dragon, Bounce and Pansy join Spiderus's Sunny Patch Anti-Frog Squad as junior members. They ask what the first thing they can do for him is.
-->'''Spiderus''': Fetch me a berry, I had a light breakfast.
* In "Kid Mayor" on ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'' Flick Duck was elected kid mayor and made Peanut, Jelly and Baby Butter his assistants. His first job for them was to get him food.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "Commander Mom", there's a RunningGag that involves Jet ordering Sunspot to get him a glass of water, instead of actually helping him with his project.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E2JazzyAndThePussycats Jazzy and the Pussycats]]", Lisa's dreams of playing in a professional jazz band are dashed when Bart upstages her. "We were wondering if you... Lisa Simpson... would do us the honor ... of sitting in... ''that chair'' in the audience. We wanna jam with your brother!"
** This also happened to Bart in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E12BartGetsFamous Bart Gets Famous]]", when he ended up working for Krusty the Clown.
-->'''Krusty:''' This is a dream factory, the birthplace of magic -- an enchantment! Now I need you to go clean out my toilet.
** During the events of "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E19KillTheAlligatorAndRun Kill the Alligator and Run]]", when they were imprisoned in Florida and put in charge of a party, Marge devised a plan to escape and delegated chores to the other Simpsons. Lisa's chore was about the drinks.
* When the Trouble Alert blared its klaxon on the ''{{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}}'', the adult heroes charged out to save the world, while Zan and Jayna got told to stay in the Hall of Justice and call 'em if there were any new Trouble Alerts. Of course, the action would inevitably come to ''them'' soon after....
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' pulled one in the very first episode, "Legendary Sandwich", where Raven describes where the ingredients of the titular sandwich are hidden: near the Lava Lakes, deep underground and hidden among the stars, retrieved by Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire.[[note]]Raven is trying to get them out of her hair using a made-up legend, so technically they are ''all'' fetching coffee.[[/note]] Then we get to the last ingredient:
-->'''Robin:''' Okay, let's do this! I assume you saved the most ''dangerous'' ingredient for the leader of the Titans?\\
'''Raven:''' Oh yes! The last ingredient is pretzel bread. It can be found...\\
''[Robin bursts with excitement]''\\
'''Raven:''' ...at the supermarket! Here's a coupon.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TimothyGoesToSchool'', when Timothy decides to work with Claude for a team project on the television series involving making a model space shuttle, Claude asks him to do the sweeping up and doesn't let him do any of the work on the project. The space shuttle turns out great and wins a star for the best class project, but Timothy doesn't take any joy from it, finding comfort instead in talking with his friend Yoko.
** In ''Timothy Takes the Cake'', a story from the book ''Timothy's Tales from Hilltop School'', based on characters from the TV series, Claude pulls the same thing on Timothy, this time having him clean up muffin tins during a baking project. This time, however, Claude's attempt at baking alone fails and he wonders what he did wrong; what thing he left out of the recipe. Timothy tells him "''Me!''" and together they manage to do some good baking.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' episode "The Return of Pandabubba", Pandabubba uses the Zing Zom Bone to take control of factory workers, and one of the orders he gives is, "And you! Get a tall, half-caff mochachino, light on the foam!"
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[[folder:Real Life]]
* Happened in RealLife to Creator/DavidProwse, aka the physical actor for Darth Vader in ''Franchise/StarWars''. Prowse is noted for his amazingly muscular and imposing physique, hence his role as the muscle-bound personal assistant to the old widower in ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', but considerably more modest acting talents. He had auditioned for the lead role in the film ''Film/{{Superman|TheMovie}}'', and reportedly got a phone call from the producer excitedly informing him that they'd made their choice for the starring role, and they wanted ''him''... to be that guy's personal trainer, because Creator/ChristopherReeve wouldn't look right for the role at all unless he bulked up to look more like David Prowse. Prowse reports that he had to choke back an overjoyed "Thanks!" right in the middle of the producer's sentence.
* A book by John Douglas, founder of the FBI's profiling unit, describes how the Japanese policemen who attended his profiling course always arrived in pairs: one a higher-status officer, the other a low-ranker who would shine his superior's shoes, fetch his coffee, etc. Douglas insisted that all his students were equal and put an end to this practice.
* The slang term in medicine for non-medical tasks (coffee, etc.) interns and others are made to do by more senior medical staff is "scutwork." It doesn't take most interns long to figure out that their job is perhaps the most important one in the hospital; if that doctor/vet doesn't get his/her caffeine, everything goes to hell, because "If the Doc ain't happy, ain't ''nobody'' happy."
* Part of the rites of passage for newly-recruited grunts on dealing desks in large banks involves running chores of this nature. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], sort of, by the fact that the senior dealers are generally expected to remain at their desks for the entire eight or nine hours of the trading day and can't spend twenty minutes waiting to be served in Starbucks/the deli.
* There's a fairly common satirical joke that this was UsefulNotes/NickClegg's role towards UsefulNotes/DavidCameron during [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem his Coalition Government.]]
* Anyone who has ever done a job internship -- regardless whether it's a bank, a newspaper, the local TV station -- will find themselves doing more of these menial tasks than anything else (one can be lucky if they ever get REAL work to do). Quite frustrating.
* The short-term work experience that high schoolers and university students do more often than not is a glorified coffee making (or some other menial work). Nothing wrong with that, except the way the work experience is often hyped up you'd think it'd be more than that.
* After he won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, the Music/FooFighters' Dave Grohl was asked how he stayed so grounded. He replied that it was because his kids "don't fucking care that I'm a rockstar" and make him do things like get them smoothies *now*, which he [[DotingParent of course obliges]].
* In the Supreme Court of the United States, the most junior Justice is tasked with fetching coffee, opening doors, dispatching memos and doing any other menial task that the other Justices need done.
--> '''Justice Stephen Breyer''': [as his eleven-year stint as the official SCOTUS coffee-boy came to an end] I’ve gotten pretty good at this, haven’t I?
--> '''Justice Antonin Scalia''': [[DeadpanSnarker No, you haven’t.]]
* If you're a production assistant in television or film, you do this and stuff like it. If you do it well, and they like you, then you get to sit in on meetings and stuff and maybe are allowed to pitch ideas and move up the ranks.
* In UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}, the twelfth man's main role is to bring the players drinks and replacements for their equipment.
[[/folder]]
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->[[spoiler: '''[[TheStinger Stiny! Get me a Danish!]]]]'''
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