Basic Trope: Someone tries to do maintenance better left to the professionals, resulting in his own attempts at it backfiring horribly or only making it worse.
- Straight: Rather than calling a repairman like Alice suggests, Bob tries to save money and fix a broken TV himself. However, his attempts cause even more damage and cost them more money than buying a new TV set.
- Exaggerated: Bob’s attempts to fix the TV himself result in massive damage like causing a city wide blackout and blowing up the house, yet he keeps insisting on doing it himself.
- Downplayed:
- While Bob successfully fixes the TV, he ends up spending more money on the repairs than hiring a repairman would have cost.
- Bob tries to fix the TV himself initially, but after a first failed attempt, he realizes he can’t do it and calls a repairman.
- Bob's repairs manage to keep the TV running for a week, once it conks out again he finally is willing to buy a new one.
- Justified:
- Bob is flat broke, so he literally can’t afford hiring a repairman and has no choice but to do it himself.
- Bob has the belief that if he can't perform at least this little function at home he is not A Real Man.
- Inverted:
- A professional repairman asks the inexperienced Bob to repair his TV.
- Bob, being Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense, immediately calls the repairman or buys a new TV the moment his has the slightest problem.
- Subverted:
- Bob considers repairing the TV himself at first, but then changes his mind and calls a repairman…
- Bob is a repairman or someone who frequently works with electrical devices, so it’s not unreasonable of him to think he can fix the TV himself.
- The TV was a custom-built by Bob himself, so he understands it better than a repairman would.
- Bob gets lucky and successfully fixes the TV set.
- Double Subverted:
- When Bob learns how expensive a repairman is, he changes his mind again.
- Bob finds out that the repairman is unavailable for several days.
- It still goes horribly wrong due to unforeseen circumstances.
- Bob's luck doesn't hold the next time the TV breaks again.
- Parodied: ??
- Zig Zagged:
- Bob sometimes tries to fix the TV himself, while other times he calls the repairman right away (often depending on how severe the damage is)
- Sometimes Bob succeeds in repairing the TV himself, while other times he fails miserably.
- Averted:
- Bob calls a repairman right away and never even considers trying to fix the TV himself because he knows he can’t do it.
- Bob is a skilled repairman, and repairs everything perfectly.
- Bob just buys a new TV and recycles the old one.
- Enforced: "Lets show Bob trying to save money and fix the TV himself despite his lack of technical skills to show how stubborn he is"
- Lampshaded: "Why do you insist on repairing the TV yourself, Bob? You really should know better and call a repairman."
- Invoked: Alice actually wants Bob to fix the TV himself, so she suggests calling a repairman knowing Bob will take that as a challenge.
- Exploited: Alice eggs Bob on to fix the TV himself by implying he'd be less of a man if he couldn't. This way when Bob does electrocute himself and cause major damage to the house she will be in line to collect on his life insurance and inheritance.
- Defied:
- Knowing that fixing his TV himself is just asking for trouble, Bob calls a professional.
- Knowing about Bob's plan to fix the TV himself that night, Alice calls a professional before Bob comes home.
- Discussed: "You realize you're going to blow the house up, right?" "Don't worry, Alice. I'll call a professional. I'm not stupid enough to fix the TV set myself."
- Conversed: "Why is Bob trying to fix it himself? Is he stupid?"
- Implied: Bob says he's going to fix the TV himself. The next time we see him, he's in the hospital, being treated for electrical burns.
- Deconstructed: Bob ends up electrocuting himself because his repairs backfire, resulting in severe injury.
- Reconstructed: Bob reads a TV repair manual. While he may still make some mistakes, odds are it won't go wrong enough to injure him.
- Played for Laughs:
- The TV box has a "Do not attempt to repair this television set yourself" warning.
- Bob tries to fix the TV himself rather than calling a repairman, resulting in things like Amusing Injuries and other forms of Hilarity Ensues.
- Bob's attempts to fix the TV ends up getting it working...in the wrong ways, like pressing the power button instead starts the dishwasher or the only channels Bob gets are in foreign languages broadcast from overseas that no television network in his area carries.
- Played for Drama: Bob tries to fix the TV himself even though he has no experience, and fatally electrocutes himself. With no income and small savings, Alice and the children end up homeless.
- Played For Horror: Bob's attempt at fixing the TV himself end with him being spectacularly maimed and traumatizing his children.
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