Basic Trope: A character's job takes a huge toll on his home and family life.
- Straight: Bob is a policeman, which means he works long hours in dangerous conditions, much to the chagrin of his wife and kids.
- Exaggerated: Bob spends only a week at home during the year (not counting sleep time).
- Downplayed: Bob occasionally works a little later than his wife would like, but she's usually relaxed about it.
- Justified: Bob's job requires him to work long hours and pay a high degree of attention to his work — it's not like he's a bad husband or father.
- Inverted: Bob has a One-Hour Work Week, and spends most of his free time with his family.
- Subverted: Bob seems to spend all of his time at work, but later we learn that what we were seeing was just a big case - usually, he's got a pretty reasonable workweek.
- Double Subverted: Bob's long hours at his job at first seem like he's just pursuing a tougher-than-usual criminal - then we're later shown an ordinary week and he's working just as much.
- Parodied:
- Bob spends long hours at his job, but it turns out it's just a dead-end, do-nothing job.
- Bob is literally married to his job and acts Like an Old Married Couple with several of his coworkers.
- Zig Zagged: Bob's workweek varies from week to week.
- Averted: Bob works a normal number of hours.
- Enforced: "We need an explanation for Bob's frequent absence. Let's just say he's at work all the time."
- Lampshaded: "Nah, it's cool, we don't need to worry, my dad is never home."
- Invoked: Bob specifically takes the job to get away from his family.
- Exploited:
- Bob's wife divorces him then uses his job as an excuse to take the kids and collect a big settlement.
- After Bob takes the job and it starts consuming his time, he lies about the length of his shifts to avoid his family.
- Defied:
- Bob spends long hours at his job, but makes sure to leave plenty of time for his family and loved ones so they don't feel neglected.
- As soon as Bob realizes that being a cop will encroach on his family time, he considers other employment.
- Bob avoids marriage and children because he knows his dream job of becoming a policeman would take a huge toll on his family life.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "I feel sorry for Bob's family. They hardly ever get to see him because he works so late."
- Implied: Most of Alice's family photos only feature her and her kids, with Bob nowhere to be seen.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice complains about Bob not spending enough time at home, even though (1) his job really is that important — lives can be lost if he isn't attentive to his work to a high degree and (2) it's obvious from the start of the relationship that Bob's job would demand a large portion of his time. When Bob calls Alice out on this, a nasty argument ensues.
- Bob's devotion to his job at the cost of most others ends up being for naught when changes to the department result in him being let go. Having focused mainly on his job, he has litle else in his life and has strained relations with his family.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice realises how selfish she's been, apologises, and alters her expectations, while Bob makes more effort to keep in touch even if he can't always be around physically, and makes the most of what little time he gets to spend at home.
- It's a shitty situation, but it at least gives Bob a chance to reconnect with his family, and he seeks a less demanding job so it won't happen again.
- Played For Drama:
- Bob's family is quite poor, which leaves Bob with two bad options: keep his job as a policeman and practically never see his family, or take a less demanding job and leave his family a lot poorer.
- Bob suffers a Career-Ending Injury and is left unable to work ever again. He ends up dependent on his estranged wife and children, who resent him for having been absent so often.
Look, you've been troping long enough for one night. Get back over here with me at Married to the Job.
