Basic Trope: A character tries to get his/her significant other to dump him/her first by acting like a Jerkass and/or being disgusting. It rarely works.
- Straight: Alice and Bob are together, but Bob has had enough of the relationship for whatever reason(s). Bob tries to get Alice to dump him first by doing things like flirting with another woman in front of her, eating smelly food before kissing her, cussing more than usual, and knocking her favorite soap opera. For her part, Alice doesn't see this as a big deal.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob tries to get Alice to dump him by being outright abusive and by having sex with another woman right in front of Alice. Alice not only doesn't find this behavior upsetting, she finds it turns her on.
- Men in this setting do this as a default, the idea of them being the one to initiate the breakup is considered unspeakable or never considered at all.
- Downplayed:
- Bob has been finding his relationship with Alice less satisfying lately, and begins being less attentive as other things occupy his interest.
- Bob and Alice have already broken and initially try to be nice, but Bob is disappointed by this and acts like a jerk so she will reject him entirely.
- Justified:
- Bob doesn't want to be the bad guy and hurt Alice's feelings. He thinks she'll be less hurt if she does the dumping.
- Alice and Bob have a prenup and/or live in a place with certain divorce laws that make it unfavorable for Bob to be the one to initiate divorce.
- The reason Bob wants to break up with Alice is something petty and shallow, so he figures he'll give her a reason to dump him so he won't have to come up with a more serious reason to dump her.
- Inverted:
- Bob wants to break up with Alice, so he starts acting extra nice to her.
- Bob's relationship with Alice is on the rocks, so he starts acting extra nice to her in hopes that she'll reconsider breaking up with him.
- Bob is interested in Alice, but she is Oblivious to Love, so he starts acting like a jerk towards her to get her to notice him.
- Operation: Jealousy
- Bob tries to convince Alice to take him back after a breakup.
- Gender Inverted: Alice and Bob are together, but Alice wants to call it quits. So she starts acting like The Lad-ette (rude and disgusting) in hopes that Bob will dump her. Instead of dumping her, he finds her sweatpants, beer-chugging, cussing, unabashed farting, and unshaven legs more attractive.
- Subverted: Bob starts acting like a disgusting Jerkass, but then feels bad about treating Alice like that.
- Double Subverted: But then he realizes he's unhappy in the relationship and decides to continue on with his bad behavior.
- Parodied:
- Bob tries to get Alice to break up with him by burping and farting openly, acting mean and abusive towards her, sleeping with other women, etc, but Alice is completely indifferent to all of it. She later ends up dumping Bob for some extremely silly and trivial reason, like forgetting to buy eggs at the grocery store.
- Neither Alice or Bob want to be the one to break things up, so they both try to outdo each other in being as obnoxious as possible.
- Zig Zagged: The Masochism Tango
- Lampshaded:
- "Maybe if I act like a real dick to her, she'll dump me..."
- "If you didn't want to be with me why didn't you just say so? We could have skipped all of this pointless drama!"
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob are in a happy and healthy relationship.
- Alice and Bob are Like Brother and Sister.
- Bob breaks up with Alice in a normal way.
- Enforced:
- Invoked: Charlie suggests Bob to act like a jerk so he will not be the one who has to dumb her.
- Exploited:
- Bob and Alice are in an arranged marriage that Bob wants to get out of, but can't for whatever reason, so he tries to make Alice break it off instead.
- Diane, who has a major crush on Bob, hears that he's trying to get Alice to dump him. She helpfully suggests that sleeping with another girl might do the trick- and what luck! There's a willing volunteer right in the room with him!
- Defied: Bob decides to be honest and tell Alice that he wants to break up with him.
- Discussed:
- "Just get rid of her the way I got rid of my last girlfriend: by being a jerk!"
- "Bob is such a jerk, it's like he wants me to dump him, wait a minute, maybe he does."
- Conversed: "Why can't Bob just be straight with her? It'd be a whole lot easier."
- Implied: Right before Alice dumped Bob, he mysteriously Took a Level in Jerkass, and Alice noted he didn't seem too sad when she dumped him.
- Deconstructed: Bob thinks he can save face by telling friends that she dumped him rather then the other way around. They ask why she dumped him and admits that he was a jerk to her, and ends up looking like a Jerkass and a Dirty Coward to boot.
- Reconstructed: ???
- Played For Laughs: Alice falls victim to All Girls Want Bad Boys. (May be Black Comedy and/or Crosses the Line Twice depending on just how much of a Jerkass Bob's been.)
- Played For Drama: Bob's behavior genuinely hurts Alice, and makes him feel guilty.
Back to Please Dump Me.
