- Release Date: March 25, 2012
Fed up with Hayley and Jeff mooching off of him, Stan decides to prove that he and Francine can spend a month on minimum wage. Meanwhile, Steve and Roger try to drive a Ferrari, after learning that Klaus had done so.
Tropes:
- All Take and No Give: Hayley and Jeff are accused as such by Stan, and by what we have seen, he isn't wrong; they use his utilities without providing anything for the household themselves.
- Bait-and-Switch: As they drive off in the Ferrari, Roger tells Steve to find some kickass driving music. They cheerfully pick a station playing ragtime.
- Both Sides Have a Point: While Hayley and Jeff are absolutely correct that minimum wage is not at all enough for them to live independently, most, if not all, of Stan's complaints are valid. They're two adults who live in his house not just rent-free, but seemingly without even contributing anything towards groceries or other expenses. Not only that, but Jeff is a rather inconsiderate guest, especially in the scene where he pours all of the syrup on his pancakes even though Stan had already asked Jeff for it.
- The Cameo: Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz reprise their roles on Bones, which Hayley and Jeff watch after work.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Roger's plan to get them to test drive a Ferrari is to go to a dealership and simply quote Al Pacino's lines from Scent of a Woman. Steve is amazed when it actually works.
- Crazy Homeless People: Billy, the man who Stan leads in robbing his own house.
- Crisis Point Hospital: Downplayed. After getting run over, Stan goes to a free clinic because he doesn't have insurance. Despite having clearly severe injuries, he has to wait behind a woman who had been there for seven hours because "her elbow feels funny."
- Didn't Think This Through: Stan doesn't even consider trying to apply for a minimum wage job until after he's essentially become homeless.
- Disposable Vagrant: After running over Stan, Steve reacts with horror that they've hit a homeless guy, but Roger nonchalantly says he's dead and tells him to keep driving.
- Domestic Abuse: In the slum, a man is heard menacing his partner before shooting her dead. Stan and Francine are both horrified.Stan: (trying to comfort Francine) It's okay. It's over Francine. She's dead. She's finally dead. She's dead now.
- Dumpster Dive: Stan tries to resort to this for food, but the burger is snatched out of his hands by the Hamberrobber. He later takes supplies from a medical disposal bin to treat his broken leg.
- Epic Fail: Stan ends up losing most of his minimum wage cash, getting mutilated, and becoming addicted to drugs enough to rob his own house... in only three days of what was supposed to be a month-long social experiment.
- Ethnic Menial Labor: Stan and Francine complain about having to take the bus with the Hispanic cleaning ladies.Francine: We can't use the bus. We're whiiiiiiiite.
- A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: Downplayed. Stan is given $938 as his minimum wage cash, only to end up losing most of it before the first day ends due to wasting it on frivolous things. On day three, he becomes homeless as all his "supplies" are taken away.
- From Bad to Worse: Stan and Francine initially find a nice apartment, only for the real estate agent to point out it's on the wrong side of town and the actual apartment is a dump. Then Stan spends most of their money on a car to live in, which ends up getting towed. Eventually Francine has enough and goes back home herself, and Stan gets hit by the car Steve and Roger are driving. At the end of the episode, Stan has resorted to robbing his own house to try to get by.
- Hidden Depths: After hearing Stan and Billy breaking into the house, Jeff springs into action with only a kitchen knife.
- Honor Before Reason: Even when he's become homeless and Francine decides to call it quits, Stan still insists on sticking to Hayley and Jeff's bet. It's only when he gets stabbed by Jeff as he tries to rob his own house that he finally relents.
- Manly Tears: Stan resorts to this once he gets stabbed by Jeff in a futile attempt to rob his own house, admitting that Hayley and Jeff were right that living on minimum wage isn't as easy as it looks.
- Money Dumb: Stan shows his stupidity when he wastes almost all his minimum wage cash on frivolous things on the first night, leading to him and Francine becoming homeless.
- Not Helping Your Case: Any argument Stan might have had about Hayley and Jeff's abuse of their hospitality is immediately negated due to the fact that Stan is appallingly incapable of living on minimum wage. His increasingly stupid decisions blow through his money before the first day ends, and by the time he's reduced to a filthy, injured vagrant trying to rob his own house, it's only been three days since the contest started.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Roger does this at the Ferrari dealership by quoting Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Andrew, the salesman, is confused by his behavior until he just gives him a car out of pity.Roger: Don't worry about the boy. He drives so smooth you can boil an egg on the engine. When we bring the car back, I'll peel the egg for you.Andrew: We're not having a real conversation, are we? Y-You're just waiting for me to finish so you can say your next thing.
- Overly Long Gag: Stan steals the shoes of the burger manager, who then spends half a minute yelling for Stan to leave the orthotics.
- Rage Breaking Point: After dealing with Hayley and Jeff's antics for a while, Stan finally snaps after Jeff wastes all the syrup after he just asked for it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After just two days, Francine decides to call it quits.
- Serious Business: Stan tries to get food by eating free samples of pizza bagels. However, he is then beaten by their creator, Jonah, who is insulted that he'd eat all the free samples and not buy them. He even makes each bagel by hand.
- Shout-Out:
- Roger gets the Ferrari dealership to lend them one by reciting Al Pacino's lines from Scent of a Woman. One of the salesmen lampshades this by saying that Roger is obviously quoting something, but he doesn't know what.
- Stan tries to eat a dumpster burger from Kel's Good Burger.
- Show Within a Show: After stealing a pair of shoes from the burger manager, Stan is confronted by the Shoe Police ("Stomping Out Crime!"). The episode ends with a trailer for a new show called Shoe Police, which one newspaper described as "confusing" and "a new low for FOX."
- Slow-Motion Pass-By: Klaus's reaction to seeing Steve and Roger driving a Ferrari.
- Too Dumb to Live: Within the first night on minimum wage, Stan decides to spend most of his cash on frivolous things to get through. In addition to becoming homeless, he is also rendered incapable of accessing medical care as he gets run over and mutilated.
- Trauma Conga Line: After Stan ends up homeless, he gets rejected from a job opportunity, run over by Roger and Steve, denied entry to medical care, and then stabbed by Jeff.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Steve and Roger go off to test drive a Ferrari, then drive it all the way to Vegas to show it off to Klaus. On their way back, they run over Stan.
- Worst Aid: Stan uses medical waste and a newspaper covered in mud to heal his injuries, as he no longer has medical insurance.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: When Stan admits that he can't live on minimum wage, Hayley says it's been less than two days. However, it is clearly night three times (possibly four, as Stan had slept under someone's car after Francine quits).
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: By Klaus. Very... slowly...
