Clerk is yet another chairs-y occupation trope (although not indexed as one) which is just "an old-fashioned clerical worker, especially in the fields of bookkeeping and correspondence," according to its description, lacking any narrative significance.
Wicks checked: All the wicks minus ImageSource.Photography and an old wick check made by someone else (29/29).
- Quick wick check results:
- 19/29 or 66% are ZCEs and contextless potholes.
- 10/29 or 34% are misuse and other vague/unsortable examples.
- Final verdict: The trope is mostly a ZCE magnet with literally no useful context at all, further proving its status as not tropeworthy. The rest of the remaining wicks are either unclear or random misuse.
- The only solution would be... Nothing much to do here folks. Let's just give it a nice snip.
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"A clerk exists" or "X is/works as a clerk" ZCE & contextless potholes (19/29)
- Malevolent Architecture: Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): Instead of people, the entire population is made of robots that are rigidly divided into three castes: Soldiers, Secretaries, and Slaves. In particular, the slaves are former people who are incapable of rebellion, because they have been brainwashed into eternal servitude...which is what they intend to do to you, and to everyone else on the planet.
- Rags to Riches: Virtually every Horatio Alger, Jr. story ever written follows this same plot. Poor boy works hard, is virtuous, and is helped by a kindly older man, and he eventually makes his fortune, relatively speaking.
- In Alger's first book, Ragged Dick, Dick is able to elevate himself from homeless bootblack to... entry-level Clerk. While the "riches" part may seem a bit underwhelming, there's no doubt he's better off at the end than the beginning.
- Characters.Discworld Others: (Rufus), Front to back, very clerk-y. It tends to shock people when he expresses interests in things other than filing. Vetinari once speculated that a woman would have to dress up as a manila envelope to catch his attentions. — Not much of a useful context
- Characters.Dracula: (Jonathan), A former clerk, having just passed his bar exam before heading to Transylvania. He's made a partner in the firm on his return.
- Characters.Drowtales Val Jaal Darya: (Dia’heira), Albeit a high-ranking one.
- Characters.Monsters Inc: (Roz)From DVD bonus material: "The pink copy [of your carbonless copy paper scare receipt] goes to accounts receivable. The fuchsia copy goes to purchasing. Ivory goes to your immediate supervisor. And I! Get! The goldenrod! Goldenrod!"
- Characters.Sonic The Hedgehog IDW The Restoration: (Cream & Cheese), Under Arc Heroine: Cream, of the Year 3 storyline. From Issues 25-36, she appears at least Once per Episode (except in Issue 28, due to her Metal Virus infection), guarantees that Gemerl gets Zeena's Chaos Emerald (thus ensuring Sonic and Silver go Super), acts as a Clerk with her family to cut the Chaotix some slack, helps defend Tangle's hometown from Eggman, and is key to Rouge's plan in Chao Races and Badnik Bases. The latter arc also gives Cheese and other Chao some spotlight.
- Characters.The Rithmatist: (Florence), Her job in Armedius.
- Characters.Yamada Kun And The Seven Witches The Witches: (Nene), This is her official title in Miyamura's student council, though she's often seen helping with other odd jobs, and the other non-clerk members do just as much paperwork as her.
- Creator.Horatio Alger Jr: Ragged Dick is the story of an orphaned bootblack living on the streets of New York, a flawed but basically good boy who has no long term plans. An older man who'd successfully lifted himself from poverty gives Dick advice, and shortly thereafter Dick's initiative and pluck earns him a small nest egg and some decent clothes. By pluck, determination, and some amazing luck (as well as some helpful adults at key points), Dick is able to advance himself into a steady job as a entry-level Clerk.
- EnsembleDarkHorse.Web Animation: The titular crotchety storage lady and Fifi are popular characters for not only providing Rebecca's mom A Day in the Limelight, but also for providing hilarious Seinfeldian Conversations on the levels of Roz.
- Film.Grim Prairie Tales: Farley Deeds is a clerk travelling from Seattle to Jacksonville to meet up with his wife, who gets caught up in a storytelling competition with Boisterous Bruiser Bounty Hunter Morrison. The fact that the central character in Morrison's second story—a clerk in a hardware store named Tom who falls victim to a Vagina Dentata—bears a strong resemblance to him is not lost on Deeds.
- Literature.Dracula: Jonathan Harker is a clerk, though by the time the story starts, he has risen high enough in the company to be trusted with dangerous foreign missions, and he's made a partner in the firm on his return.
- NightmareFuel.Sonic The Hedgehog Sat AM: Instead of people, the entire population is made of robots that are rigidly divided into three castes: Soldiers, Secretaries, and Slaves. In particular, the slaves are former people who are incapable of rebellion, because they have been brainwashed into eternal servitude...which is what they intend to do to you, and to everyone else on the planet.
- PlayingWith.Badass Bureaucrat: Basic Trope: A paper-pushing character is revealed to be surprisingly badass - either through "normal" things like surprising fighting skills and awesome stunts, or through impressive uses of bureaucracy.
- Recap.Sonic The Hedgehog IDW Out Of The Blue Arc: Cream's family begins working at the Team Chaotix Office while the team sets out to find people displaced by the Metal Virus plague.
- Roleplay.AJCO: One of the major cliques within the FAIR-CO faction. Their leader, C_C, is Fairfax's right-hand man.
- SelfDemonstrating.Roz:From DVD bonus material: "The pink copy [of your carbonless copy paper scare receipt] goes to accounts receivable. The fuchsia copy goes to purchasing. Ivory goes to your immediate supervisor. And I! Get! The goldenrod! Goldenrod!"
- YMMV.Let Me Explain Studios: Under Ensemble Dark Horse: The titular crotchety storage lady and Fifi are popular characters for not only providing Rebecca's mom A Day in the Limelight, but also for providing hilarious Seinfeldian Conversations on the levels of Roz.
Useful context (e.g. a certain depiction/stereotype or specific situations) (0/29)
Misuse/Uncertain/Other (10/29)
- Laconic.Clerk: A character who is employed in an office/bank keeping records, accounts, and handle other management duties on a daily routine.
- Meek Townsman: (Description) Typical occupations for the character include Clerk and the Shopkeeper, but can be any non-combat position up to and including the mayor.
- Paperworkaholic: (Description) The Paperworkaholic is most likely a Clerk as well.
- Western Characters: Indexed without a description
- White Collar Worker: As office machinery such as the typewriter, adding machine, mimeograph etc. became available starting in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, clerical workers began shifting their skill sets from the Clerk to the modern White Collar Worker.
- Characters.AJCO: (C_C, in The State's folder), As stated above, C_C is the leader of an entire group of these and enjoys a great deal of power because of it. — ???
- Characters.Archipelago Exodus Terminer: (Deandre), Under Meaningful Name: A Clerk, or "clark" as it would be pronounced in the classical British manner, is someone employed in keeping records. — IDK what to make of this... where's the context about the job?
- Characters.Yu Gi Oh Card Game G To I: (Gagaga), Keeping the trope description in mind, Gagaga Clerk supports the Gagaga Archetype. — What?
- Webcomic.Fate Gamers Only: As Rikku embarrassingly reveals, she used to work in retail, which is how she manages to order around people so well. El-Melloi II finds that it explains a lot. — Misuse, the trope's about office clerks
- WeAreNotAlone.Tropes Zero To D: Just an index
