History Main / DefeatMeansMenialLabor

* ''Film/MaidToOrder1987'': When the spoiled rich girl Jessie Montgomery is arrested and taken to jail, her long-suffering father wishes he'd never had her. Her fairy godmother grants his wish, causing him to forget her. Jessie is forced to take a job as a maid to survive.

* ''VideoGame/TheSettlers III'': Displeased at the lazy atitudes the other gods have adopted while ruling the world, "HIM" the TopGod orders Jupiter, Chih-Yu and Horus to pick their favorite mortals, and have them compete in a contest of nation-building. The gods whose mortals lose the contest will then have to repaint the universe a brand-new shade of white.

* ''VideoGame/TheSettlers III'': "HIM" the {{Overgod}} orders Jupiter, Chih-Yu and Horus to pick their favorite mortals, and have them compete in a contest of nation-building. The gods who pick the mortals that lose the contest will then have to repaint the universe a brand-new shade of white.

* ''VideoGame/TheSettlers III'': "Him" TheOvergod orders Jupiter, Chih-Yu and Horus to pick their favorite mortals, and have them compete in a contest of nation-building. The gods who pick the mortals that lose the contest will then have to repaint the universe a brand-new shade of white.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', the last scene shows Prince John, the Sheriff, and Sir Hiss WorkingOnTheChainGang splitting blocks of stone, complete with striped prison uniforms.

*** In [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemist the '03 anime]], he ends up homeless and taken in by Isvahlins until he sees Scar and reports him in the hope he'll regain his position and [[DeathByAdaptation shot dead]] by the Homunculos to spark discord for the BigBad's plans.

* ''Series/ChikyuSentaiFiveman'': [[TheCaptain Captain Garoa]] was [[BigBad Empress Meadow]]'s leading commander until a combination of his repeated failures at defeating the heroes and being upstaged by newcomer Captain Chevalier reduced him to a bumbling comic relief bad guy who eventually got saddled with janitorial duty.

* The pilot movie for ''Series/SecretValley'' ends with the plans of [[CorruptHick corrupt town councilor]] Claude Cribbins to develop thwarted and Claude reduced to be being a garbageman. However, he was back as town councilor when it went to series.

* In ''Film/EverAfter'', Danielle's stepmother and mean stepsister are sentenced to work as maids in the royal palace. When they try to claim they're too important for manual labor the head maid shoves them both into the laundry.

* Two alternate endings of ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'' have [[BigBad Madame LaBouche]] work as a costumed park employee working in one of the rides and as an employee of a perfume-manufacturing company, respectively.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Uglydolls}}'': In the end credits, Lou, having been thrown in the washing machine as part of his being subject to a HeelFaceDoorSlam, is now messy and less perfect than ever as he is relegated to working as a janitor where he is seen cleaning up the mess while being watched by a robotic dog.

* ''Film/{{Paddington}}'': At the end , the evil taxidermist is forced to work in the petting zoo cleaning up dung.

*** In [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemist the '03 anime]], he ends up homeless and taken in by Isvahlins until he sees Scar and reports him in the hope he'll regain his position [[spoiler: and [[DeathByAdaptation shot dead]] by the Homunculos to spark discord for the BigBad's plans]].
*** In the manga and [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemistBrotherhood Brotherhood anime]], he becomes a reluctant ally to the protagonists despite his wrongdoings. [[spoiler: And in the end, ends up working at a circus as a clown.]]
** In '03 anime, this also extends to the anime-only character Lyra, who acts as Yorki's enforcer. After Ed defeats her, she's seen again working as a maid under Dante, though legitimately turned over a new leaf. [[spoiler: Unfortunately Dante manipulates and steals her body later on.]]

A subtrope to CoolAndUnusualPunishment and BadJobWorseUniform, the latter which the villain may be forced to wear to add insult to injury. Also may be a form of HumiliationConga, as the laborer may suffer further humiliation of some sort while laboring. See also PrisonersWork and WorkingOnTheChainGang, where the hard labor is part of a criminal punishment.

* ''Film/GForce'': In the end, [[spoiler:Speckles]] is put to work removing all the chips that turned household appliances into HomicideMachines as penance for putting the chips there in the first place.

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': Iorek Byrnison was stripped from his claims to the crown of Svalbard and his armor and was exiled after he was set up for the murder of Hjalmur Hjalmurson [[spoiler:who had been drugged by Iofur Raknison, helped by Marisa Coulter, who wanted to have an ally who would accept her bases]].

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Web Video]]

!!As this usually happens as an ending trope, beware of unmarked {{Spoiler}}s.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', if you capture [[spoiler: Grand Duchess Florianne]] alive after her attempted rebellion, one of the possible judgments you can render is to make her the court jester. And force her to do it wearing ''flat'' shoes.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'': [[spoiler:Duke Onkled]], TheMole working for Ganon, is sentenced by King Harkinian to scrub all the floors in Hyrule for betraying him.

As this usually happens as an ending trope, beware of unmarked {{Spoiler}}s.

!!Examples

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' ends with a CloseEnoughTimeline in which [[spoiler:the villain Biff Tannen, who was George [=McFly=]'s cruel supervisor in the original timeline, ends up waxing and detailing cars for a living, with George being one of the customers he has to please]]. Try not to think too hard about why the family would hire the guy who tried to [[spoiler:rape George's wife Lorraine]] in high school.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Cuphead}} Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course]]'': Chef Saltbaker tries to sacrifice the souls of the characters as the secret ingredient for his Wondertart. But the battle against him results not only in his defeat, but also [[LoadBearingBoss the destruction of his bakery]]. After that, as seen in the epilogue, he is arrested for his crimes and sentenced to community service, where he is forced to work for all of the game's bosses. In the course of his manual labor, [[HeelFaceTurn he eventually reforms and becomes a better person all around]], [[DefeatMeansFriendship even becoming good friends with Cuphead and his group]].

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': In "[[Recap/WanderOverYonderS1E8TheBallTheBounty The Bounty]]", one of the bounty hunters manages to capture Wander and Sylvia and gets rewarded as a commander by Lord Hater while Peepers is demoted and stuck scrubbing toilets. Then it's revealed that this is a DaydreamSurprise by Peepers thinking what'll happen if he gave up on trying to capture the duo himself before the bounty hunters, giving him his second wind. [[spoiler: And ironically ''helping'' Wander and Sylvia get away in his zeal. Whoops.]]

* ''Film/BigFatLiar'': Marty Wolf having been outed as a liar and plagiarist, he is fired from his position as a Hollywood producer and relegated to becoming a humiliated birthday clown -- and the birthday boy happens to the son of the same wrestler whose car he accidentally wrecked and pissed off earlier, and the kid gives Wolf a flying GroinAttack for his troubles.

* ''''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' ends with Gruntilda sent to work in L.O.G's game factory after being defeated by the titular duo.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames '': In ''Oracle of Seasons'', if you defeat the Moblin King twice (by throwing a bomb into a huge stockpile of explosives), he and his minions can be found in a human village crafting bombs.

* WesternAnimation/{{Igor}}: At the end, Dr. Schadenfreude becomes a pickle salesman while Jaclyn (In her true form) becomes a pretzel saleswoman as a punishment for their scheme.

* Two alternate endings of ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'' have [[BigBad Madame LaBouche]] work as a costumed park employee working in one of the rides and as an employee of a perfume-manufacturing company, respectively.

* ''Film/ALittlePrincess'': At the end of the 1995 version, Miss Minchin no longer runs the school, but is working as a chimney sweep, with the boy she mistreated earlier in the movie as her new boss.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaInTheWanNyanSpacetimeOdyssey'' have the main villain, Jara the evil cat billionaire, intending to hijack the time machine for himself and abandon the other cats and dogs citizens to their doom, but he was ultimately stopped by the combined efforts of Nobita, Doraemon, Hachi and their friends. In the final scene where the population of cats and dogs are in their evacuation vessel escaping their soon-to-be-destroyed planet, Jara and his mooks are shown as janitors mopping the transport's deck.

** One of the more corrupt military officials, Yorki, goes from a governor of a mine town he was overtaxing to working as a commoner after Ed's defeats him. Though his fate depends on which version your watching.
*** In [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemist the '03 anime]], he ends up homeless and taken in by Isvahlins until he see Scar and reports him in the hope he'll regain his position [[spoiler: and [[DeathByAdaptation shot dead]] by the Homunculos to spark discord for the BigBad's plans]].
*** In the manga and [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemistBrotherhood Brotherhood anime]], he becomes a reluctant ally to the protagonists despite his wrong doings. [[spoiler: And in the end, ends up working at a circus as a clown.]]
** In '03 anime, this also extend to the anime-only character Lyra, who acts as Yorki's enforcer. After Ed defeats her, she's seen again working as a maid under Dante, though legitimately turned over a new leaf. [[spoiler: Unfortunately Dante manipulates and steals her body later on.]]

* ''Film/GForce'': In the end, [[spoiler:Speckles]] is put to work removing all the chips that turned household appliances into HomicideMachines as penance for putting the chips there in in the first place.

* In ''Film/MikeBassettEnglandManager'', JerkAss journalist Tommo Thompson is so sure of Mike's failure to manage the England football team that he makes a bet; if they win a match against Argentina, he'll immediately quit his job and get a new one as a refuse collector. Sure enough, England win the match, and one of the scenes near the end shows him emptying the bins outside Mike's house.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'': One SideQuest involves rescuing a group of ogres from enslavement on a country estate. If the PlayerCharacter visits the estate afterwards, they find the former owners of the estate hoeing the fields under the ogres' supervision.

* Until 1870, attainded [[USefulNotes/KnightFever British peers]] convicted of treason were subjected to corruption of blood, stripping them from their peerage. The Titles Deprivation Act 1917 allowed the crown to suspend from their peerage those peers who were serving for the Central Powers (due to migrations and family links, it happened sometimes Germans and Austrians ended up holding British titles); however, their descendants could claim them back.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', the last scene shows Prince John, the Sheriff, and Sir Hiss WorkingOnTheChainGang splitting blocks of stone, complete with striped prison uniforms.