History Main / MisplacedSorrow

Compare IfYouDieICallYourStuff. Subtrope of SkewedPriorities. See also WorryingForTheWrongReasons.

Compare IfYouDieICallYourStuff.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' plays this straight with Frank Bennedetto ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a popcorn popper]]), complete with the $5 lament example from the description.

[[AC:Anime]]
* In ''{{LightNovel/Durarara}}'', Kadota's gang are devastated when they find out their friend Kaztano has been kidnapped, but none so much as Togusa, who even claimed he couldn't go on without the man. No one can be there for Togusa like Kaztano. Why? Because Kaztano was his source for sold-out, front row tickets to see IdolSinger Ruri Hijiribe.

[[AC:Literature]]
* In Discworld/{{Pyramids}}, one of the surviving student assassins mourns the one who didn't make it, noting, "He still owed me money".
* In Discworld/AHatFullOfSky a shopkeeper is horrified to see his wizard assistant turned into a frog [[ShapeshifterBaggage and a big, pink, gloopy blob]]:
--> "Please, please turn him back! I could never get a ''real'' wizard for what I pay him!"

[[AC:Live Action Television]]
* In an episode of ''Series/HappyEndings'', Max comes in after just leaving his hairdresser's funeral. He quickly says 'the real tragedy is I need a haircut and I have no one to go to!'
* In the first episode of Series/RedDwarf, Dave Lister's first reaction when he finally gets that EverybodysDeadDave and is told that he's three million years in the future is "Three million years?! I've still got that library book!"

[[AC:Movies]]
* In ''ScaryMovie'', one girl is outraged to find a fellow student has been murdered...because she planned to cheat off said student's test that day.

[[AC:Music]]
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's song "Why Does This Always Happen to Me" is all about this, complete with $5 reference. A news flash comes on to tell about a devastating earthquake, and he mourns the fact that he was recording TheSimpsons and will have to do it again. His friend dies in a traffic accident, and he mourns the $5 the friend owed him, and that he'll be late to work now. He stabs his boss, and mourns the knife, which broke and will never be as sharp again.

[[AC:Newspaper Comics]]
* One {{Garfield}} strip had a spider introducing Garfield to his "big" brother. After Garfield casually smashes him, he says "Hey! He owed me money!"

[[AC:Videogames]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' you often get this reaction from {{NPC}}s [[CrapsackWorld when you break bad news to them]]. For example when you tell Scooter that [[spoiler: T.K. (a CoolOldGuy you meet in the first town)]] is dead, he angrily laments that he never returned his tools.

[[AC:Web Comics]]
* ''YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic'', when CourtMage Meegs [[http://yafgc.net/?id=1894 lost her apprentice]]. She wept so hard even an ''orc'' tried to console her, while...
--> '''Meegs''': (thinking) By the gods!!! Now I have to go through that damned apprentice audition process again!!

[[AC:Web Original]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' episode, [[FeverDreamEpisode The Sting]], has Fry sacrifice himself to save Leela, causing Bender to be devastated over his friend's death:
--> '''Leela''': Fry? He's..he's dead!
-->'''Bender''': Oh, who will make Bender waffles just the way he likes them now?

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode, ''Neptune's Spatula'', Spongebob is about to be taken to Atlantis to be King Neptune's top fry cook after beating him in a contest. This would mean separating Spongebob from his friends. Mr. Krabs is saddened not because he lost his best fry cook, but because he betted on King Neptune.

* In ''{{Durarara}}'', Kadota's gang are devastated when they find out their friend Kaztano has been kidnapped, but none so much as Togusa, who even claimed he couldn't go on without the man. No one can be there for Togusa like Kaztano. Why? Because Kaztano was his source for sold-out, front row tickets to see IdolSinger Ruri Hijiribe.

* The {{Futurama}} episode, [[FeverDreamEpisode The Sting]], has Fry sacrifice himself to save Leela, causing Bender to be devastated over his friend's death:

* In an episode of {{Archer}}, Archer's fiance has just performed a HeroicSacrifice by tackling evil cyborg Barry off a building. She dies, Barry is just fine, and Archer is in tears over this senseless tragedy. So is Doctor Krieger; they landed on and crushed his beloved van.

* Done by America in ''AxisPowersHetalia''. When England 'dies' in the hospital after an accident involving the panjandrum, America gets teary eyed and tells him he can't go because he owes him a 'crap-ton of money'.

* After [[spoiler:Sparadrap's pets]] were killed in ''Series/{{Noob}}'', deeply saddening her ManChild guilmate in the process, Gaea's apparent sympathy reaction turned out to be along the lines of "Darn, one of my potential revenue sources just got destroyed".

A form of BlackComedy where a character misses another character for shallow, selfish reasons, such as money. Let's say Alice has died. Or, she has [[PutOnABus gone away for a long time]], [[SuicideMission perhaps never]] [[LongBusTrip to return]]; point is, you're never going to see her again. This trope is when another character, say Bob, expresses sadness over Alice's passing...but not because Bob actually ''misses'' Alice. Rather, he's sad that [[NeverLendToAFriend Alice will never be able pay back]] the $5 she owes him.

Doesn't necessarily have to be about owing a debt. This would be any example where someone misses a dead character for unconventional and/or inappropriate reasons. A common variant is the Alice's family members bawling their hearts out, eliciting sympathy from a passerby... only to be informed that [[PassedOverInheritance they didn't get anything in the will]].

!Examples:

* In ''DragonAgeII'', Merrill misses the Qunari after they [[spoiler:commited a massacre in Kirkwall]] and left, just because they [[WalkingShirtlessScene "were easy on the eyes"]].

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* ''SouthPark'': after Kenny is KilledOffForReal the boys discover that he has the winning ticket to a candy store shopping spree, so they decide to build a ladder to heaven in order for him to give it to them. But when adults ask what they're doing they don't mention the candy part, they just say they want to see Kenny again, which gives everybody an InUniverse HeartwarmingMoment.
* In ''KidsNextDoor'', Numbah Three is about to be married to King Sandy, a kid pretending to be a king. Numbah Four claims that the only reason he wanted to rescue her isn't because he's jealous, but because she owed him a quarter.

* ''HomestarRunner'' plays this straight with Frank Bennedetto ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a popcorn popper]]), complete with the $5 lament example from the description.

A form of BlackComedy where a character misses another character for shallow, selfish reasons, such as money. Let's say Alice has died. Or, she has [[PutOnABus gone away for a long time]], [[SuicideMission perhaps never]] [[LongBusTrip to return]]; point is, you're never going to see her again. This trope is when another character, say Bob, expresses sadness over Alice's passing...but not because Bob actually ''misses'' Alice. Rather, he's sad that [[NeverLendToAFriend Alice will never be able pay back]] the $5 she owes him.

* WeirdAl's song "Why Does This Always Happen to Me" is all about this, complete with $5 reference. A news flash comes on to tell about a devastating earthquake, and he mourns the fact that he was recording TheSimpsons and will have to do it again. His friend dies in a traffic accident, and he mourns the $5 the friend owed him, and that he'll be late to work now. He stabs his boss, and mourns the knife, which broke and will never be as sharp again.

* In the first episode of RedDwarf, Dave Lister's first reaction when he finally gets that EverybodysDeadDave and is told that he's three million years in the future is "Three million years?! I've still got that library book!"

* In ''{{Borderlands}}'' you often get this reaction from {{NPC}}s [[CrapsackWorld when you break bad news to them]]. For example when you tell Scooter that [[spoiler: T.K. (a CoolOldGuy you meet in the first town)]] is dead, he angrily laments that he never returned his tools.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]

* Done by America in AxisPowersHetalia. When England 'dies' in the hospital after an accident involving the panjandrum, America gets teary eyed and tells him he can't go because he owes him a 'crap-ton of money'.

* HomestarRunner plays this straight with Frank Bennedetto ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a popcorn popper]]), complete with the $5 lament example from the description.
* In AlternateRealityDragonBallZ, Krillin gets in tears whenever Vegeta dies. Because he was carrying his borrowed iPod.

* In KidsNextDoor, Numbah Three is about to be married to King Sandy, a kid pretending to be a king. Numbah Four claims that the only reason he wanted to rescue her isn't because he's jealous, but because she owed him a quarter.

[[AC:Videogames]]
* In ''DragonAgeII'', Merrill misses the Qunari after they [[spoiler:commited a massacre in Kirkwall]] and left, just because they [[WalkingShirtlessScene "were easy on the eyes"]].