History Main / ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation

* [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner the Poopsmith]] is employed by the King of Town, but nobody seems to be entirely sure what his job is, except maybe the King himself, who won't say. His job appears to involve shovelling large piles of poop, usually just taking a shovelful of one pile and making a new pile somewhere else. Where all that poop comes from and why the King needs someone to move it around is anyone's guess. It doesn't help that the Poopsmith [[NewJobAsThePlotDemands occasionally takes on other jobs]] and has taken a vow of silence which prevents him from explaining anything.

* One episode of ''Series/TheWonderYears'' revolves around Kevin (also played by Fred Savage) realizing that he doesn't know what his father does for a living. He asks his older brother, who replies with a shrug "He works for Norco." But when Kevin asks what he actually does, his brother realizes that he doesn't know either. Kevin then asks his mother, who says the same thing. When he asks for specifics, she convinces her husband to take him to work for a day so that he can see exactly what his father does.

* ''Series/WandaVision'': As part of living in a pseudo-50s /60s sitcom, Vision has a job in an office, doing... something. In fact, in his first scene there Vision even stops to ask what exactly the company they work for actually does, and his co-worker can't properly answer. But whatever they do, they sure do a lot of it!

* One episode of ''Series/TheWonderYears'' revolves around Kevin (also played by Fred Savage) realizing that he doesn't know what his father does for a living. He asks his older brother, who replies with a shrug "He works for Norco." But when Fred asks what he actually does, his brother realizes that he doesn't know either. Kevin then asks his mother, who says the same thing. When he asks for specifics, she convinces her husband to take him to work for a day so that he can see exactly what his father does.

* Early in ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' Carl states that he "works out of the home." What he actually does is unclear, but he seems to live relatively comfortably.

* Johnny of ''Film/TheRoom'' is vaguely defined as working in a bank, and he apparently makes mad amounts of money from it, despite only being shown going to work once. Lisa is in "the computer business", whatever that means, and is never shown working.

** Kramer is just one of those uniquely blessed individuals who somehow (as George put it) repeatedly "falls ass-backwards into money" through schemes, accidents, happenstance, and the undeserved good karma that often seems to fall on fools. He has likely never held a "real" job for very long at any point in his life.

* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfOzzieAndHarriet'', Ozzie's job involved hanging around the house a lot, although he was, nominally, a bandleader, as he was in real life.
* ''Series/BlackBooks'' lampshades and inverts when Fran gets a new job, [[MistakenForProfound rises spectacularly through the ranks]], and loses it in the space of a week or so, all without ever knowing what she was meant to be doing.
* A RunningGag on ''Series/{{Conan}}'' is Conan antagonizing his associate producer Jordan Schlansky about his job. Whenever Conan asks Jordan what his job entails Jordan gives vague non-answers in a completely deadpan voice, making Conan hate him more.

** This might also be a nod to TruthInTelevision, as in-house I.T. tends to be very similar in organizations with a comparably-sized whitecollar component, regardless of actual industry. Which is not actually surprising - the workstations will be the same, 95% of the software will be off the shelf, and things like server capacity and network layouts tend to scale the same way.
* In the family sitcom ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'', Head of the family Ward Cleaver’s job was never specifically stated, other then that it was some sort of office job.
* A running joke on ''Series/{{Martin}}'' with Tommy. To the extent that multiple episodes were dedicated to trying to find out what his job was. Many fans have theorized that he was a drug dealer, but it's been revealed that [[https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/tisha-campbell-martin-finally-reveals-what-tommy-did-fo-1790888053 he was actually a youth counselor.]]

** Ryan was a temp, catapulted into a vice-president's position, went to jail, and was hired as a salesmen at Michael Scott Paper Company. Since that collapsed, his job has been fuzzy in the extreme.

* ''Series/TheSmokingRoom'' Justified: the series lasts two seasons where the camera never leaves the smoking room, and the characters have all agreed to never talk shop in there, so the audience never finds out what the company does. Also, mainish character Robin also spends the entire show in the smoking room, so while all the other characters have specific roles, his is never touched on.

* Uncle Parker in Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpe Saga has an unspecified job which somehow involves doing the ''London Times'' crossword every afternoon.

* Dad in ''[[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}]]''. His son John is ComicallyMissingThePoint when he thinks his dad is a street performer. Instead, Dad is a businessman with an office job. No details of his work appear: Dad's job seems to be "business" and he seems a broad parody of a white-collar worker. A device app let's him communicate with other businessmen, ostensibly his colleagues, but they only arm interested in grooming and fashion.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* Johnny of ''Film/TheRoom'' is vaguely defined as working in a bank, and he apparently makes mad amounts of money from it, despite only being shown going to work once. Lisa is in "the computer business", whatever that means, and is never shown working.
* When the CEO comes to visit the office in the final act of ''9 to 5'', several of the panicked workers can be heard trying to figure out exactly what it is that [[MegaCorp Consolidated Companies]] actually ''does''.
* Charlie [=MacKenzie=] of ''Film/SoIMarriedAnAxeMurderer'' can somehow afford a very nice San Francisco apartment and a snazzy sports coupe, despite only ever being shown occasionally performing beat poetry at a particular coffeehouse, which is something you'd have a hard time getting paid for ''at all''. Some dialogue early in the movie implies he may own the coffeehouse, but it's never explicitly stated (and if he does, then he's not exactly a hands-on owner).

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* Frollo in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is some sort of important guy, but it's not really clear what his main job in the community is. He's referred to as a count, a judge, and a minister (religious? political?) at various times by different characters, but he's never shown doing anything related to any of these professions.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{The Office|US}}:''
** Creed asks this of himself during an audit. It was established early on that his job was in Quality Assurance, but he had apparently forgotten due to how rarely his job is focused on.
--->'''Creed:''' What is wrong with this woman? She's asking about stuff that's nobody's business. 'What do I do?' What ''do'' I do here? I should have written it down. 'Qua' something. Quaaa. Quarr. Quab. Quall. Qwer. Quobbity! Quobbity ashrance! No, that's not right.... getting close though.
** Ryan was a temp, catapulted into a vice-president's position, went to jail, and was hired as a salesmen at Michael Scott Paper Company. Since that collapsed, his job has been fuzzy in the extreme.
* ''Series/TheSmokingRoom'' Justified: the series lasts two seasons where the camera never leaves the smoking room, and the characters have all agreed to never talk shop in there, so the audience never finds out what the company does. Also, mainish character Robin also spends the entire show in the smoking room, so while all the other characters have specific roles, his is never touched on.
* ''Series/TheITCrowd'' is, as the title suggests, fairly clear about what their lead characters do for a living--they run tech support for Reynholm Industries. What it is ''Reynholm Industries'' does is another matter entirely, and has never been elaborated on.
-->'''Jen:''' BHDR Industries, they're the top makers of that product that has something to do with our company!
** This might also be a nod to TruthInTelevision, as in-house I.T. tends to be very similar in organizations with a comparably-sized whitecollar component, regardless of actual industry. Which is not actually surprising - the workstations will be the same, 95% of the software will be off the shelf, and things like server capacity and network layouts tend to scale the same way.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has Barney, who answers every question about his job with a dismissive laugh and a "please." It is stated, however, that the company destroys the environment, engages in a great deal of illegal activity, and does extensive business with North Korea. In later seasons, the company has a merger with Goliath National Bank, completely changing his company... while still keeping Barney's position equally vague. The final season reveals that his job title is actually [[spoiler:P.L.E.A.S.E. - "[[FunWithAcronyms Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything]]". He's the designated legal fall guy for his company's various criminal activities but, being Barney, he's actually two steps ahead of them, and has already made a whistle-blower deal with the federal government that gets him off the hook while getting his personal revenge on the guy who stole his FirstLove from him]].

--> '''Rachel''': He's a... he's a [[PerfectlyCromulentWord transpondster]]!
--> '''Monica''': That's not even a WORD!
* In the Fred Savage sitcom ''Series/{{Working}}'', it was never mentioned what the corporation did.

* In ''Series/{{The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet}}'', Ozzie's job involved hanging around the house a lot, although he was, nominally, a bandleader, as he was in real life.
* In the family sitcom ''SerieS/{{Leave It to Beaver}}'', Head of the family Ward Cleaver’s job was never specifically stated, other then that it was some sort of office job.
* A RunningGag on ''Series/{{Conan}}'' is Conan antagonizing his associate producer Jordan Schlansky about his job. Whenever Conan asks Jordan what his job entails Jordan gives vague non-answers in a completely deadpan voice, making Conan hate him more.

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''ComicStrip/MyCage'', where Norm does some kind of work for a company called MacGuffin Inc, whose purpose is unknown.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. The title character is an engineer (along with most of the rest of the cast), and there are references to creating software, but that's about as much details as you're going to get. It generally falls under NegativeContinuity, and the company does whatever is required to make the current joke work.
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''
** In the ''Tenth Anniversary Book'', cartoonist Bill Watterson says he wanted to avoid readers asking "What is Dad's job?", so he made Calvin's father a patent attorney, [[WriteWhatYouKnow like his own father]]. However, it only comes up in three strips: [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/12/03 The one where Calvin calls him at work demanding a story]], [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1989/09/01 the one where Calvin tries to patent his robot]], and [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/01/23 the one where Calvin invents a personal tailhook]].
** In another comic Calvin is seeing a pediatrician for a check-up and accuses him of being a quack, he remarks that his dad is a lawyer and threatens to sue him for malpractice. It's unclear whether or not he was just lying to scare the doctor or he assumes that [[NotThatKindOfDoctor all attorneys are the ones that go to court.]]
* In the comic strip ''ComicStrip/{{Luann}}'', Brad's friend TJ has actually had lots of jobs, but most of them have some motive in mind other than making money (such as finding evidence of Ann Eiffel abusing employees). He seems to have a lot of money that he gets from an unknown source, which he won't divulge. It has caused suspicion both in-universe and out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebComics]]

* [[TheMunchkin Pete]] in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' has a job that, apparently, [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0848.html is white collar]]. It's complicated by a lot of the clues being seemingly contradictory; for instance, he casually writes new phone apps on the spot and doesn't understand why people think it's hard but also complains that he's stuck in meetings with silver-tongued backstabbers all day. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler: he ''used'' to work in IT and most of the other players assumed that's what he did, but he is now a trial lawyer.]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* Kramer on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' appears by all accounts to be unemployed, but is never hurting for money. When Jerry asks him what it is he actually does, he simply answers "Oh, I get by." In the [[YouMeanXmas Festivus episode]], Kramer reveals that [[spoiler:he used to work at a bagel shop before the employees went on strike demanding higher pay. When the strike is called off, he goes back to work... [[StatusQuoIsGod until he's fired at the end of the episode.]]]]

* [[Wrestling/StacyKeibler Ms. Hancock]]'s exact job description was never explained. This is due to the weird transitional period that was early 2000 Wrestling/{{WCW}}, with Wrestling/KevinSullivan and James J. Dillon having been brought back to sort out Wrestling/VinceRusso's mess.

* A running joke on ''Series/{{Martin}}'' with Tommy. To the extent that multiple episodes were dedicated to trying to find out what his job was. Many fans have theorized that he was a drug dealer, but it's been revealed that [[http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2016/03/tisha_campbell_martin_finally_reveals_what_tommy_did_for_a_living_on_martin.html he was actually a youth counselor.]]

* [[TheMunchkin Pete]] in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' has a job that, apparently, [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0848.html is white collar]].