History Main / OneHourWorkWeek

* In ''Series/TrueBlood'', some of the characters have more than one job, but seem to have plenty of free time. This is often handled well, such as when someone needs to get off early or shows up late, but at times, many of the main characters seem to blow off work when they should be working. Several of the characters work for Merlotte's, and Sam is too much of a BenevolentBoss to fire anybody, even if they jaunt off out of town for days at a time.

* Literally true for the Fraggles of ''Series/FraggleRock'' -- one first-season episode is actually ''called'' "The Thirty-Minute Work Week".

--->'''Dr. Bob Kelso''': In the end, when Mr Foster started coughing up blood, the on-call surgeon was stuck in traffic, the nursing staff was busy losing the lottery, his original doctor was thanking a garbage man, and the covering physician was incapacitated. And what was Mr Forster doing? He was dying in the hands of the Interns!
** In another episode, done from [[ADayInTheLimelight the perspective of Dr. Kelso]], shows that he [[HateSink deliberately antagonizes]] his staff because it helps them focus on their jobs. In this particular instance, a spiralling political argument among the staff lead to them overlooking a patient's worsening condition. It was connected to Kelso himself becoming more lazy, and is even called out on it when he tries to reprimand the staff.

* In ''Series/BloodTies'', Henry is frequently shown working on his graphic novels, pointing out a few times that his publisher will kill him if he's late on the next issue. At the same time, he has a very nice apartment in Toronto. Since he's a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire, he sleeps most of the day, frequently with a different girl every time in order to secretly feed on her. At the same time, he appears to spend a lot of time helping Vicki on her cases. Being a bastard son of Henry VIII doesn't carry with it a lot of treasure.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'': The Entama/Uratama and V4/V4.5 all have the Tamagotchi growing up and getting a job, but the Tamagotchi can only go when you tell them to. Furthermore, they'll only be there a few minutes, and on the English toys, the job is a minigame and the daily pay depends on how often this minigame is played.

* Lampshaded by [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20070414.html Jean]] in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' since we'd seen Bob actually working at his newsstand (which should be a pretty time-consuming job) a grand total of once over the first five story arcs. Later stories have made it clear that Bob misses work a lot because of his adventures, and his customers don't appreciate it.

* Not even Nayuki in ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'' knows what her mother does for a living. The hours and pay seem very good, though, as she is still there with no sign of leaving soon at eight AM and will be there whenever Yuuichi gets home from school as well!

* ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'' is [[PlayingWithATrope an interesting case]]. Mr. Koiwai is a [[strike:[[{{Malaproper}} trainspotter]]]] translator, which basically means he works from home on his computer and can set his own hours provided he meets his deadline. Of course, this serves as a good excuse to have him home with lots of free time to play with his daughter, Yotsuba. Note, however, that being a working-at-home translator is indeed a real occupation and we do see Mr. Koiwai working a fair bit; he often requests that Yotsuba not disturb him sometimes in order to get more work done, giving her a perfect excuse to spend time with friends or neighbors.

* ComicBook/LoisLane [[http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics108.html can be like this.]] [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] as well -- they wanted him to have a job where he could plausibly disappear for hours a day to save the world without raising too much suspicion from his co-workers.
** Also, with his super speed, Clark could easily have several op-ed pieces ready to turn in quite quickly.
* Belgian comic book hero Franchise/{{Tintin}} is supposedly a journalist. He introduces himself as a journalist and occasionally takes out a book to take notes in an interview, but really he's a detective in all but name. We see him working as a journalist in the early adventures. You could also assume that he writes about his many adventures.

* ''Series/ICarly2021'' reveals that Spencer became rich since the original series after a partially-melted marshmallow white house sculpture he made sold for a lot of money. The only character we see working on a regular basis is Harper, who works at Skybucks coffee shop, only to quit in the episode "iMLM" due to the job getting in the way of her fashion ventures. Carly is still making content online and is mentioned to have over 3 million subscribers, which means she most likely makes enough money through ad revenue and sponsorships that she doesn't need to work a 9-to-5 job. Freddie works remotely in tech support, but foolishly quits after falling for an MLM scam. Though instead of trying to get his job back or get another job, he decides to start another business.

->The person who retires from the firm after forty-six years and no one quite remembers what they were doing, the befuddled librarian that you occasionally glimpse wandering the stacks without seeming to do anything, the third vice president of marketing who shows up only for meetings with senior management; that sort of thing.

* Qwilleran from ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'' is a columnist of this sort. His column is mentioned pretty frequently, but doesn't curtail him solving murders, taking up esoteric hobbies, and traveling all over the place. (And since he owns the newspaper- through a trust fund he had previously set up to deal with an inheritance- it's not like he ''needs'' to work. He just likes doing it so he doesn't get bored.)

** Likewise Cleveland owning a deli was only mentioned and shown in a few early episodes the rest of his appearances are hanging out with the gang. When Cleveland moved on to his own show, he got a job at a cable installer, giving us this exchange:

* Project-centric professions like construction, film industry and seasonal maintenance (gardening, pool cleaning, power washing, etc) are often centered around several months of really hard work followed by long periods of nothing to do. In some cases, depending on how lucrative the project is, it is about 4-5 months of 12 hour days and complete freedom the rest of the year.

* Many firefighter districts will have this kind of work schedule at first glance. It is not uncommon for a firefighter to work schedule involving one 24 hour work day (most of which is spent on call), one day off, another 24 work day, followed by five days off.

[[caption-width-right:144:[-This is what you get from trying to adjust to a day job after being a freelance MadScientist.-] ]]

* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', the human main characters certainly go on spontaneous extended adventures that take a lot of time, but the trope is rarely just played straight. It's {{justified}} with Riff at the start, because it turns out [[spoiler: he's being secretly paid by a shady company that thinks his inventions may turn out something useful.]] Torg, meanwhile, is a normal freelancer at the beginning, so he can set his own schedule to some extent, and he does have to worry about it at times. Zoë starts out as a student and has to take that pretty seriously. Later, the main characters are either a) broke and unemployed so they don't have a job to worry about, b) too rich to need to work, c) actually working, or, d), in a parody of this trope, ''supposed'' to be working a day job but in danger of getting kicked out of it because they think they can just come and go however they like.

[[caption-width-right:144:[-In his defense, his job is first mentioned [[WebcomicTime five years in]].-] ]]

* Happens a lot in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', though there is the occasional work based storyline. It's {{lampshade|Hanging}}d with Torg when he works for Adversion Advertising, since he has rather...''[[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=070111 unique]]'' views on time off. He gets away with this because he somehow convinced his boss's boss that he's an "[[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=081001 advertising genius]]." But his views on free time aren't unique -- they're perfectly consistent with this trope. The entire arc was extended Lampshading.

* In ''Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'', Kimihito is mentioned to have a part-time job, but he's never shown working. He ''is'' receiving a lot of government assistance thanks to hosting seven monster girls in his house, and some of the girls eventually start contributing as well (Mero's mother provides Mero a stipend, Rachnee sells her silk to a research lab, and Miia and Centorea both get jobs).

* Comicbook/LoisLane [[http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics108.html can be like this.]] [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] as well -- they wanted him to have a job where he could plausibly disappear for hours a day to save the world without raising too much suspicion from his co-workers.

* Nearly literal for Mandy Krieger of ''Comicbook/AmericanFlagg'' She has a legitimate job as the air traffic controller for O'Hare Chicago Plexport... which only has two flights per week.
* Over the years this has been both played straight and subverted with [[Comicbook/{{GreenLantern}} Hal Jordan]]. His usual job is test pilot, which means he's expected to be flying pretty expensive machinery that needs to be tested as part of the development and production process. Delays are extremely expensive. Sometimes his long absences as a space cop become an issue, but just as often they don't. It helps that his on again off again girlfriend is his boss and now knows his secret identity.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' have a variation, as the PlayerCharacter can take on a variety of part-time jobs and maintain a completely random schedule without getting fired. You can go one day, get paid for that one day, and then not come back for months... but the job will still be waiting for you. ''Persona 4'' sort-of justifies it with several of the jobs, which are work-from-home projects that don't have a fixed schedule but instead pay based on output, but others like day-care work and tutoring (Although the tutee does eventually decide that he doesn't need any more tutoring and cancel the job) fall right back into the same problems. ''Persona 5'' justifies it with the places you can work being so desperate for help that they don't care if you don't show up for months- if you're there and willing to put on a uniform they'll take you.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Sportswriter is a popular vocation; Paul Hennessy from ''Series/EightSimpleRules'', Oscar from ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'', Raymond from ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'' and Tony from ''Listen Up'' (based on the writings of sportswriter Tony Kornheiser) all fitting the part. This is probably so the character could be manly AND lazy at the same time. You would still expect Ray to be hurriedly writing about instant reactions and be in postgame locker rooms talking to players. Nope, most of the time he's depicted working a regular 9-to-5 M-F shift when most sporting events are in the evenings and on weekends.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' have a variation, as the PlayerCharacter can take on a variety of part-time jobs and maintain a completely random schedule without getting fired. You can go one day, get paid for that one day, and then not come back for months... but the job will still be waiting for you. ''Persona 4'' sort-of justifies it with several of the jobs, which are work-from-home projects that don't have a fixed schedule but instead pay based on output, but others like day-care work and tutoring fall right back into the same problems. ''Persona 5'' justifies it with the places you can work being so desperate for help that they don't care if you don't show up for months- if you're there and willing to put on a uniform they'll take you.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Diana Prince is meant to be a USAAF secretary, and while she is shown at work she seems to show up, greet her boss, and then jump out the window to go do some superheroing rather than actually stick around and work unless it's going to introduce her to someone plot relevant. She also has time to travel the country and world at the drop of a hat without ever being rebuked and seems to spend more time on "vacation" than working.

* Working at strip clubs goes like this. You make your own schedule (nights and hours) which, depending on what kind of earner you are, can mean working 6 days a week with full shifts lasting 8-10 hours or more, to working just 1 or 2 days a week with 4 hours or so per shift. And dancers can take off work whenever they want too, usually without being expected to call in to their club. So, ideally, they can always be available. This is because most of the time, exotic dancers are not considered employees of the clubs, they're considered independent contractors. The clubs do not pay them (in many cases they actually have to pay to dance at the club), so the clubs are less concerned about the hours they work.

* Unlike movies would like you to assume, sitting in a corporate board is far from a full-time job. In fact, most people sitting in them also sit in multiple other boards at the same time to fill their hours and pad their paychecks even further, as well as create vital connections to potential business partners. The ethics of this have been brought to question many times over, since in practice a surprisingly small number of people controls the grand majority of major businesses in the entire world and may hold positions in supposedly competing corporations.

** This becomes a minor plotpoint in season 3, when Arlene, Terry and maybe Jessica are the only reliable employees at Merlotte's, and Arlene ends up forcing Sam to hire some more waitresses, because she is massively overworked and pregnant. In seasons 5 and 6, Sam barely even sets foot in his namesake restaurant even though other characters are actively working there, making you wonder which character is handling purchasing and payroll. In the season 6 finale it is revealed that Sam was elected Mayor of Bon Temps, leaving Arlene the bar.

* Subverted on ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' when Mike is given a job as a "security consultant" at Madrigal. It is actually a cover for Mike being employed by Gus Fring, a local drug dealer. Since Gus has not decided yet what to use Mike for, Mike gets to essentially sit around at home all day and play with his granddaughter while getting a nice paycheck each week. However, Mike decides to actually do his job, because he is bored and because if the police ever investigated him, it would look really suspicious that he gets so much money for no work. Mike shows up at the local Madrigal warehouse, stages a BavarianFireDrill and exposes serious holes in security. When confronted about it by Lydia, he states that now there is a paper work trail that justifies his paycheck while he still does almost no work.

* Workers at remote mines in Canada and Australia usually have a two-week in/two-week out work schedule. While some people jump at the job thinking having two solid weeks off is great, they often fail to note that the "two-weeks in" is a ''solid'' two weeks: 14 straight days, no days off. And those are often 12 hour work days, so over a 14 day period they'll work roughly the same amount of time in that two weeks as they would in a normal 8.5 hour / 5 day week job over a month. Many people end up not being able to deal with it, while others thrive and even have a second job in their two weeks out.