History Main / PunishmentDetail

* In ''VideoGame/WingCommanderII'', Stingray and Jazz get assigned a punitive mission escorting garbage shuttles for their attitude, and Stingray is warned that the garbage shuttles run daily.

* Creator/SpikeMilligan once spent fourteen days in a military prison for going [=AWOL=]. He recalled that a particularly British form of punishment was "showclean", where all his issue kit, plus minimal personal possessions, had to be laid out, immaculately clean and where applicable polished, in a prescribed rigid order for inspection.

-->-- ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' "Sector Thirteen"

* ''Film/{{SWAT}}'': After Jim Street's partner Gamble gets them thrown off the SWAT team, they get punished by being put to work in the gun cage, maintaining the other SWAT units' equipment. Gamble quits rather than accepting it, but Street stays in the cage for six months, until Hondo handpicks him for a new SWAT unit he's forming.

* ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' has a particularly sadistic one. Hornblower, having pissed off his superiors through no fault of his own, is ordered to report to the Officer of the Watch. On the hour. ''Every'' hour. What the sleep deprivation does to him is quite terrifying, until saner minds step in and let him sleep.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/AddressUnknown'', pegasus mailponies see mail delivery on the ground as the ultimate humiliation, an announcement that they've screwed up badly in the air. It works out in Derpy's favour, though, as it allows her to prove she really is good at her job.

* Something related to sanitation and toilet functions, or anything else that involves unpleasant odors and getting extremely dirty.

* In the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/CuttingLoose'' a fairly common means of dealing with most levels of misbehavior among the ninja corps is to assign those ninjas the nastiest, most unpleasant jobs possible, like sewer-cleaning.

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', the culprit of case 3, once caught, suggests getting bathroom detail instead of imprisonment as part of his VillainousBreakdown.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' Soon-To-Be-Queen Magrat makes two attempts at threatening Shawn Ogg with punishment detail. The first time she threatens to have him clean the privies, and he responds with a blank "But I ''do'' clean the privies". The second time she goes for a more general "all the dirty jobs", and when he comes up with much the same answer adds "I shall see to it there are dirtier ones".

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'': "Thanks to your new friend Ping, you men will spend this evening cleaning up [[PunctuatedForEmphasis every. single. grain. of. rice.]]" Of course, this wasn't just assigned randomly; the men had just gotten in a massive FoodFight and needed to clean it up anyway.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series Tavi gets assigned with measuring and evaluating all the latrines after calling his immediate superior out for selling the legion's supplies on the black market.

* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' is fond of handing these out instead of harsher punishments (to reenforce the illusion of a TheMenFirst attitude), particularly to soldiers who've watched his back (or at least he likes to give them the impression he does to encourage them). After a particularly messy BarBrawl that ends with three dead, he manages to make all but the killers get floggings and latrine duty... ''and they thank him for it.''

* ''Literature/CHERUBSeries'' - Performing menial (though always necessary) cleaning jobs on [[SpySchool Campus]] is among the most common way of punishing [[TeenSuperSpy CHERUB agents]] for misconduct. An exaggerated example gets thrown at Lauren for knocking out an instructor with a spade, she has to clean out a huge ditch ''by herself''. After a few days of it most of the other [=CHERUBs=] on campus at the time help her finish it, and the director lets it slide at it's felt she's suffered enough.
* In ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' Soon-To-Be-Queen Magrat makes two attempts at threatening Shawn Ogg with punishment detail. The first time she threatens to have him clean the privies, and he responds with a blank "But I ''do'' clean the privies". The second time she goes for a more general "all the dirty jobs", and when he comes up with much the same answer adds "I shall see to it there are dirtier ones".
* In ''[[Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall Lady Knight]]'', Kel assigns people to latrine duty when they cause trouble. The rest of the time, unpleasant tasks are divided equally among the camp's inhabitants (including [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure its commander]]), except for those who have a talent that makes them more useful elsewhere. Kel even threatens to list a particularly unpleasant specimen of humanity as having a talent for cleaning latrines if he doesn't shape up.
* When the narrator of Marcus Rowland's ''Literature/{{Temps}}'' story "Playing Safe" completely screws up his mission to discredit a paranorm who is protesting the EU's paranormal safety legislation, he gets reassigned to investigating CropCircles ... and told it's no good turning up after the event, he needs to camp out in fields until he sees one happen.
* In ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'' after Ensign Prynn Tenmei gets caught pulling an ''incredibly'' stupid stunt that nearly gets her killed (she had rigged the ''Defiant'''s helm to malfunction and then explode so they couldn't chase after Dr. Bashir), a furious Captain Ro tells her not only will she stand her normal day watch but for the next 30 days she'll also stand the overnight watch on the ''Defiant''.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': Being assigned to Operation Rusty's Blanket was a punishment for Brock Samson.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' have to clean a latrine with toothbrushes (several times) as punishment for being creative in "Phineas and Ferb get Busted."
* ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'': When Oggy is once mistakenly enrolled, the [[ButtMonkey angry drill sergeant]] [[MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon yells at him, pointing at the latrines]] and hands him a toothbrush. [[ImpossibleTaskInstantlyAccomplished Seconds later, the WC are squeaky-clean.]]

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Boot", Meg Austin, while undercover as a Marine private, is assigned sanitary duty.

PeelingPotatoes and ToothbrushFloorScrubbing are subtropes about a specific type of Punishment Detail. Closely related to ReassignedToAntarctica, which is about being moved to an undesirable location as a form of punishment. If the unpleasant task comes along with a promotion, the character might have been KickedUpstairs.

* The job is in a dangerous or otherwise extremely undesirable environment such as preforming traffic direction in a busy intersection.

-->--''Literature/CiaphasCain'' "Sector Thirteen"

* A possible form of a sentence of "Community Service."

* Having to work dorm guard duty or some similar job that is typically on a rotating watch (the main purpose being to keep unauthorized people, usually members of the opposite gender, out of the dorms). Someone has to do this at night, and someone has to do this on the weekends. One's daytime duties do not necessarily decrease just because you had guard duty from midnight to Two AM.
** Guard Duty may be punish''ing'' but is not punish''ment'' in and of itself. Having to pull guard duty every night including weekends especially when there are other ablebodied personnel available? '''That's''' punishment.
* Honestly, members of the United States Secret Service, an elite unit whose duties including protecting important individuals, are subject to this. Regular assignment to individuals whose personality often makes them difficult to be around is regarded as a punishment detail. Clearly, this is an example of this trope.