History Main / TheAllegedBoss

* Saki Vashtal from ''Manga/{{Area 88}}'': closest to type 3. While not incompetent, Saki is not an outstanding leader and generally lacks the ability to motivate people to go out of their way to do things for him. The pilots follow orders mostly because it's what they're paid to do. And they can refuse his orders if they can afford the $5000 dock to their pay. In an emergency situation, after the Wolfpack decimated all of the planes at the base, Saki was manipulated into a bargain where he offered to pay prize money, fuel, weapons, and repairs on the ten handpicked pilots that would fly the replacement planes sent by HQ.

* Kou Yagami of ''Manga/NewGame'' acts like a boss but her funny personality often gets the better of her, leading her subordinates to think twice about taking her seriously. In the past, however, she was overly strict as art director, driving one new hire to quit, [[MyGreatestFailure and regrets her actions back then]].
* In ''Manga/{{Saki}}'', while Satomi Kanbara is the actual ClubPresident of the Tsuruga Academy mahjong club, Yumi Kajiki not only happens to be the best player, but acts more like a leader. Yumi even picks Mutsuki as the next president, and while Kaori, a long-time friend of Satomi's, is surprised, Satomi simply goes along with it.
* ''Manga/BloomIntoYou''
** Kuze, Touko's predecessor as StudentCouncilPresident, is a Type 2, being the sort to hand off work to his subordinates, resulting in Touko doing most of the work for the student council. In fact, in the second volume of the ''Regarding Sayaka Saeki'' spinoff series, Touko and Sayaka are actually surprised when he firmly vetoes Touko's proposal for the student council to do a play, since he realizes that the idea is not feasible.
** Surprisingly enough, [[spoiler:Touko's sister Mio]] was also a Type 2, taking the fun jobs, such as doing speeches, and giving the rest to the student council, who even had to do the president's summer homework. Ichigaya, who served on the student council on the time, remembers the president fondly, and said he always thought the role was about delegating work.
** Touko is a mild Type 4. She's competent and hard-working, but generally doesn't assert her authority very often. She treats most of her fellow members as her friends, particularly Sayaka and Yuu.

* DependingOnTheWriter, era, and/or medium [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] is actually or is feigning any of the four types.

* In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Supreme Chancellor Valorum, a Type 3, ''tries'' to get things done, but despite the power his position theoretically has he is stymied at every turn by assorted political factions of {{Corrupt Politician}}s and {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s, as well as the closet [[GalacticConqueror Sith Lord]] that he mistakenly believes is one of his supporters and who has arranged to keep him on the defensive over baseless allegations of corruption while he makes a play of his own for the chancellorship. Even the Jedi Order, while publicly respecting his office, tend to make decisions within their own Council and do not consult him.
* In ''Film/IronMan'', Tony Stark is a serious type 2 -- he's the ''head'' of Stark Industries, but he doesn't ''run'' it. That honor belongs to the queen of [[HypercompetentSidekick Hypercompetent Sidekicks]], Pepper Potts. A couple sequels in, he [[spoiler:recognizes this reality and makes her the ''official'' boss.]]

* At the beginning of ''Literature/BrothersInArms'', Miles Vorkosigan faux-modestly claims to be this, saying that he just plays the part of the Admiral while Commodore Tung does the real work. This isn't complete rubbish - originally Miles relied on Tung's experience a lot - but it's not the whole truth, and Elli immediately calls him out on it. It's strongly implied that part of the reason that Tung eventually decided to marry and retire was that he'd come to the conclusion that Miles didn't need him any more and was ready to be the boss in truth.
* Warden Tim White in ''Literature/HollowPlaces.'' As per the intentions of his corrupt employers, he pretty much lets the prison run itself, allowing the guards to become increasingly abusive. He only intervenes when the abuse goes a little too far and starts to leave marks. Asides from that, his job basically consists of bribing local judges and managing logistics. Austin notices popular media websites reflected in his glasses more than once, heavily implying he spends most of his days surfing the web.
* ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'': Jules is nominally the director of N.I.C.E., but he's only a pompous windbag who's clueless about what really goes on there. Wither and Frost are actually in charge.
* ''Literature/OneNationUnderJupiter'': Turbidus, the editor for the New Antioch Tribune, who seems to be subject to Diagoras' whims.

* In military thriller ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', President Warner of the late-stage United States is generally presented as a rather well-meaning but weak ruler, usually under the thumb of the extremists and corrupt insiders in his administration. However, he does show decisive and effective leadership [[LetsGetDangerous on a few occasions]], notably when forcing his hawkish military advisors to stand down in the escalating conflict with Russia.

* Who runs ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' again? [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Morrow, Shepard, and Vance,]] or [[CowboyCop Gibbs?]] Hint: he can only be killed by silver bullets. Maybe. Type 3, and with Vance it seems to be diverging into Type 4.
* On ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' Hetty is firmly in charge of the LA office and the agents know that she will punish them if they get out of line. However, the feeling among some NCIS higher-ups is that she oversteps her authority and treats her superiors as Alleged Bosses (similar to Gibbs). On a smaller note Callen is the senior agent-in-charge and technically the boss of the other agents on his team but while he is the leader, he lets Hetty handle all the boss duties.

* Type 2. Station owner Jimmy James in ''Series/NewsRadio''. While he occasionally comes down for serious business, most of the time he just hangs around and shoots the breeze.
* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'':
** Michael Scott. His main concern is that his employees love him like a friend, and thus goes to great lengths to avoid being the 'bad guy'. Combine this with being generally awkward at social interaction and not very good at managing employees, it's a wonder that the Scranton branch functions at all.
** Over Michael's head, there's Jan, who before her {{Flanderization}} into a complete lunatic was a somewhat decent boss capable of reining in Michael's excesses, if unable to rein in her inexplicable attraction to him.
** Above Jan is David Wallace, who gives the outward appearance of being a competent boss, but in reality has an extremely difficult time saying no to Michael, preferring to use double speak and mealy mouthed phrases. He also is quite quick to walk back his orders at the slightest pushback. Of course this may be necessary in dealing with Michael Scott, lest he run off to found his own paper company and tank the sales numbers of their most profitable branch.
** Charles Miner seems to be the only person they ever hired who's capable of exercising actual authority, and even then he doesn't have the best judgement. Karen does a decent job of holding down the Utica branch as of Season 4.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUK'' has David Brent who wants to be everyone's friend, isn't actually any good at being a manager and seems more interested in the fact that there's a [[{{Mockumentary}} TV documentary film crew]] in his workplace.

* ''Series/TheCloser'': Brenda pretty much gets her way, regardless of Chief Pope's opinions. Occasionally subverted, but usually not.
* Type 4. Within ''Series/TheWestWing'' TrueCompanions, hierarchy and rank tend to get blurred. But ALWAYS Averted with President Bartlett.
-->'''C.J.:''' I'm assigning an intern from the press office to that web site. They're going to check it every night before they go home. If they discover you've been there, [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon I'm going to shove a motherboard so far up your ass]]... What?\\
'''Josh:''' Well... technically, I outrank you.\\
'''C.J.:''' So far up your ass!
* Han from ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'', who gets no respect from any of his employees. They also get away with ''a lot'', including being rude to nasty customers--which is entertaining and funny, but likely to get you fired under a good boss.

* ''Series/{{House}}'': Type 3. Even though Cuddy is the one in charge, House tends to walk all over her to get what he wants. She is still an incredibly competent boss, however, and is usually able to stop him from going too far.
* A mild example is Colonel Mitchell in the last two seasons of ''Series/StargateSG1''. While he's nominally the team leader, as he points out to General Landry, Daniel and Teal'c are civilians and Carter's the same rank as him, while he's the new guy on a team of living legends, so getting them to do something they don't want to is a little tricky. Type 4.
** In [[Recap/StargateSG1S1E5TheFirstCommandment "The First Commandment"]], O'Neill lampshades this in reference to himself when first Carter and then Connor refuse to follow an order in quick succession, leading to the infamous line:
-->'''O'Neill:''' Does it say Colonel anywhere on my uniform?
* On ''Series/TheXFiles'', Walter Skinner is type 3. He eventually gets replaced due to his inability to make Mulder and Scully obey him. Alvin Kersh, the new boss, ''would'' be the same type, since it's not like Mulder, Scully and/or Dogget and Reyes listen to him any better, except for the fact that he plays dirty and has better connections within the Bureau than Skinner.
* ''Series/TheWire'', episode [[Recap/TheWireS04E01BoysOfSummer "Boys Of Summer"]]: Lieutenant Jimmy Asher is the head of Major Crimes Unit. On paper, that is. He's really just a hands-off guy installed while Lester Freamon is the actual guy leading Major Crimes.
* On ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'', station manager Arthur Carlson. He only has the job because his tycoon of a mother owns the station [[spoiler: and, it's eventually revealed, she's using it as a tax write-off]]. He's a good and decent man, he means well, and the staff all like him OK, but the station is actually run by program director Andy Travis and (in a subtle sort of way) the [[HypercompetentSidekick receptionist]] Jennifer Marlowe.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Fifth Doctor has shades of Type 3 and 4. He has an unfair reputation in fandom of being a doormat. This may be due to the presence of Tegan, who is regarded as one of the most difficult companions. The Ninth Doctor has shades of 2 and 4. He is often described as an "enabler", preferring others to act for themselves than giving direct orders. He also treated his companions more like members of a team with himself as just another team member. But he did come down hard on those who misuse his trust, such as Adam Mitchell.
* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', Roj Blake tried to be TheCaptain and succeeded for the most part. Although he appeared to be type 3 in his interaction with Avon, it should be noted that Blake was a very skilled psychological manipulator and understood Avon better than Avon understood himself. After Blake's departure, Avon, on the other hand, aimed to be type 3, since he had realistically low expectations of himself as a rebel leader (a job he didn't want and for which he lacked the neccesary leadership skills) and of the others as followers (especially newcomers Tarrant, Dayna, and Soolin). But as time went on, he deteriorated into type 1 due to paranoia and obsessive behavior regarding Servalan/Sleer. Avon had to deal with newcomer Tarrant in a similar manner that Blake used to have to deal with Avon, though not anywhere near as successfully.
* In ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', Takatora is a mix of the "clueless" and "powerless" types, as he acts properly boss-like but is oblivious as his team conspires against him behind his back. For his part, he thinks he's the fourth type and considers his co-workers his close friends. That said, they make sure to ''keep'' their activities hidden from him because they know that if they slip up, he ''will'' catch on and come down on them like a ton of bricks.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In Season 3, Giles is fired as Buffy's [[TheHandler Watcher]] and replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce who is pompous and full of himself, yet a DirtyCoward in the field. The Scoobies and even Giles barely make a token effort at accepting his authority. Fortunately Wesley undergoes CharacterDevelopment in the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' spin-off, so in later seasons whenever he takes charge it's played seriously.

* Instructor Quistis Trepe from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is mostly a type-1, with shades of type-2 due to her defining character trait--[[spoiler:that is, her exceedingly unwelcome and unrequited crush on Squall]]. Despite being one of the teachers at an elite paramilitary academy, many students don't particularly like or respect her. Even her trio of obsessed groupies seem to be interested in her only as an object of lust rather than an authority figure. And even if [[spoiler:she hadn't quit, she probably would've been fired for letting Seifer escape from the discipline room after Dollet]].
** Rinoa Heartilly, "princess" of the Forest Owls, is another type-1.5 for most of the first disc. Squall chews her out for not taking her role as leader of a resistance movement more seriously pretty early on, and even Quistis gets fed up enough with her bubblegum rebellion and half-baked plans to give her a tongue-lashing. As leaders go, Rinoa actually makes Quistis look competent.
** Laguna Loire is a solid type-4. While it can be presumed he was officially the leader of whatever squad he, Ward, and Kiros were in the Galbadian Army, the other two remain loyal to him even after they leave the military because he's their friend, first and foremost.

* [[TheHero Rean Schwarzer]] from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel III'' and ''IV'' is mostly a type-4 with elements of type-2 where he treats his students as friends and try to get closer with them. While they do respect him, they also are not above disobeying his orders and actually go after him when he tells them to stay put or go with their other fellow students on their exercises while he's off doing jobs on orders from the government.

* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', The Custodian who interacts the most with the SuddenlySpeaking Emperor of Mankind is a Type 3 example. He is in fact is the [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Captain-General]] of the [[PraetorianGuard Adeptus Custodes]], making him a High Lord of Terra and (theoretically) one of the most powerful figures in the Imperium. He's also the OnlySaneMan of a bunch of MachoCamp, {{Stripperiffic}} lunatics who bully him and ignore his commands, and affectionately refer to him as [[EmbarrassingNickname "Little Kitten."]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Carl is apparently Homer's supervisor. He mentions this only once matter-of-factly simply to get Homer to stop insulting him, and for the rest of the series acts as Homer's drinking buddy and even joins in on some of his antics. In the episode in which he gets the promotion he runs Homer beyond ragged by calling him at all hours with an endless barrage of inane requests but Homer eventually forces him to back off and let him be with Marge in peace thanks to Carl sleeping with the wife of ''the President of France'' (who Carl is trying to please) earlier in the episode.
* Pops from ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' is technically higher in position compared to the other park employees due to being the park owner's son. However he rarely asserts his position, lets Benson run things, and pretty much acts more like a regular co-worker.
* In the ''US Acres'' segments for ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', Orson takes so many shenanigans from the other animals on the chin ([[OneOfTheKids and in some cases joins in on them]]), you'd be forgiven for thinking his only seniority over them is being the TeamDad. Odd episodes however reveal he is actually second in command after the unseen farmer. It was treated as a case of OOCIsSeriousBusiness when on at least two occasions, he finally got sick of Roy's heckling and laziness, and angrily made clear he's his boss, and can and will ''fire him'' if he pushes him too far.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In Season 3, Giles is fired as Buffy's [[TheHandler Watcher]] and replaced by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce who is pompous and full of himself, yet a DirtyCoward in the field. The Scoobies and even Giles barely make a token effort at accepting his authority. Fortunately Wesley undergoes CharacterDevelopment in the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' spin-off, so when he takes temporarily charge of Angel Investigations it's played seriously.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Carl is apparently Homer's supervisor. He mentions this only once to get him to stop insulting him and for the rest of the series acts as Homer's drinking buddy and even joins in on some of his antics. In the episode in which he gets the promotion he runs Homer beyond ragged by calling him at all hours with an endless barrage of inane requests but Homer eventually forces him to back off and let him be with Marge in peace thanks to Carl sleeping with the wife of ''the President of France'' (who Carl is trying to please) earlier in the episode.

* In the ''US Acres'' segments for ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', Orson takes so many shenanigans from the other animals, you'd be forgiven for thinking his only seniority over them is being the TeamDad. Odd episodes however reveal he is actually second in command after the unseen farmer. It was treated as a case of OOCIsSeriousBusiness when he finally got sick of Roy's heckling and angrily fired him.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'': Michael Scott. His main concern is that his employees love him like a friend, and thus goes to great lengths to avoid being the 'bad guy'. Combine this with being generally awkward at social interaction and not very good at managing employees, it's a wonder that the Scranton branch functions at all.

** Above Jan is David Wallace, who gives the outward appearance of being a competent boss, but in reality has an extremely difficult saying no to Michael, preferring to use double speak and mealy mouthed phrases. He also is quite quick to walk back his orders at the slightest pushback. Of course this may be necessary in dealing with Michael Scott, lest he run off to found his own paper company and tank the sales numbers of their most profitable branch.

** Over Michael's head, there's David Wallace and Jan... no wonder [[spoiler:Dunder Mifflin goes bankrupt.]] Charles Miner seems to be the only person they ever hired who's capable of exercising actual authority, and even then he doesn't have the best judgement. Karen does a decent job of holding down the Utica branch as of Season 4.

* At the beginning of ''Literature/BrothersInArms'', Miles Vorkosigan faux-modestly claims to be this, saying that he just plays the part of the Admiral while Commodore Tung does the real work. This isn't complete rubbish - originally Miles relied on Tung's experience a lot - but it's not the whole truth, and Elli immediately calls him out on it.

* The chain store the main cast of ''Webcomic/BetweenFailures'' works at goes through managers so quickly that none of them ever get the chance to be real bosses, letting Thomas effectively run the whole store the way he wants to.

* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', Beepatrice, aka Beeps, is a solid type 1. Very nice, brimming with enthusiasm and good intentions. It took her over two hours to figure out changing the printer's toner cartridge. She's a ''robot'', with full connectivity for things like looking up user manuals, but it doesn't seem to occur to her to do so. Her newest actual employee, ex-cop Roko, has pretty much taken over running their office, mostly in self-defense. ''Someone'' needs to get something accomplished, after all. Beeps, fortunately, is so easygoing she doesn't mind taking instructions from Roko. In fact, she's now ''begging'' Roko to formally take charge.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'': Michael Scott. His main concern is that his employees love him like a friend, and thus goes to great lengths to avoid being the 'bad guy'. Combine this with being generally awkward at social interaction and not very good at managing employees, its a wonder that the Scranton branch functions at all.

* Col. Henry Blake from ''Series/{{MASH}}'' was supposed to be in charge of the 4077th, but outside of the Operating Room most of his time was spent boozing, recreating, or philandering. His HyperCompetentSidekick was well understood to be the person actually running the camp. Also, the dueling doctor factions who were supposed to be Henrys subordinates were frequently overstepping or walking all over him in order to carry out their zany schemes. Blake's replacement, Col. Potter, was able to command a lot more respect and thus appear more in charge.

** In [[Recap/StargateSG1S1E5TheFirstCommandment "The First Commandment"]], O'Neill lampshades this is reference to himself when first Carter and then Connor refuse to follow an order in quick succession, leading to the infamous line:

** At one point, he reminded Tom that he's the boss and Leslie isn't, and Tom responded by laughing. Another time, Tom tries to dodge work by stating (correctly) that Leslie isn't his boss and thus can't give him orders. Cue Ron walking by and without missing a step and without even knowing anything about the situation, tells Tom to do whatever Leslie said.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Fifth Doctor has shades of Type 3 and 4. He has an unfair reputation in fandom of being a doormat. This may be due to the presence of Tegan, who is regarded as one of the most difficult companions.The Ninth Doctor has shades of 2 and 4. He is often described as an "enabler", preferring others to act for themselves than giving direct orders. He also treated his companions more like members of a team with himself as just another team member. But he did come down hard on those who misuse his trust, such as Adam Mitchell.
* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', Roj Blake tried to be TheCaptain and succeeded for the most part. Although he appeared to be type 3 in his interaction with Avon, it should be noted that Blake was a very skilled psychological manipulator and understood Avon better than Avon understood himself. After Blake's departure, Avon, on the other hand, aimed to be type 3, since he had realistically low expectations of himself as a rebel leader (a job he didn't want and for which he lacked the neccesary leadership skills) and of the others as followers (especially newcomers Tarrant, Dayna, and Soolin). but as time went on, he deteriorated into type 1 due to paranoia and obsessive behavior regarding Servalan/Sleer. Avon had to deal with newcomer Tarrant in a similar manner that Blake used to have to deal with Avon, though not anywhere near as successfully.

* Beckett is a Type 3 or 4, from ''Series/{{Castle}}''. Her team loves her, but doesn't always obey her orders. Summed up when [[ThoseTwoGuys Ryan and Esposito]] pull a risky and illegal stunt and are surprised when she chews them out.

** Even later on in the story, Luffy isn't much for thinking about long-term strategies. He also explicitly refuses to become official head of the allied fleet, instead giving all his allies a piece of the Vivre Card (which points the way to the person in question's location and shows their current status) and telling them to come help out if he needs it.

* Kou Yagami of ''Manga/NewGame'' acts like a boss but her funny personality often gets the better of her, leading her subordinates to think twice about taking her seriously.

** Kuze, Touko's predecessor as StudentCouncilPresident, is a Type 2, being the sort to hand off work to his subordinates, resulting in Touko doing most of the work for the student council.

* This is a major theme in ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''. Alleged Bosses are among the book's prime villains, and they are villains precisely because they fail to act like bosses. Case in point: Jim Taggart, who is the president of a large railroad company but is so spineless and incompetent that it's his sister Dagny, the company's Vice President, who actually runs things.

* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', Beepatrice, aka Beeps, is a solid type 1. Very nice, brimming with enthusiasm and good intentions. It took her over two hours to figure out changing the printer's toner cartridge. She's a ''robot'', with full connectivity for things like looking up user manuals, but it doesn't seem to occur to her to do so. Her newest actual employee, ex-cop Roko, has pretty much taken over running their office, mostly in self-defense. ''Someone'' needs to get something accomplished, after all. Beeps, fortunately, is so easygoing she doesn't mind taking instructions from Roko.

[[folder:AnimeAndManga]]

* In ''Comicbook/FuryMyWarGoneBy'', the character Barracuda is in charge of his outfit despite only being a sergeant and having two officers above him. This is what makes Nick Fury (correctly) suspect corruption within the outfit.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Supreme Chancellor Valorum, a Type 3, ''tries'' to get things done, but despite the power his position theoretically has he is stymied at every turn by assorted political factions of CorruptPolitician[=s=] and ObstructiveBureaucrat[=s=], as well as the closet [[GalacticConqueror Sith Lord]] that he mistakenly believes is one of his supporters and who has arranged to keep him on the defensive over baseless allegations of corruption while he makes a play of his own for the chancellorship. Even the Jedi Order, while publicly respecting his office, tend to make decisions within their own Council and do not consult him.
* In ''Film/IronMan'', Tony Stark is a serious type 2-- he's the ''head'' of Stark Industries, but he doesn't ''run'' it. That honor belongs to the queen of [[HypercompetentSidekick Hypercompetent Sidekicks]], Pepper Potts. A couple sequels in, he [[spoiler:recognizes this reality and makes her the ''official'' boss.]]

* Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor of Unseen University in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', novels actually zig-zags between two and three; how much authority he commands seems to be ''inversely'' proportionate to how much he acts like a university administrator. Usually he's a loud, informal authoritarian who replaced his desk with a pool table and thinks any problem can be solved by shouting at people. And the wizards know where they stand with this, even if it's as far away as possible. Occasionally, however, he starts worrying about management styles and dynamic leadership qualities, which triggers mild rebellion among the faculty. This leads to Ridcully shouting at them, and everything goes back to normal ... for the moment.
** ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' adds another wrinkle in this arrangement with the reveal that Ponder Stibbons, Ridcully's HypercompetentSidekick, has been picking up the slack in so many roles that he now single-handedly constitutes a majority vote of the college council and thus has the authority to overrule Ridcully if he chooses. He only pulls this card once, though, since he generally trusts Ridcully's judgement.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Cam may struggle--and occasionally succeed--at maintaining her authority, but it doesn't always work. Generally Type 4 or 2.

-->'''Ryan:''' Wow, you actually sound like our boss.
-->'''Beckett:''' Just tell me ahead of time next time ''[[BrokenAesop so I can help!]]''

* Type 4. Within ''Series/TheWestWing'' TrueCompanions, hierarchy and rank tend to get blurred.
-->'''C.J.:''' I'm assigning an intern from the press office to that web site. They're going to check it every night before they go home. If they discover you've been there, [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon I'm going to shove a motherboard so far up your ass]]...What?
-->'''Josh:''' Well... technically, I outrank you.
-->'''C.J.:''' So far up your ass!
** But ALWAYS Averted with President Bartlett.

* The [[Series/DoctorWho Fifth Doctor]] has shades of Type 3 and 4. He has an unfair reputation in fandom of being a doormat. This may be due to the presence of Tegan, who is regarded as one of the most difficult companions.The Ninth Doctor has shades of 2 and 4. He is often described as an "enabler", preferring others to act for themselves than giving direct orders. He also treated his companions more like members of a team with himself as just another team member. But he did come down hard on those who misuse his trust, such as Adam Mitchell.

''(Cat and Lister sit there, doing nothing)''\\

''(The Cat and Lister continue to do nothing)''\\

''(Kryten walks past Rimmer)''\\

'''The Cat:''' ''(shouting after Rimmer)'' Aye, aye, sir! Scouter launched, ''sir!''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': Orks think humans employ this trope. For orks, the biggest ork is automatically the leader; there is no easy way for them to tell one human from another, save their clothes. Fortunately for the orks, they've figured out that the most BlingOfWar / biggest hat is a very good way for commanders to identify themselves, and loot {{Commissar Cap}}s to copy the effect.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Carl is apparently Homer's supervisor. He mentions this only once to get him to stop insulting him and for the rest of the series acts as Homer's drinking buddy and even joins in on some of his antics. In the episode in which he gets the promotion he runs Homer beyond ragged by calling him at all hours with an endless barrage of inane requests but Homer eventually forces him to back off and let him be with Marge in peace thanks [[ContrivedCoincidence to him coincidentally becoming friends with]] ''the President of France'' (who Carl is trying to please) earlier in the episode.

* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', The Custodian who interacts the most with the SuddenlyVoiced Emperor of Mankind is a Type 3 example. He is in fact is the [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Captain-General]] of the [[PraetorianGuard Adeptus Custodes]], making him a High Lord of Terra and (theoretically) one of the most powerful figures in the Imperium. He's also the OnlySaneMan of a bunch of MachoCamp, {{Stripperiffic}} lunatics who bully him and ignore his commands, and affectionately refer to him as [[EmbarrassingNickname "Little Kitten."]]

* DependingOnTheWriter, era, and/or medium [[ComicBooks/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] is actually or is feigning any of the four types.

** Over Michael's head, there's David Wallace and Jan... no wonder [[spoiler:Dunder Mifflin goes bankrupt.]] Charles Miner seems to be the only person they ever hired who's capable of exercising actual authority. Karen does a decent job of holding down the Utica branch as of Season 4.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Carl is apparently Homer's supervisor. He mentions this only once to get him to stop insulting him and for the rest of the series acts as Homer's drinking buddy and even joins in on some of his antics.

* Ron Swanson on ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' is the director of the Parks department, but Leslie Knope sometimes seems to run the show more than he does. At one point, he reminded Tom that he's the boss and Leslie isn't, and Tom responded by laughing.
** At one point Tom tries to dodge work by stating (correctly) that Leslie isn't his boss and thus can't give him orders. Cue Ron walking by and without missing a step and without even knowing anything about the situation, tells Tom to do whatever Leslie said.