Line #81 Main/ParentNeverCameBackFromTheStore


1	%%%
2	%%
3	%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.
4	%%
5	%%%
6	->''"My mom already left for the diner and dad went to the 7-Eleven to get scratchers. I guess he won, 'cause that was six years ago."''
7	-->-- '''Harley Keener''', ''Film/IronMan3''
8
9	A form of ParentalAbandonment that is often PlayedForLaughs but can also be PlayedForDrama.
10
11	When a parent decides to leave their family or breaks up with their partner, they'll make the excuse of GoingToTheStore to buy cigarettes/milk/whatever, but they never actually come back. Other times it's an excuse made by the child's family in order to soften the trauma or shield the kid from the issue. If the child is young or naive enough, they will believe that their parent really ''did'' go to the store and are just taking a really, ''really'' long time coming back.
12
13	If the parent in question really ''did'' go to the store and never came back because they died, it's often much more PlayedForDrama. A PlayedForLaughs variation of this is having it be that they really did go to the store, are still alive, and really are taking that long to come back.
14
15	Compare to ReleasedToElsewhere and DogGotSentToAFarm, as well as to WhenYouComingHomeDad for when a dad is busy but not completely absent. Contrast FamilyMan, who probably never would do this.
16	----
17	!!Examples:
18
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:{{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]
22	* ''Anime/BlueReflectionRay'' the Hirahara sisters' mother, who had been [[StrugglingSingleMother raising them alone]], said she was going out to buy light bulbs and never returned. In the [[SequelInAnotherMedium followup game]], ''VideoGame/BlueReflectionSecondLight'' Hiori further confides in Ao about this.
23	-->'''Hiori:''' ...Like maybe if mom knew all the light bulbs worked, she wouldn't have needed to go buy new ones... I always get scared someone will go away whenever a light goes out.
24	* ''Anime/CaseFileNoTwoTwoOneKabukicho'' has Mary and Lucy Morstan abandoned by their father after he told them (and their mom) that he needs to get a pack of cigarettes.
25	* Not exactly a parent, but one could apply this trope to Damian in ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries''. He told his Charmander to wait for him on top of a large rock with no intention of ever returning for it. Had it not been for Ash Ketchum and his friends, the Charmander would've died in the rain. [[Manga/TheElectricTaleOfPikachu One of the manga versions]] had him get into an accident that left him hospitalized for quite some time.
26	* In the ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'' OVA "Jeffrey's Knighthood", Jeffrey's father left to get milk and disappeared for ten years. Presumably he was trying to get away from his [[AxCrazy crazy]] wife [[MyBelovedSmother Josephine]].
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
30	* {{Subverted\|Trope}} with ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. Dilbert's mother's explanation for Dilbert's DisappearedDad is that they lost him at an all-you-can-eat buffet. In a much later strip, though, Dilbert visits his father, who is indeed still at the buffet restaurant because he's so resolutely LiteralMinded that he refuses to leave until he has actually had "all he can eat". It should be noted that this took place in ''December of 1992'', and by all accounts Dildad is still at the buffet today.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Fan Works]]
34	* PlayedForLaughs by ''Fanfic/CodeGeassAwesomeOfTheRebellion'', a TrollFic that had a ScheduleSlip of four years. When the author returned with a new chapter, he claimed in the author’s note that he got lost in the woods while heading out for milk. (In a WebSite/YouTube interview, he stated the reality was that he had initially lost interest in writing the story, but a DramaticReading rekindled his motivation.)
35	* Cruelly {{Invoked\|Trope}} by Rolland in the ''Webcomic/DadVillainAU''. When Sabine's mysterious illness reaches the point that she has to be hospitalized, he insists that she's just faking for attention... and to get out of having to work at the bakery. He then tells Marinette that her mother might never come back, implying that she'd be running away from her responsibilities.
36	* ''Fanfic/KlonoaLunatales'': In ''The Feather'', Popka notices the High Priestess holding an infant. Unaware that said infant is the deaged King of Sorrow, he sarcastically asks her if the baby's dad left to get milk.
37	* In ''Fanfic/OffToTheRaces'', Masami simply went off for a walk one day and never came back, [[ParentalAbandonment leaving her children]] in the hands of their abusive father.
38	* Near the end of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''[='s=] second volume, after Yang's MissingMom Raven made some very brief appearances, [[MemeticMutation fan-made]] character status charts listed Raven's status as "Went out to buy Powerball tickets" or "Still out buying those cigarettes" throughout Volume 3. When Volume 4 rolled around and Raven finally stuck around for most of an episode before splitting again, her status was updated to "After finding her cigarettes, [[YankTheDogsChain Raven left once again after realizing she doesn't own a lighter."]]
39	* Parodied in ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'': Every episode opens with a different character saying the name of the show. When someone points out to Rarity that she's the only one who hasn't gotten to do one of those intros, she retorts, "My episode intro just went to the store! You'll see!"
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
43	* Pink Diamond pulled a variant of this on Spinel in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie''. She told her they were going to play a game in which Spinel must stand still in one spot and wait for her to come back. She then proceeded to leave and never returned. Poor Spinel was left standing there for literally thousands of years waiting for her master to come back, until she eventually saw a broadcast revealing the truth, causing her to snap and become evil. Heaven knows how long she would have waited had it not been for that convenient broadcast...
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:{{Film}} -- Live Action]]
47	* ''Film/{{Duets}}'' has a case of the abandoning person saying so, as Todd constantly mentions in that his current status is "out getting a pack of cigarettes." There's even the flashback showing how it started:
48	-->'''Todd:''' Sorry Candy, I'm going out for a pack of cigarettes.\
49	'''Candy:''' But Todd, you don't smoke!
50	* ''Film/IronMan3'': When Tony meets Harley, a kid in Tennessee, he says his dad went to a 7-Eleven to get lottery scratch-offs, six years ago. He's bitterly aware his dad left him and his mother, regardless of whether the lottery was actually involved. Tony, being Tony, responds with his usual tact:
51	-->'''Tony:''' ...Which happens. Dads leave, [[QuitYourWhining no need to be a pussy about it]].
52	* Mentioned in 1995's ''Film/ManOfTheHouse1995'' during Ben Archer's OpeningNarration that his father packed up his things and drove away, saying he needed to "find himself." He took his cute secretary along to help him look. The abandonment was rather transparent, so Ben and his mother Sandy begin their single-parent life right from go.
53	* In ''Film/{{Parenthood}}'', Larry Buchman tells his father that he's going off to South America on yet another of his "get rich quick" schemes, assuring that he'll return if it doesn't pan out and asking him to look after his son in the meantime. His son, at all of [[WiseBeyondTheirYears four years old]], is savvy enough to bluntly ask his grandfather, "Is he ever coming back?" To which his grandfather just as bluntly answers, "No".
54	* In ''[[Manga/ADistantNeighborhood Quartier Lointain]]'', the protagonist's father says he's going out to buy some bread on the night of his 40th birthday. He doesn't come back.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
58	* A fake newspaper advice column once had a "tips for breaking up" section, which mentioned:
59	-->Don't use the old excuse of going to buy cigarettes. Be a man, send her to buy cigarettes for you, and flee through the rooftops before she remembers you never smoked.
60	* ''Literature/MarcusDidiusFalco'': The main character's father went out one evening for a game of draughts; as far as Falco knows, he's still playing it.
61	* ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures'': In book 3 (''The Search for Snout''), while in suspended animation, Rod dreams about the windy October night when his father said he was going out for a walk and never came back. Justified in this case -- Mr. Allbright had gotten wind that his enemy BKR was on his way to Earth and was trying to draw BKR away from the planet in order to protect his family.
62	* ''Literature/TwelveDays'': When the Dorseys still lived in Miami, Raoul left the house, saying he was getting pizza and would be back in twenty minutes. Instead of coming home, he emailed Olympia to say he needed to work things out. The next she heard was from his lawyer.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
66	* ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'':
67	** [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the final episode when Tracy Jordan's father returns from the store with cigarettes.... about thirty-five years after he went out.
68	** Played straight when Tracy associates the scent of Liz's hair product with his absent father:
69	--->'''Tracy:''' You're still here! You didn't go to the store for milk and heroin and then never come back!
70	** {{Subverted\|Trope}} when Jack is talking about his father:
71	-->'''Jack:''' Thirty-five years ago my father, Jimmy Donaghy, went out for a pack of cigarettes, came back, smoked one, told my mother he was leaving forever, and walked out the door.
72	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' has Brennan's parents. One episode has her say they went Christmas shopping and never returned due to going on the run. However, another version is told in another episode as well.
73	* ''Series/TheCosbyShow''. A janitor at Cliff's hospital mentions that after a year of marriage, her husband went out for cigarettes and never returned.
74	%%* Will's dad in ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' disappeared when his son was five and used this excuse.
75	* In the second season of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe finds the address of the father who abandoned her as a baby and finally works up the courage to meet him. However, her father's second wife informs her that he left to get groceries four years ago and should be back "any minute now." Phoebe's disappointment is somewhat alleviated when she meets her teenaged half-brother who she never knew existed.
76	* ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'': George's father, Manny, also went off to get some cigarettes, though Benny already knew he wouldn't be returning because they already had cigarettes.
77	-->'''Manny''': I'm gonna get some smokes!\
78	'''Benny''': We've got smokes right here. Pick another lie.\
79	'''Manny''': I'll stick to my first one! ''[leaves]''.
80	* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': When Jess was a baby, his biological father Jimmy went to the store for diapers and never came back. He shows up again when Jess is eighteen, wanting to build a relationship with him.
81	* Played very seriously once on ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' where a father really didn't come home from the store because he got killed in a holdup. This does not do good things for the mother's sanity, and it ''really'' doesn't turn out well for the children.
82	* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': Seven's parents went to "get cigarettes". Al notices they used the excuse to leave town and leave Seven with them.
83	* ''Series/MidnightCaller'': Jack's father went to buy a pack of cigarettes and never returned, leaving the family $486 and an overdue rent bill.
84	* In ''Series/{{Monk}}'', Adrian Monk's father ran away from his own family after he was supposed to get Chinese food.
85	* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000:'' In ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E02CryWilderness Cry Wilderness]]'', they reference this in one of the riffs:
86	-->'''Mr. Douglas:''' What did your father have to say about these meetings?\
87	'''Paul:''' I never told him.\
88	'''Mr. Douglas:''' Why not?\
89	'''Servo:''' He hasn't come back from buying cigarettes yet...
90	* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': When Nick Torres was five years old and living in Panama, his father left in the middle of the night, claiming that he wanted to be first in line to pick up something from a bakery in a nearby town. The truth was that he was helping the CIA overthrow Manuel Noriega, and leaving his family was his way of protecting them.
91	* In ''Series/PunkyBrewster'', this was how the title character wound up living alone before being found at the beginning of the series. Her mom had gone to the store and never came back. In a slight twist, Punky and her dog were waiting outside the store instead of at home. The mystery of her mom's fate served as an occasional plot point for the rest of the series.
92	* ''Series/{{Shtisel}}'': In the first episode, Lippe is going to Argentina for a year to work for a kosher meat processor. He uses the opportunity to cut ties and abandon his family. [[spoiler:He eventually comes back, but they take a long time to forgive him.]]
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:{{Music}}]]
96	* Told from the parent's perspective in "Hungry Heart" by Music/BruceSpringsteen:
97	-->Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack\
98	I went out for a ride and I never went back.
99	* Referenced in "Little Things" by Music/GoodCharlotte:
100	-->And that same year, on Christmas Eve, Dad went to the store.\
101	We checked his room, his things were gone.\
102	We didn't see him no more.
103	* Music/TheMidnightBeast's parody of "Tik Tok" has a verse where one of the singers goes into an increasingly hysterical NonSequitur rant about how his father never returned from going out to buy milk on Christmas Eve, leading to him having a breakdown about finding him again to discover that he doesn't even remember his son anymore:
104	-->'''Dru''': This is the part where your dad goes out on a cold Christmas Eve to get some more milk, but he never comes back because seventeen years later you find out he's had a whole fucking family with some Spanish bitch and ''he doesn't even know your fucking name anymore!''\
105	'''Stefan''': Shut the ''fuck'' up!\
106	'''Dru''': ''(crying)'' I'm sorry...
107	* In "Holes" by Passenger, the second verse is about a family who had this happen. "One day her husband went to get a paper and the [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]] never came back."
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Web Animation]]
111	* Played for laughs in ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' with Calliope Mori, who everyone calls Dad ever since she did a readalong of ''Manga/MyDadsTheQueenOfAllVTubers''. During one of the times she came back after a break, she does it.... by presenting a carton of milk.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Webcomics]]
115	* Parodied in ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'': [[http://explosm.net/comics/4901/ The father just needed to get enough cigarettes for everyone]].
116	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive:'' [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2013-04-03 Apparently]], Tedd's MissingMom moved to Europe and then never came back to visit even for Christmas because it would be "too expensive". It's later implied ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies is (at least partially) behind it.
117	* ''Webcomic/{{Selkie}}'': Discussed trope. Dr. Pohl is the kind of responsible family man who would never even consider abandoning his children, but, before leaving on a day trip to visit a [[OutcastRefuge hidden refugee village,]] he promises his infant daughter, [[https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie932/ "I'll always come back from the corner store."]] His wife calls him a drama queen for it.
118	* ''Webcomic/OfWhatRemains'': Tony tells Kim he's going to the store to get milk, and then he disappears. Several years later, he [[BrickJoke comes back with the milk]], but Kim is not amused. It turns out he ''did'' mean to come back a lot sooner, but [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou he was a dangerous and wanted man and wasn't able to]].
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:WebOriginal]]
122	* {{Invoked\|Trope}} in [[https://youtu.be/jDJPfETkj_E?t=177 THE SIMS 4 IN REAL LIFE]] (at 2:57) about ''VideoGame/TheSims4'' being realistic with one of the Sims upon knocking up their new female neighbor deciding he needs to get away from her fast.
123	-->'''Sim:''' I got to go to the store to buy a pack of smokes so [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I'll totally be right back]]. ''(subsequently tries to leave the house but [[CruelPlayerCharacterGod slams into a wall that so happens to spawn right in front of the door, causing him to run right into it and faint]].)''
124	* {{Subverted\|Trope}} in one of WebVideo/StuartAshen's videos about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byHbd_1NVu4 cheap Fathers Day gifts]]:
125	-->''That's right, it's Father's Day! The day that we celebrate all dads that went out to get some cigarettes... and came back shortly afterwards with some cigarettes''.
126	* An Internet meme is that "My father left to walk the dog/went to the store to get milk [number] years ago."
127	* ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'': In "Jeffy's Parents!", [[spoiler:this is [[AbusiveParents Nancy's]] excuse for leaving Jeffy.]]
128	-->'''Mario:''' [[LampshadeHanging ...It took you a year to go to the grocery store?]]\
129	'''[[spoiler:Nancy]]:''' [[BlatantLies It-it was— It was VERY hard to find.]]
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
133	* Referenced on ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Escape From the Citadel", while Martin visibly tries to escape into space and leave his son Finn behind, he claims to be [[BlatantLies going to the store]]. Nobody is fooled.
134	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Richard's father Frankie said he was going to get milk when he left. Richard, being the {{Manchild}} that he is, is in heavy denial about this even into his 40s.
135	* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': DoubleSubverted in "Holy S***, Jeff's Back!". A dad is shown leaving his son, telling him that he's just going to the store for a pack of cigarettes, but it's clear he's walking out on his family. At a crossroads, he decides to break the cycle and go to the store after all...only to be killed when a meteor hits his car.
136	* {{Subverted\|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/BlackDynamite'':
137	-->'''Black Dynamite's Daddy:''' Now I could lie to you and say, 'I'm just goin' out for a pack of cigarettes.' But the truth is, I'm leavin' you to raise eight-year-old Black Dynamite by yourself. Now dig it while you can, because the light just turned muthafuckin' green. Bye, bitch!
138	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' has a variant in which young Dilbert's father abandoned him by going to an [[BuffetBuffoonery All-You-Can-Eat]] restaurant, refusing to leave until he's ''really'' had [[LiteralMinded all he can eat]]. It's PlayedForLaughs, but Dilbert seems to have been truly traumatized by the abandonment.
139	* ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'': Foxxy's father left to get cigarettes and never came back.
140	* {{Inverted\|Trope}} on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''--since [[MyBelovedSmother Mama Cosma]] didn't approve of Wanda, Cosmo pulled this trick when the two got married. To be fair, he ''did'' come back... 9,975 years later, when he mistakenly believed that Wanda had forgotten their anniversary.
141	* In the season two finale of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', Rick tells Morty he's going to go get ice cream. [[GenreSavvy Morty begins to worry]] that Rick is invoking this trope, despite Rick's assurances.
142	* In one of Heinz Doofenshmirtz's flashbacks from ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', an {{Inver\|ted Trope}}sion happens. He was assigned by his parents to go to the store, only to discover too late that they were plotting to disown him by sending him on a ship to United States. Its anyone's wonder as to why did Doof held no animosity for his parents despite their obvious signs of treating him as TheUnfavorite.
143	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
144	** Nelson's dad went to the store a few years ago and never came back. It is later revealed that he actually ''did'' to go to the store, at which point he suffered a peanut allergy and got abducted into a circus sideshow; later episodes ignore this, however, and portray him as if he still abandoned the family.[[note]]Also note that even the first abandonment was a retcon--in early episodes, Nelson lived with his father and it was his MOTHER who was absent.[[/note]]
145	** In the episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E15FutureDrama "Future Drama"]], Future Nelson pulls the same trick on Sherri and Terri, both of whom he got pregnant. When they explicitly point out that Nelson's father did the same thing, he replies "I never understood that... until now. I'M COMING, PAPA!" before running away.
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder:Real Life]]
149	* In some countries like UsefulNotes/{{Chile}}, the phrase "my dad went to buy cigarettes and never came back" is a common joke used even by comedians. In Czech republic, the saying is "Dad went to a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes" and is also commonly used, especially by fans of Simpsons.
150	* This happened with Creator/StephenKing's father when Stephen was two years old. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King#Early_life He didn't come back]]. King later joked he must have been looking for a rare brand.
151	* Silent film stars Norma, Constance, and Natalie Talmadge mentioned that while they were young and poor, their father, who was an alcoholic, went looking for food and never came back.
152	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ParentNeverCameBackFromTheStore