Line #1 Main/SleepingWithTheBosssWife


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11	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheBossWife https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_boss_wife_french_vhs_cover1.png]]]]
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13	This trope is when a character has relations with his boss's lover. If a man in an office setting ain't sleeping with the SexySecretary, then he's probably sleeping with the Boss's Wife. Contrary to SleepingWithTheBoss him/herself, which is usually performed by those intent on SleepingTheirWayToTheTop, an underling betrays his boss's trust with infidelity. Sometimes, it is brought upon by the guy hating his boss and doing it out of spite, or being seduced by the FemmeFatale wife.
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15	In most cases, it ends with a [[ADeadlyAffair fatal love triangle]] between the three, either resulting in the boss's or the employee's death (sometimes, albeit more rarely, the wife's). If the underling is lucky, he will merely be ReassignedToAntarctica or fired, but if the boss is an outright villain, expect a prompt serving of YouHaveFailedMe if he finds out. If the boss is not quite so overt, an UriahGambit is also likely. However, if the boss ends up meeting an unfortunate end, the underling instead might [[TheStarscream take his job position]] along with his wife.
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17	Compare TheGeneralsDaughter and InLoveWithTheGangstersGirl.
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19	----
20	!!Examples:
21
22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Comic Books]]
25	* ''Kev: ComicBook/TheAuthority'': Kev is caught red-handed sleeping with an older man's wife. When Kev next reports for duty, he discovers his new commanding officer is none other than said older man. He ends up volunteering for the SAS just to get away from the constant bullying.
26	* ''ComicBook/{{Blacksad}}'': Hans Karup's wife Jezebel is having an affair with Huk, his second-in-command in the Arctic Nation, the white supremacist cult they're both part of. Huk uses unsubstantiated allegations that Karup is a pedophile to engineer his betrayal and execution by his followers, even whispering that he'll take good care of Jezebel after he's gone. [[spoiler:This backfires on Huk, as Jezebel later kills him for becoming too much of a loose cannon in her own years-long scheme against Karup and murdering her sister.]]
27	* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': In an early story, a mob boss routinely mistreats his underlings, including killing them. When he and another mook open a door to find an explosive with only a few seconds left, the mook tells the boss he's been with the boss' wife for the past two years.
28	* ''ComicBook/RedEars'':
29	** A one-page gag has an office worker feeling dismotivated with his work, so his boss tries to cheer him up by telling him how great it felt when he had rowdy sex with his wife a week ago, and [[YouNeedToGetLaid suggests that his employee do the same thing]]. The next morning, the employee waltzes into the office full of energy. Only a passing comment about his boss's curtains reveals that he took his advice rather literally.
30	** Another joke has a guy walking up to a housewife, slowly coaxing her to undress herself for massive sums of money, before convincing her to sleep with him for an even larger sum. She agrees because her husband's business is apparently in dire financial straits. When her husband comes home later, he asks her if anyone came over. When she denies, he curses "that lazy employee of mine" for not delivering the cash money he ordered him to earlier that day.
31	* A backstory of ''[[ComicBook/SilentHill Sinner's Reward]]'' shows that Jack had slept with Jill, the wife of the mob boss who hired Jack, before the two of them decided to ditch said mob boss and start their lives anew. It also overlaps with PlotIncitingInfidelity, as said mob boss was unaware of the love affair between Jack and Jill until they left together, and the plot gets kick-started once said mob boss, upon discovering the affair, decided to have them brought back to him, resulting in everybody eventually ending up in Silent Hill.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
35	* ''Film/Batman1989'': Jack Napier, the NumberTwo of the Gotham City Mob, is sleeping with his boss Carl Grissom's mistress. Grissom sets him up to be killed for this betrayal, but it doesn't take. After Jack becomes ComicBook/TheJoker, he murders Grissom in retaliation, and to illustrate that he's gone completely AxCrazy, has the mistress offed as well when he grows bored of her.
36	* In ''Film/BloodSimple'', Ray sleeps with his boss Marty's wife, Abby, resulting in [[spoiler:Ray and Marty's deaths.]]
37	* In ''Film/TheBossWife'', the wife of the boss tries openly and avidly to seduce a married stockbroker at a company function.
38	* In ''Film/BuffaloSoldiers'', Private Elwood is sleeping with his superior Colonel Berman's German wife behind his back. His boss is enough of a dimwit that he never suspects a thing, and still believes that Elwood is a stand-up soldier after he's forced into early retirement as a result of Elwood's machinations.
39	* Inverted in ''[[Film/ConfessionsOfASeries Confessions from a Holiday Camp]]'', where the wife of Timmy's boss tries to seduce him on a couple separate occasions. Because Timmy's boss is rather terrifying, Timmy tries his best to keep her out of his pants.
40	* ''Film/FlodderInAmerika'': The Flodder family become employees at Mr. Rosenbaum's strip club. His wife, who performs there, immediately takes a shine to Johnnie. Of course, they end up having an affair, which Mr. Rosenbaum accidentally walks in on. He runs off and returns with a shotgun to chase down Johnnie.
41	* Cliff Garrett from ''Film/TheHitman'' is an undercover cop working as a hitman for TheMafia. He has a fling with a mob lawyer who happens to be the boss's squeeze. When the boss finds out, he has Garret sold out to his rivals and the girl killed.
42	* In ''Film/TheLastKingOfScotland'', Nicholas Garrigan drunkenly has an affair with one of Idi Amin's wives, Kay, made even worse when she becomes pregnant as a result of the encounter. [[spoiler:This ends in Kay being brutally murdered when she tries to get an abortion, and Nicholas to be tortured with meat hooks after he tries to assassinate Amin, with Amin clarifying that he knew about him and Kay all along.]]
43	* In ''Film/MillersCrossing'', Tom sleeps with his boss Leo's girlfriend, Verna, resulting in [[spoiler:a heated mob battle among several parties.]]
44	* Invoked by Frank Castle in ''Film/ThePunisher2004'', when he stages things to [[GuileHero manipulate]] mob boss Howard Saint into believing that his right-hand man is having an affair with his wife. The minion was actually [[{{Gayngster}} a closeted gay man]], which Howard didn't know, [[SecretKeeper but his wife did]]. He doesn't believe her when she brings this up, thinking she's tarnishing his friend's memory, and kills them both, only to be horrified when he discovers the truth from Frank later.
45	* Happens in ''Film/TheSecretOfMySuccess'' (1987). Vera Pemrose Prescott is the wife of Howard Prescott, the CEO of the Pemrose Corporation. She seduces Brantley Foster, an employee at Pemrose, and has a sexual encounter with him. She only did so because she wanted to get back at her husband for having an affair. Foster himself only finds out that Vera is his boss' wife right after he sleeps with her. He also discovers that [[SurpriseIncest she's his aunt]], because at that exact same moment she finds out that he's her nephew by marriage.
46	* Defied in ''Film/TheyDriveByNight.'' Lana Carlsen clearly has a thing for her husband's employee, Joe Fabrini, but Joe never responds to any of her advances. Initially, it's because Joe considers the boss an old friend and would never betray his trust like that--and Lana responds by [[MurderTheHypotenuse murdering her husband]]. Then Lana discovers that Joe already has another girl anyway, [[IfICantHaveYou so she tries to have him implicated in her husband's murder]].
47	* In ''Film/WorkingGirl'', after Tess has relations with the charismatic Jack, she discovers he's actually engaged to her Main/MeanBoss Katherine.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Jokes]]
51	* A man complains of frequent headaches at work. His boss tells him he used to have the same problem, which he solved by going home during lunch hour and having sex with his wife. The next day, the man goes to his boss:
52	-->'''Employee:''' Your trick worked, it's amazing!\
53	'''Boss:''' Told ya.\
54	'''Employee:''' Also, those are some very nice bedroom curtains you have there.
55	* A man is getting promoted to a department in another state and has a going-away party with his coworkers, each giving him a small gift. His MeanBoss doesn't attend, but his DumbBlonde TrophyWife does, and towards the end of the party she has sex with the employee, then gives him a dollar and a wristwatch.
56	-->'''Employee:''' So... Not that I didn't appreciate it, but what was that about?\
57	'''Boss' Wife:''' I asked my husband what I should get you, he said "Fuck him, give him a dollar". The watch was my idea.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Literature]]
61	* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': General John [=MacArthur=]'s reputed crime was sending his wife's lover, who was one of his subordinates during World War 1, [[UriahGambit on a suicide mission in a ploy to get rid of him]]. He grows to regret his action years later.
62	* In ''[[Literature/AubreyMaturin Aubrey-Maturin]]'''s first book, Jack Aubrey is sleeping with the Port Captain's wife, which has severe consequences for his career ongoing as said Port Official knows and constantly goes out of his way to deprive him of men, supplies and delay news of his successes to England which probably prevents his promotion
63	* Of a sort. In the story "Ring of Gyges" from Plato's ''Literature/TheRepublic'', an ancestor of King Gyges of Lydia was a humble shepherd who happened upon a magical ring that gave the wearer invisibility. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Taking advantage of this new ability]], the shepherd went on to sleep with the Queen, kill the King and take the kingdom as his own.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67	* In ''Series/AlteredCarbon'' episode "[[Recap/AlteredCarbonS01E02FallenAngel Fallen Angel]]", Kovacs is seduced by his trillionaire retainer Laurens Bancroft's wife Miriam and they have sex. This creates tension in his relationship to Bancroft later in the series.
68	* In the second season of ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'', [[Creator/CharlieCox Owen Slater]] sleeps with Nucky's mistress Margaret, though they don't start an outright affair until midway through season 3, after Margaret's marriage to Nucky has fallen apart. It ends when Owen is killed trying to whack Joe Masseria as revenge for Gyp Rosetti's attack on Babette's, and his body is shipped back to Nucky in a box. Nucky only learns of the affair when he notices the distraught reaction Margaret has to seeing Owen's body.
69	* ''Series/{{Californication}}'': Hank Moody has sex with a drop-dead gorgeous black woman after meeting her on a plane ride ''before'' discovering that she's the main squeeze of gangster/rapper Samurai Apocalypse, who has hired/forced Hank to write the script for his new movie. This becomes a massive worry for Hank, who rightly fears that SA--who isn't averse to a HighAltitudeInterrogation--will kill him, which he almost does when he finally finds out (Hank survives with a [[OnlyAFleshWound flesh wound]]).
70	* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': When Lieutenant [=LaGuerta=] is demoted and replaced as head of the Homicide division by Lt. Pascal, she {{gaslight\|ing}}s Pascal by striking up an affair with her fiancé, all while playing the GracefulLoser in the office. Pascal's [[ProperlyParanoid anxiety]] over her deteriorating relationship causes her to behave erratically at work, which gets her removed and lets [=LaGuerta=] reclaim her position.
71	* In the ''Series/{{Masterpiece}} Theatre'' MiniSeries ''Reckless'' a doctor falls in love with the wife of the chief of staff and resolves to make her his.
72	* ''Series/Scoundrels2010'': Cal ends up becoming Mr. Hong's lackey to WorkOffTheDebt he owned to him. But soon after he starts working there, Mr. Hong's TrophyWife Nina starts throwing herself at him and they soon [[CheatingWithTheMilkman start having an affair]]. While Cal is worried about his boss finding out, he never attempts to dissuade her, mostly because she's [[SexGoddess really good in bed]]. [[spoiler:It's later revealed she was not only using him for sex but to get pregnant, since Mr. Hong is infertile and she needs a child to [[TheBabyTrap cement her marriage to Mr. Hong]]. Cal is crushed when he finds out and wants to be a part of the child's life, but she threatens to have him killed if he ever tries telling her husband.]]
73	* This forms a major subplot in season 4 of ''Series/TheSopranos'', when there is massive UnresolvedSexualTension between Tony's underling Furio Giunta and Tony's wife Carmela. [[SubvertedTrope They never consummate it]], but Furio does consider murdering Tony before skipping the country and going back to Italy. When Tony finds out, he has a contract put out on him.
74	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
75	-->"[[ScoundrelCode Rule of Acquisition]] #112: Never have Sex with The Boss' Sister."
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
79	* In most versions of Myth/ArthurianLegend, the downfall of the Round Table is heralded by Myth/KingArthur's friend and subordinate, Lancelot, having an affair with Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere.
80	* Literature/TheBible:
81	** Defied by Joseph in the ''Literature/BookOfGenesis'', when Joseph is a slave of Potiphar's. Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him, but he resists, both out of loyalty to his otherwise benevolent master and because infidelity is a big no-no under both Jewish and Egyptian law. However, out of spite Potiphar's wife [[FalseRapeAccusation accuses him of having raped her]] and Joseph finds himself wrongfully imprisoned.
82	** In [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2nd Samuel]], Abner son of Ner is accused by King Saul's son Ishbosheth of sleeping with his father's concubine, which makes Abner so upset over the accusation that he decides that he would no longer support Ishbosheth and instead hand over the rest of the nation of Israel to David to reign as king over.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Video Games]]
86	* ''VideoGame/Fallout2:'' It's possible to work for the four gangs that rule the various parts of New Reno, and -- if you play your cards right-- become a made man for all four of them. The Bishop family runs the casinos, but Mr. Bishop is too busy working to pay attention to his wife. A male Chosen One working for the Bishops can seduce her with the right stats, and her bastard child (or grandchild, as the Chosen One can also sleep with her daughter) ends up running the Bishop family by the time of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Web Original]]
90	* Inverted in this ''Website/NotAlwaysWorking'' [[http://notalwaysright.com/fit-for-the-job story]] where a homeless man has been living in the gym's locker rooms and begging food from other gym members, because he lost his previous job when he caught his wife sleeping with his boss, resulting in him being divorced and fired. The owner hires the man as a live-in maintenance worker so that he can repay those other members and get back on his feet.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Web Videos]]
94	* Eric from ''WebVideo/TheHumanPet'' was revealed to have done this through a series of vlogs his captor, The Codemaster, found on his computer and shared with [=YouTube=]. Who initiated it and what happened after the affair is unclear, but what is clear is that it ended with a death and it is why The Codemaster is targeting Eric.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Western Animation]]
98	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' jokes about this when Peter is doing a job interview.
99	-->'''Boss:''' So, where do you see yourself in 5 years?\
100	'''Peter:''' ''[thinking]'' Don't say "Doin' your wife"! Don't say "Doin' your wife"!\
101	'''Peter:''' Doing your... ''[looks at the family photo on the desk]'' [[DiggingYourselfDeeper son...?]]
102	[[/folder]]

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