Basic Trope: The boss comes over for dinner.
- Straight: Bob has invited his boss for dinner at Bob's home.
- Exaggerated: Bob has invited his boss to stay overnight.
- Downplayed: Bob joins his boss for a business luncheon.
- Justified:
- Bob is trying to schmooze up to the boss to gain a promotion or a raise.
- Bob's boss is also a relative or friend.
- Inverted: Bob's boss invites him over for dinner.
- Subverted:
- The boss declines Bob's invitation.
- The dinner goes fine; the source of the drama/comedy/conflict for the episode is unrelated to it.
- The dinner takes place at a nice restaurant, not at Bob's home.
- Double Subverted:
- He had made plans for that evening that he couldn't change, but he invites Alice and Bob to dinner with him and his wife the following weekend.
- The drama/comedy/conflict is still connected to Bob's Dysfunctional Family: his kids played a mean prank on the boss just before he came over for dinner and he adds two and two at the worst possible moment.
- And still affords the boss to observe Bob's Dysfunctional Family in the wild.
- Parodied: Dinner and a Show.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob invites his boss over for dinner. He declines, but then he appears at Bob's house unannounced. He doesn't stay long enough for Bob to make an impression on him, though.
- Averted: Bob doesn't invite his boss over for dinner, nor does he receive such an invitation from the boss himself.
- Enforced: The writers want to introduce Bob's boss, but the budget won't cover an office set. They already have a set for Bob's house, though, so they need a reason to bring him there.
- Lampshaded: "Now, remember, Mr. Pointyhair is coming over tonight. Everything has to be perfect!"
- Invoked: Bob wants a promotion, and wants to become friendlier with his boss, because "It's not only what you know, but who you know."
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob doesn't want to be known around the water-cooler as the office brown-noser, so he doesn't extend the invitation.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played for Laughs: Cringe Comedy.
- Played for Drama: As a result of the Dinner and a Show Bob's Dysfunctional Family put on, Mr. Pointyhair fires Bob.
Back to Dinner with the Boss
