Basic Trope: Someone's parent goes off, claiming to be running an errand, and never returns.
- Straight: Alice hasn't seen her father, Bob, in three years because he claimed to be going to the store, only to abandon her.
- Exaggerated: All the parents in town suddenly turn evil and decide to abandon their kids, and all claim to be going to the store.
- Downplayed: Bob goes on a "year-long business trip" and, after six months, decides not to return after all.
- Justified:
- Carol and Bob got a divorce, but Bob feels that Alice is too young to understand what a divorce is, so he lied that he was going to the store.
- Bob really did go to the store, but he never came back because he died or was kidnapped.
- Inverted: Bob plays a prank on Alice where he says he's going to abandon her, but actually just goes to the store.
- Subverted: After those three years, Bob finally comes back, and reveals that he really did go to the store, but was abducted by aliens.
- Double Subverted: ...But that "Bob" turns out to be an impostor.
- Parodied: Bob really did go to the store, but one over-the-top, contrived scenario after the other prevents him from coming home to his wife and daughter.
- Zigzagged: Bob claimed to be going to the store, but he hasn't come back in three years. Later, he apparently comes back and explains to Alice that he was abducted by aliens... but then it turns out that it's not Bob... it's a hologram sent by Bob (who was abducted by aliens) so that Alice can rescue him.
- Averted: Bob never leaves Alice.
- Enforced: This was the last modification the dubbers made to excise the Diane and Bob divorce Arc from the show.
- Lampshaded: "Going to the store never takes three years, Alice. I think your dad abandoned you."
- Invoked: The villains kidnap Bob as he's going to the store so that Alice will think he abandoned her.
- Exploited:
- Defied: Bob wants to divorce Carol, but he explains it matter-of-factly to Alice.
- Discussed: "Where's your dad, Alice? Is he dead? Is he divorced? Did he go to the store and never come back?"
- Conversed: "Do parents actually abandon their kids and lie that they're going to the store, or is that only in fiction?"
- Implied:
- Deconstructed: Alice gets emotional trauma over being suddenly abandoned by her father in this way.
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama: Bob really did go to the store, but he died.
- Played for Horror: Bob really did go to the store, only to get bit by a zombie and turn into one.
The main page took a trip to the Trope Repair Shop and never came back.
