Basic Trope: Someone who is hoping to get famous or land their "dream job" works at a low-level "survival job" to pay the bills until they get where they want to be.
- Straight: Alice is hoping to become a famous singer. She releases a few demo tapes, and hopes they get to the right person, but in the meantime, she's working at a Greasy Spoon diner as a waitress.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice works 3 different jobs just to make ends meet; how she finds the time to record demo tapes is anyone's guess.
- In addition to working as a waitress, Alice has a gig as a stripper, camwhore, phone-sex operator, or prostitute.
- Alice's "job" is working as a "consultant" or a "distributor" for some MLM company.
- Alice has been "waiting for a break" for well over a decade now.
- Alice is a 15-year-old high school dropout.
- Downplayed:
- Alice takes a job working in a call center while she goes Back to School for nursing, or while she looks for a better job.
- Alice had a few well paying gigs, but the money is running low and she has to work a day job to make ends meet.
- Justified: It's going to take Alice a while to get her foot in the door, but she's got bills to pay in the meantime.
- Inverted: Alice retires from Show Business, and takes a job as a waitress.
- Subverted:
- Alice decides that if she hasn't been noticed by a record label by now, it's probably not going to happen, and decides to go Back to School and get a real job.
- Alice is working in an office.
- Alice is looking for a mid-level career.
- Alice is seen playing a concert at a bar, but it's really Just for Fun.
- Alice is living off of a "sugar daddy."
- Alice lives with her parents, so at least all of her basic needs are covered.
- Alice had a steady job, but she got fired over a misunderstanding at work.
- Double Subverted:
- She has to keep working while going to school to pay for her tuition until she does, and until she's able to get a job when she's done with school.
- She's working there as an unpaid intern, in the hopes that she'll get hired there (or at least be able to pad her resume).
- She's not happy where she is because of the toxic work culture, but she doesn't want to just quit until she has another job lined up.
- She's hoping one day, she'll be able to get a record deal.
- Well, she was, until the "sugar daddy" decided to ditch 24-year-old Alice for an 18-year-old college freshman, and the money dried up. So now she has to make it on her own, until either she gets where she wants to be, or finds a new sugar daddy.
- Her parents charge her for room-and-board, or expect her to help out with some or all of the utility bills, so she needs some kind of income to cover that.
- Alternatively, Alice had a fight with her mother about her career plans, and either left or got kicked out of the house. She got a job as a waitress to pay the bills, and is hoping to prove her mother wrong about her career plans being "unrealistic."
- Alice is having a hard time finding work, and her unemployment ran out (or isn't enough to cover all of her living expenses), so she had to take a job as a waitress until she can get back into her field.
- Parodied:
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Alice isn't hoping to get famous, or using her current job as a "stepping stone."
- Alice is unemployed.
- Enforced: "We need to make things at least somewhat realistic."
- Lampshaded: "I'm just working here until I can sign a record deal."
- Invoked: Alice moves from Nebraska to Los Angeles in hopes of starting her music career, but she needs something to pay the bills until then.
- Exploited: Alice gets a job at a restaurant known to be frequented by record executives.
- Defied: Alice decides she's just not meant to be famous, and goes back to school for a better job.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alice is just one of many other aspiring stars looking to make it big and unless she can do something to really stand out, she's going to be stuck in this job indefinitely.
Back to Waiting for a Break
