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A trope where a character bristles at the slightest attempt to usurp his authority or give him orders and makes his displeasure known, even if those people are in fact the ones paying him. Basically, an underling believes he knows best about his domain and refuses any outside meddling, even if that "meddling" is actually his superiors telling him what to do. Sometimes, but not always a case of Almighty Janitor.
Often the underling is somewhat justified in his way of thinking if he's been running the place the same way for years without problems.
For example, an English country house has been run with an iron fist for decades by its very proper butler for its owners. When a next generation tries to modernize the house and maybe give the servants better wages, the butler reacts as if it was suggested his wife perform a striptease at the next church social. Or the gardener who has been told to plant roses instead of geraniums and during the confrontation, essentially bullies his employer into growing geraniums, making it clear he will not have his time wasted by the kind of fools who would plant roses. Or a cook who's always made the exact same unhealthy meal every day, and yells down any attempt to add vegetables.