39,327
edits
Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (categories and general cleanup) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 9:
The Beleaguered Bureaucrat would love to help you with your problems... if they weren't dealing with a dozen other equally important (in the bureaucrat's eyes) matters at the same time, usually while being shouted at for not being able to do five things at once. Basically, this is a character who is swamped with too much work whose performance (and stress level) is clearly suffering for it. If it's a main character, expect their stress at this to become a [[Running Gag]]. Can become a problem for heroes if they need something done by this character quickly.
The tropes: [[Beleaguered Bureaucrat]], [[Department of Child Disservices]], and [[Social Services Does Not Exist]]; overlap since they all involve the same problems. The employees are often overworked, underpaid, lack resources, and suffer the public’s wrath. They then turn into the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] and use [[Bothering
Signs that you are dealing with this character are:
Line 27:
** Steve Epting wrote him like this, constantly exhausted and at one or two points thinking about relapsing back into alcohol addiction.
* When [[Superman|Clark Kent]] was a television reporter in [[Bronze Age|the 70's,]] the director of the evening newscast was an antacid-popping, constantly stressed-out guy named Josh Coyle. The fact that Clark would frequently appear just a split second before the broadcast or secretly vanish to do super-heroing during commercial breaks played even more merry havoc with the guy's nerves.
* The French foreign affairs minister's staff in ''[[Quai
== Literature ==
Line 43:
* Just one of Jim Hacker's many problems in ''[[Yes Minister]]''. His woes regarding this trope continue in the sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister''.
** Bernard wades into this territory every now and then; the most notable examples are "The Economy Drive," where he is one of the few DAA staffers left after Hacker attempts an ill-considered economy drive, and "A Diplomatic Incident," where he is tasked with the organisation of Hacker's predecessor's funeral.
* In ''[[
* The entire point of ''[[
** In large part this seems to be why Mark Brendanawicz leaves at the end of season 2.
* Dr. Lisa Cuddy of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' constantly gives the impression that she has far too much on her plate, and in her [[A Day in
* A general example: Some of the more sympathetic portrayals of social workers or probation/parole officers can fall under this: When called out on that one mistake or oversight that leads to the [[Victim of the Week]]'s demise, they invariably point out the huge number of cases that the desperately understaffed office is saddled with and the fact that they can't be in two places at once. Which, sadly, tends to be [[Truth in Television]] in more than a few cities.
* The 1970s New Zealand stage show, and later 1980s TV sitcom, ''[[Gliding On]]'' parodied this trope.
| |||