History Main / AlmightyJanitor

** Saitama, the titular InvincibleHero, is initially ranked dead last in the Hero Association despite acing the physical part of the Hero Exams and shattering every record the Association had... all because he bombed the written portion of the Exams.

* Richard Russell, better known as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Horizon_Air_Q400_incident Sky King]]". He worked as a minimum-wage plane tower and [[PassedOverPromotion struggled to rise above his station]] as well as with severe depression. One fateful day in 2018, he impulsively steals an unoccupied plane for a joyride. As air traffic control is desperately trying to talk him down, he's [[SadClown cracking jokes and doing stunts]] the whole time, baffling professional pilots as he [[IKnowMortalKombat had no formal experience]] but was still performing difficult manoeuvers in a plane not designed for them. Once he was almost out of fuel, he decided to "[[DrivenToSuicide nose down and call it a night]]", deliberately crashing the plane on a (mostly) uninhabited island and [[WorkingClassHero becoming a martyr for those with similar struggles]].

* As anyone can tell from the title, ''Literature/TheDungeonCleaningLifeOfAOnceGeniusHunter'' is all about one. [[TheAce Junu Kim]] was the [[WorldsStrongestMan world's strongest hunter]] until he was ambushed and killed. He was [[MentalTimeTravel brought back 10 years into the past]] as a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin dungeon cleaner]] [[LaserGuidedKarma with his skills locked for being a]] {{Jerkass}}, and he has no choice but to work the job to get his skills back. He still however retained all his knowledge on dungeons, skills, etc, and is [[RefugeInAudacity ballsy enough to confront higher ups even when he's at the bottom of the ladder.]] And when he finally gets some skills back, he conquers solo entire dungeons within minutes, [[{{Pun}} wipes the floor]] with bosses and [[CurbStompBattle beats up entire teams of professional hunters]] with a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking MOP.]] It gets so ridiculous, higher ups start to assume [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections he's a snitch for the Chairman.]] Which he isn't even remotely... [[spoiler: [[SelfFulfillingProphecy at first.]]]]

* In ''Fanfic/OrdinaryGirl'', Jesse is the janitor's assistant (a literal example in this case), so she doesn't have the same clearance or parautility as her canon-counterpart. However, she is still able to accomplish things her canon-counterpart could regardless, including ending the Mold infection, rescue the altered items lost in the Investigation Sector, managing to escape Dr. Hartman (something whole swaths of Rangers couldn't do), be the first to realize that the book being read in the FBC book club is a particularly dangerous Altered Item and so on.

* ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' has Janitor Poopatine, who as you may have guessed is a parody of [[Franchise/StarWars Emperor Palpatine]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' had the titualr characters dealing with a [[OurBansheesAreLouder Banshee]] who's singing causes destruction. When they go her location, they find the building looking like a disaster area and find an old janitor who's been pushed over the edge from all the cleaning he's had to do. He chases after them with his suprisingly good [[WeaponTwirling mop skills]] and the ghostbusters only managed to escape from him when his mop gets caught in a staircase's guardrail, sending him flying backwards.

* ''UHF'' has Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) starts the film as a lowly janitor working for the tyrannical R.J. Fletcher (Kevin [=McCarthy=]) at Channel 8, then gets fired after a misunderstanding. Feeling pity for Stanley, the protagonist, George Newman (Weird Al Yankovic) offers him a janitorial job at the run-down Channel 62 station. Overtime however, Stanley becomes the star of what would become known as Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse. A program that would lead to Channel 62 becoming the number one channel in the broadcasting area. Eventually, Stanley saves the day by hosting the telethon, in order to save Channel 62 from being torn down by R.J. Fletcher.

* Mariner from ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' has a wealth of experience in Starfleet and is connected to a downright comical degree. By all acounts she should have been given the captain's chair of her own ship a ''long'' time ago, but [[MilitaryMaverick her hatred of bureaucracy]] means that she continuously sabatoges her own career to ensure that she remains a lowly ensign.

* Ye Olde Tyme Parody TV Show ''Series/PoliceSquad!'' had Johnny the Shoeshine Guy. Inspector Drebin would consult him about "the word on the street"; Johnny would say "I don't know nuthin'!", whereupon the Inspector would slip him a twenty and get detailed insider info about the Bad Guys' operations. And in a running gag, after the Inspector left, someone else would come up and Johnny would give them detailed information using the same procedure. The persons in question included a surgeon asking how to perform open-heart surgery, a priest wanting to know about the Afterlife, a fireman needing instructions on how to put out a warehouse fire, Dr. Joyce Brothers needing to know about mental health, baseball manager Tommy Lasorda needing tho know how to handle his pitching staff, and TV music host Dick Clark asking about new musical trends (and getting his supply of anti-aging cream).

* The ''[[TabletopGame/{{Champions}} Hero System]]'' allows characters to have "Contacts" ([=NPCs=] who will sometimes help you) and "Favors" (an NPC owes you a favor -- basically a one-use Contact). Contacts with little authority or status cost just as much as higher-level ones, because their ability to help isn't ''less'', just ''different'' (for example, a clerk at police headquarters is more likely to [[SteppingOutForAQuickCupOfCoffee let you sneak a peek at the files]] than the police commissioner, because it's much easier for the clerk to bend the rules without anybody noticing).
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS IOU}}'' does put the most powerful character in the setting -- the [=ArchDean=] -- in charge of the whole thing, but the second-most powerful character is the Janitor, who seemingly is always right where he needs to be when he needs to be, and he can clean up anything (in a WorldOfWeirdness where nuclear reactor leaks, Cthulhu incursions, and [[TemporalParadox tears in the space-time continuum]] are a boring weekday). He mostly uses his absurd knowledge and power to a) help him clean things up, and b) earn bribes from anyone who might need further info.

* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' sourcebook ''Lair of the Hidden'' had a scenario in which one of the almost god-like [[EldritchAbomination Antediluvians]] disguises himself as a mere human servant and attempts to guide some of his former students back to the path of [[AscendedDemon Golconda]] with the help of the player-characters. All while still performing the duties of a servant in order to teach himself humility before [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end comes]].

* Peter Parker is a freelance photographer that struggles to pay rent. He's also the Amazing Franchise/SpiderMan, and has saved New York City on several occasions.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': Clark Kent is a pretty good reporter and by all appearances nothing else. But when he or a friend or a planet or a universe or a multiverse is placed in danger he cuts loose and reveals (to the reader) that he's the alternate identity of Superman. He's one of the most well known examples of this trope. (But "pretty good reporter" varies, DependingOnTheWriter. Clark Kent has at times been a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and bestselling author (under an alias). Then the next writer comes around, and he's dragged back down.)

* An Israeli satire show once did a famous sketch whose concept is "What would happen if Franchise/{{Superman}} was Israeli, and serving in the IDF?" Naturally, Superman was made a lazy, obnoxious and practically omnipotent quartermaster. In the sketch, even the Chief of Staff has to make deals with him to get him to do anything.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11073277/9/Meh Bargain, Don't Beg]]'': [[Literature/{{Worm}} Taylor Hebert's]] father Danny is a member, and former leader, of the Dockworker's Union. Within the union itself, it's mentioned that if the leader gives an order, everyone including the current leader, looks to him for approval before fulfilling it. Outside the union, they have connections to every other union in Brockton Bay. So when Taylor's school refuses to take action against her assailants, suddenly all the janitors stop working, the food is barely edible, and everything starts breaking repeatedly. When the PRT foolishly tries to stop the police from taking action, the unions focus on them, including the police officer's union. A group of mostly blue collar workers and bureaucrats manage to bring the city to a near standstill.

* As far as ''Manga/OnePiece'' is concerned, bounty isn't reflective of capability, but reflective of infamy. A pirate can be the strongest in the world but have no bounty due to no one having heard of them, or be weaker than the average Marine grunt but have a high bounty thanks to having a high number of documented crimes.

** The Marines mistake ''Buggy the Clown'' for this and believe he kept a low bounty as a way of not drawing attention, the reason being his association with Shanks, one of the Four Emperors and his past history as part of Gold Roger's Crew. Numerous powerful pirates that joined in Luffy and Buggy's jailbreak from [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] also believed this was the case, and joined his crew without realizing that they're all much stronger than he is. [[spoiler:He then became one of the Warlords, and after Wano one of ''THE FOUR EMPERORS'', thus more of an inversion of the trope.]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': As far as ''One Piece'' is concerned, bounty isn't reflective of capability, but reflective of infamy. A pirate can be the strongest in the world but have no bounty due to no one having heard of them, or be weaker than the average Marine grunt but have a high bounty thanks to having a high number of documented crimes.

** While technically Nami's position is only the navigator, her word is law on all matters related to sailing, finance and the day-to-day management of resources, thus making her the unofficial quartermaster. At this point, even ''she's'' quite a bit stronger than her mere 66,000,000 bounty would imply thanks to the massive and dangerous upgrades she made to her Clima Tact. This is TruthInTelevision: In RealLife pirate ships, outside of battle, the quartermaster [[https://www.pirateshipvallarta.com/blog/pirate-stories/pirate-ship-quartermaster held just as much, if not more, power]] than the ship's captain.
** Tony-Tony Chopper is the Straw Hat Crew's [[TheMedic doctor]], but has the ridiculously low bounty of 100 berries (and even that's a relatively recent development; it used to be 50) while his teammates are all in the tens- or hundreds-of-millions. This is because he has been mistaken by the Marines as the Straw Hat Crew's [[TeamPet mascot]]. In truth, he is [[SuperStrength monstrously powerful]] and a vital member of the team.
** Sanji's constantly doing more covert work for the crew, and is one of the top 3 fighters, but lacked even a bounty until the Enies Lobby Arc. His 177 million bounty after the Dressrosa arc isn't even the third-highest. It's the fourth, right behind Usopp's bounty of 200 million, despite being near equal strength to that of Zoro and Luffy, both of whom have bounties that are in the ''hundreds'' of millions. [[note]]Given that bounties are based on the overall threat a pirate presents to the World Government, with strength in a fight being only one factor in judging that threat, if the Government knew of Sanji's skill as an infiltrator and saboteur it's very possible that he'd end up with a higher bounty than Zoro.[[/note]] Then you add in that horrible sketch they put as his first bounty picture, which makes him near unrecognizable, and that's when you figure out why fans call "Black Leg" Sanji TheChewToy of ''One Piece''. [[spoiler:However, as of the end of the Totto Land arc, Sanji's bounty has shot up to 330 million, making his bounty the second highest in the entire crew, behind only Luffy's.]]

** The Marines mistake ''Buggy the Clown'' for this and believe he kept a low bounty as a way of not drawing attention, the reason being his association with Shanks, one of the Four Emperors and his past history as part of Gold Roger's Crew. Numerous powerful pirates that joined in Luffy and Buggy's jailbreak from [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] also believed this was the case, and joined his crew without realizing that they're all much stronger than he is. [[spoiler:He then became one of the Warlords and more of an inversion of the trope.]]

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': For all intents and purposes, this is essentially what [[HeroWithBadPublicity Naofumi]] [[ATrueHero Iwatani]] is, which is a '''major''' step-up from the other resident Three [[LeeroyJenkins Cardinal]] [[SuperZeroes Stooges]] who are [[FailureHero absolute experts at incompetence and idiocy]] and gets more and more worse for them as time progresses due to their [[GenreBlindness inability to learn from their mistakes.]]

* In ''Fanfic/FracturedSovereignGFC'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''/''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:/''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', Samantha Shepard takes this role (as in [[Characters/MassEffectCommanderShepard canon]])--being given command of advanced warships, sent on impossible missions, and granted near-unquestionable authority despite still holding the rank of "Commander." [[spoiler:She finally receives a promotion to Captain in ''Frontier'' and is given command of a Star Dreadnaught called the "Star Shepherd."]]

*** Vice Admiral Garp is very high up in the Marines, though one would wonder why the guy known for being on par with ''the Pirate King'' and is referred to as [[RedBaron "The Hero"]], hasn't reached the top by the time the series began. As it turns out, he had actually been offered a position as Admiral numerous times, [[DecliningPromotion but refused them all]]. Vice Admiral is the highest rank that would still allow him to largely do his own thing.

** Of the Shichibukai, both Boa Hancock and Crocodile had (or in Crocodile's case, have) considerably smaller bounties than their fellow Shichibukai (80 and 81 million respectively). Then again, these bounties are (or were) inactive and by no means fully reflective of their capabilities, as Crocodile warranted imprisonment in Level Six of Impel Down while Luffy only warranted Level Five (despite having a significantly higher bounty), Hancock is considered monstrously strong by ''Sengoku'', and it is shown that both were capable of combating some of the strongest pirates and marines in the New World during the Paramount War. This is, of course, barring Blackbeard (who had no bounty), and [[spoiler:Buggy]], who is an [[InvertedTrope inversion]].

** Blitzo's proficiency at killing borders on Savant Syndrome, being terrible at basically everything else including running his assassination business but is skilled at just about any weapon and can do things without weapons that would get a human killed if they tried.

* ''UHF'' has Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) starts the film as a lowly janitor working for the tyrannical R.J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy) at Channel 8, then gets fired after a misunderstanding. Feeling pity for Stanley, the protagonist, George Newman (Weird Al Yankovic) offers him a janitorial job at the run-down Channel 62 station. Overtime however, Stanley becomes the star of what would become known as Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse. A program that would lead to Channel 62 becoming the number one channel in the broadcasting area. Eventually, Stanley saves the day by hosting the telethon, in order to save Channel 62 from being torn down by R.J. Fletcher.