History Main / CrazyWorkplace

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': The titular organisation has scary monsters as employees, whose job it is to scare children at night in order to use their screams to generate electricity to power the monster world. At the end of the film when it is discovered that children's laughter is 10 times more powerful than scream energy, the company switches formats to where the employees make children ''laugh'' instead.

* In ''Manga/NanatsuNoTaizai'', the ex-PraetorianGuard of Liones was a squad of, essentially, whatever supernatural creature was not wanted by their own race. They were easily the strongest soldiers in the kingdom, but they did '''not''' have the patience or gentility to police civilians, much less aristocrats. After their exile, Meliodas formed a bar notable for the inedibility of its food and for being carried on the back of a giant pig, and the rest of the knights eventually joined (and this happened to begin with because a princess of the kingdom stumbled upon the bar while looking for them).

-->'''Policeman:''' Any reason why you have a CLOSED sign hanging on the door?
-->'''Sato:'''...The more curious customers like it that way.

** Amy is a nerdy overachiever, who often takes a lot of work-related bets and goes wild during wacky office games.

* ''Series/OddSquad'': The titular organization is full of oddities that range from balls of fluffy creatures that multiply when exposed to light, to floating people, to ''glowing'' people, and lots more. In spite of it fighting oddness, however, it is ostensibly odd itself -- episodes feature threats such as a popcorn flood, tornadoes made out of pies, and characters gaining lemon and pickle heads, among a slew of other things.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has a plethora of {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s serving in the medical profession. Dr. Cox is TheNicknamer, usually of the unflattering variety (and he gives J.D. a wide variety of Girl's Names). Dr. Kelso, Chief of Medicine, is a cantankerous bastard (and proud of the fact) who cares more about money than the patients. Eliot Reid, TropeNamer for MomentKiller, is a bundle of neuroses inflicted on her by her mother's prudishness and her father's high expectations. There's a surgeon who's a ThirdPersonPerson as well as a very blatant case of ExtremeOmnisexual. And Dr. Chris Turk seems to be in denial about the fact that he's absolutely BlackAndNerdy.

** The Wright Anything Agency, where people can hire magicians and lawyers. The magicians are legit; the lawyers might not be, since their careers revolve around bluffing, quasi-magical lie detectors, and tactics that more serious lawyers would never even consider. Most of the room is taken up by circus memorabilia.

-->'''Darwin:''' Say, Mister, are you a real gnome?
-->'''Worker:''' Naw, kid, the lack of sunlight has stunted every bone.
-->'''Gumball:''' Are the rainbows made with sunbeams, love, and fairy dust?
-->'''Worker:''' Naw, it's gasoline and arsenic, and latex, lead, and rust.

* The ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' ''Star Wars'' sketches recurringly turn the Empire into a goofy workplace, due to Palpatine and Darth Vader being rewritten into {{Pointy Haired Boss}}es. Amusingly it often only requires some DenserAndWackier tweaking of the original film's format to make it work a lot of the time.

* ''Manga/{{Working}}''. Family restaurant Wagnaria has a high school girl who looks like she's in elementary school, a waitress who carries around a katana and goes on lengthy speeches about her [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship crush on the manager]], a cook who's hopelessly smitten with said waitress, and takes out his frustrations by messing with the TokenMiniMoe and her hair, another cook who manipulates every one around him, a [[DoesNotLikeMen androphobic waitress]] with a MegatonPunch, a manager with a bottomless pit for a stomach and all the charm of a thug, and a waiter obsessed with small, cute things.

* In ''Literature/AnArchdemonsDilemmaHowToLoveYourElfBride'', TheAlliance squat in an isolated castle -- not because they own it, but because the guy who does own it isn't strong enough to throw them out. Downsides include magical accidents, old torture chambers that never got cleared out, and the neighboring sorcerer who comes by to beg for drinking money.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has a plethora of {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s serving in the medical profession. Dr. Cox is TheNicknamer, usually of the unflattering variety (and he gives J.D. a wide variety of Girl's Names). Dr. Kelso, Chief of Medicine, is a cantankerous bastard (and proud of the fact) who cares more about money than the patients. Eliot Reid, TropeNamer for MomentKiller, is a bundle of neuroses inflicted on her by her mother's prudishness and her father's high expectations. There's a surgeon who's a ThirdPersonPerson as well as a very blatant case of AnythingThatMoves. And Dr. Chris Turk seems to be in denial about the fact that he's absolutely BlackAndNerdy.

In the wacky world of this employment opportunity, just going to work is an adventure. This can be because of the workplace's purpose- something like herding unicorns, building customized planets, or exterminating a sleeping populace's nightmares. ([[DangerousWorkplace Safety is rarely ever part of the job description.]]) More realistic {{WorkCom}}s may have mundane work being done by weird ''employees'', like the BoxedCrook, BunnyEarsLawyer, or adult {{Chuunibyou}}. Either way, it will be [[WishFulfillment as different from ordinary]] [[RuleOfFunny work as possible]]. Sometimes, both the job and employees are equally eccentric. In the worst cases, there's NoSuchThingAsHR

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Literature/AnArchdemonsDilemmaHowToLoveYourElfBride'', TheAlliance squat in an isolated castle- not because they own it, but because the guy who does own it isn't strong enough to throw them out. Downsides include magical accidents, old torture chambers that never got cleared out, and the neighboring sorcerer who comes by to beg for drinking money.

* In ''Literature/CookingWithWildGame'', there's "Kiba", a food stall operated by the local barbarian village. Despite its small size, it employs a lot of people- partly to keep up with demand (the food is '''very''' good), partly to familiarize villagers with urban folk, and partly to ward off the racists and rival clans that want to attack it. Because villagers so rarely enter the city, Kiba has also become an unofficial [=HQ=] for all manner of diplomatic negotiations, information gathering, and interclass conversations.
* The ''Literature/FelineWizards'' are a band of technicians who go to whatever place and time they are needed to fix strings- the dimensional strings that comprise existence. Yet despite their intelligence, they are still ''cats'', love of yowling and pouncing on rats included.

-->'''Darwin''': Say, Mister, are you a real gnome?
-->'''Worker''': Naw, kid, the lack of sunlight has stunted every bone.
-->'''Gumball''': Are the rainbows made with sunbeams, love, and fairy dust?
-->'''Worker''': Naw, it's gasoline and arsenic, and latex, lead, and rust.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', the O.W.C.A directs "secret agents"- vaguely {{Intellectual Animal}}s who foil a designated supervillain daily. One especially bad mishap at headquarters ended with a goat eating documents and Carl (one of the few human employees) locked in a dog cage.

* ''Manga/{{Working}}''. Family restaurant Wagnaria has a high school girl who looks like she's in elementary school, a waitress who carries around a katana and goes on lengthy speeches about her [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship crush on the manager]], a cook who's hopelessly smitten with said waitress, and takes out his frustrations by messing with the TokenMiniMoe and her hair, another cook who manipulates everyone around him, a [[DoesNotLikeMen androphobic waitress]] with a MegatonPunch, a manager with a bottomless pit for a stomach and all the charm of a thug, and a waiter obsessed with small, cute things.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': The Rainbow Factory where Nicole Watterson works seems normal at first, as Nicole works in the office cube farm. When Gumball and Darwin sneak in to her workplace, they explore the production floor, where their illusions of a Willy Wonka wonderland quickly get shattered.

In the wacky world of this employment opportunity, just going to work is an adventure. This can be because of the workplace's purpose- something like herding unicorns, building customized planets, or exterminating a sleeping populace's nightmares. ([[DangerousWorkplace Safety is rarely ever part of the job description.]]) More realistic {{WorkCom}}s may have mundane work being done by weird ''employees'', like the BoxedCrook, BunnyEarsLawyer, or adult {{Chuunibyou}}. Either way, it will be [[WishFulfillment as different from ordinary]] [[RuleOfFunny work as possible]]. Sometimes, both the job and employees are equally eccentric.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
''Film/BladeRunner''. Mr. James, a billionaire who has spent the entire day eating food he knows for a fact to be spoiled. Joe, who earns upwards of 11 dollars working as an amateur surveillance expert -- albeit half of it in ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' money. And, of course, Matthew (cut to Matthew peeking from under a desk), who appears to have taken the surveillance into his own hands.
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': The Buy More is a big-box electronics store where Chuck is the OnlySaneEmployee on account of all his coworkers being nuts, especially the duo of [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Jeff]] and [[TheSociopath Lester]]. One episode turns the deliveries cage into a full cage fight arena where [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Anna]] uses a camera tripod as a TelescopingStaff to beat up a JerkJock from a neighboring store.

-->'''Dave:''' Here we have Lisa, who today very nearly gave up a career in journalism for a life in the fast food industry. Over here we have Beth, who dresses like a barmaid from.

In the wacky world of this employment opportunity, just going to work is an adventure. This can be because of the workplace's purpose- something like herding unicorns or building customized planets or exterminating a sleeping populace' nightmares. ([[DangerousWorkplace Safety is rarely ever part of the job description.]]) More realistic {{WorkCom}}s may have mundane work being done by weird ''employees'', like the BoxedCrook, BunnyEarsLawyer or adult {{Chuunibyou}}. Either way, it will be [[WishFulfillment as different from ordinary]] [[RuleOfFunny work as possible]]. Sometimes, both the job and employees are equally eccentric.

Not to be confused with WackyStartupWorkplace (which is quirky only in the way it treats its workers) or QuirkyWork, which is a piece of media considered strange. A HeroesRUs might qualify for the trope, if the setting doesn't skew towards MundaneFantastic. NoodleImplements are often used to establish the workplace as an environment where weird and wonderful things are happening, whether the viewpoint character is aware of them or not. DecadentCourt, CelestialBureaucracy, TimePolice, Area51 and TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday are their own subtropes.

** Jun Aoi is her long suffering second in command, who wants her to notice him, to no avail.
** Akito Tenkawa is a fry-cook turned giant-robot pilot, trying to find out why his parents were murdered on Mars while enjoying his favorite series, [[ShowWithinAShow Gekigengar III]].

** Inez Fressange is a "dried out walking encyclopedia" who takes great offense if someone other than her tries to give explanations. She also designed the Nadesico.
** Megumi Reinhard is a voice-actor turned communications officer, and in the middle of a LoveTriangle vying against the captain for Akito's affections.

** Prospector is the man who hand picked this crew, and is constantly arguing with them about the terms of their contracts (such as the [[NoHuggingNoKissing non-fraternization clause]].
* In ''Manga/NanatsuNoTaizai'', the ex-PraetorianGuard of Liones was a squad of, essentially, whatever supernatural creature was not wanted by their own race. They were easily the strongest soldiers in the kingdom, but they did '''not''' have the patience or gentility to police civilians, much less aristocrats. After their exile, Meliodas formed a bar notable for the inedibility of its food and for being carried on the back on a giant pig, and the rest of the knights eventually joined (and this happened to begin with because a princess of the kingdom stumbled upon the bar while looking for them).

* In ''Fanfic/UninvitedGuests'', the Gotei 13 has all the ruckus and noise you'd expect of 100+ soldiers whose barracks are right next to each other. And the worst troublemakers have no compunction about using their superpowers to avoid work or disciplining. Ukitake openly admits that he ''can't'' control his subordinates, just keep them within the bounds of important laws. [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Also, all of them are dead.]]

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'': Willy Wonka owns the world's largest chocolate factory. In that place where he has a race of little people as his workers. He has a chocolate river to mix chocolate, an inventing room to make and test experimental candy, squirrels that cracks open nuts, and a TV room that transports chocolate bars to a TV screen.
* In ''Literature/CookingWithWildGame'', there's "Kiba", a food stall operated by the local barbarian village. Despite its small size, it employs a lot of people- partly to keep up with demand (the food is '''very''' good), partly to familiarize villagers with urban folk, and partly to ward off the racists and rival clans that want to attack it. Because villagers so rarely enter the city, Kiba has also becomes an unofficial [=HQ=] for all manner of diplomatic negotiations, information gathering, and interclass conversations.
* The ''Literature/FelineWizards'' are a band of technicians who go to whatever place and time they are needed to fix strings- the dimensional strings that comprise existence. Yet despite their intelligence they are still ''cats'', love of yowling and pouncing on rats included.

* In ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'', among the things that have happened to Whitbury Newtown Leisure Centre are an attack by an army of Roman war re-enactors, an emu running loose inside, and a cow delivering in the squash court. This is not accounting for its employees, who include a PointyHairedBoss with no social skills, a receptionist who lives in the Centre (and keeps her children in the drawers behind the reception desk) and a Deputy Manager Wet who should not even be ''near'' a pool for hygienic reasons.

** Judge Harry Stone is almost ''the'' textbook example of a BunnyEarsLawyer. The Assistant District Attorney, [[Creator/JohnLarroquette Dan Fielding]] is a HandsomeLech. Bailiff Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon is a shaven-headed giant. Many of the Public Defenders who come through are unprepared for the assorted oddballs and loons who they have to represent, or they are the LoveInterest for Judge Stone. A trio of cantankerous Bailiffs served as Bull's partners over the years, two of the being cases of ActorExistenceFailure, and many of their clients were very reasonably "held over for psychiatric evaluation". The common sentence for the plethora of HookerWithAHeartOfGold characters that came through was "Fifty dollars and time served". And, at one point, this was described as the most realistic law show on television.

* ''The Office'' (both [[Series/TheOfficeUS the American]] and [[Series/TheOfficeUK British]] versions of the show) revolve around a branch of a paper company full of crazy people, including a PointyHairedBoss (Michael Scott/David Brent), a borderline psychotic and power-hungry "second in command" (Dwight Schrute/Gareth Keenan), an OnlySaneMan who is the aforementioned power-hungry employee's SitcomArchNemesis (Jim Halpert/Tim Canterbury), and many others. Both versions of the series even goes on to show that the branches, for all of their on-camera silliness, are examples of the BunnyEarsLawyer because they are the branches that sell the most product.

* ''Series/{{Superstore}}'' has employees who use the barcode scanners and labels to play pseudo laser-tag, to give just one example.

* Roleplay/ThingsBobIsNotAllowedToDoOnTVTropes involves everyone at TropeCo/TropeCo trying to keep Bob (of AliceAndBob fame) from committing insane shennanegans. This is such a time-sink that most of them have forgotten their actual jobs. While 90% of employees are normal people, employees also include anthropomorphic cats, robots, sentient polygons, and no less than three demons. The building contains a meth lab-come-brewery adjacent to the employee breakroom/video game arcade and a giant spider breeding ground, and is made up of AlienGeometries (including a portal to a full-blown WorldOfWeirdness in the all-gender bathroom).

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', the fabric of reality is maintained by a CelestialBureaucracy in which the majority of employees don't look remotely human or even need to ''eat'', which is why most of them prioritize selfish power games over actually doing their jobs. Jobs which range from "kill a demon about to destroy the world" to "record which trees should get woodlice this century". Even the Sidereal Exalted, who are higher up on the totem pole than anybody but the gods [[TheChosenMany who chose them]], don't always know the point of an assignment they're given.

-->'''Gumball''': Are the rainbows made with sunbeams, love and fairy dust?
-->'''Worker''': Naw, it's gasoline and arsenic, and latex, lead and rust.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s Planet Express is a delivery company in the year 3000 which makes deliveries to every location in the universe, no matter how dangerous or life-threatening it is. Among the employees there are a senile MadScientist, a {{Jerkass}} robot, a lobster-like alien doctor who doesn't quite understand human anatomy, a [[TheDitz not very bright]] delivery boy from the 20th century, and a hot-blooded cyclops who captains the ship.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The Krusty Krab only has two employees plus their boss, yet these three characters are enough to make the place quite the interesting dining experience. The boss, Mr. Krabs, is as [[{{Greed}} Greedy]] as one can possibly be, and will do anything and everything just to get some cash, even if it involves harming his customers. The cashier, Squidward, is an ApatheticClerk who couldn't care less about his job or his life, which makes him act extremely rude to almost everyone that he serves. The cook, [=SpongeBob=], is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who is not only really good at his job, but is overly passionate about it. Together, these three will always guarantee that [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Will Ensue]] whenever the Krusty Krab is open.

->"Who's the one who didn't bring lice into the office? Meredith. Sure, I gave everybody pink eye once, and my ex keyed a few of their cars, and yeah, I [=BMed=] in the shredder on New Year's. But I didn't bring the lice in. That was all Pam."
-->-- Meredith,''Series/TheOfficeUS''

* ''Series/Community'': The staff at Greendale Community College are as eccentric as their students, if not more so: