History Main / DudeWheresMyReward

* Happens a few times in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10''. Notably in the incident with The Big Tick, where after saving the planet from a giant ravenous blob... Ben has to clean its slime off the van while his companions relax and point out spots he missed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuyPresentsLaughItUpFuzzball Blue Harvest]], Peter/Han is rewarded for rescuing Lois/Leia with a gift basket.

** One episode has Homer pressure Bart to donate blood to save Mr. Burns' life, expecting to be "showered in riches." Instead, he simply gets a thank you card. After raising quite a stink over it, Burns at first decides to have goons beat Homer to a bloody pulp but changes his mind and instead gives them a massive Olmec statue of Xtapolapocetl. This ultimately leads to quite a {{Meta}} discussion about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NWhHDC3lTU&t=2m49s what exactly is the moral of the episode ending on:]]

** When Mayor Quimby is about to be killed in an electric chair, Lisa comes up with the idea of firing a message tied to a mini-rocket, but Ralph gets the credit because he was the one who thought of asking Lisa. Although initially annoyed, Lisa congratulates Ralph along with everybody else after Bart says: "Come on, Lise, [[ThrowTheDogABone let him have this one]] -- it's [[TheDitz Ralph!]]"

* Also happened to Kyle Broflovsky of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. In a reference to Literature/TheBible, Kyle ''pays for everyone's loan, so they may spend money again''. After few hours of paying with a plastic credit card and gathering a huge bill from every person in town, Kyle passes out and is transported to his home. When he wakes up, he sees on TV a report on ''"one person, who has sacrificed so much"''. When it turns out that the person in question is really UsefulNotes/BarackObama, Kyle snaps in anger ''"Oh, come on!"''.

* Causes an entire FaceHeelTurn in ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'', where major character Cassandra goes through two whole seasons of the show (and, indeed, her entire life) being passed over for things that she works hard to get, while Rapunzel, as the protagonist, has gotten everything she ever wanted while Cassandra was always told to wait. Eventually, she has enough and makes use of an ArtifactOfDoom to get the power to ''take'' what she wants, having become fed up with constantly being passed over for what she thinks she deserves.

* In Creator/DouglasAdams's ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'', Dirk winds up getting caught in a plot involving time travel, saving the entirety of creation at the very end of said plot. When he returns to his detective agency, he realizes that the meddling he did with time-travel has, [[ForWantOfANail among other consequences]], caused him to lose a most profitable customer. He sends her one final bill that reads "Saving the world -- No charge".

** In the ending of the first game, after the hero has fought through hundreds of monsters and finally defeated the Big Bad, what does he get? He shoves Diablo's Soulstone into his own forehead, which causes him to ''become'' Diablo in the second game. Justified in that it is a CrapsackWorld where NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished.
** This finally averted in ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', where after 2 games and one expansion that ended with no visibly good future for anyone [[spoiler: Diablo 3 ends on an uplifting note with the player killing Diablo after he becomes the GodOfEvil by merging with the other evils, which also makes him DeaderThanDead.]] There's no hints of getting rewarded, but hey, at least the leaders of hell are gone.[[spoiler: Then in the expansion, things go to hell even more, and Diablos return is hinted. Here we go again.]]

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Spike and Jet are bounty hunters who can never seem to cash in on the millions of Woolongs they would honestly deserve, for reasons that are as ingenious as they are [[SadistShow sadistic]] on the part of the show's producers. As the main characters can never sit back and relax and always need to look for new opportunities to screw up, this trope is in fact the very thing that drives the show all the way to the ending; by the final episode, after having dealt with everything from [[PsychoPrototype psycho prototype]]s to environmentalist groups bent on eradicating the human race, there's no paycheck to be had and the [[BigEater Bebop crew]] still find their refridgerator is (mostly) empty.

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', you can help the elder of Koopa Village, Koopa Koot, with various errands, ranging from borrowing an [[DirtyOldMan "exercise"]] book from his neighbor to bringing him a cup of tea. Most of the time, his rewards will be 1 coin. Subverted in some cases, where he gives you a card that allows you to play in the casino, or some star pieces. It then becomes kind of heartwarming at the end, though, when his last errand for you is to go save the world.
* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', one of the optional sidequests requires Mario to help out Bub the Bob-omb by making an expensive gift and giving it to his mom. When the mission completes, Bub gives him his life savings: three coins.
* In the original ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' games (plus ''Yellow''), when you go into the front of the building you receive the Eevee from, one man promises to give you a "rare item" if you collect all 150 Pokemon and show him your Pokedex. So, after grueling hours of walking in circles in tall grass, a small fortune spent in Pokeballs, and multiple trades for version-exclusive Mons, what does he give you? [[spoiler:An Ether!]] An item which, if you've been thorough in searching and diligent using the Item-Finder, you probably have at least a dozen of.
* [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog The Chaotix Detective Agency]] more than likely go through this. Their first known mission was [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes orchestrated by Dr. Eggman]], leading to the three members to attack him when he promises to pay them "after [he] takes over the world!". And when he tries to escape after the BigBad is defeated, Vector roars out "THAT SLIMEBALL!" and the trio chase after him again! And it's more than likely every other appearance is the same thing -- they save the world, but they don't get a paycheck!

* At the end of ''[[VideoGame/TakAndThePowerOfJuju Tak The Great Juju Challenge]]'', Tak and Lok return to the dining area, expecting a huge celebration of their winning the Challenge. Instead, they find only Jibolba sweeping. Jibolba explains that everyone went home early to beat the traffic.

* Happens a few times in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''. Notably in the incident with The Big Tick, where after saving the planet from a giant ravenous blob... Ben has to clean its slime off the van while his companions relax and point out spots he missed.

* In the second season finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' after peace is restored to Gotham the mayor hands out keys to the city to the Justice League, several randoms, and himself, but snubs Jim Gordon who did most of the work to restore law and order alongside ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}. In the third season Jim tries to get his revenge by running against him for mayor, only to lose the election to [[PresidentEvil the Joker]].

** In ''Literature/TheLastHero'', Rincewind got his wishes fulfilled for saving city of gods, and by extension The Disc, by the gods (literally; Carrot and The Librarian are rewarded too). Played straight in earlier books, when his reward for saving the world several times is just stay alive. Also, see ThrowTheDogABone under Literature.

** Moist's reward for his achievements in his books is not being executed by Patrician. In ''Literature/RaisingSteam'', he got an adventure so he thought it's WorthIt.
** Easier to list people who got reward for his/her/they/whatever achievements than who isn't. Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpok is listed in ImpoverishedPatrician because many people don't pay their taxes, Susan Sto Helit and Witches like Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg never get any rewards for their feats, etc. Their reward for saving the day is stay alive but in Discworld what is better reward than ''life''.
** Parodied in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'' when some heroes do this ''before'' doing any heroism; they debate whether it's worth it or not to save Ankh-Morpork from the dragon because Vetinari doesn't (and ''can't'') offer them the StandardHeroReward. A reward in money isn't good enough for them. (Sadly, the Watch don't get the money either because the confrontation with the dragon destroyed it. Or because Ankh-Morpork never had it in the first place, see above.)