History Main / MiseryPoker

-->'''George:''' ''[speaking to an obviously deeply moved panel]'' In closing, these stories have not been embellished, because they need no embellishment. They are simply, horrifyingly, the story of my life as a [[LoserGuy short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man]]. Thank you. ''[He goes to leave, then turns around.]'' Oh -- [[SkewedPriorities and my fiancee died from licking toxic envelopes that I picked out.]] ''[The panel bursts into tears.]'' Thanks again. ''[Exit.]''

* In the {{Dilbert}} book, ''Build A Better Life By Stealing Office Supplies'', Dogbert advises office drones that, if you run late, make sure your excuse trumps the one before you--otherwise, you're the weak link and ripe for discipline.
-->'''Random Office Worker:''' Sorry I was late. There was an accident and traffic was backed up for miles.
-->'''Wally:''' ''I'' was the accident. I hit some kind of large animal.
-->'''Dilbert:''' Someone ran over my mother.

* {{Batgirl}} and Spoiler compare sucky childhoods:
-->'''Spoiler:'''"Nobody ever talks about your family, what was your dad like?"
-->'''Batgirl:'''"Assassin. David Cain."

-->'''B:'''"Yeah."

-->'''B:'''"Yeah."

-->'''B:'''"Shot me."

* Davan from ''SomethingPositive'' trumps Kestrel from ''QueenOfWands'' at a game during [[http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040510.html one of their crossovers]].

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:[[TheMusical Musicals]]]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

* [[http://narutards.smackjeeves.com/comics/36002/the-right-to-complain/ Narutards]] does this for the main characters of {{Naruto}}.

-----
<<|SadnessTropes|>>
<<|OlderThanDirt|>>

* This trope was a big part of choosing the winner on "Queen for a Day"; the contestant would get on the TV (originally radio) show and talk about how miserable their life was.

* In the ''Film/FantasticFour'' movie, The Thing is sitting next to a suicidal person and tells him, "You think you've got problems? Look at me."

[[AC:{{Musicals}}]]

[[AC:Musicals]]
* The 'It Sucks To Be Me' song from AvenueQ as well as serving as an introduction to most of the cast also has them trying to outdo each other regarding whose life sucks the most. In the end they all agree GaryColeman wins.

* In ''ElfenLied'', Yuka constantly angsts and treats Kouta badly because Kouta is rejecting her sexual advances and forgot a promise - that he made to her ''ten years ago,'' in ''extremely'' promise-inducing circumstances, barely half an hour before he [[spoiler:saw his father and sister brutally ripped to shreds]] by someone he saw as his closest friend. This in [DysfunctionJunction a house that has taken in girls ]] that have, in no particular order: lost her arms, legs and was abandoned by her family and foster father figure; got beaten so hard by her own father that she became incontinent and has to wear diapers just because she wanted to become a singer like her mother, who committed suicide when she was a child;RapeAsDrama sexually abused by her stepfather]] and is a runaway; and Lucy, who is just [[{{Yandere}} ''really'']] [[SplitPersonality messed up]].

On the other extreme, this can be used comedically...such as a character loudly complaining about their lives while someone in the background is chased by enraged rhinos. In such cases, it's clear that the viewer is supposed to see their worries as trivial, and usually we will -unless FridgeLogic kicks in.

* In ''{{Gravitation}}'', Shuichi is constantly chided for his whining...even when his woes involve his boyfriend vanishing without a word, Shuichi getting kicked out of their shared home every time Yuki has a temper tantrum, and Tohma's various unpleasant schemes to "protect" Yuki at Shuichi's expense. Everyone, down to best friend Hiro, points out how much tougher Yuki's life has been, and Shuichi himself trivialises all of his angst...including, weirdly enough, the fact that he was ''gang raped.''
* In ''ElfenLied'', Yuka is pretty mad that her ''cousin'' is rejecting her sexual advances. Then we have the [[DysfunctionJunction rest of the girls]]: one of them lost her arms, legs and was abandoned by her family and foster father figure; one got beaten so hard by her own father that she became incontinent and had to wear diapers just because she wanted to become a singer like her mother, who committed suicide when she was a child; other was [[RapeAsDrama sexually abused by her stepfather]] and is a runaway, and Lucy... is [[{{Yandere}} really]] [[SplitPersonality messed up]], BeyondTheImpossible. Needless to say, Yuka is seen by many as TheScrappy.
** To go into further detail about Yuka, not only is she angry about the rejected incest, this mostly spawns from the fact that the cousin in question forgot a promise he made to her ''ten years ago,'' in ''extremely'' promise-inducing circumstances, barely five minutes before he [[spoiler:saw his father and sister brutally ripped to shreds in front of him by someone he saw as his closest friend.]] [[SarcasmMode How insensitive, he should be shot and killed.]]
** It doesn't matter that Kouta is Yuka's cousin, as [[KissingCousins relationships between cousins]] are seen as normal in Japan. However, she's still a decent example of this trope. [[spoiler: Let's hope she got better by the DistantFinale--they're implied to be married.]]
* Something like this happened in ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei''. Nami tried to elicit sympathy from her classmates by coming in with a bandaged arm...but then Abiru came in with bandages around half her head, her arm in a sling, and her leg in a cast. Then, Nami tried to complain about being so poor she had to live in a small apartment and share a room with her parents...but then in came Maria, an illegal immigrant who lives with 20 others in a single room, carrying a big bag of garbage and waxing lyrical about Japan's incredible bounty and how much better it was than her home country, where people knowingly eat poisonous mushrooms because there's nothing else. Then Nami tries to get attention by threatening to jump out a window... at which point Nozomu flies down from the roof in a noose and crashes into the wall (he gets better).

* [[http://narutards.smackjeeves.com/comics/36002/the-right-to-complain/ This]] Narutards does this for the main characters of {{Naruto}}.

* Happened a couple of times with April in ''ForBetterOrForWorse''--every time she griped about her not-so-good situation, someone would happen by who was in far worse shape.

* One ''DieselSweeties'' strip had this (roughly, recalled from memory) exchange by several superheroes:

* ''FriendlyHostility'' - Collin trumped Nadine's record of "time not spoken to parents," but was beaten by Leslie Rudd in the "who had the most negligent/abusive" parents stakes. In the last few months of the comic, some Fox vs. Collin Misery Poker went on, particularly amongst the fandom, with Fox's past injuries to Collin being weighed against Collin's increasingly passive-aggressive, taciturn behaviour.

Also sometimes known as Misery Dicks (i.e., my misery dick is bigger than yours).

There is a certain validity to this way of thinking; it's usually better to be positive after all. However, human nature being what it is, we're allowed to feel sad or grumpy from time to time without being criminalised for it. Occasionally, a show or book will acknowledge this and subvert this trope, revealing that the character who was being told off for being such a drama queen by friends with "bigger issues" is actually in pretty serious trouble.

-->'''S:'''"Are you ''Serious?''"

-->'''Both:'''[[Laugh]]

* In the {{Dilbert}} Book, ''Build A Better Life By Stealing Office Supplies'', Dogbert advises office drones that, if you run late, make sure your excuse trumps the one before you--otherwise, you're the weak link and ripe for discipline.

There is a certain validity to this way of thinking; it's usually better to be positive after all. However, human nature being what it is, we're allowed to feel sad or grumpy from time to time without being criminalised for it. Occasionally, a show or book will acknowledge this and subvert this trope, revealing that the character who was being told off for being such a drama queen by friends with "bigger issues" is actually in pretty serious trouble. Sometimes it will be used to [[YouFailLogicForever divert concerns in one area by focusing on a larger concern in one area]] -- this troper has often seen attempts to deflect complaints on the representation of women by asking the complainers what they're doing about female genital mutilation in Africa.

* Monty Python. You know exactly what I'm talking about
--> ''But of course, we had it tough.''

* Referenced and then [[DefiedTrope defied]] in the fourth book of Bruce Coville's ''My Teacher is an Alien'' book series: When Peter hears Susan say "Boy, I miss my family" (as they're traveling with aliens and can't see their families, and she can only have occasional phone calls with them) he thinks ''"At least you have family to miss"'' (due to him thinking that his father couldn't care less about his disappearance) but keeps silent because he doesn't want to get in a game of "Who's the most miserable".