History Main / ObliviousJanitorCut

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* A victim's secretary in ''Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutter's Cove'' is unable to hear her boss being murdered in the next room due to [[OneSceneWonder rocking out]] on her headphones.

* Exploited in ''The Vault''. A JanitorImpersonationInfiltration goes awry and an alarm goes off in the bank, leading to security rounding everyone up. Thom has to stay in an executive's office to do work for the heist, but a guard approaches before he can leave. He "hides" by simply sticking his earbuds in and claiming he didn't hear the alarm, which convinces the guard.

* ''Film/GhostRider'': The eponymous biker rides down the side of a office building, shattering glass windows all the way down, and the janitor, wearing headphones again, doesn't notice the broken glass until after GR is long gone.

* Gets egregious in ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', when a janitor walks past Mystique ''disguised as him''.

* In ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout'', we see an office worker at her desk with her headphones on while Ethan Hunt is shown through the window behind trying to ascent to the rooftop.

* There's an urban legend about a hospital in South Africa. Time and again, a patient died in the same bed once a week for no apparent reason. It's soon discovered that the deaths have been caused by a cleaning guy who would unplug the patient's life-support system to plug in his floor polisher. [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/polished-off/ Snopes]] found a similar version of the myth in a 1960s tale of an English power station whose janitor was continually emptying a watershed diorama in order to fill her water bucket, scaring scientists into thinking they needed to replan the power station.

* In the first issue of ''Comicbook/{{Inferno}}'', a family visiting the Empire State Building gets eaten by a demon-possessed EvilElevator. Something that goes unnoticed by the headphone-wearing janitor.

[[caption-width-right:313: Nothing to see here, folks]]

* ''Film/TrueLies'': The janitor doesn't notice the jet flying around outside until it crashes into the window.

* ''Film/GhostRider'': The eponymous biker rides down the side of a office building, shattering glass windows all the way down, and the janitor, wearing headphones again, doesn't notice the broken glass until after GR is long gone.
* ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'': A tornado suddenly and severely damages a building. The janitor doesn't notice until the lights go out. {{Justified|Trope}} in that he is in a windowless hallway. The janitor then opens the nearest door and sees that half of the building has been sheared off by the wind, taken two lovers with them (in which the janitor saw the man running to that room).

* ''Film/Super8'': [[spoiler:Breen misses the sheriff being taken by the monster just behind him while listening to his Walkman.]]

* Gets egregious in ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', when a janitor walks past Mystique ''disguised as him''.

* The custodian in ''Film/{{Gutterballs}}'' doesn't realize a girl is gang raped nearby, due to his headphones and floor buffer.

* Parodied in ''Film/AmazonWomenOnTheMoon'', when Arsenio Hall's luckless character [[DisasterDominoes ends up falling to his death]] from his apartment in a shower of broken glass, a nearby street-sweeper reacts with a "feels like rain" gesture.
* In ''Film/TheTournament'', the service station attendant has his earbuds in and is looking away from the monitors, and so somehow fails to a notice a fight to death going on behind him between Lai Lai and Miles, despite them crashing through the glass door into the shop.
* In ''Film/TowerHeist'', a maid wearing headphones while vacuuming an apartment fails to notice the Ferrari being lowered outside the window behind her.

* In ''Film/TragedyGirls'', the school janitor walks into the wood shop and empties the rubbish bin while [[FailedASpotCheck failing to notice]] Sadie and [=McKayla=] dismembering a body on a bench about 10 ft. away from him.
* ''Film/DieHard''. While a police car is careening wildly to avoid machine gun fire, we cut to a scene of Argyle the chauffeur rocking out with his limousine's stereo cranked up high [[FunnyBackgroundEvent oblivious to what's happening behind him]]. He only realises that he's locked in the building with a gang of terrorists after he sees a news report on the limo's TV.

* ''Series/PushingDaisies'': Olive breaks into a musical number while closing up the pie shop. Toward the end, the janitor pulls off his headphones, interrupting her song, and asks if she said something.
* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': In the episode "Chuck vs. the Push Mix", the camera shows a janitor buffing the floor in the foreground, and the long-awaited proposal from Chuck to Sarah in the background.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'', the eponymous character stops a helicopter from crashing into a building. Inside the building is a janitor listening to music while vacuuming, who fails to notice the helicopter. Naturally, Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} stops it before it hits the room he's working in.

* In the LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek ''Without Her Consent'', a young woman is acquaintance-raped by a man after going to his house to look at used furniture he's supposedly selling. Throughout the assault, we get quick cuts of his neighbor mowing his lawn, drowning out her screams for help. Even more sickening, it's possible that he specifically planned to attack her at this time knowing that this would happen.
* ''Series/OneHundredThingsToDoBeforeHighSchool'': In "Have the Best Halloween Ever Thing!", the garbage man is wearing headphones and so fails to hear Principal Hader screaming at him as she falls into the dumpster he is hoisting into his truck.

* The theatrical trailer for ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' involves a massive teamfight with Tracer and Winston vs. Reaper and Widowmaker in the middle of a museum. Where's security? Obliviously playing ''[[VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft Hearth]][[ProductPlacement stone]]'' on his tablet.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'': In the episode "Nature vs. Nuture", Spidey stops a helicopter from crashing into an office building, and the janitor doesn't even turn around.
* This is a running gag in the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' ''Franchise/StarWars'' specials. In that case, it's combined with UnusuallyUninterestingSight.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode, "Doing Time," there is a janitor listening to headphones who is completely unfazed by the fact that a giant wave of cranberry juice just blasted through the hallway he was mopping.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' episode "Portal Enemy", Hiro and [[VillainOfTheWeek Sirque]] brawl amidst teleporting to different areas via [[CallBack "Silent Sparrow" portals]]. One of those areas is Fred's room; Heathcliff is dusting the room, oblivious to the battle behind him leaving a big mess. But after they're gone, he turns around, and sees the mess.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' episode "Portal Enemy", Hiro and [[VillainOfTheWeek Sirque]] brawl amidst teleporting to different areas via [[CallBack "Silent Sparrow" portals]]. One of those areas is Fred's room; Heathcliff is dusting the room, oblivious the battle behind him leaving a big mess. But after they're gone, he turns around, and sees the mess.

** In the ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' episode "Portal Enemy", Hiro and [[VillainOfTheWeek Sirque]] brawl amidst teleporting to different areas via [[CallBack "Silent Sparrow" portals]]. One of those areas is Fred's room; Heathcliff is dusting the room, oblivious the battle behind him leaving a big mess. But after they're gone, he turns around, and sees the mess.

A [[Music/TwistedSister Twisted]] [[SisterTrope Sister]] [[{{Pun}} Trope]] to FunnyBackgroundEvent.

* ''Film/DieHard''. While a police car is careering wildly in the background to avoid machine gun fire, we cut to a scene of Argyle the chauffeur rocking out with his limousine's stereo cranked up high. He only realises that he's locked in the building with a gang of terrorists after he sees a news report on the limo's TV.

* ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'': A tornado suddenly and severely damages a building. The janitor doesn't notice until the lights go out. {{Justified|Trope}} in that he is in a windowless hallway. The janitor then opens the nearest door and sees that half of the building has been sheared off by the wind.

[[folder:{{Comics}}]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]

* ''{{Film/Super 8}}'': [[spoiler:Breen misses the sheriff being taken by the monster just behind him while listening to his Walkman.]]

[[folder: LiveActionTV]]

--> '''Mike Trainor:''' ''(as snow-shoveler)'' This does not affect my day.

[[folder: VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'': In the episode "Nature Vs. Nuture", Spidey stops a helicopter from crashing into an office building, and the janitor doesn't even turn around.
* This is a running gag in the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' ''StarWars'' specials.
** In that case, it's combined with UnusuallyUninterestingSight.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode, "Doing Time," there is a janitor listening to headphones who is completely unfazed by the fact that a giant wave of cranberry juice just blasted through the hallway he was mopping.

* In Episode 3 of the Telltale game of ''VideoGame/BackToTheFuture'', Marty crashes the [=DeLorean=] into a billboard in A-1986. A young woman picking up trash on the highway (who later turns out to be none other than Marty's girlfriend Jennifer) has her back turned and her headphones on.

A recurring gag in action or speculative fiction works where something absolutely incredible is happening outside, but then we cut to the inside of an office building and we see that the janitor is completely oblivious to what is going on around him, either because [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation he has his headphones on]], because [[FailedASpotCheck his back is turned]] or because the cleaning equipment he is operating is too loud.

* {{Lampshaded}} in a clip on ''Series/WorldsDumbest'' in which the police are chasing a criminal into a government building...and some guy is nonchalantly shoveling snow the whole time.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode, "Doing Time," there is a janitor listening to a headphones who is completely unfazed by the fact that a giant wave of cranberry juice just blasted through the hallway he was mopping.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode, "The Deepening," there is a janitor listening to a headphones who is completely unfazed by the fact that a giant mechanical shark just shattered the window he was vacuuming next to.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode, "The Deepening," there is a janitor listening to a headphones who is completely unfazed by the fact that a giant shark just shattered the window he was vacuuming next to.