History Main / PleaseDumpMe

* ''LightNovel/YouLikeMeNotMyDaughter'': More like "please don't fall in love with me". [[StacysMom Ayako]] tries several times to make herself look unattractive and irresponsible to [[SingleTargetSexuality Takkun]] (invoking CantHoldHerLiquor and showing him her "lame" obsession with the MagicalGirl show ''[[ShowWithinAShow Love Kaiser]]'', which he happens to also like), but he sees through her every time.

* Meredith thinks Derek is doing this at one stage in ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', when he flirts with [[{{TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry}} her sister]]. It turns out he ''does'' want her to dump him, but it's because [[spoiler: she's always walking away from him and then coming back, and he loves her too much to leave her when she's a bitch to him.]] This is a bit rich, though - I mean, [[spoiler: who had the secret wife here, huh?]]

* [[Series/{{Frasier}} Niles Crane]] did this to get his second wife Mel to divorce him so he could finally get with Daphne, the love of his life. However, there's a twist: not wanting to suffer the social embarrassment of her husband leaving her for another woman a few days after marriage, Mel is the one who engineers the Please Dump Me ploy to make it appear that Niles is the worst husband ever and that she is the innocent, devoted wife who is ''driven'' to divorce. She blackmails Niles into compliance (promising a "quick, simple divorce" in return), and in true SpringtimeForHitler fashion, her attempts to make him look bad horribly backfire.

* Queen from ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', upon capturing the main heroes and her newfound annoying teammate Berdly, convinces the latter to sod off by claiming that she only plays [[AllegedlyFreeGame mobile games]], and thus isn't a true {{gamer| chick}} (this isn't actually TRUE, as she'd challenged Kris to not-VideoGame/PunchOut earlier in the chapter).

* Queen from ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', upon capturing the main heroes and her newfound annoying teammate Berdly, convinces the latter to sod off by claiming that she only plays [[AllegedlyFreeGame mobile games]], and thus isn't a true {{gamer| chick}}.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable,'' when Koichi is scared of Yukako but doesn't want to openly reject her, Josuke and Okuyasu try to turn her off of him by talking loudly in her earshot about how he shoplifts, cheats on his tests, steals girls' underwear, and never returns money. It backfires, because Yukako kidnaps Koichi and tries to change him for the better.

* In the "WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Pulling Double Booty", Hayley starts dating [[{{Squick}} her father Stan's body double Bill]], but Bill takes advantage of their similarity to nearly sleep with Stan's wife Francine, provoking Stan to kick him out. Afraid to admit to Hayley that Bill was cheating on her (as Hayley enters an UnstoppableRage when she is dumped), Stan poses as Bill and decides to be utterly obnoxious so as to make Hayley do the dumping. It doesn't work, but he ultimately ends up sharing some more loving moments that Hayley wasn't aware of, pleasing Hayley enough that she doesn't care when Stan actually dumps her... at least until she realizes that she's with her father, and not Bill.

[[folder: Mythology]]

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable,'' when Koichi is scared of Yukako but doesn't want to openly reject her, Josuke and Okuyasu try to turn her off of him by talking loudly in her earshot about how he shoplifts, cheats on his tests, steals girls' underwear, and never returns money. It backfires, because Yukako kidnaps Koichi and tries to change him for the better.

* Queen from ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', upon capturing the main heroes and her newfound annoying teammate Berdly, convinces the latter to sod off by claiming that she only plays [[AllegedlyFreeGame mobile games]], thus not being a true {{gamer| chick}}.

* Queen from ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', upon capturing the main heroes and her newfound annoying teammate Berdly, convinces the latter to sod off by claiming that she only plays [[AllegedlyFreeGame mobile games]].

* This was the entire plot of the movie ''Film/HowToLoseAGuyIn10Days''. Well, Andie's half of the plot, anyway. Ben's half consists of doing the exact opposite (being charming enough that Addie falls in love with him). Watching them manipulate and sabotage each other at almost every turn is...''interesting'' to watch.

* Subverted if the player romances [[TokenEvilTeammate Morr]][[TheVamp igan]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. She does this, even going so far as to beg the player to say he doesn't love her, not because she doesn't have feelings for him, but because she's scared to death she might.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable,'' when Koichi is scared of Yukako but doesn't want to openly reject her, Josuke and Okuyasu try to turn her off of him by talking loudly in her earshot about how he steals and has no dignity. It backfires, because Yukako kidnaps Koichi and tries to change him for the better.

Reasons for this vary. Bob might know the relationship has to end, but he doesn't want to be the bad guy, especially if what's turning him off could be seen as shallow or insignificant by others. He might genuinely want to spare Alice's feelings, and figures that she won't be heartbroken if she's the one who initiates the breakup. He might realize that [[RomanticFalseLead he's not the one she belongs with]], and does this to make her see that. He might be afraid of what her [[OverprotectiveDad father]] or [[KnightTemplarBigBrother big brother]] [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer might do to him]] if he dumps her. Hell, he might be afraid of what ''[[WomanScorned Alice]]'' [[PsychoExGirlfriend will do to him]] if he dumps her. If they're married, they might have a prenup that makes it desirable for Bob not to be the one to request a divorce. Or perhaps they aren't in a relationship to begin with: Alice could be an AbhorrentAdmirer who keeps chasing after Bob trying to get a date, or a SelfProclaimedLoveInterest who insists they are ''already'' dating and refuses to accept any claims to the contrary, and Bob thinks this will get her to leave him alone for good.

In more serious works, discovering this trope in action will result with the wannabe dumpee labeled a DirtyCoward. Unless it turns out that he's DatingCatwoman in which case the fear is justified. In comedic works, expect Bob to either resign himself to being stuck with Alice, or realize that he actually loves her and wants to be with her after all, only for her to then dump him for some other reason (bonus points if it's his normal behaviour that finally turns her off).

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

* ''Manga/FairyTail'' has Erza encounter Jellal shortly after the 7-year TimeSkip, leading to an AlmostKiss scene before Jellal suddenly shoves her away and claims to have a fiancee. When his new teammates call him out on his lie, he admits that he doesn't feel that he deserves Erza (who knows that it was a lie, but accepts Jellal's hesitation to further their relationship).

* In ''Manga/TheWallflower'', Ranmaru tries to break off an marriage meeting with a young lady his parents set him up with. He decides the best way to get out of it is to get the girl to hate him and chooses to do this by copying his roommates behaviors (or his interpetations of them anyway) this manages to backfire when the girl in question, Tamao, manages to point out the good things about each and every one of them.

[[folder:{{Film}}]]

* A rather tragic version is mentioned in ''Film/{{Dogma}}'', when one of the Mooby's boardmembers apparently got his girlfriend drunk at a party and arranged for another guy to sleep with her, just so he could dump her without himself looking bad for it. She ended up committing suicide over her "betrayal of trust".

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* Done repeatedly on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''. Tactics included suggesting a threesome, cheating, nosepicking, smoking and asking for a [[PrenupBlowup prenuptial agreement]] (the last three were with the same woman). Sometimes it worked, but more often than not, it backfired.

* Richard on ''Series/CarolineInTheCity'' tried nosepicking, too. It backfired miserably when the intended dumpee became gleeful at the prospect that Richard was comfortable enough in their relationship not to hide his disgusting habits around her... and consequently felt no shame about now trotting out ''her'' disgusting habits.

* One episode of ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' had Earl get back together with a clingy girlfriend. After realising she was emotionally needy (and not wanting to tie her down too much), Earl tried to get her to stand up for herself by acting like a complete dick so she'd move on and find someone else. He resorts to having her find him in bed with another woman, which still doesn't get her sufficiently annoyed, before he talked to her about what he was doing.

* Drake does it in ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', when he finds out his girlfriend is the daughter of his SadistTeacher and had an AnnoyingLaugh. Said teacher has been going easy on him lately because he makes her daughter happy, but threatens to treat him even worse than before [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer if he ever breaks up with her]], so he tries to make her break up with him instead.
* [[Series/{{Frasier}} Niles Crane]] did this to get his second wife Mel to divorce him so he could finally get with Daphne, the love of his life. However, there's a twist: not wanting to suffer the social embarrassment of her husband leaving her for another woman a few days after marriage, Mel is the one who engineers the Please Dump Me ploy to make it appear that Niles is the worst husband ever and that she is the innocent, devoted wife who is ''driven'' to divorce. She blackmails Niles into compliance (promising a "quick, simple divorce" in return) and in true SpringtimeForHitler fashion her attempts to make him look bad horribly backfire.

** Believing that his female roommate is attracted to him, Joey on asks Ross and Chandler for advice on how to repel women (suggestions were explaining one's jokes, making [[http://www.instantrimshot.com rimshot]] noises, and talking about science.)

* In ''Series/{{Misfits}}'', Curtis tries this on his girlfriend Sam. Even though he’s the one doing the dumping, he has to do it in such a way that will make her furious rather than sad (for reasons [[ItMakesSenseInContext too complex to go into]] – lets just say it involves [[DefenceMechanismSuperpower defence mechanism superpowers]] and TimeTravel). In his desperate attempts to provoke the desired reaction, he accuses her of having "weird tits" and [[{{squick}} "nasty snatch-gunk"]], and claims to be impotent, gay and terminally ill. None of it works. In the end, it’s Curtis trying to justify his actions with a quote from a ''Film/SpiderMan1'' movie that makes her hate him and want to break up.

* This is the justification many caught-in-the-act suspects on ''Cheaters'' give when pressed about why they're cheating. Apparently, they don't want to really break up the relationship, but are fine spending lots of time pissing off their partner...

* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': In the third season premiere Dick is assigned a "wife", Janet, who's also the niece of the Big Giant Head. As a result Dick can't send her back to the home planet without getting in trouble. He instead decides to ''drive'' her away by acting like a boorish slob, which mostly involves channeling Stanley from ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'', but can't follow through and immediately apologises for being mean to her. Janet eventually leaves after Dick explains to her that they don't ''have'' to be together just because the Big Giant Head said so.

[[folder:StandUpComedy]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]

** For weeks after her return from Hollywood, during which she fell for, kissed and nearly slept with another girl, Sara delays telling Daphne it's over. When she notices Daphne glaring at Sara's best friend Penny over her aristocratic behaviour, Sara thinks, "Don't make a scene, Daph. ''Make'' a scene, Daph," suggesting that part of her longs for an excuse, that doesn't involve confessing her borderline-infidelity, to dump her. Some time later, when Daphne and her childhood best friend Fred (who's also gay) share a platonic kiss during a [[ParlorGames party game]], Sara sports a noticeably [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] look, but denies feeling that way when Daphne calls her on it. When she does finally get up the nerve to break up with Daphne, Sara confesses that she had been "trying to send a clear signal" but decided not to throw a fit about the kiss because she realized she was being "a brat and a coward, waiting for an easy way out."
* Alan from the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Avalon}}'' drew this out for ''three years'' with Helène. He had initially dated her due to her popularity, but quickly regretted it due to her being extremely clingy, but he also didn't want to hurt her too badly. Eventually, his best friend Joe [[spoiler:tells it to her straight, and it turns out she knew this whole time that Alan was no longer in love with her, but she convinced herself that he still cared about her and they could make this work. Knowing that he'd been trying to break things off with her convinces her to finally stop trying and let him go]].

[[folder:{{Web Original}}]]

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FIsForFamily'', Greg has a very simple way to doing this: he confesses to his wife that he's gay. Unfortunately, she's so in denial that even as he's literally begging her to divorce him, she just tearfully yells at him to stop "being silly."

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': When Bugs wants to get out of his relationship with Lola, he [[DisguisedInDrag dresses up as a woman]] to warn Lola that Bugs is a playboy and heartbreaker. It seems to work for about thirty seconds, before Lola gleefully announces that she's never been with a BadBoy before.
* ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'': When Hal Jordan dumped Carol Ferris, she revealed herself as Star Sapphire and became a super-powered WomanScorned. To get her to calm down and stop attacking him, Jessica Cruz decides that getting her to fall out of love is the best plan. They have him change clothes, hunch over and ruin his hair to make him unattractive, while he talks about nerdy interests. This ''thrills'' Carol, because no one else could possibly love this version of him, which makes her love that much purer.

[[TruthInTelevision Happens in real life]], and let's leave it at that.

* Ron Weasley tries this with Lavender Brown in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' after she becomes insufferably clingy. Although he didn't try to make her dump him by being gross or offending or something, he just ran away from her.

Reasons for this vary. Bob might know the relationship has to end, but he doesn't want to be the bad guy, especially if what's turning him off could be seen as shallow or insignificant by others. He might genuinely want to spare Alice's feelings, and figures that she won't be heartbroken if she's the one who initiates the breakup. He might realize that [[RomanticFalseLead he's not the one she belongs with]], and does this to make her see that. He might be afraid of what her [[OverprotectiveDad father]] or big brother [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer might do to him]] if he dumps her. If they're married, they might have a prenup that makes it desirable for Bob not to be the one to request a divorce. Or perhaps they aren't in a relationship to begin with: Alice could be an AbhorrentAdmirer who keeps chasing after Bob trying to get a date, or a SelfProclaimedLoveInterest who insists they are ''already'' dating and refuses to accept any claims to the contrary, and Bob thinks this will get her to leave him alone for good.

[[SpringtimeForHitler Almost always backfires]], especially if played for comedy. Acting like a [[JabbaTableManners disgusting]] [[{{Gasshole}} slob]] will only cause Alice to feel incredibly flattered that Bob can act so "comfortable" around her, at which point she will start behaving similarly. Acting like a {{Jerkass}} will only reveal that Alice [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys has a thing for bad boys]].

In more serious works, discovering this trope in action will result with the wannabe dumpee labeled a DirtyCoward. Unless it turns out that he's DatingCatwoman in which case the fear is justified.

* [[Series/{{Frasier}} Niles Crane]] did this to get his second wife Mel to divorce him so he could finally get with Daphne, the love of his life. However, there's a twist: not wanting to suffer the social embarrassment of her husband leaving her for another woman a few days after marriage, Mel is the one who engineers the PleaseDumpMe ploy to make it appear that Niles is the worst husband ever and that she is the innocent, devoted wife who is ''driven'' to divorce. She blackmails Niles into compliance (promising a "quick, simple divorce" in return) and in true SpringtimeForHitler fashion her attempts to make him look bad horribly backfire.

* Alan from the webcomic ''{{Webcomic/Avalon}}'' drew this out for ''three years'' with Helène.

* A substantial portion of ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'' is "Daphne" trying to do this to Osgood

--> '''Osgood''': Well ... nobody's ''perfect''.
** And then of course there's the last scene.

* This is also the plot of nearly every ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' novel. Bertie is a... can't remember the word, start's with a ''p'', but he's got this thing where he can never say "no" to a woman. It's French. Anyway, Jeeves usually ends up doing something amazing to solve both his problem and the problem of the week at the same time. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertie_Wooster Preux chevalier]]'', that was it.
* [[Literature/HarryPotter Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown]]. Although he didn't try to make her dump him by being gross or offending or something, he just ran away from her.

So Bob tries to get Alice to break up with him first, [[JerkassFacade usually by engaging in unattractive behavior.]]

Reasons for this vary. Bob might know the relationship has to end, but he doesn't want to be the bad guy, especially if what's turning him off could be seen as shallow or insignificant by others. He might genuinely want to spare Alice's feelings, and figures that she won't be heartbroken if she's the one who initiates the breakup. He might realize that [[RomanticFalseLead he's not the one she belongs with]], and does this to make her see that. He might be afraid of what her [[OverprotectiveDad father]] or big brother [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer might do to him]]. If they're married, they might have a prenup that makes it desirable for Bob not to be the one to request a divorce. Or perhaps they aren't even ''in'' a relationship to begin with, and Alice is merely an AbhorrentAdmirer who [[MadLove refuses to accept that "her man" isn't quite as enamored with her as she thinks]].

[[SpringtimeForHitler Almost always backfires]], especially if played for comedy. Acting like a [[JabbaTableManners total slob]] will only result in Alice being incredibly flattered that Bob can act so "comfortable" around her, at which point she will start behaving similarly. Acting like a {{Jerkass}} will only reveal that Alice [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys has a thing for bad boys]].

* [[spoiler: Yuno]] tries this in ''Manga/MiraiNikki'', since she comes to want [[spoiler: Yukiteru]] to ''hate'' her.