History Main / TheDreadedToiletDuty

* One of the labors of Hercules had him cleaning out the ''extremely'' filthy Augean Stables. He made it less disgusting by having two rivers do it for him, but his cousin claimed that labor wasn't done by him and so he had to perform another one.

The cleaning might not be shown on screen, but if it is, expect them to be having a horrible time. Otherwise, their disgusted reactions ''outside'' the bathrooms are often enough to sell the trope. Exaggerated examples might put the character in protective gear, such as a hazmat suit. It's not ''always'' PlayedForLaughs, but if it is, it's pure gross-out comedy mixed with a little {{Schadenfreude}}; the audience knows how disgusting these bathrooms are, and they see the character's comedic suffering at the same time. If they deserve this fate, then the disgust is also mixed with a little karma. Sometimes, a character who's really desperate to avoid doing something will reference "cleaning bathrooms" as something they'd rather do, the joke being that they WouldRatherSuffer.

In works involving militaries, this might cross over with latrine duty. As a matter of fact, many militaries in real life have this as a punishment, explaining the prevalence of it in fiction.

* ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'': Subverted in one strip when Sarge gave Beetle the choice of cleaning the latrines or cleaning the mess hall. Beetle immediately volunteers for latrine duty, which surprises Killer. Beetle tells him that Killer didn't see the last food fight.

* Downplayed in the first ''Film/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' movie. Greg accidentally pees on Rodrick because the latter startled the former while he was peeing. Susan, the boys' mother, makes Greg clean up, partly as punishment but mostly more of a "you made this mess, you clean it up" kind of deal.

* In ''Film/{{Rags}}'', one of Charlie's chores is to do the bathrooms. Though not shown on screen, he's shown walking out with the plunger at one point, looking disgusted. Later, as ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine, Arthur and Andrew, Charlie's tormentors, are the ones cleaning the toilets- and are shown hunched over a single toilet, looking miserable as they scrub it clean.

* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': Victor's most common punishment for the kids is toilet duty. With toothbrushes. It's something they dread, and though in most cases they have to just do the House toilets, one case ended up with ''every'' resident punished- and forced to clean every bathroom in the school.
* ''Series/{{iCarly}}'': In "[=iOwe You=]", Sam gets a terrible job at a gross fast-food joint. Her boss orders her to go and clean out the toilets- the men's toilets, to be specific. She was utterly appalled by the mere idea of it, angrily asking if one of the male employees could do it instead. When forced into it, she gains a look of apprehension as she nervously approaches the bathroom door. Then a fat, burping customer walks out, scaring her even more.

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', this is part of Samwell's duties as a novice of the citadel, which include emptying and cleaning the bedpans from the sick patients. It doesn't help that the soup he is fed in the dining hall looks very similar, and a montage emphasizing this disgusting similarity shows him enduring it for ''days''.

* In the parody BreakUpSong "One More Minute" by Music/WeirdAlYankovic, the narrator sings that he's rather clean all the toilets in Grand Central Station[[note]]with his tongue![[/note]] than spend one more minute with the girl he broke up with.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'':
** Mr. Kornada [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03030.htm refuses to do this]] as part of his community service after he'd already refused to work the cash register.
--->'''Kornada:''' ''What could be worse than this''?\\
'''Manager:''' You ''have'' [[PointyHairedBoss lived a sheltered life]], haven't you?
** He does change his tune upon having the [[KillItWithFire notable]] [[MadeOfExplodium properties]] of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_trifluoride Chlorine Trifluoride]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03032.htm explained to him.]]
--->'''Robot Officer:''' You do not need to fear the cleaning agent chlorine-trifluoride. As long as you do an exemplary job, understand and follow all safety procedures, never take shortcuts and always work with and have the trust of your fellow employees, you will be fine. Do you wish to transfer?\\
''[{{beat}}]''\\
'''Kornada:''' [[KnowWhenToFoldEm Is it too late to request another opportunity to clean the bathrooms]]?

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in the episode "[[Recap/AmericanDadS8E13DrKlaustus Dr. Klaustus]]", where Roger is falsely deployed to Iraq under the alias of [[Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand Sgt. Pepper]] to clean toilets, all with the framing of an actual war movie. Especially emphasized when he's inside a toilet hole in an outhouse before a man comes in.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Inverted in "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbReadyForTheBettys Ready for the Bettys]]", when Candace and Stacy were tasked by the Bettys to do various chores for them. The only one that makes Stacy happy is cleaning the toilets. Played straight with Candace, who is not happy with the way the Bettys treated them and the toilet cleaning chore was the last straw for her.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E04MoistVessel Moist Vessel]]" features a sci-fi equivalent when Mariner is punished for her attitude by having to clean out the holodeck's bio-filters, which Ransom confirms are used mostly for [[TheInternetIsForPorn obscene things]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Series/Titus}} “IS THERE NO GOD?”]]]]

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', "Gaz, Taster of Pork"