Basic Trope: A character who burns a bridge has to return to deal with the person they offended.
- Straight:
- Alice is seemingly being transferred to a different office at Trope Co., so she tells off her boss — only to find she's not being transferred.
- Alice tells off her boss and is transferred, but later has to return to her office for a project.
- Exaggerated: Upon thinking she's being transferred, Alice tells off her boss, harshly breaks up with her boyfriend, and robs the old man next door. Later she finds out she isn't being transferred.
- Downplayed:
- On what she thinks is her last day, Alice is slightly more abrasive towards her boss, but that's about it.
- Alice is getting transferred, but it's to an office just across town, so she might still see her boss.
- The Exit Is That Way: Alice doesn't have to wind back her outburst itself, but her dramatic exit is spoiled when she walks into a stationery closet and tries to style it out with as much dignity as possible.
- Justified: Alice doesn't like her boss (or her boyfriend, or the old man next door), and feels that she won't have to deal with any repercussions.
- Inverted: Alice promises to tackle a tough project for her boss, promises to move in with her boyfriend, and promises to help the old man next door, only to suddenly get transferred.
- Subverted: Alice tells off her boss and gets transferred, only to have to return to the office - but her boss has since left and no one there remembers her.
- Double Subverted: But later, when she's visiting another department, she sees her old boss...
- Parodied:
- Alice literally burns a bridge to anger her boss. And then she has to cross that burnt bridge. And has to ask her boss for help doing so.
- Alice insists on being a rude Jerkass to everybody on her last day even though everybody is telling her that she's not being transferred.
- Zig Zagged: Alice goes through the humiliation of being rebuffed back to her old position with her tail between her legs... but it's just a prank by her new boss. Having learned nothing, she tries to save face with her colleagues by saying she's only come back because of all the awful things she found out about her new boss... who's Right Behind Her.
- Averted:
- Alice is pleasant on her last day.
- Alice refuses to return to her Bad Boss, no matter what.
- Enforced:
- "People are shipping Alice and the boss, so let's do some Ship Sinking here."
- The actor playing Alice's boss was expecting to quit, so he was being written out, but he decided not to quit instead, resulting in some hasty rewrites.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: In the morning, Alice's roommate tells her that she's glad she's getting transferred and recounts all the slights Alice has mentioned.
- Exploited: The boss holds Alice's outburst over her head, as if it got out, it could sink her career prospects...
- Defied:
- Before she walks in, Alice takes a few seconds to calm herself down.
- Alice decides to proactively repair her relationship with her estranged former colleagues before she encounters them again by chance.
- Alice would rather resign from the company and leave the state to start completely over than be forced to eat crow and ask her old boss for help again.
- Discussed: "Wow, that was awesome! You totally showed them! Man, I could never talk to my colleagues that way, I'd be too worried about burning bridges in case something went wrong with my new job..."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Alice tells off her boss and confidently walks out of her job on her last day. A few hours later she gets a call - the audience doesn't hear it, but she's bone white afterwards.
- Deconstructed: Alice burning her bridges results in her reputation as a terrible coworker or subordinate spreading, as she works in an insular or specialized field and word travels fast.
- Alternately, Alice has done this repeatedly, and now can't get work at all because no one wants to work with her.
- Reconstructed: Alice used to be an Extreme Doormat, but gaining the will to leave her job inspired many of her coworkers. Reconnecting with them is much easier as she now has their respect.
- Alice's former workplace was either corrupt, inefficient, or run by a Pointy-Haired Boss. Alice's outburst called enough attention to the workplace that reforms happened or her original useless boss was fired. Thus, when she comes back, she finds a much friendlier environment with people who are far more helpful.
Hey, screw you guys, I'm outta here!
Oh crap, I have to come back and edit this page...
