Basic Trope: Doing good deeds doesn't earn you the proper recognition.
- Straight: Bob has done a lot of good deeds for others, but when he needs help with a simple task, those he's aided treat him like a stranger.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob has done a lot of good deeds, way more than any other heroes, but no one, not even his own friends and family, will say a simple "thank you."
- Bob is known to have saved the world multiple times, but nobody ever thanks him, and everyone constantly ask him to do tasks like unclogging their toilets.
- Every time Bob does good deeds for others, they responds with insults.
- Downplayed: Bob has done nice things to people. Only a few people thank him while the rest didn't.
- Justified:
- Others feel that Bob helping them is unnecessary.
- Bob does good deeds to atone for his past crimes, but people won't let go of what he's done.
- The people who Bob has helped are those who hate him for no reason.
- People have a habit of forgetting what Bob has done.
- Bob's good deeds are low-profile, acknowledged only by those he helps and the few witnesses (assuming that anybody's even aware of his help, depending on how low-profile he is). Nobody else ever sees them.
- Bob may have done a lot of good, but he has also caused a lot of problems. Bystanders won't give him any respect because they're annoyed at him, but they won't ostracize him either because of the benefits of having him around.
- Bob is trying to go unnoticed for his own reasons, and goes out of his way say Think Nothing of It if he isn't outright hiding his involvement.
- Bob is simply surrounded by stronger or renowned heroes who take the spotlight.
- Inverted:
- Bob has done a lot of horrible things to others, yet others don't seem to care.
- Bob performs a deed that gets him respect. Unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding the event that earns him this respect are so traumatizing for other people that they lose their self-respect.
- Bob hasn't even started his first mission yet or finished his training yet he is treated like he is the serial savior of mankind.
- Subverted: Someone starts to ask Bob to do some menial task in exchange for a simple favor, but another character intervenes. "Don't you know who that is? It's Bob, he saved our entire town! The least we could do is help him out!"
- Double Subverted: The intervening character is a Manipulative Bastard who is thinks Bob is Dumb Muscle he can flatter into doing his menial task.
- Parodied:
- When Bob dies, at the pearly gates, he is asked if he has done any good deeds. After reciting every single good thing he has done in his life, the only response he gets is an "I wasn't watching."
- Bob is a Hero with an F in Good whose attempts at heroism invariably end in disaster. He still gets offended when people don't give him "the respect he deserves."
- Zig Zagged: Bob does good things, and some people respect him for it, some don't and some people are confused about what he has and hasn't been doing.
- Averted: People give Bob the proper recognition he deserves.
- Enforced:
- "Making Bob popular in-universe would make the show too complicated, so don't have people recognize him."
- "We can't confuse the people watching these episodes out of order or skipping episodes. We must always keep Bob at the same status as when the show began."
- In a video game people giving proper respect would cut the player off of many quests and indirect rewards from 'trivial' issues they wouldn't bother Bob with.
- Lampshaded: "Has anyone forgotten about the word 'gratitude'?"
- Invoked: The citizens want to show how much they hate Bob, so they decide not to thank him for anything if he helps them.
- Exploited: The villain tries to corrupt Bob by pointing out how under appreciated he is as a good guy.
- Defied:
- "Why am I worrying about their approval? It means jack-shit! I'll just continue to do good, and that's all that matters."
- When Alice sees that nobody gives Bob the recognition he deserves, she gives everyone "The Reason You Suck" Speech for their lack of gratitude.
- Discussed: "I saved the world, but I still can't get a cab! What's up with that?"
- Conversed: Upon Bob's death, at the pearly gates, he is asked if he has done any good deeds whatsoever. When he informs St. Peter of all the good he has done, all he gets is a "sorry, I must have missed that."
- Deconstructed:
- Realizing that many of the people don't give him any gratitude, Bob quits doing good deeds and begins his life as a villain, tormenting those who never gave him the respect he deserves.
- Bob simply stops doing good deeds for others, and it isn't long before other people start to notice just how bad things were without his thankless help.
- Bob is prepared to spend the rest of eternity in Hell despite his many good deeds, until a demon offers him an alternative; revenge against the people who flatly ignored his altruism, which he scornfully ends up taking. His first victim? The asshole sitting at the pearly gates who denied him entry simply because he "wasn't paying attention".
- Reconstructed:
- Bob is aware that the good things he does today, people will forget tomorrow. Nevertheless he does good things, because, after all, his life is ultimately about honoring Jesus's love and forgiveness.
- Bob spends the rest of eternity in Hell despite his many good deeds, but doesn't endlessly suffer like he thought he would. Turns out that being "crushed under the weight of your sins" was a literal concept in Hell, and being as altruistic as he was means that he has too little sin in him to be properly tortured and is just given a new job. Once he gets used to the (surprisingly cordial) demons, ever-present fire and brimstone, and constant screaming, he's "living" nice and comfortably away from all the people who couldn't even bother to notice the selfless things he did.
Back to Dude, Where's My Respect?
