Basic Trope: A guest overstays their welcome.
- Straight: Bob needs a place to crash after getting kicked out of his parents' house, and Alice offers him a place to stay for a few days. He stays for the rest of the month.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob needs a place to crash after getting kicked out of his parents' house, and Alice offers him a place to stay for a few days. Six months later, he is still "crashing" on her couch. He never helps with chores, doesn't look for a job or a new place to live, brings home random girls he meets at the bars without telling Alice, uses Alice's home phone to call his friend in Australia (and doesn't call collect or use a calling card), doesn't help out with the rent/mortgage/bills or pay room-and-board, and chews with his mouth open.
- Bob has been there so long, Alice has to hire a lawyer and formally evict him.
- Alice tries her best to make Bob's stay at her house as uncomfortable as possible. She plays loud music at all hours, cooks food that he hates, neglects to clean any messes. While these techniques worked on all of her previous guests, Bob does not even budge.
- Alice has been driven so crazy by Bob's stay that she has threatened extreme violence upon Bob if he does not leaves. And when he still does not, she has performed said violence. And still, Bob refuses to leave.
- Downplayed:
- Alice invites her Country Cousin Bob to stay for a week. He ends up staying for an extra three days.
- Bob gets the idea that he is overstaying his welcome and decides to begin packing. He slowly begins to move his various possessions into boxes and bags. While Alice is annoyed by the pace Bob is working at, he does eventually move out.
- Justified:
- Alice is concerned for Bob, because he is a family member, and he's down on his luck. Bob, however, is selfish and entitled.
- Bob's entire life fell apart and he is in the midst of a massive depressive crash, and even getting out of bed, eating, and taking a shower are notable achievements for him at this point and Alice isn't going to push the issue based on what he's currently going through.
- Alice is one of those people that has a hard time saying "No," even when people (like Bob) need to hear it.
- Laws or customs concerning Sacred Hospitality forbid Alice from kicking Bob out, or even asking him to help out with chores and/or bills or pay rent.
- Bob was just released from Prison. He is released to Alice's home, because she is his sister. He finds that he's having a hard time adjusting to life "on the outside." The social norms and food are different than he's used to, and he can't pay Alice rent or room-and-board because he's having trouble finding steady, honest work. And though he would like to be in his own apartment, he keeps getting denied a lease because of his criminal record.
- Inverted:
- Bob tells Alice he intends to leave in the morning, so Alice wakes him and has him out of the house at the break of dawn.
- Bob packs his things and intends to leave. Alice does her best to make him stay because, without him, she can't make the rent payments.
- Subverted:
- Bob earns his keep; he helps out with chores, and he looks for work while he's staying with Alice.
- Bob is staying in Alice's beach house, not in Alice's regular house.
- Bob pays Alice room and board, or rent money.
- Double Subverted:
- But he does the chores all wrong, so Alice ends up having to do extra work. And he isn't looking for work as hard as he could be.
- When Alice and her family get to the beach house for the summer, Bob is still there, and the place has been completely turned upside down.
- For a while. After a while, he stops paying because he's out of money, and isn't looking for work.
- Parodied:
- Bob claims ownership of the house while Alice goes grocery shopping, and kicks her out.
- Bob is still crashing on Alice's couch, only he and Alice are elderly.
- Bob checks into a motel, and even though he's able to pay for it, they kick him out after a few days because they can't stand him.
- Zig Zagged:
- Bob often shows up at Alice's house, who is willing to give him shelter. Eventually she will kick him out, but will let him back in after a while.
- Sometimes Bob is shown contributing to the household, or at least pulling his own weight. Other times he relies on Alice to take care of things.
- Bob visits Alice and soon begins to outstay his welcome. With no where else to go Alice decides to make Bob her roommate, and establishes rental obligations and boundaries for their relationship. Bob is initially hesitant, but eventually caves. Later Bob finally decides he is ready to move out, but repeatedly puts off the moving date until Alice finally kicks him out.
- Averted: Bob doesn't come to stay with Alice.
- Enforced:
- "We need to do an episode where Alice has to get over her problem with saying "No" to the people she cares about. How about we have one of her friends stay at her house and overstay his welcome?"
- The show's writers want Alice and Bob relationship to have a rocky beginning, so they initially portray him as an annoying mooch who Alice only tolerates.
- Lampshaded: "Bob, you've been "crashing" for weeks now! When are you going to get a job?"
- Implied: One scene has Charlie look at Bob, who is sitting in the couch placidly, and then to his watch, and then giving Bob a Death Glare.
- Invoked:
- Charlie is sick of his roommate Bob so he suggests he stays at Alice's to make him her problem.
- Bob and Alice are part of an extremely bloody Feuding Families scenario but Alice's family still respects the concept of Sacred Hospitality. As long as Bob remains a guest, he won't get a bullet through his brain, so he tries his damnedest to do so.
- Exploited: Whenever Charlie needs a quick and easy meal, he stops at Alice's house, knowing that Bob would be willing to provide him access to Alice's possession because they are not his.
- Defied:
- Bob checks into a motel, and soon enough, gets himself a new apartment.
- "Get the fuck out of my house!!!" Depending on the stubbornness of the subject, additional violence may be required.
- Bob makes multiple living arrangements with various family members and friends. If anyone gets sick of him, he has a backup plan.
- Discussed: "I really wish you would take responsibility and find a new home so you can get out of my house already! You think my food grows on trees?!"
- Conversed: "Alright, dude, I've had it. You've been here for three months 'getting your feet under you' and you haven't done a damn thing to actually do that, and I'm tired of you taking advantage of my largesse." "Look, dude, my whole life fell apart. I know I haven't done much to improve my situation, I'll own that, but bro, I'm still just trying to recover and heal from the events of the past year." "Oh my fucking god Bob, enough with that 'I'm healing' bullshit. All you do is sit around all day eating my food, watching Netflix and playing video games on my TV, and smoking weed - which, might I add, you magically always seem to have money for despite your mantra of 'dawg I'm broke' whenever I ask you to contribute to household expenses - oh, and let's not forget those sketchy-ass hookups I've caught you sneaking in despite my repeated insistence that you not do that under my roof. Give it up. You've lost, I'm done, and you need to find somewhere else." "Thanks for being so understanding. I'll remember this next time you're struggling."
- Played For Laughs: Bob's persistent stay is full of Faux Horrific symbolism.
- Played For Drama: Bob's persistent stay either drives everybody into an eventual mental breakdown, or was caused by Bob becoming so mentally fractured that he no longer can reliably take care of himself.
- Played For Horror:
- Bob happens to be a Yandere Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and he doesn't reacts nicely at all at being asked to leave.
- Alice is so fed up with Bob's stay that she uses him as a Human Sacrifice to an Eldritch Abomination, thinking he is prime Asshole Victim material.
- Alice summons Yog-Sothoth to get rid of Bob. Bob destroys Yog-Sothoth. Alice craps her pants as she figures out that Bob is something a whole lot more dangerous than a jackass tenant.
- Bob is a variation of the Old Beggar Test. You can either stand him and his relentlessly annoying behavior for a few months or you can take your chances with an odyssey that would make Odysseus' and Job's look like an alphabet book.
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