History Main / FallenOnHardTimesJob

->''"A man who doesn't know how to do anything goes to work as a guard. A woman who doesn't know how to do anything goes to work as a prostitute. Both jobs are basically the same thing; sleeping for money."''

* ''Film/SunshineCleaning'' deconstructs this. Rose drags her sister into starting an impromptu business cleaning up crime scenes - because she needs the money to get her son into a private school. Although disgusted by the work at first, she soon finds enjoyment in it and comes to love it - especially when she realises that what she does benefits people.

* When Creator/MickeyRourke's character in ''Film/TheWrestler'' is forced to leave the ring--even at the low-level promotion he had been with since falling from national stardom--he resorts to working the deli counter at a grocery store. The movie plays with this as Randy actually seems to enjoy working with the customers - though he's mortified when someone recognises him as a wrestler.
* Derek ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'' joins his father and brothers in the coal mines after he retired from modeling.

* ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'': The [[UrExample First ever examples]] are the jobs the Pandava princes and Draupadi are forced to take on during their one year spent incognito at King Viraat's palace. After losing their kingdom, all their wealth, personal belongings, and pretty much everything except their armor and weapons in a dice game, the Pandavas and Draupadi spend twelve years living in the forest followed by a year spent in hiding under assumed identities. Yudhistir becomes a court advisor for King Viraat, Draupadi becomes the queen's personal maid, Bhim becomes a cook, Nakul tends horses in the royal stable, Sahadev tends to the king's cows, and Arjun, who also has to endure a year of impotence, slaps on the {{Manscara}} and becomes a teacher of music and dance.

** Before his retirement in season 3, Bunny Colvin is demoted due to his Hamsterdam scheme so he does not get his pension. He works as head of security in a hotel at the start of season 4.
** In season 5, budget cutbacks in the police department lead to decreased morale among the rank-and-file, though Burrell is able to lift it when he convinces Carcetti to lift the cap on secondary employment. Crutchfield, for instance, makes up his lost overtime by securing part-time work as a security guard at a jewelry store.

[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
* The Parable of the Prodigal Son from ''[[Literature/TheFourGospels The Book of Luke]]'' has the wayward younger son becoming a swineherd after squandering his father's wealth. This is especially abhorrent, as the Jews consider swines unclean, and the fact that the young man was willing to lower himself to such a devastating extent for a bit of food and cash demonstrates how destitute he's become. Even after he decides to crawl back home, he only plans on asking for a job as a farmhand, because he knows he doesn't deserve to come back as a son.
* In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]], following a failed rebellion against Zeus, the supreme god has his brother Poseidon and his son Apollo punished by temporarily banishing them from Olympus to build the walls of Troy.
[[/folder]]

** There was an episode where Team Machine had to help a taxi driver who used to be a famous baseball player in Cuba.
** Team Machine took up day jobs in season 5 thanks to their funding getting cut by Samaritan. Finch became a teacher, Reese became a cop and Root has to constantly change jobs (usually involving her wearing embarrassing costumes).

*** Mesogog from "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" works as the manager of a Wendy's.

* ''Series/Fallout2024''; Once famous cowboy actor Cooper Howard is shown in the the prologue to be performing at kids' birthday parties just before the nuclear apocalypse happened, to cover "alimony" according to one of the parents watching him. [[spoiler:It's implied that he was blacklisted as part of a new RedScare for his knowledge of TheConspiracy by Vault-Tec to start the nuclear war themselves, since he had been snooping on his wife's board meetings and paling around with anti-Vault-Tec organizations]].

* ''Film/LastChristmas'':
** Katarina's father was a lawyer back in Croatia, but after the family immigrated to the UK, he ended up having to work as a taxi driver because his law degree is considered useless there. His elder daughter was pressured to become a lawyer partly so she could continue his dream.
** Katarina herself aspires to become a West End actress, but she flubbed every single audition she took part in. She is currently working at a year-round Christmas store.

** Felicity is an MIT graduate and isn't happy when Oliver promotes her as his assistant in season 2, as it ends up reducing her to a GirlFriday (or "Girl [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Wednesday]]"). In season 7, after Oliver is arrested, she ends up having to go into hiding by working at a coffee shop.

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'': Tracey Jordan starts out as a once-popular A-lister whose continual eccentricities and other conflicts have branded him difficult to work with and he's reduced to starring in the eponymous show, which in-universe is generally considered hacky and not that great. Later he has a brief career renaissance which is cut short once other A-listers realize he's a "TV Actor". Includes a meta-commentary on this by Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin, a former A-lister now better known for his TV work.

* ''Series/Fallout2024''; Once famous cowboy actor Cooper Howard is shown in the the prologue to be performing at kids' birthday parties just before the nuclear apocalypse happened, to cover "alimony" according to one of the parents watching him. [[spoiler:It's implied that he was blacklisted as part of a new RedScare for his knowledge of TheConspiracy by Vault-Tec to start the nuclear war by themselves, since he had been snooping on his wife's board meetings and paling around with anti-Vault-Tec organizations]].