Top 10 Characters Who Royally SUCK at Their Jobs

“Friends” (1994-2004)
For the record, we’re not talking about Rachel’s career in fashion, as she’s actually quite skilled in that field. Instead, we’re talking about her first job as a waitress at Central Perk. Given how much time her friends spend at the coffee shop, Rachel regularly blows off work to chat with them. She ignores people wanting to order, forgets the orders she does take, and generally doesn’t ingratiate herself with customers. The service industry can be tougher than many give it credit, but Rachel still doesn’t make much of an effort.

“The White Lotus” (2021-)
There are plenty of bad employees at this chain of luxury hotels, but Gaitok really grinds our gears. A security guard at the Ko Samui, Thailand location, Gaitok seems harmless enough at first. He’s ambitious and also has a crush on fellow employee Mook. However, between not taking her “no” for an answer, and his incredible incompetence at his job, Gaitok should definitely be fired. Getting distracted during a robbery is one thing, but leaving a gun out and a guest stealing it? Get it together, man! Though his moment of courage– if you can call it that– in the finale may have been redemptive in his career at the hotel, he had to abandon his faith and morality to get there.

“Point Break” (1991)
He may have the most main character name ever, but Johnny Utah is a disgrace to the FBI. He’s basically the poster child for what NOT to do when you go undercover. When infiltrating a gang of surfers turned bank robbers, you probably shouldn’t form a bromance for the ages with the group’s leader. You also probably shouldn’t let that leader go multiple times, with the final time leading to his death instead of his arrest. Oh, and Johnny also does perhaps the dumbest thing anyone undercover can do - he tells his target he’s an FBI agent! That could so easily have gotten him killed!

“Pinocchio” (1940)
Granted, acting as someone’s conscience is a pretty vague job description, but Jiminy Cricket still manages to fail at just about every turn. He may be assigned to keep the titular wooden boy on the right path, but Pinocchio ignores just about every piece of advice that Jiminy gives him. The cricket’s lack of persuasiveness sees Pinocchio end up turned into a donkey and swallowed by a whale. And worst of all, it’s Pinocchio’s misfortunes that teach him to be a better person, not anything that Jiminy said or did. Still, at least Pinocchio doesn’t kill him like in the original book.

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (2005-)
The entire gang at Paddy’s are awful at their jobs, in addition to being terrible people. But Sweet Dee branches out and tries other careers more often, which is why we chose her. She aspires to become an actress, or a stand-up comedian. However, her acting talent is negligible and she can’t make it through a joke onstage without choking - figuratively and literally. Although nominally a waitress at the bar, Dee shows about as much interest in doing her actual job as any of the rest of the gang. So, none at all.

“Glee” (2009-15)
Teachers in general are underpaid, but for what Mr. Schue’s doing, he could use a pay cut. The counselor to the eponymous glee club, Will Schuester displays a lot of problematic behaviors you don’t want in an educator. Mr. Schue frequently lands his students in situations that range from embarrassing to downright dangerous. He even blackmails some of them. Will is also not the best at teaching either of his two subjects, Spanish and history. From cultural insensitivity, to straight up ignorance, they guy doesn’t know his stuff. While we can’t understand why they’d want to make him principal, we absolutely get Sue’s ongoing animosity towards him.

“Harry Potter” franchise (2001-)
Wands down folks - hear us out. As a wizard, Dumbledore is unmatched. But as a headmaster? Absolutely terrible. It’d be difficult to come up with a more unsafe learning environment than Hogwarts if we tried! Students are constantly put in mortal danger under his tenure. Several teachers he hires are either incompetent or outright hostile and discriminatory to students. And that’s not even going into all the ways he messes up with Harry specifically! He basically lies to the kid and weaponizes him against Voldemort! The fact that Dumbledore is still probably one of the better options available really says more about the state of the Wizarding World than it does his qualifications.

“James Bond” franchise (1962-)
We did an entire video about why James Bond is a bad spy over on WatchMojo, but we can give you the bullet points. When enlisting someone to be a secret agent, stealth is generally the order of the day. Yet Bond seems to disregard this central requirement for the job at every turn. He causes massive destruction on just about every mission he goes on. He sleeps with any woman that moves, including enemy agents. Plus, Bond is always captured by the bad guys. But worst of all - he tells everyone his real name! Sure, “Bond, James Bond” makes for a great catchphrase, but an alias generally helps you stay more covert.

“Star Wars” franchise (1977-)
It can be a little difficult to take the Empire seriously as a threat when their soldiers are this inept. They’re constantly bamboozled or outwitted easily by the protagonists. Plus, the Emperor’s supposedly elite troops are easy work for the “Star Wars” equivalent of living teddy bears armed with pointed sticks. And of course, the elephant in the room is that they have terrible aim. Sure, the heroes generally have plot armor to stop them from dying, but not even a graze? These bumbling bozos couldn’t hit the broad side of a space barn!

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Who Wouldn’t Want an Adulterous Murderer for a President?

This Detective Duo Should’ve Retired Years Ago

He Holds Many Jobs Over the Years - & He’s Bad at ALL of Them!

This Saint Nick Deserves Coal For His Discrimination Against Rudolph

Prioritizes Profits Over His Constituents’ Lives

“The Simpsons” (1989-)
Springfield’s dumbest resident is also perhaps its worst worker. Homer J. Simpson has worn a lot of hats during his decades on screen - astronaut, farmer, voice actor, smuggler, the list goes on and on. Although he has shown some surprising skill in some of his careers, he generally finds some way to screw things up and either quit or be fired. His most consistent job is at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Although nominally the plant’s safety inspector, most of Homer’s workday seems to consist of sleeping at his station. The state of Springfield’s mutated wildlife and the fact that Homer is frequently substituted by inanimate objects should tell you everything you need to know about how utterly incompetent the man is. D’oh!


Is there a fictional screen character you’d give their 2 weeks notice? Don’t be “afraid” to tell us your picks in the comments!