http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PuzzlementAboutPayment

Alice mentions her paycheck, and Bob is amazed that Alice gets paid at all. It's usually used for one of a few reasons:

To underline that Bob thinks that Alice has a really sweet job: "You get paid for that? [implied: "That job is awesome enough to where I'd do it for free!"]"

To underline that Bob thinks Alice has a really stupid job: "You get paid for that? [Implied: Why would anyone pay someone to do that? Why would anyone do that for pay?]"

Advertisement: To underline that Bob is stupid or gullible or wimpy or a doormat, and is doing something for free that he could/should be getting paid for: "You get paid for that?" [Implied: How come I don't? I've been missing out!]"

Examples:

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Films

Street Fighter: The climax of the film has Dee Jay taking Bison's personal stash of cash and trying to escape the base while the fighting is happening, and he encounters Zangief. Turns out that Zangief is such Dumb Muscle that he has worked for Bison out of pure fanaticism, and he asks "we get paid?" when Dee-Jay snarks about the stash being his "big check-out payment".

Jokes

There is a Russian joke where a policeman who started working a few months ago is asked why he never comes for his paycheck. The policeman answers, "We get paid? I thought after being issued a gun we're just supposed to manage with that."

You heard about the blonde who went mad? She's been working in a brothel for 15 years, and then she found out other girls are also getting paid for it.

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Literature

In the second N.E.R.D.S. book, one of the agency heads mentions that casualties will be deducted from each individual paycheck. Jackson asks, "We get paid?" to which the agent responds that there are so many casualties each mission, that they've never seen their first paycheck.

Radio

Web Video

Played for Laughs in season 7 of Acquisitions Incorporated, when the roguish newcomer Viari joins the eponymous party and tries to discuss his low cut of the loot with the old-timers Jim and Binwin, whose reaction boils down to "You get a cut??" They then proceed to reveal how their Bad Boss, Omin, keeps them in line while keeping most of the profits they make.

If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device: During the Q&A segment in the second episode of If the Emperor Had a Podcast sub-series, Karstodes is shown to not know what "pay" and "money" mean, believing them to be made-up words. That neither of his fellow Fabulous Custodes bother to say anything or even snicker in response strongly implies that this is true of them both as well, and possibly even the rest of the Custodian Guard. On a separate occasion (episode 19), Captain-General of the Custodes Kitten doesn't know what pay means, either.



Western Animation