"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"
— J. Wellington Wimpy's Catchphrase, Popeye
Although it is generally frowned upon to ask for things you don't need, some people make a habit of doing it by taking every opportunity to leech off of other people whenever possible. They might exploit food, favors, money, clothes, jewelry, or anything else they desire, and will do everything possible to avoid paying anything back.
In terms of how these types of people operate, there are a few common methods they use to manipulate people into giving them stuff. One popular approach is to use pity to convince people to feel sorry enough to give something to them. They might claim that they are only "borrowing" the things they ask for and insist that they will pay their victims back as soon as they can, and come up with all kinds of excuses. If someone is mooching off of their friends or their family, they might resort to Guilt-Tripping to manipulate their "loved ones" into dropping the debt. Some might even rob those who are generous towards them.
There are multiple motives for someone to be like this, all of them rooted in selfishness. Sometimes they might be careless with their own money and mooch off of other people to make up for what they waste. Other times they might be stingy with their own money, but have no issue with wasting other peoples' money, sometimes lying about struggling to trick people into giving them money. When it comes to friends and family, some people might feel that their connections make them entitled to charity and that they shouldn't have to repay them.
Unlike certain moocher archetypes like The Thing That Would Not Leave, the Pretty Freeloader, or the Mooching Master who mainly or exclusively mooch off of one person, a Serial Moocher is like a parasite who jumps from host to host (though the aforementioned tropes can overlap with this one if they have a habit of doing this to multiple people). If one of their marks can't or won't provide for them anymore, they will always try to find another one rather than provide for themselves. As a result, they are usually a burden on multiple individuals and usually end up wildly disliked by anyone with the misfortune of dealing with them.
These characters are typically punished by having people being unable to or be no longer be willing to provide for them. If the moocher uses lies to manipulate people, their lie might be exposed or people might stop buying it. Other times people might get tired of their leeching and demand they pay up what they owe.
This trope can also apply to The Slacker. Compare Taking Advantage of Generosity for when someone mooches off of a single person constantly. Contrast Overly Generous Fool for characters who allow others to mooch off of them. A Gold Digger can be this if they are a Serial Spouse who dumps their Meal Ticket to find a new one as soon as their cash cow stops being profitable.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Bocchi the Rock!: Ryo gets a large allowance from her parents but blows it all on musical instruments and equipment, resulting in her mooching off her bandmates for food. Kikuri Hiroi also makes a habit of going to the Ichijis' to use their shower, since her apartment doesn't have one, resulting in Seika telling her to pay rent. Since Ryo and Hiroi are both bassists, this causes Bocchi to wonder if all bassists are like this.
- Doraemon: Nobita Nobi, the Loser Protagonist, relies entirely on Doraemon's gadgets to solve his problems and often mooches off his friends. This is compounded by Nobita's unfortunate combination of laziness, selfishness, being Born Unlucky, and his tendency to not learn from the trouble his use of Doraemon's gadgets causes.
- Good Luck Girl!: The story focuses on a girl, Ichiko Sakura, who sucks up all the "fortune energy" from others, essentially mooching happiness and luck, to the detriment of others. Naturally, this leads her to become spoiled rotten to the core. To rectify this, a Goddess of Misfortune named Momiji is sent to the human world to target Ichiko and steal her Fortune energy in order to rebalance the world.
- Gundam Build Fighters: Reiji tends to be this towards the Iori family and their friends, mainly having some of their food since he is a rather Big Eater. This is rather justified as despite being royalty from another world (which none of the other characters really believe him), Reiji is essentially a Fish Out of Water when on Earth and therefore doesn't have money of his own. Reiji, however, does make an attempt to help out in the Iori's family store, though he quickly gets bored and tends to wander off. He does later become committed in helping Sei in the Gunpla Battle World Tournament.
- One Piece
- Kouzuki Hiyori, when under her Komurasaki persona, famously "mooched" Bingo, Bongo, and Bungo from the Wano Country. She used their obsessive affection to trick them into giving her all their money and property, leaving them penniless in Ebisu Town. However, Kouzuki could be an altruistic take of this trope as the people she mooches off of are guilty of being highly morally corrupt.
- Buggy The Clown has a talent for "mooching" off the reputation of others. Most notably, he ascended to Yonko (Four Emperors) status largely by appearing to lead a powerful organization, the Cross Guild, that was actually founded by Crocodile and Mihawk.
- Ranma ½: Genma and Ranma Saotome are shameless freeloaders, living with the Tendo family and contributing almost nothing towards the household's expenses beyond Genma's meager earnings as an "assistant" at a local clinic and a promise that when Ranma eventually marries Akane, their theoretical children will be the heirs to the Tendo and Saotome schools of martial arts — the latter school consists solely of Genma and Ranma, as Genma can't be arsed to take on other students. Later chapters reveal that Genma has pulled this on other families as well — he promised to marry Ranma off to a girl named Ukyo in exchange for her father's okonomiyaki business, then skipped town with the cart as soon as the ink was dry on the agreement, and previously, he has traded Ranma for a bowl of rice and a meal of fish, reneging on the agreement both times.
- Tomie: Tomie is a particularly loathsome example, often using her inhumanly good looks to seduce men and boys into emptying their wallets to buy her expensive things to the point of bankruptcy, and discards them once they aren't of use to her.
Comic Books
- Archie Comics: Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III is the quintessential comic book moocher, consistently asking his friends, mainly Archie Andrews, for money and food to fuel his obsession with burgers.
- Condorito: Juan Sablazo always dresses in an elegant tuxedo, but at the same time never has any money. That's why he always manages to trick Condorito into lending him money, even though Condorito knows he'll never pay him back.
- Disney Ducks Comic Universe: Disraeli Duck has the supernatural ability to invoke pity in others with the slightest excuse, which he uses to take advantage of them in various ways such as convincing a train conductor to give him a free ticket, convincing Gladstone's mom to let him "borrow" her son's bike when he was a kid, and manipulating Daisy into letting him crash at her house for free.
- Silent Hill: In Painted Black, the protagonist is a burnt-out painter who has been living from place to place, living off the good will of his friends until they lose patience with his lack of contribution. The story kicks off when another friend kicks him out for being a "leech", after which the painter hears about Silent Hill and the monsters living there (though he only really hears that there's free room and board there) and decides to move there.
- In just about every Squish graphic novel, Pod tries to get food off of Squish, whether it's asking him to trade his lunch money for Pod's terrible homemade lunch, or just begging him for Twinkies. The standard justification Pod provides is that he needs the energy for his alleged important scientific endeavours, which usually show up near the end of the comic, sometimes saving the day.
- Superman: Some of the various villains to use the Parasite identity are (unsurprisingly) shown to have been mooches before they were mutated.
- Rudy Jones was shown in Superman: Secret Origin to be a janitor at the Daily Planet who used made-up sob stories to scam the kind, trusting Clark Kent into giving him his lunch and 20 bucks, and later tried to mooch money from Lex Luthor.
- Superman (2011) #23.4 introduces Joshua Michael Allen, a delivery man. While delivering a box of truffles, he opens the box and eats some of them, and his girlfriend complains that he owes her money and calls him a parasite while dumping him.
Comic Strips
- Beetle Bailey: A character explicitly named "Moocher" who was introduced in the early 1960s, defined by being stingy and always borrowing things.
- Curtis: A new neighbor visits the Wilkinses, but gets mad at Curtis and accuses him to his father Greg of calling him "a derogatory name", i.e. "a moocher" when they met offscreen earlier. Greg notes that in the short time he's been there, he's "borrowed" practically everything in the apartment that isn't nailed down, and concludes, "You are a moocher!" The man storms out with an armful of stuff, yelling about how he's going to call his lawyer on them... only to come back five seconds later to ask to borrow a quarter for the pay phone.
- Garfield: The titular cat is a notorious moocher, not surprising given how he's the prime example of a Lazy Bum, with his owner Jon Arbuckle, being Garfield's main source of food (mainly lasagna) and shelter. Nonetheless, Garfield's laziness and manipulative nature lead him to take advantage of others, including Odie, Jon's pet dog, who Garfield tends to mistreat. Despite his mooching behavior, Garfield does actually care about John and Odie.
- Pooch Café: Poncho is a notorious moocher, to the point that it is treated as a superpower. Attempts to mooch are often accompanied by the Unsound Effect "MOOCH!", and in some strips, activating his mooching powers turns Poncho into a canine version of M.O.D.O.K..
- Popeye: This is J. Wellington Wimpy's defining character trait; a Brilliant, but Lazy glutton who constantly finds ways to mooch off of Popeye and friends, or con them out of their food. His most notorious habit is asking people for hamburgers — his Trademark Favorite Food — with the promise that he'll pay them back on a Tuesday. Which Tuesday he'll pay what he owes is conveniently left unspecified.
Fan Works
- Danny Phantom: Stranded: Colette Bevier in Blackmailed is revealed to emotionally manipulate her many ex-stepmothers into giving her money to spend for her material needs. In addition, she flat-out admits that she has no intention to get a job, and plans to simply survive on her family's wealth first by mooching off of her father and later her younger brother, who she hates, after he inherits the family fortune.
- A Fox Helps a Wild Horse
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- Genma constantly steals from and mooches off of others, and either runs away or promises to pay back later. He planned to mooch off of his friend Soun while at his house, and he plans to retire and have his son Ranma work hard to pay off his debts while sponging off of him for the rest of his life.
- Jiraiya was like this when he was alive, as while he mainly mooched off of Naruto, he was an opportunist who mooched off of anyone he could and tried to stick others with his debts.
- Push Comes to Shove: Jiraiya was already a Mooching Master to Naruto in canon, but in this story he also tried to mooch off of Naruto's father Minato, though Kushina was able to see through Jiraiya and stop him.
- A Sit Down with a Therapist: Peter throughout the story is a lazy, selfish, Psychopathic Manchild who tries to sustain himself by mooching off of others, only to eventually wear out their patience with both his mooching and his horrible behavior.
- When he was married to Lois, Peter barely went to work because he thought he could rely on Lois's wealth to stay afloat. After Lois gets tired of his toxic behavior and divorces him, he no longer has access to her money.
- Despite being divorced, he refuses to get another job and relies on Brian to stay afloat. Despite having much less money around, he doesn't change his poor spending habits, which causes Brian to leave and Peter gets thrown out of his house to pay for the things he bought on the credit card.
- He eventually tries to go to Lois, who moved back in with her father Carter, to live off of her wealth but Carter shoots him for trespassing and refusing to leave.
- He eventually tries bumming off of Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe, but his obnoxious behavior and the fact that he almost killed Quagmire, Joe, Cleveland Jr. and Susie cause all of them to kick him out and cut ties with him.
- Sometime after becoming homeless, he tries to crash at Brian's place, but Brian is happier without Peter and refuses to enable his survival.
Film — Animated
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad: Ichabod Crane is a scrawny Big Eater whose spends half of his screen time taking advantage of people's generosity to eat them out of house and home (when he's not stealing food outright). It's to the point that his primary motivation to marry the rich and beautiful Katrina van Tassel isn't her wealth or her beauty, but her cooking.
- Despicable Me: Zigzagged with The Minions; since the beginning of their existence, the Minions longed to serve a master, living with them in the process. However, while the Minions serve their master, their general clumsiness tend to lead to disaster or even the death of their chosen master. By the time they work for Gru during his tenure as a supervillain, the Minions live in Gru’s house, eat his food, and use his resources, rarely contributing financially, though they do provide labor in his schemes.
Film — Live-Action
- The Big Lebowski: While not a traditional "moocher" in every scene, The Dude is an unemployed slacker who often relies on the generosity of others (like his landlord or Maude) to get by. Doesn't help that The Dude does nothing more than enjoy cocktails, weed, and bowling. He even somewhat admits that he is indeed the "loser deadbeat that nobody gives a shit about" that the Big Lebowski wanted as his fall guy.
- Dazed and Confused: David Wooderson, while charming, lives a life of leisure, hanging around teenagers and living in the moment, often relying on others' hospitality to get by. His life philosophy is basically "keep livin" without concern for what is expected of him which he tries to impart on the other teens he hangs around with.
- Frances Ha: Frances is a struggling dancer, with High Hopes, Zero Talent, who often freeloads off her roommate and friends, living beyond her means due to lack of planning and her Manchild tendencies.
- Inside Llewyn Davis: The main character, Llewyn Davis, is a Starving Artist who, while a talented musician with aspirations in becoming an famous icon, a combination of bad luck and his own glaring flaws thwart such hopes. As such, Llewyn lives a very hand-to-mouth, semi-vagrant lifestyle, relying on friends and acquaintances for a place to sleep, clothes to wear, and money. At least those who he hasn't antagonized yet.
- One of Them Days: Keshawn, Alyssa's boyfriend who moved in "for a few days" six weeks ago. He's not only living rent free in Alyssa and Dreaux' apartment, but steals their rent money to buy a bunch of poor-quality fake Gucci t-shirts to try sell for profit. When the missing money is discovered, he quietly dips out, and Alyssa finds out he's also secretly been dating Bernice, a neighborhood Mean Girl, and we see Keshawn is also mooching off her, asking her to buy him food at the drive-thru. At the end, after being dumped by Alyssa, Keshawn is seen telling the girls' new white neighbor Bethany how he just saved everyone from the burning apartment, and in the Where Are They Now credits, we learn that he is now dating Bethany, but for some karmic punishment, his Air Jordans have become chew toys for Bethany's rescue Pitbull.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Though a pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow has various elements associated with being a moocher. Namely, Jack is self-serving, dishonest, cowardly and heavily borrows money from others. While he claims that he will compensate those he borrows from, and actually means it, Jack never does, leading a large number of people, pirate or otherwise, to hold Jack in low regard. It further doesn't help that Jack often relies on the labor and loyalty of others (like Gibbs or Will Turner) to navigate dangerous situations but leaves them to face the consequences. However, his inner morals will force him to do the right thing when push comes to shove, proving that Jack isn't heartless.
- Star Wars: Though Han Solo is a smuggler with his own ship and he finds work for underworld figures, Han frequently borrows money from others, even from dangerous people, namely Jabba the Hutt (whom he is dangerously in debt to). While Han can stall paying back with his charm and quick-wit, the smuggler avoids paying back as much as he can while finding jobs that can pay enough to settle said debts. Unfortunately, as Han Solo gets roped into the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire, his inability to pay Jabba back leads the gangster to order a "Death Mark" on Han. Even by the Sequel Series, Han Solo still has a bad habit of borrowing money from dangerous people, running from said people when he can't pay back and, to make it more complicated, gets caught up in galactic-changing adventures.
- Weapons (2025): Played with to a horrific degree with "Aunt" Gladys. Having the nature of a parasite, Gladys inserts herself into a family's life, posing as a "relative", upending their home life before bewitching them into becoming thralls to her will. She then feeds on their lifeforce to keep herself alive without ever giving anything back. After she is done with the family, she moves to another family and repeats the same strategy.
Literature
- Bleak House: Harold Skimpole is an entitled Manchild who stubbornly refuses to find work to support himself and actually take responsibility, particularly with regard to money, which he freely takes from others. It is particularly bad when he continues to take money from the far-from-wealthy Richard Carstone, whose worst foibles Harold encourages.
- David Copperfield: Probably amongst the most abhorrent examples out there is Uriah Heep. He presents himself as a loyal sycophant and above all a humble friend and employee, all the while embezzling funds to enrich himself. Uriah even manipulates and later blackmails his boss Mr. Wickfield into not only making him a partner but full executor. He plays the same game with David and everyone else that Uriah interacts with, proving himself to be a parasitic sociopath.
- The Great Gatsby: Tom Buchanan provides an interesting yet repulsive interpretation of this. While wealthy himself, Tom represents a "careless" parasite, living off others' emotions and societal standing without regard for the damage he causes.
- L'Assomoir of Émile Zola: Lantier, who earlier dumped Gervaise and fled with their money and furniture, returning once Gervaise remarried to Macquart and became a wealthy laundry woman. Landier rented a room from them, promising them money from a venture. Even though the money never came, Lantier asks the Macquarts to "loan" him more and more money. As the Macquarts became poorer, Lantier target another household. At the end of the novel, as this household is impoverished, it is implied that Lantier has another ready target.
- The Rising of the Shield Hero: One of Malty's many unlikable traits is how much of a parasite she is towards others.
- She abuses her position as the First Princess of Melromarc to use the royal treasury for personal luxuries for herself, with her father doing nothing to stop her.
- After joining Naofumi's party she manipulated him into overspending on her, before eventually betraying and robbing him.
- As a member of Motoyasu's party, she and several other women manipulate him into doing the bulk of the work while they live on the money he makes.
- When Motoyasu temporarily becomes the governor of Lute Village, she overtaxes the citizens despite it being harmed by the Waves of Calamity.
- After she abandons Motoyasu due to him no longer being useful to her, she manipulates an emotionally traumatized Ren so she and her friends can rob him, and later manipulates a mind-broken Itsuki by having him fight in coliseum matches to earn money for her, which she claims is going for a good cause but is really used for her own indulgences. She and her friends later leave him with a debt after they are finished using him.
- The Secret History: Bunny invites Richard out for lunch, orders lots of expensive food and wine, then ditches Richard with the tab. Richard, who can't afford to pay the full bill, calls Henry for help, who tells him Bunny's pulled this on everyone in the clique at least once. It gets even worse when Bunny discovers the clique (sans Richard) all committed a murder; he extorts them for more money and expensive gifts in exchange for his silence.
Live-Action TV
- The Big Bang Theory:
- In the beginning seasons, Penny was this to her apartment neighbors, Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper. Initially working as a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory and having aspirations of making it big as an actress, Penny quickly develops money problems. Not helping matters is that she tends to have expensive tastes. As a result, Penny mooches off of the guys as much she can reasonably get away with, namely using their wifi and their takeout food. Sheldon is typically the one who expresses annoyance to this the most. It becomes a Running Gag that Sheldon changes their wifi password to something along the lines of "Penny get your own wifi" as a huge obvious hint for Penny to get her own wifi. Fortunately, in the later seasons, Penny changes careers when realizing trying to be an actress isn't going anywhere, eventually becoming a pharmaceutical sales rep that pays better and she gains better stability when entering into a serious relationship with Leonard. Nonetheless, Leonard still has to curb some of Penny's spending habits.
- Stuart Bloom zigzags this tropes after he moves into Howard and Bernadette's home to help take care of Howard's mom following her injury and Stuart's comic book store burning down and being renovated. However, even after Howard's mom heals up and tragically passes away, he still stays at the house becoming The Thing That Would Not Leave. However, while Stuart has blatantly stated that he isn't looking for a place of his own, he actually pulls his weight within the house, such as helping Bernadette when she was pregnant.
- Sheldon Cooper zigzags this trope for while he has a well-paying job and a place of his own, nor is he a "slacker" that comes along with being a moocher, he nonetheless is quite self-centered as Sheldon often drains his roommate, Leonard, and their circle of friends of time, energy, and resources for wanting them to take care of him as his mother once did. Namely wanting them to drive him around to caring for him whenever he is sick. Naturally, this very quickly gets on the nerves of those around him and they often pressure Sheldon to be more self-sufficient... with mixed results.
- Cheers: Norm Peterson has a bar tab so big, it eats up most of the memory on the bar's computer. Whenever the subject of paying it comes up, Norm just laughs. Amazingly, despite spending all his time at Cheers, he somehow has an identically large tab at every bar and unhealthy restaurant in the city.
- Drake & Josh: Drake Parker has shades of being a moocher with his stepbrother Josh Nichols being the his most frequent victim. Drake, particularly in early and middle seasons, is portrayed as a lazy, irresponsible, and manipulative teenage slacker who constantly relies on Josh to get him out of trouble, manage his life, and often pays for his mistakes. Not helping in that Drake always seems to have luck on his side while having a promising start in being part of a music band whereas Josh tries to work honestly at a movie theater but is the show's resident Butt-Monkey. If Drake isn't mooching off of Josh, its their parents or even some of Drake's fellow students, namely the nerd due, Craig and Eric, to get things done for him. It becomes deconstructed as by the episode "Josh Is Done" where Josh is fed up with Drake taking advantage of him that Josh cuts Drake out of his life aside from being roommates which ultimately leads Drake's life to spiral downwards before finally admitting that he needs Josh, leading them to make amends.
- Friends: Zigzagged with Joey Tribbiani in early seasons. While Joey does have a roof over his head and is rather lovable, he is nonetheless struggling to make it big as an actor. As such, Joey became famous for eating all of Chandler's food and constantly borrowing money from their friends. Fortunately, most of the time it's all Played for Laughs. He grows out of it in later seasons after he gets a stable job in Days of Our Lives, to the point that he gives Chandler and Monica $4,000 in a season 9 episode.
- Home Improvement: Benny Baroni is the show's resident freeloader, casually taking advantage of others, namely Tim Taylor, Al Borland or Harry Turner, while also being overly petty, annoying, completely lazy and an alcoholic. If there is a party happening involving free food, Benny is sure to crash it, especially if he wasn't invited. He doesn't even understand the concept of what it means "to give". There are moments where Benny does have enough money to buy his own food but he'd rather bet hundreds of dollars in wagers, which doesn't help. It comes to a boiling point when Benny is turned down to come at anyone's Thanksgiving celebration and he is seen going to the homeless shelter to eat... only because he likes the soup there. Is it any wonder why Benny is The Friend Nobody Likes.
- House: Dr. House is forever mooching off of his colleagues. Dr. Wilson is his most frequent victim: he borrows $5000.00 from him on the pretense of needing to buy a car, but purchases a motorcycle instead and never pays Wilson back; constantly steals Wilson's lunch from the office fridge until Wilson resorts to bringing food he doesn't like but also knows House won't touch; and, after they end up as roommates, will drink straight from the milk jug or orange juice bottle so Wilson will let him have it all, even though Wilson buys their groceries. His least offence is "borrowing" $1 for the vending machine from Dr. Foreman by feigning that he left his wallet in his office, but he has used this trick in the cafeteria on his boss, Dr. Cuddy, and practically every doctor on his team so that they'll all pay for his meals.
- iCarly: Sam Puckett tends to be a moocher towards her friends, Carly Shay and Freddie Benson, typically helping herself to food at Carly's apartment or constantly requesting cash from both (her common excuse is that her mom doesn't feed her). If she can't get either from Carly or Freddie, Sam isn't above to shake down other students at their school where she is essentially The Bully, with Gibby being her frequent victim. It further doesn't help that Sam is a messy slob and a lazy slacker who rarely even helps the iCarly crew in preparing their shows. It becomes a plot point where Carly and Freddie get fed up with Sam constantly demanding cash and not paying back. Sam has racked up over $500 in what she owes, leading Sam, out of pride, to find a way where she can pay it back. True to her character, once she does come up with the money, she spends it on a new trampoline.
- Inventing Anna: Anna Sorokin (aka Anna Delvey) became infamous for this. Posing as a wealthy heiress, Anna implanted herself with in the social circles of the ultra wealthy. It doesn't take long before she racks up a long list of bills from the restaurants and hotels she visits, which Anna convinces her wealthy "friends" to pay for, having the excuse that she doesn't have access to her money at the moment. Said friends rarely, if not never, questioned these excuses because they all taken in by Anna's charm and she was therefore able to bounce from wealthy benefactor to wealthy benefactor for different lengths of time.
- The King of Queens: Carrie Heffernan's dad, Arthur Spooner, becomes this in the beginning of the series after he accidently burned down his home. Not helping in that he never acquired home insurance. Almost instantly, Arthur becomes The Load as he provides nothing in return to help support the couple and their home. In fact, he constantly makes demands that inconvenience Carrie and Doug at best, to costing them money at worst. Worse, any time Arthur does come into some money, he never once thinks to offer Carrie and Doug a share in some way that could help the household. Naturally, Doug wants him out of the house for these reasons but Carrie often defends him, claiming he isn't that bad (which is strange, as it has been firmly established that he is a terrible father).
- Last Man Standing (2011):
- Mike's second daughter, Mandy, has shades of being a moocher at least in the beginning seasons. This is partly justified as Mandy was a high school teenager at the time. Nonetheless, Mandy was essentially a spoiled Valley Girl who enjoyed fancy fashion and wasn't particularly smart or responsible. More often then not, Mandy would drag her feet when it came to getting a job and earn a living. Whenever something goes wrong or Mandy screws up, her first instinct/plan is to go to her parents to bail her out. Fortunately, as the series progresses Mandy begins to turn herself around by doing better in school, going to college and even starting her own fashion line business.
- Mike's best friend and business partner, Ed Alzate, also has moments of being a moocher even though he has no reason to be as he is wealthy and owns a successful business of the Outdoor Man store. For instance, Ed would request cash from others, mainly Kyle, but doesn't often return the gesture. Mike Lampshades it by saying "the richer they are, the less they carry".
- Vanessa's sister, April, is the worst moocher in the series, constantly relying on Vanessa and Mike to support her financially so she doesn't have to herself but rarely ever pays them back. It's actually deconstructed as Vanessa has largely spoiled her sister to the point where April practically can't take of herself. Mike, who strongly values self-reliance and taking responsibility, hates April for her mooching and would wish to cut her off but Vanessa can't bring herself to do so, feeling that since April is family she can't just cut her. However, the reality is that Vanessa is simply too coddling, protective and emotionally spinless to really confront her sister and cut her off.
- The League: Taco Macarthur, the league's resident stoner, effectively supports his own lifestyle of failed business ventures through handouts from the other League members — namely his brother Kevin and sister-in-law Jenny, However, he also gets around through his "Eskimo brother" network, a web of friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers who shared a sexual partner with him at varying degrees of separation.
- Magnum P.I. (2018): Magnum lives in Robin's guest house in exchange for being a security consultant, even though his "job" is completely redundant with Higgins's. He is also always asking his friends for favors that they all know he will never pay back. Gordon uses him as a cautionary tale to get his son to do his homework.
- Married... with Children: Kelly Bundy makes no effort to apply herself at high school so she can pursue a successful career later on and become self-sufficient. She instead relies upon other men and teenage boys, including her father Al, to supply her with all of life's most basic essentials such as food and housing.
- Mike & Molly: Carl McMillan, Mike's partner in the CPD, has strong shades of being a moocher in the beginning to mid seasons of the series. In the beginning, he was still living at his grandmother's, relying on her to do essentials like doing his laundry which gets on her nerves greatly. Carl often has the excuse that he stays at his grandmother's to "help" her as she is elderly though few to none really believe him. Likewise, he typically expects Mike (and later Molly) to help him out when in trouble and really dislikes it when Mike leaves him out of events (though that is rooted in Carl's insecure nature). It ultimately reaches the point where Carl's grandmother kicks him out of her house to force Carl to manage his own life. While Carl would manage to get an apartment, with Samuel as his roommate, before then, he would stay at Mike and Molly's home.
- Mom:
- Bonnie Plunkett is characterized by a history of using people for her own gain. In the early seasons, she moves into her daughter Christy’s small apartment without a clear plan to contribute. Over the series, her tendency to manipulate situations for free meals, lodging, or favors remains a recurring source of comedy. Though Bonnie does see some character growth, some of her old habits still linger throughout the series.
- Christy, Bonnie's daughter, has strong shades of being a moocher but unlike her mother, who is manipulative, Christy's mooching is more tragic as it is tied to her addictions. Nonetheless, as Christy attempts to turn herself around by pursuing a law degree, she remains financially dependent on others, including living with her mother and Adam.
- Violet, Christy's daughter, has shades of being a moocher but not in a traditional sense. While there are moments where Violet overlaps with being a Gold Digger, she becomes more known for "mooching" of the emotions of those she depends on. Later in the series, Violet uses her mother’s past addiction as a permanent leverage point and "scapegoat" to avoid taking responsibility for her own adulthood such as creating a podcast "The Mother of All My Problems", detailing all of her mother's past mistakes.
- Mr. Meaty: In "Moochmaster P", Parker mooches food off of people by asking for a bite and eating most of the food when they let him. He eventually steals Josh's burger while it's cooking, which comes back to bite him because Parker ate it while it was raw and it contained a tapeworm that ends up mooching Parker's food.
- NCIS: Tony DiNozzo's father, Anthony DiNozzo Senior, is later revealed to be this trope. Originally, DiNozzo Senior was wealthy but after a series of bad business investments and living beyond his means eroded his wealth significantly. Teetering on the edge of bankruptcies but believing he can "bounce back", DiNozzo Senior goes to great lengths to maintain the appearance of being a suave and wealthy businessman, such as using credit cards until they were frozen and staying in expensive hotels he couldn't afford. He would sometimes even rely on wealthy friends, such as the Saudi Royal family, to cover his bills. Tony would ultimately regard his father as charming con man than the wealthy mystery he once viewed him as during his youth.
- Night Court: "Attack of the Mac Snacks", Christine's Uncle Floyd comes to visit, and Christine describes him as the king of the moochers. He bums lunch money off of Christine. And when the others believe that Mac's new Mac Snacks might be poisoned, he refuses to give his free samples up until he gets $100 for them.
- Psych: Shawn dumps many bills and hard jobs on his dad and business partner Gus that Gus claims to list Shawn as a dependent on his tax returns, and he will always rush to take advantage of expense accounts or luxurious trappings whenever they have a rich client.
- Seinfeld: Aside from Jerry Seinfeld himself, most of the main characters have shades of being moochers.
- Cosmo Kramer plays this trope the straight the most due to rarely having a job of his own. While Kramer does have his own apartment and is seen to have cash on him, he is often seen barging in on Jerry's apartment and helps himself to whatever food he has. It gets worse for whenever Kramer drags his friends into one of his hairbrained antics and plans, its sure to cost them money.
- Elaine Benes has less of a reason to be a moocher for while she has a job (various levels of success notwithstanding) and a place of her own, she is often seen helping herself to whatever snack Elaine can get her hands on and never really returns the favor.
- Newman could possibly be a worse moocher than Kramer himself. While Newman is a postal worker, he is famously lazy and incompetent, often using his job to further his own interests, rather than actually working. Further, Newman is rarely seen buying his own food, instead relying on Kramer’s refrigerator and pantry or even Seinfeld's supplies whenever given the opportunity (usually provided by Kramer). He often drags Kramer into whatever scheme he concocts and typically forces Kramer to due most of the heavy lifting but fortunately, most of Newman's schemes backfire on him while Kramer gets away almost scot-free.
- Shameless (US): Frank Gallagher is basically the ultimate "unhinged" moocher, as he spends almost every waking hour manipulating his children and the state to avoid working and keep his drinking and drug habits funded. It's little wonder why his kids quickly develop a hatred for him.
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: Of the titular duo, Zack fits this trope as he is frequently described as lazy, self-centered, and, in particular, financially and personally dependent on his twin brother, Cody, and their circle of friends. Whether it be in one of Zack's get rich quick schemes or his school work, Zack will attempt to get others to do the work for him while taking as much of the credit or profits for himself. Naturally, when Zack inevitably gets into trouble he will use his friends (like Maddie, London, or Woody) to get him out of trouble. Despite Zack's frequent troublemaking, he does care about his brother and friends, as he will do the right thing when push comes to shove.
- Suits: A downplayed yet interesting take on this trope in regards to the central character, Mike Ross, who is a fraud that never attended Harvard Law School (or any law school) yet poses as a high-powered associate. He essentially "mooches" his way into a top firm using a photographic memory and his actual knowledge regarding the law, initially acting as a pot dealer before Harvey Specter hires him due to Mike's genius.
- S.W.A.T. (2017): In the first two seasons, SWAT member, Dominique Luca served as this to many of his teammates on the LAPD. Due to being Married to the Job, his relationship often results in their dissolution, forcing him to crash at his teammates' place when he can't at his latest girlfriend's. Unfortunately, this quickly renders him as The Thing That Would Not Leave. Luca quickly wears out his welcome due to being a rather messy and inconsiderate house guest, from emptying fridges and pantries, to keeping children up all night playing video games. Hondo even considers anyone foisting Luca a form of punishment. Luca does pay his teammates back when he buys a place of his own in Season 2, and allows Street to live with him after a falling out with his mother, and later allows Tan to live with him when his marriage fell apart.
- Ted Lasso: Discussed. In "Make Rebecca Great Again", Rebecca's childhood friend Sassy, knowing that Rebecca, being much richer than Sassy, will foot the bill for dinner, playfully feigns that she was going to pay and Rebecca beat her to it, and invites Keeley to get in on it. Rebecca is in on the joke.
Rebecca: Do you wanna do that thing where you pretend you wanted to pay?Sassy: Oh, yeah, yeah. [to Keeley] This is really good fun. Join in. [to Rebecca, playacting] Oh, you absolute piece of shit! I was about to do that!Keeley: [playacting] I was just about to get my card out. I can't believe that you've done this.
- That '70s Show:
- It's somewhat justified with Fez. Being a foreign exchange student with no immediate family in the US, Fez relies almost entirely on the hospitality of his circle of friends and spends most of his time in the Forman basement. Later seasons would show that Fez does own an apartment but is rarely seen having a job to support it.
- Leo Chingkwake is a stereotypical stoner who often takes advantage of the main group's generosity and works for Hyde at the Photo Hut, often acting more as a liability than an employee, which is really saying something since he owns the Photo Hut, and Hyde originally took the job planning to be the mooch, but Leo is such a Lazy Boss, Hyde is forced to do all the work to keep the business alive.
- Laurie, Eric's Big Sister Bully, has shades of being a moocher though its often overshadowed by the more well-known fact that she Really Gets Around. Rather than work and make something of herself, Laurie would rather simply enjoy indulging herself, leading Laurie to often request cash and support from her parents or any poor sap she is dating. In fact, Laurie will likely date any man, including Kelso, if it means she doesn't have to support herself. It's slightly deconstructed as Laurie has largely been spoiled by her father, Red, who remained oblivious to his daughter's promiscuous and spoiled nature for a long while whereas Laurie's mother, Kitty, is fully aware of her daughter's true nature. Late in the series, Laurie attempts to turn herself around by enrolling in beauty school but even then, she flakes around on her studies making the prospect not very promising.
- Two and a Half Men:
- Alan Harper is the uber example of this trope ever since he was kicked out of his home by his wife and forced to live at his brother's beach house. It doesn't help that Alan can be a complete cheapskate and will mooch as much as he can from others, be it his brother or family friends. While certain situations could've have helped improved Alan's lot, from Charlie not screwing up his divorce hearing, but beyond that point on, Alan's penny-pinching and poor choices have led Alan to basically stop making an effort in getting his own place. Even after Charlie dies, Alan still manages to mooch off the beach house's new owner, Walden. Overall, Alan's parasitic nature has led him to be viewed very unfavorably by practically everyone.
- Alan's son Jake could also be considered a moocher, at least in the mid to late reasons when he is older. Its justified in the beginning season as he was just a child who nonetheless often pestered his father and uncle for various junk foods and toys. Doesn't help that Jake is a complete slacker and slob. As Jake entered his teen years, he began to annoy his uncle for requests to use his car and often times, Alan pressures his son to get a job and do well in school... to poor results. By then, Jake is routinely shown to be basically Book Dumb with almost no prospects and his attempts to get a job don't end well (a monkey actually did better than him!). Still, Jake has way of getting cash out of his father and uncle, often through underhanded means such as blackmail.
- Wizards of Waverly Place: Alex Russo often times has shown to be a moocher, mainly being lazy, underachieving, manipulative, and self-serving, particularly in the early seasons of the series. Alex frequently exploits her family and friends, Harper specifically, to avoid responsibility, schoolwork, her magic lessons, or to just get what she wants which typically ends in disaster that the rest of the cast have to fix. It's worse if she uses magic as a "quick" route to avoid work as many of Alex's schemes risk exposing magic to the rest of the world. However, as the series goes on, Alex does show growth in becoming more mature and, on occasion, generous and compassionate. In the end, despite her selfish tendencies, Alex does step up when it truly matters.
Theatre
- Les Misérables: The Thénardiers are the ultimate examples of predatory moochers. They overcharge guests, rob the dead, and attempt to swindle Jean Valjean at every turn, viewing every human interaction as a financial opportunity.
- In the Michael John LaChiusa musical adaptation of The Wild Party, Mr. Black is described as a "moocher" who, if not a literal sex worker, is certainly financially supported by whatever woman he's seeing. (This is a departure from the source material, where Black is implied to come from a wealthier background.) Kate, his current girlfriend, is aware of this and doesn't mind.
Video Games
- RPG video games generally refers to a form of antisocial behavior where players join groups, dungeons, or quests with the intention of doing little to no work, relying on others to clear the content for them. This behavior, often referred to as "leeching," is generally frowned upon, with some users calling for these players to be kicked out or blocked.
- Destiny 2: There exists moochers who take advantage of more active players who join parties to reap the rewards while providing almost nothing to support the rest of the team. Such cases typically happen on Strike missions when the teams are put together at random. To work around this, players gather in "clans" or use Discord to form groups who will actually play their part in the team.
- Final Fantasy XIV: Individuals who intentionally do not participate in combat, or offer minimal effort in duties like Alliance Raids, Trials, and Eureka, while still reaping rewards are called "Leech Players". This behavior is despised and widely considered frustrating but while not explicitly banned, it is reportable under "gameplay disruption". However, unlike most examples, there exists a remedy for his behavior; Players are advised to use the "Vote Dismiss" function to remove these players. If a vote dismiss is on cooldown, reporting for gameplay disruption is the recommended action.
- Warframe: Players who join public bounty missions but do not participate, requiring others to do the work, actually called "bounty leeches", has earned them the scorn of the Warframe community.
- World of Warcraft: Standing AFK (Away From Keyboard) during world quests, world boss fights, or event objectives while others do the work is a quick way to get hated in the World of Warcraft community. Such behavior slows down events, increases the risk of failure, and causes frustration for active participants. However, as this often occurs in high-volume, open-world content where participation is hard to track, it is therefore difficult to prevent, adding to the frustration.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake: Zigzagged with Johnny. While he isn't trying to be a moocher, his big dreams tend to make him rely on others, mainly Cloud and Tifa. This is especially so whenever he gets into trouble due to being rather clueless of his surroundings, leading Cloud to save his skin, much to his annoyance. In Rebirth, Johnny attempts to turn himself around by taking ownership of a Costa del Sol hotel, but it's in rough shape, and then he once again calls upon Cloud and company to help him in finding resources to renovate it. However, when the renovations do happen, Johnny actually completes it himself (minus the clones Yuffie made), turning it into a successful, albeit chaotic, business.
- The Sims 3: A Sim with the Mooch trait can have this, having to mooch on friends for cash and food from the fridge. A Sim with the Mooch trait can also automatically dumpster dive and their traits are a bonus for Business degrees in University. Premade Sims with trait is Xander Clavell, who lives with his parents and is an immature party animal.
- Tales from the Borderlands: Downplayed, but Rhys and Vaughn’s co-worker Yvette is described in the introductory graphic as a “lunch leech” and often takes advantage of her friends for food.
Web Animation
- Etra chan saw it!: Given that Azami tends to be greedy and stingy with her own money, a number of stories have her being a leech who constantly begs people, going so far as to harass or even steal from them if they refuse.
- Guys Next Door: Di is a failing influencer and survives mainly by borrowing money and food from her housemates Les and Wooze. She also solicits money from her few online followers, although most of her actual revenue comes from people watching her videos just to insult her. When the series opens, Les is on the verge of kicking her out of the apartment for not contributing to the rent.
- Helluva Boss: The slimeball known as Chazwick "Chaz" Thurman is this trope along with being a Con Man and something of a manslut. As revealed in his introductory episode "Exes and Oohs", Chaz is swimming in unpaid debts that he is avoiding to pay, leading him to attempt to pull a con on mafia boss Crimson to gain access to his financial assets by marrying Crimson's son (and Chaz's ex) Moxxie. Fortunately, his con falls apart when Moxxie's friends of the I.M.P. crew rescue Moxxie and reveal Chaz's con to Crimson. Chaz barely escapes Crimson's wrath (quite literally by the skin of his teeth — they're presently mounted on Crimson's wall) by faking his death and assuming the identity of his "twin" Zahc, while also escaping his credit card debt, multiple car loans, and his ties to the mafia.
- Trouble Busters: "My sister hated me and tried to kick me out of the house, but my family chose me over her!": Ariel makes good money working at a hospital, but is deep in debt because of her extravagant spending. She bums off her friends to maintain her lifestyle, and her brother Alan actually kept the fact that he made good money a secret because he knew she would try to mooch from him too.
Webcomics
- Erfworld has this as the main dynamic between Carnymancers and Florists. Both are classes of magic casters, with the former being able to break or bend rules of the setting's RPG Mechanics 'Verse, and the latter have Green Thumb abilities. Florists are usually well off financially, being able to grow crops, stop battles from happening, and create plant golems. Carnymancers are nearly always poor because their magic is poorly understood, and they act and see the world like a con artist, looking to take advantage of others. Florists, being naturally altruistic, run soup kitchens for all poor casters, which Carnymancers abuse. At one point the comic's protagonist Parson asks Janice, an influential Florist why they do this knowing Carnymancers would never return the favor. Janice doesn't mind, and says the altruism is the point.
Western Animation
- Beavis and Butt-Head: The titular characters are often portrayed as the ultimate moochers or as societal parasites, for they frequently depend on others while causing chaos. They frequently bother their neighbor, Tom Anderson, constantly asking for things, destroying his property, and, in some interpretations, acting as "foster kids with absent parents" who rely on the kindness (or lack thereof) of the community. While its shown that the duo do work at Burger World, they are terrible employees who rarely do actual work, instead mooching off the company, causing fires, and abandoning customers.
- Ed, Edd n Eddy: Of the titular trio, Eddy displays traits that goes with being a moocher, mainly being lazy, despite being more notable for being a greedy con artist and selfish Jerkass. Though Eddy is the one who comes up the idea for the scams the Eds typically conduct, Eddy rarely does his share of the work, leaving Edd and Ed to do the heavy lifting. Furthermore, Eddy isn't much better when the trio are in school, often having Edd be his Homework Slave rather than actually putting in the effort to study and do his own work.
- The Fairly OddParents!: Schnozmo Cosma, Cosmo's brother, is introduced in "Double-Oh Schnozmo!" as a Con Artist and a textbook moocher who frequently lies to get money and resources from Cosmo and Wanda. Fortunately, Cosmo's brother receives a strong case of Laser-Guided Karma for his lies by the end of the episode.
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids: In "Begging Benny", the titular character is a beggar who leeches off Fat Albert and his friends and makes excuses and empty promises about paying them back. He eventually gets a taste of his own medicine when a group of guys exploit him, and he realizes what a terrible person he was and apologizes.
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Mac's imaginary friend, Bloo, lives and breathes this trope. Though Bloo has moments of being a decent friend to Mac and their circle of friends, as the series progresses, he is often characterized as being selfish, lazy, and manipulative, often taking advantage of his friends and surroundings for his own gain. It becomes especially noteworthy when Bloo avoids doing any of chores within the house or whenever Bloo has one of his get-rich-quick schemes, some of which are pretty good ideas, but he relies entirely on his friends to do the heavy labor. Naturally, most of Bloo's actions and mischief are guaranteed to cause damage that will cost the foster home money and such. Worse, despite the consequences of his actions, Bloo often fails to learn from his mistakes.
- Freaky Stories: The episode "Mooching Roommate" focuses on Lester, a member of a dormitory in his fifth year majoring in primitive basket arts, he's survived by pilfering things from his other frat brothers. From stealing the last slice of pizza, the clean socks of others, and the toiletries that others were foolish enough to leave lying around, down to their toothbrushes. It's to the point that the other frat brothers have taken to keeping their food in their bedrooms for safekeeping. Lester is eventually undone when he tries to steal the meal of one of his roommates from a dark fridge, which results in him instead eating the science project of another roommate: rat skulls picked clean by mealworms.
- Exaggerated in one episode of Futurama, when Fry mentions a "planet of the moochers". The people act nice, but they rely on everyone else for everything. The last time the Planet Express crew made a delivery there, the ship lost all their food and Fry lost his pants.
- Oskar Kokoshka from Hey Arnold! never has a job, is constantly borrowing money from the others at the boarding house without paying it back and is always asking to eat others' leftovers. If he wasn't married to the long-suffering Suzie it's a wonder how he'd survive at all note . At one point, even Arnold calls him a loser after losing his saintly patience with him and his constant excuses.
- Looney Tunes: Daffy Duck is often portrayed as a moocher, with Bugs Bunny often the unfortunate toon the duck mooches of off. Others that Daffy attempt to freeload off of include Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd, though Daffy often receives a dose of Laser-Guided Karma for his mooching. Daffy’s an even bigger mooch in The Looney Tunes Show, where he lives with Bugs without paying rent, often steals Bugs’ money, and treats Porky like a slave.
- Martha Speaks: In "Martha's Duck Trouble", the Lorraines nurse an injured duck named Ralph back to health. However, when Ralph recovers, he pretends to still be injured so that he can be pampered by the Lorraines and use their bathtub and TV. Then, when Martha catches him and realises that he's recovered, he pretends to be injured again so that he can mooch off the Boxwoods.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Zephyr Breeze, Fluttershy's younger brother is basically this trope when introduced in "Flutter Brutter". Depicted as a slacker, it is shown that after dropping out of mane therapy school, Zephyr moved into his parent's home various times after attempting other prospects before giving up on them, beginning a cycle that frustrates his parents and his older sister. After a being confronted by Fluttershy, which their parents take Fluttershy's side, Zephyr takes his leave... only to move into Fluttershy's home and begins disrupting her homelife. At first, Fluttershy accepted her brother staying but only under the condition he get a job. However, Zephyr's attempts at being employed usually involved him slacking off and getting others to do the work for him or otherwise quitting without even trying. Predictably, Fluttershy kicks him out of her cottage. It becomes deconstructed as Zephyr, at his lowest point, confesses to his sister that his unwillingness to try stems from a crippling fear of failure. Fluttershy convinces him that sometimes one has to do things, even if one might fail. With the support of his sister and her friends, Zephyr pursues mane therapy once again and graduates from mane therapy school.
- Regular Show: The main characters Rigby and Mordecai may have jobs as groundskeepers, they frequently slack off, lie, and cheat to avoid work, often causing chaotic problems for their boss, Benson. They often manipulate situations or rely on their coworkers to fix the chaotic, surreal messes Rigby and Mordecai create.
- Rick and Morty: Being a moocher is the very definition of Jerry's survival instincts. In "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", Rick and recently divorced Jerry go on an adventure together, but things go wrong and Jerry calls out Rick for "taking away his family." Rick responds by calling him out, saying that his very character relies on garnering pity from others to survive. He tricked Beth into taking pity on him, which resulted in her getting pregnant, and he's been "helplessly" jobless ever since losing his job at an ad agency in season 1.
- The Simpsons: Both Homer Simpson & Barney Gumble are examples of lazy, unproductive characters. Homer often relies on others, mainly his family and friends, while Barney Gumble is a classic moocher, also a notorious drunk, whose only job he is ever seen having is being a human guinea pig for medical research facilities.
- SpongeBob SquarePants:
- Patrick Star, the titular character's best friend, could be one of the best examples of this trope in animation as he is well known for his laziness and thriving on doing nothing (he even got an award for it). Though he’s mostly well-meaning and has a place of his own (a rock, actually), Patrick is rarely seen working a job and often relies on SpongeBob for food and money. If not SpongeBob, Patrick often mooches off of either his other neighbor, Squidward Tentacles, or Mr. Krabs at his restaurant, the Krusty Krab, much to their anger. Whenever Patrick does get a job, he often fails at it due to his stupidity so he doesn't have said job for very long.
- Bubble Bass is another example, as he lives in his mother's basement and mooches off of her, and later plans to move to his grandmother to mooch off of her.
- Squidward Tentacles can also be one if he is in a situation to mooch off of others. In "Can You Spare a Dime?", he mooches off of SpongeBob after the latter takes him in, and in "Accidents Will Happen", he fakes an injury and blackmails Mr. Krabs into letting him mooch off of him.
- Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015): Downplayed with Sideswipe but in the beginning of the series, he had shades of being a moocher. Being a delinquent who simply enjoyed breaking the suffocating rules of Cybertron, Sideswipe wasn't all that interested in joining Bumblebee's team when they get stranded on Earth and begin the mission of catching escaped Decepticon criminals. During his time on Earth, he would avoid as much responsibility as he could, getting the others to do his assignments in the scrapyard. He was willing to even blackmail Strongarm to avoid work. Fortunately, Sideswipe does grow slightly out of this and he is there for his team when it counts, being a skilled fighter in his own right.
- Woody Woodpecker: The titular character is sometimes this, as he tries to mooch off rich or hard-working characters for free food in numerous cartoons, to varying degrees of success.