| abstract | - Embarrassing things happen to us all sometimes. When they happen, we trust anyone who saw said thing to afford us the dignity of not calling attention to it, and we typically do likewise when something happens to them. Besides, getting splashed by a puddle or dropping a stack of dishes isn't that funny to begin with. When embarrassing things happen to characters in a comedy, however, every stranger within a 100-foot radius will go out of their way to stop what they were doing, point out the thing in question, laugh loudly about it, and basically humiliate the character into feeling like a quivering little pile of crap. This is known as the Freelance Shame Squad, a group of otherwise unremarkable people who apparently missed the memo that life isn't like elementary school, and still act like sociopathic 5-year-olds upon witnessing a stranger's misfortune. Thankfully, this is not Truth in Television, as in reality most onlookers will react with either confusion, curiosity or just plain apathy when seeing someone else's faux pas. This trope shares a bunk with No Sympathy, and like that, it's a trope that tends to really get on people's nerves. See also Humiliation Conga. Examples of The Freelance Shame Squad include:
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