It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia features quite an interesting cast of characters. They are selfish, loud, offensive human beings who have no regard for anyone but themselves. Yet…we can’t help but laugh at their insane antics week to week.
One of the longest-running gags on the show has to do with Charlie Kelly and what they deem as “Charlie Work.” Basically, “Charlie Work” has to do with any job in the bar that nobody else would ever want to do. As Charlie himself put it, “Well, Charlie Work is, like, you know… like basement stuff, cleaning urinals, uh, blood stuff, your basic slimes, your sludges, anything dead, or decay, you know – I’m on it, I’m dealing with it.”
With that being said, we think it’s high time to rank the absolute worst examples of Charlie Work, from the not so bad to the downright despicable.
Changing Out Kegs
This is by far the tamest example of Charlie Work on the show, but it still counts since it is yet another example of grunt work that the rest of the gang refuses to do.
Charlie may have equally invested in the bar when it was first bought with his two best friends, but they keep him in charge of things like this instead of acting as a fellow boss. He’s a glorified janitor, and even that’s a stretch. Changing kegs should not be something a fellow bar owner does.
Setting Up Traps For The Rats
This was in the early days of Charlie Work, where instead of just outright killing the rats with his own hands, Charlie would frequently set up traps around the bar for them with cheese and/or glue.
Once again, this is something that should be out of Charlie’s wheelhouse as a bar owner, but the gang has him acting as their own personal exterminator instead. This just proves that even in the earlier seasons, they had little to no respect for Charlie.
Cleaning The Urinals
This is what we mean when we say Charlie is a glorified janitor. It is pretty standard for janitors to keep the urinals clean at a bar, which means it falls under Charlie Work.
The worst part about this is how disgusting most of the patrons are at Paddy’s Pub. So you know that means they aren’t concerned with keeping the bathrooms relatively clean when they use them.
So, Charlie is dealing with the disgusting, repulsive messes the customers leave behind in the bathrooms. Yikes.
Burning Trash To Keep The Bar Running
During the episode, “The Great Recession,” Charlie attempts to prove his worth by telling Dennis and Mac everything he does to take care of the bar on a daily basis. This way, they won’t fire him.
While going over his daily chores, he tells them he burns their trash to be “eco-friendly.” He goes further by saying the entire bar runs on trash so he’s constantly burning it instead of throwing it in the dumpster.
Poor Charlie doesn’t realize that not only is that the opposite of eco-friendly, but it makes the bar always smell like trash.
Creating Carbon Dioxide In The Basement
During the episode aptly titled, “Charlie Work,” Charlie is attempting to prepare the bar for health inspection. We get to see his unorthodox ways of ensuring that happens in this episode, including a new tactic he had come up with to get rid of the rats.
Apparently, he created a rather dangerous system that results in carbon dioxide filling the basement. He does this leading up to every inspection to get the rats out of the bar. The problem is, this also puts himself — as well as the rest of the gang — at risk of dying of carbon dioxide poisoning. Only Charlie would concoct a plan like this.
Killing Generations Of Rats
Who could forget the episode where we learn just how exhausting and disturbing Charlie’s process of killing rats actually is? During this episode, Charlie seems to be slaughtering entire generations of rats with a bat with nails poking out of it.
While committing rat genocide, the rest of the gang tries to find ways to cheer him up and give him a break from Charlie Work. But, of course, it backfires a bit, and in the end, they gift him a new rat bashing bat. The funniest part? He was really touched by that gesture.
Patching Up The G**** Hole
This is definitely one of the more risqué and disgusting aspects to Charlie Work. In the men’s bathroom, there is a certain hole in between two stalls that allows men to have anonymous relations. Yeah…pretty gross, if you ask us.
So of course, patching up said hole falls under Charlie Work. He has done this throughout the series more than once, and usually, it somehow gets uncovered again. This is a whole new level of awful, even for Charlie Work.
Passing Health Inspections For Paddy’s
While this may not seem like it should be amongst the worst of the worst of Charlie Work, let us explain why. In the “Charlie Work” episode where Charlie must help Paddy’s Pub pass a health inspection again, he goes through quite a lot just to get it right. This includes dealing with disgusting bathrooms, getting rid of dangerous stools in the bar, and creating carbon dioxide in the basement.
He does this all while helping the gang complete the scheme they had started that morning. Hats off to Charlie for miraculously getting the bar an A even with all of that going on.
Hosing Down Seats Where Someone Died
In the episode titled “The Gang Finds A Dead Guy,” it is Charlie who must help clean up after they find the deceased man. This episode, like most, is for those who appreciate darker humor, and they really hit the nail on the head with that.
Charlie, after the man who died has been moved, must hose down the entire booth where he sat when he died. It’s definitely macabre, not to mention really gross, but the gang had no qualms about deeming it Charlie Work.
Digging Up A Dead Body
As we’ve talked about, It’s Always Sunny is not for those who are easily offended and can’t handle some dark humor. So when the gang believes Charlie’s mom has cancer, a whole series of events take place that eventually leads them to Dennis and Dee’s mom’s grave.
Frank has convinced the gang that there is money buried with their mom, so he gets them to dig up the grave, and makes Charlie open up the coffin. It all ends up being a ridiculous ruse of Frank’s, but of course, it is Charlie who gets the brunt of his so-called prank. The guy just can’t catch a break.
