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Dr. Zoidberg is known to be very poor. He lives in a dumpster and eats garbage. But wouldn't he be paid similar amount to say, Fry, Bender, Leela, and Scruffy?

Fry, Bender, Leela, and Scruffy all seem to do okay, albeit on the poorer side of the spectrum, but are still able to pay the rent on their apartments and feed themselves. Shouldn't Zoidberg be able to do the same?

Valorum
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Cyrus
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6 Answers6

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The practical answer is that he's poor for comedic purposes.

Zoidberg's characteristics juxtapose him being a doctor while being poor, and him having strong Jewish characteristics while being a shellfish and having poor financial management skills (a Jewish stereotype).

Valorum
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Señor Jefe
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18

Because he's incredibly bad with financial decisions.

In the episode where Planet Express's stocks are being inflated by a 1980's businessman, he sells his stock in the company for a sandwich, fails to refrigerate it, and then eats it.

And in the series finale (the first time), he buys eight copies of a two-record set for no apparent reason, as well as eight copies of a newspaper featuring the opera he had just witnesses himself.

This, combined with him essentially being made to pay off outrageous sums by his friends and not appearing to be paid well at all by the Professor (along with the other members of the crew) indicates that he's not only poor, but the money he does have he spends very unwisely.

Zibbobz
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    This is the right answer. Zoidberg is extremely bad at money management. There was also the time he found the sack of $8 million dollars left by the Don-bot, and bet it all on roulette, and kept letting it ride until he lost it all. –  Sep 23 '14 at 01:04
12

The Futurama wikia mentions several reasons:

  • He is extremely poor and has stated several times that he has no home. Hermes Conrad considers him as practically a slave.
  • Everyone makes him pay for stuff (even though he has no money and people will not pay him any).
  • A conversation Zoidberg has with the Professor suggests that he is only staying with Planet Express because he is a slave, and must "earn his freedom." (References to The Beast with a Billion Backs)
  • When Zoidberg recieved $300 from the mass tax refund, he thought he was rich.
Izkata
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    But does he not have to pay taxes to get a tax refund? – Popeye Jun 29 '12 at 10:45
  • Lots of people today get tax refunds without having paid any taxes. It's essentially a welfare mechanism administered by the IRS, because they already have the infrastructure in place. – Stephen Collings Jun 29 '12 at 19:38
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    These aren't reasons, they are facts. "Why is Zoidberg so poor" is not answered with "he is extremely poor" nor "when he received $300 he thought he was rich". – Adriano Varoli Piazza Sep 22 '14 at 19:06
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    @AdrianoVaroliPiazza - I agree this doesn't answer the question at all. The answer to "Why is Zoidberg poor?" shouldn't be "because he has no money." –  Sep 23 '14 at 01:05
  • @LegoStormtroopr First and second bullet: Why he has no money by way of his co-workers. Third bullet: Why he has no money by way of his employer. Fourth bullet: He has no concept of what money is worth (implying that he spends it badly). – Izkata Sep 23 '14 at 01:15
  • Ping @AdrianoVaroliPiazza as well, see prior comment – Izkata Sep 23 '14 at 01:15
  • Only your third point actually says what you imply in your comment. – Adriano Varoli Piazza Sep 23 '14 at 10:55
  • @AdrianoVaroliPiazza And "Everyone makes him pay for stuff", because (for one character) "Hermes considers him practically a slave" does not? How? – Izkata Sep 23 '14 at 12:48
  • Because while loads of people might consider me scum, it doesn't actually make me so. And I have to pay for stuff too, doesn't mean I'm poor. You are still saying "he's poor because he has no money and has to pay for stuff". – Adriano Varoli Piazza Sep 23 '14 at 13:41
  • @AdrianoVaroliPiazza He's poor because he's treated as a slave; not paid a living wage and still forced to pay for others in addition to himself. That's what the first 3 bullet points are about. – Izkata Sep 23 '14 at 13:56
  • You've wasted time arguing in comments when you could have just edited the answer to incorporate what you clarify in the comments. Sorry, but your answer doesn't say what you mean. My -1 stands. – Adriano Varoli Piazza Sep 23 '14 at 14:32
  • @AdrianoVaroliPiazza I was just trying to figure out why you and Lego didn't think it was clear (especially since from my perspective, all I did was reiterate the bullets points). Maybe I will edit it later (for the moment, I'm at work). – Izkata Sep 23 '14 at 14:50
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Adriano Varoli Piazza Sep 23 '14 at 14:53
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Back then we elaborated a reason.. is that he expend all his money when he was going to die. the thing is that the character starts with aparently the same economic status as everyone else in the series.. he is seeing paying money with no trouble and going to restaurants and hotels .. up until the episode where he goes to his home planet to "mate and die" ..in the end he doesnt mate and doesnt die.. and from that episode on the "Zoidberg is poor" thing began..

Obviusly is a case of "Flanderization" as the writers found it funny to make Zoid poor and began to feast on that.. but we found funny the coincidence that he was suposed to die (and he knew it well) and from there he is poor.. and especulated he knew he was going to die so he just expended all his money

user72489
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  • I think a lot of this is speculation, but I do agree with the premise, as the earliest instance of Zoidberg is Poor that I can think of is Bender calling him poor at the conference table in S02E10, the episode right after S02E09 where Zoidberg goes to his homeworld to mate – chiliNUT Oct 21 '19 at 02:39
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Well, to answer you question, dr. Zoidberg has no alternative funds (e.g. Bender steals) and is probably the most useless member of Planet Express crew. Also, in episode "Future Stock", it's shown that he spent all of his shares of the company. Therefore, it's perfectly logical to assume that he's the poorest one. And another thing, Zoidberg is Professors oldest friend, and their relationship is less work-related than that of others.

dehumanise
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The Futurama wikia mentions several reasons:

He is extremely poor and has stated several times that he has no home. Hermes Conrad considers him as practically a slave. Everyone makes him pay for stuff (even though he has no money and people will not pay him any). A conversation Zoidberg has with the Professor suggests that he is only staying with Planet Express because he is a slave, and must "earn his freedom." (References to The Beast with a Billion Backs) When Zoidberg recieved $300 from the mass tax refund, he thought he was rich.

To add on what Izkata, Zoidberg has no value for money. When Fry was a Holophoner musician, Zoidberg bought extra items on two occasions: Newspaper, and a 2-record set. Zoidberg also has bad credit(his credit card application was denied).

In another occasion, Fry and Bender flew the Planet Express Ship causing the entire Planet Express building to follow the ship cause major damage. Hermes then said that Zoidberg had to pay for the damages.

All in all, Zoidberg is the Millhouse of Futurama. He always gets picked on, and he's the type of character that wont improve in his situation.

Blue
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