List of Lumpy's occupations

Lumpy is a character in Happy Tree Friends who the writers rely on for something to go wrong. He's their fall-guy, the series' anti-fail-safe. When something needs to go wrong, Lumpy's there to make it happen, and it's no wonder that he has been given many jobs; in fact, the most in the series. This is mainly because many of them require skill, concentration, and finesse, qualities Lumpy does not possess. So far, he has been given 39 different jobs and roles, and has been at work 49 times, usually with disastrous consequences.

Another reason why Lumpy's careers get a more thorough explanation than, say, The Mole and Handy, who are often seen with him, is because The Mole doesn't know what's going on, so it's just mistake after mistake. Handy doesn't have any hands, so he cannot perform certain action that would stop many deaths and injuries in the show, and these two designs can be fairly repetitive compared to Lumpy. Lumpy makes a mistake or a misjudgement and can try to compensate, and this allows an even greater variety of ways the situation can go from bad to worse, which is why he is used so frequently.

There are times however, when Lumpy can do a job competently and without incident. It was explained that Lumpy sometimes does this to make him unpredictable. For example, Lumpy did a good job as a doctor in Party Animal and A Sight For Sore Eyes (at least to Russell), was a very good, if vain, surfer in Wipe Out, was able subdue a giant squid using only a mousetrap in Doggone It, and was able to exorcise Cub in Read 'em and Weep.

Race-Car Driver
Lumpy played this role in Wheelin' and Dealin'. Although this was only a small role, Lumpy's incompetence still shows through here. He was wearing a snorkel and goggles instead of proper racer's gear, and his car's wheels were clearly in bad shape, of poor quality and didn't have any semblance of an axle to keep it stuck to the chassis or work in the first place, to boot. He also somehow managed to detonate his car trying to start the engine up, yet still won the race. How he got there in the literal flaming wreck of an accident of a car he rode was never explained.

Carny
Lumpy played this role in Pitchin' Impossible. While he wasn't outright terrible at the job, he did make some poor judgements, such as giving The Mole some balls to throw in his game. He also didn't stop The Mole after his first throw, despite how obviously wrong the game was going.

Butcher
Lumpy played this role in Meat Me for Lunch. There was nothing here to suggest he was incompetent (unless one counts the fact that he was using a plunger, but he still was able to get the job done). However, he was slightly unethical, seeing as he sold raccoon (Lifty & Shifty) meat to Petunia, eyes and all. The reason why he is considered unethical here is that although it's not technically cannibalism, the Happy Tree Friends are on the same intelligence level as humans, and are usually far less barbaric, and thus wouldn't think of killing and eating each other in most circumstances.

Fisherman
Lumpy played this role in Off the Hook and Sea What I Found. In Off the Hook he wasn't incompetent it was simply bad timing between him and Russell. In fact, it could be argued that he is a very good fisherman, able to wrestle in a Happy Tree Friend, which is most likely larger than any fish he was hoping for, and also managing to do it through coral reefs and mines.

In Sea What I Found he was with Russell again, but fishing with him. Once again, no true incompetence was displayed. He and Russell even managed to find a treasure map by chance. He also had the correct equipment for the job on both occassions, making it clear that he is more competent at this job than most.

Bus Driver
Lumpy played this role in Happy Trails pt. 1 and From A to Zoo. in Happy Trails, he was clearly at least competent when he was driving, but he was too easily distracted by what was going on around him, which was one of the reasons why the bus crashed. In From A to Zoo, he wasn't driving for very long, but it is safe to assume that his driving was at least competent, because he only crashed in this episode because of the baboon that had snuck on board. That being said, there is a general trend that is, when Lumpy plays a bus driver, he is always the reason why the characters die, or are set up to die.

Skating Rink Worker
Lumpy plays this role in Rink Hijinks, in which he wasn't exactly incompetent. He was, however, a little inattentive while working, as he didn't notice Flaky flying towards his buffer at all. He did not even take in what was happening until she was starting to shred. He also had an odd choice of clothing; he had boxer shorts on, and was wearing skis instead of roller blades, obviously signifying that he was having another one of his many stupid moments in the series.

Farmer
Lumpy played this role in Milkin' It, Aw Shucks!, and Peas in a Pod. In Milkin' It, he was shown to be incompetent at protecting his livestock from Lifty and Shifty, because they managed to steal a whole cow (as oppossed to some meat in Meat Me For Lunch). It was clear he didn't want to lose his livestock, because he got killed trying to stop them. In Aw Shucks! he was shown to be a much more competent farmer, at least with agriculture, because he was able to grow a corn cob to a size larger than him. It even won a prize in the county fair. However, he wasn't very skillful at deterring a persistent crow from his farm.

In Peas in a Pod, he had a whole Pod Lumpy workforce at his disposal; however, this doesn't show if he was incompetent or any good at farming in this episode. It was purely down to chance that he had found the alien seed. However, he was definitely able to take advantage of the opportunity, because he used them to maximise his farm's productivity (and clean his house) with no effort from him at all (although this did eventually go wrong for the town).

School Play Director
Lumpy played this role in Class Act, he was at least fairly competent at the job, he was able to organize the play properly and it was shaping up to be a good performance. However, his lack of judgement was his downfall in this job. He insisted that the play was to continue even after Sniffles, Giggles, and Flaky were all horribly injured. He also ran away when things got too out of hand, which isn't really what a director should be doing. He should be trying to control the situation, instead, he bailed out. However, he definitely knew what he wanted to be in the play. He understood very clearly, on an emotional level, Toothy's beautiful singing in such an emotional situation.

Magician
Lumpy played this role in I Get a Trick Out of You, it was clear that Lumpy knew the magic tricks he was trying to perform, some he was at least able to do successfully, such as appearing in a puff of smoke, making flowers appear from his hat, and to make blood disappear on a newspaper. There were many tricks, however, he was no good at at all, such as pulling a bird out of his hat, mainly because he couldn't keep it alive long enough for the trick, he sawed Cuddles in half literally, but, to his credit, he was able to leave the intestines intact, and he managed to kill himself trying to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Lumberjack
Lumpy played this role in Out on a Limb, and, to be put bluntly, he knew how to cut down trees, and was good enough almost cut its base away before it fell over, but didn't understand that they fall over when the base is only a sliver of what it was before. Because of this, he was unable to get away in time, and his leg was crushed into the ground, which lead to his leg being amputated, slowly and painfully. Unsurprisingly, he cut off the wrong leg and had to work on the right one after that, too.

Convenience Store Clerk
Lumpy played this role in Icy You. He was clearly shown to be incompetent at this job, clearly was slacking off from his duties and somehow managed to get his tongue stuck on some hot dog rollers. Lumpy's predicament allowed Nutty to steal masses of candy from the store. Also, when he managed to get a mop and clean up the gory mess Nutty left, the rollers are still stuck on his tongue.

Grave Digger
Lumpy played this role in Remains to be Seen and Can't Stop Coffin, in Remains to be Seen, he was clearly competent at his job, as he had successfully buried all of the dead Happy Tree Friends without incident, and was even able to pile a mountain on zombie Nutty, reburying the undead Tree Friends in the process. In Can't Stop Coffin, he is very different. He was burying a casket without a body and did not understand that a fire at a gravesite was unusual. However, there were some points that weren't his fault, such as, he happened to be wearing heaphones, so he was unable to hear Cuddles screaming. He also wasn't looking at the casket; after all, his job only warrants him to pour dirt on it, there wasn't really any need to.

Ski Patroller
Lumpy played this role in Ski Patrol, where in which his stupidity and failure was at its best, and, despite the narrator's confusing instructions and the fact he was new to the job, he was clearly unable to handle even the simplest situations with any degree of competence. His first job, putting trash in the bin, he did manage correctly, granted, he accidentally sent the ski-lift into an impossible speed (by accident) and killed an uncountable amount of Happy Tree Friends. Applying oxygen to Toothy failed just as badly, through a combination of the narrators misguidance and his inexperience; he was able to turn on the oxygen, but was unable to get the job done correctly to stop Toothy floating away, not even thinking of grabbing Toothy or pulling the mask away from his mouth.

When he found Cuddles injured with a broken leg, he did the correct thing and tied a splint, however, he crushed Cuddles' leg because he tied it far too tightly, as per the narrator's misguidance. Next, he was given a helicopter and didn't know how to use it, even when he said he did, and this injured Cuddles further, injured/killed a few woodland creatures, and, presumably, caused damage to the forest. He even managed to launch Cuddles' gurney into the ambulance, pushing it over a cliff and setting it up to be destroyed by the oxygen tank from earlier. As a last task, he was somehow able to turn chapped lips into a fatal situation, but possibly due to the film skipping and the ludicrous amount of steps, managed to rip open Giggles and store a boot and scissors in her, ultimately killing her.

In all of this, Lumpy might have decided he was not doing anything wrong because the narrator kept saying things like, "first rate job, cadet!", "Fantastic! Your skills are like a breathe of fresh air!", "Outstanding! That's a high we can all enjoy!", "There! Wasn't that easy!", "Well done, trainee! Congratulations!", "Take pride in your duty, knowing that the slopes are a safer place with you on them!" after each and every situation that Lumpy botched.

Amusement Park Owner
In The Wrong Side of the Tracks Lumpy was shown to have been an absolutely dreadful amusement park worker. First, he left various materials around his park (which leads to Mime's death). Then he tries to repair a ride without evacuating the riders. Instead of looking for a peice of the track he decides to improvise and use a pencil instead, which eventually comes back to haunt him. He lets Nutty into the restricted area (or just ignored him completely) and ends up killing him. He then ignores the instructions on rebuilding the roller-coaster and lets people on-board the clearly broken thing. He ignores Mime's corpse on the board and puts it on the ride. He doesn't tell the passangers to to keep their limbs in the ride which leads to Cuddles death. He leaves a block of glass on the ride and after he sees the ride is going wrong, he doesn't think of turning it off. The moral of the episode says it all, "If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing right."

Truck Driver
He was basically a competent truck driver. In From Hero to Eternity, he was able to avoid a giant half snowball rolling towards his truck. It was Splendid's incompetence that led to his death. In Without A Hitch, it was Flippy's fault for running in the middle of the road in a dark rainy night in the first place. And it was Flaky's paranoia while driving, that caused the disasters in the episode.

Physician
He had this occupation in Party Animal, and he was surprisingly competent at the job. He successfully healed Flaky, and he knew that peanuts were the reason for her allergic reaction (however, Flaky may have told him this). Although, it must be said that his competence here was most likely due to the fact that it was only a bit part in the episode, and he was needed for the plot to get back to the house.

Sheriff/Police Officer
Lumpy in Don't Yank My Chain was at his stupid and arrogant worst. He easily got fooled by Shifty and Lifty's clumsy disguises, and refused to listen to Handy. He forgot to lock the cell where he jailed Handy and the Mole, and he threw away a piece of cloth that could be used to track down the Mole. In addition, he was not only stupid, but power hungry and abusive. It was shown by his treatment of Mole and Handy. He beat up the two innocent motorists, and he shackled them to an iron ball. However, he seemed to have improved in A Bit of a Pickle as he was able to tell when Lammy was speeding and knew that something was wrong when she didn't stop. He proceeded to pull her over and execute a takedown (although it was unethical to taze her in the eye) without killing anyone (with the debatable exception of Cuddles).

Animal Control
In Doggone It, he was competent in doing his job, even if he was slow in "connecting the dots" between Whistle's behavior, and whistling sounds. He handily dispatched the giant squid using only a mousetrap, but had difficulty dealing with Whistle the dog. Overall, if Shifty and Lifty hadn't arrived with their whistle-like dogs, Lumpy would have succeeded in getting Whistle. His assumption that only Whistle would go crazy after hearing whistle like sounds is not stupid, but rather a failure of imagination.

Construction Worker
In Concrete Solution, Lumpy was both competent and stupid at the same time in his job as construction worker. The way he handled the nail gun was particularly incompetent, and he should have known that the bag of cement was really a bag of sugar (although to his defense, who would have expected a bag of sugar to be mixed up with bags of cement?).

However, without Handy and Mole's help, he was able to complete the bridge and open it for traffic, which shows that he does know how to construct things. And if Nutty hadn't accidentally switched the sugar and cement bags, it would have been a successful bridge opening.

Seaman
In Sea What I Found he clearly has no experience at sea, as he does not know the difference between the waves of the sea, and the waves of a washing machine. And when Russell was under the sea looking for lost treasure, Lumpy shouldn't have been asleep on the watch, and he really shouldn't have stepped on the hose that gives oxygen to Russell.

Plumber
In Wishy Washy, he is incompetent as a plumber. He not only failed to unclog Petunia's toilet, but made it worst. When he tried fixing the pipes in the basement, he inadvertently killed Disco Bear and himself, flooded the basement with dirty water, and caused all of Petunia's pipes to carry only dirty water.

Firefighter
There isn't really enough information in Who's to Flame? to deduce whether or not he was stupid or incompetent in his job. It's not really his fault he can't hear Mime in the phone, and presumably, nobody called him to the scene of the fire. Though, he was seen playing with matches.

Sanitation Engineer
Lumpy in Every Litter Bit Hurts is not so much stupid as he was wasteful, selfish, and careless in doing his job. He had no interest in saving the environment.

Genie
As a genie, in As You Wish, he is capable of granting the wish of his wishers. For example, he gave Nutty a giant lollipop, Sniffles a rocket, Disco Bear a giant discoball, and Shifty and Lifty a balloon and a bag of coins, all to their great delight. Except for the bag of coins, the fact that those wishes later lead to their deaths is not Lumpy's fault but to either their own actions, or to others (ex. sunlight, Shifty and Lifty, etc), but not Lumpy.

However, he did goof when he set Cub on fire, and turned Shifty and Lifty's balloon into a bag of coins. It could be argued that Pop and Shifty and Lifty's wishes was not clear, or was poorly worded, so their wish lead to their demise.

Scoutmaster
In Take a Hike, Lumpy is incompetent at being a scoutmaster. He failed to properly monitor his charges. While Flaky's death is her own fault, Toothy's snakebite is due to the beaver's stupidity, and Nutty's death cannot be directly attributed to Lumpy, he was still ultimately responsible for their well-being. He directly caused the injury of Cuddles, and made Sniffles' situation much worse. He wasted drinking water by using it to shave when he could have used water from the nearby lake. He permitted, or at least didn't prevent, Petunia from drinking toxic water. And while it was not his fault the bear was provoked, his failure to see the stable bridge caused the death of his charges.

Overall, while events conspired against him, Lumpy, by his incompetence, made the situation worse.

Ringmaster
In Mime to Five Lumpy's management of his circus is not really incompetent, overall. He did not do anything stupid in this job. Rather, it was the combination of Mime's inability to speak, and Toothy's misunderstanding of Lumpy's clear instructions, that caused the disaster. Rather, in this job, he shows he is greedy, selfish, and bossy.

Orthodontist/Surgeon
In his job as a surgeon, he showed a mixture of stupidity, and intelligence. In A Change of Heart, he was intelligent enough to successfully implant a heart of a whale on a bear without the bear dying, but was stupid to do so because he lost the other normal sized hearts. In Chew Said a Mouthful, he shows that he is able to correct and repair Nutty's jaw, and even recommend apple juice to Nutty after he showed that he was hungry. He can also perform eye surgery. The only thing he did wrong is that he didn't notice that the glass eye of Toothy was replaced by a jawbreaker, and he seemed to care more about golf than in operating on Toothy. Rather, it is Nutty's stupidity that caused most of the disasters in the first place.

In I Nub You, Lumpy again showed again he can be stupid and skillful at the same time. He was able to save Handy and Petunia's life even after they were sliced to bits by the pinsetter, and he was able to successfully sew them together. The fact that he sewed them together back to back, however, and the fact that he amputated his own arms in the process, shows his extreme lack of common sense.

Newspaper Editor
In See What Develops Lumpy shows that he has only limited skills in managing people when he selected an obviously unqualified Mole to be the photographer. However, he was successful in developing a piece of flesh, as the others would just throw the flesh away instead of trying to develop it.

Lookout
In Idol Curiosity, Lumpy was incompetent as a lookout. First, he mistakes the ice cube on Toothy’s drink as an iceberg. Second, he missed the real iceberg that later sunk the ship. However, it could be argued that Lumpy’s mistakes were caused by the cursed idol.

Optometrist
In A Sight For Sore Eyes Lumpy is a competent optometrist. Despite using dirty gloves, he was able to successfully prescribe contact lens to Russell. His actions regarding the Mole and the seeing eye dog was not particularly stupid because as long as Mole had the dog, nothing wrong happened. Rather, it was a combination of actions that Lumpy had nothing to do with that caused the disasters that happened. However, he (debatably) gave Sniffles glasses that didn't work for him which lead to his death.

Surfer
In Wipe Out, contrary to most of his previous roles, he was a very good surfer. He won multiple championships, was able to make complicated surfing moves that impressed and wowed Petunia, Giggles, and Toothy, and if he hadn't been killed, most probably would have won another surfing championship. He only failed because Cro-Marmot changed the sea to ice.

Mailman
In Letter Late Than Never, Lumpy was an unethical mailman. He not only reads other people’s mail, but he also vandalizes the letters he reads. He rifled through the packages of others. He ate the chocolate of one package, and he wore the sweater that was meant for Giggles, stretching it in the process. He might be dedicated in delivering the mail, but he really needs to be more ethical.

Lumpy struggled to deliver mail in the face of Toothy’s tortoise, however, it would be unfair to fault him for this because facing killer tortoises that is determined to kill the mailman isn’t really part of the job description of a mailman. However, using the packages he was meant to deliver to fight the turtle is clearly irresponsible.

It was in the delivery of Cub that Lumpy shows his stupidity and incompetence. He first picks up a box without (presumably) any mail markings on it. He assumes it is for Cuddles without any proof whatsoever. He then squeezes it on Cuddles' mailslot when it would not fit.

But the biggest strike against Lumpy is that he should have known that there is a baby in the box when he is carrying it from his truck to Cuddles’ door.

Backup Guitarist
In In a Jam He was not really stupid or incompetent.He played the electric guitar well and contributed to the fame of Happy Tree Band. The only thing that he did wrong was to select Cuddles as replacement for Russell, and it could be argued that he selected him to commemorate Russell. Cuddles wasn't terrible as a musician once they were on stage. Rather, it was Cuddles' meddling that caused the concert to prematurely end.

Psychiatrist
In Double Whammy Part 1, until he hypnotized himself into a chicken, Lumpy did not do anything wrong as a psychiatrist. His ideas and techniques were sensible. When Flippy was about to flip, he shows enough presence of mind (that is not present in the other characters) to dump water on him to prevent him from flipping. His two suggestions—meditation and using a squeezable stress reliever—even if they ultimately failed, were good ideas and were not stupid as they were, at times, able to prevent Flippy from flipping out. The only mark against him is the hypnotism fiasco which lead to the failure of the whole effort.

Priest/Exorcist
In Read 'em and Weep, he was a surprisingly good exorcist as he managed to get the demon out of Cub. It is unclear at the end of the episode if he was possessed, or he merely ate the demon. He didn't act like he was possessed, however.

Toy Store Manager
Lumpy shows his greedy, and ruthless side in We're Scrooged! He is greedy, bossy, and uncaring of his employees welfare as a manager. He has good business sense as he was able to boost his store's profits, but was undone by his lack of common sense and greed.

Milkman
A Sucker for Love, Pt. Two - It's not really a job as it was only in Nutty's imagination.

Carol Singer
In Kringle Carols, Deck the Halls, and We Wish You Lumpy was shown to be an excellent singer. It wasn't his ignorance or meddling that lead to the deaths and near-deaths of the others and he didn't do anything odd or unusual.

Teacher
Lumpy plays this role in (arguably) From A to Zoo and Something Fishy. In From A to Zoo, he was shown to be both dedicated and caring, and very incompetent, as we've come to expect of Lumpy. Straight off the bat, he let the kids out of his sight, he was unable to save Sniffles and, trying to save Sniffles, got Petunia killed. Even if it was Cuddles' fault Toothy died, he didn't even notice Toothy got killed because of his inattention. He even managed to traumatize Flaky trying to get her away from the yellow chicks. Not only that, he was even unable to understand that there was a baboon in place of Sniffles, the same one that had killed him earlier.

In Something Fishy, it was a lesser role, but with just as disastrous results, at the beginning of the episode, it is fair to assume he at least knows the subject he is teaching. Later on, because he was rushing, put Russell's Piranha's fishbowl on Russell's head instead of a space helmet, setting up for Russell, Mime, and Sniffles to be killed.