In the pilot episode of Futurama, Fry doesn't want his pre-selected job, a delivery boy. Leela informs him that:
You're assigned the job you're best at.
There are severe punishments for not doing the job you were assigned:
Fry: But I don't wanna be a delivery boy!
Leela: You'll be fired.
Fry: Fine.
Leela: From a cannon. Into the sun. You've gotta do what you've gotta do. It's the law.
In the same episode, several characters repeat the same 'You've gotta do what you've gotta do. It's the law.' phrase.
In several episodes, characters quit their job but are re-hired in another industry, most notably:
- Leela- Real Estate Agent (previous job: ship's captain)
- Fry- Police Officer (previous job: delivery boy)
- Zapp Brannigan & Kif Kroker- delivery boys (previous jobs: captain & first officer, should be noted that they were dishonorably discharged from their previous jobs)
- Fry & Bender (and unofficially Leela)- soldiers (through trying to get military discount)
Scruffy also appeared to have been a shipman in the 'space navy', but I'm unsure where this quote is from so I'm unsure if this was from an episode:
Space-Navy taught me ever'thing I know 'bout janitorial work. Mm-hmm. Five hunnerd men in a tin can, one terlet per species... Them spaceships is more clog than ship. T'ain't nothin' I look back fondly on neither. 'Cept fer the hookers. Wasn't fer the hookers, I'd'a killed myself long before I made Admiral.
This plot point appears to have been dropped somewhere in the earlier seasons, without there being an actual episode involving its abandonment.
Is there any canonical record of Earth abandoning job selection?