A scheme, manipulation, or situation that seemed legitimate, honest and/or innocent, at first. Usually referred to at time when it may or may not be too late to avoid the full consequences and/or embarrassment.
“My mortgage ended up a lot more expensive than they implied. The bank put me in a ‘trick bag’, but I had already moved my family in.”
(prison use) A situation where one prisoner attempts to frame, set up, blackmail, extort, or abuse another weaker inmate, usually through seemingly innocent acts or requests
Two or more courses of action, presented as options, that all lead to failure.
Supervisors or managers will resort to this in order to deliberately cause a subordinate to fail. When the employee fails, he or she is counseled or terminated for failing the task.
Last Monday my supervisor gave me a choice of cleaning the entire assembly line in one day or inventorying everythingin the warehouse in one day. I chose the inventory and could not complete it in one day so I got fired. My supervisor put me in a trick bag.