The Phule's Company series by Robert Asprin follows this trope. I read the 1st few of these ages ago and remember them as being fun and silly.

China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh has elements of reassignment backfire. A character gets an unpleasant job in the arctic and is able to use it to further his career. I really like the this book, mostly because of it's well drawn and interesting characters, but I feel that I ought to warn you that the ending leaves most of their stories with out strong resolution.