Questionable Content XVI: Yes, Butt

[Willie the Duck]

Does it happen in real life? I was under the impression that such activity was just a genre convention of TV, like people having access to the rooftops of apartment buildings or the income of a single earner with no higher education supporting a mortgage, a spouse, and several dependents.

In the world at large? Yes. It happens, and (perhaps where this strip is actually being realistic) it tends to happen with specific people quite a lot, and then rarely-to-never for most everyone else. Of course, there are entire industries (bars and nightclubs, plus fashion) that make a huge chunk of their income off of lonely young people who think that everyone except them are going out and hooking up all the time, and if you just bought this ___ and spent half your paycheck going out to ____ on a Friday night, you too could be doing this. Also note that a lot of people who do do this don't end up being very happy with the results.

Regarding the other things: yeah, standing around on your apartment building rooftop is a great way to get kicked out of your apartment in most instances. A single, no-higher-education job can get you a spouse-and-family-supporting lifestyle if it is a highly sought after and skilled job, such as master electricians, carpenters, etc. Computer programmers often used to forgo the university route and just kept picking up certifications and the like. We have a carpenter somewhere around here on the boards who is a top 5% earner (admittedly he lives in San Francisco, so some of that is he's charging his exorbitant mortgage on to his customers). There are many avenues to success. Regardless, yes, the sitcom character who works at a coffee shop and the other one who works as a dog walker couldn't actually afford the lifestyles sitcoms pretend they would have.

Regarding other people'; reference to Friends -- The first season was vaguely realistic (or unrealistic in utterly over-the-top sitcom ways, like having animal control accidentally shoot someone with a tranq dart), and then once the success started the show Flanderized quickly.

[Mordokai]

That two people who haven't seen each other in a couple of years decide to catch up and it goes so well that they spontaneously end up in bed together?

I mean, it's not quite as outlandish as the 'Friends' characters individually being the most toxic of relationships in all of TV and yet still somehow being referred to as 'Friends', but I can't say that its ever happened to me so perhaps it could be anecdotal?

Now that I've watched Radar's clip... was it always like this? I haven't watched Friends in like... ten years? Probably more. I didn't know much about relationships back then... well, I still don't, to be honest.

But I have this memory of relationships like the one Friends had was something that was to be aspired towards. And now... I feel vaguely foolish because of that.

[Wraith]

The first couple of seasons were more wacky and less horrible, but yeah - from what I remember, Friends became the story of 6 a**holes torturing each other emotionally quite consistently. Rachel and Ross' on/off again relationship being especially unhealthy for both of them, to say nothing of what they subjected their friends and families to throughout.

I think it's one of those things that has become more and more obvious with time, particularly in the last 5 or 6 years when people have really put some thought into toxic behaviour and how it manifests. At the time Friends was just a quirky sitcom about yuppies with mysteriously affluent lifestyles, but looking back with modern attitudes towards abuse, gaslighting, and after things like the #MeToo movement we're realising just how horrible TV characters in the Noughties were to each other.

Friends wasn't the only one doing this stuff, it was just one of the most widely successful. Hindsight, however, is 20/20 and it serves as a pretty powerful example of how quickly media can become dated and its values exposed.

[Yuki Akuma]

Friends was basically Seinfeld.

Except instead of objectively admitting the main characters were awful people, it tried to make everyone like them despite still taking a ton of cues from Seinfeld and making them act pretty much exactly like the characters from that.

[hungrycrow]

The sky is the limit. Do not go to sky.

[Keltest]

The sky is the limit. Do not go to sky.

Do not pass Sky, do not collect 200,000,000 dollars.

[VoxRationis]

This depends on jurisdiction, of course, but I somewhat suspect that docking employee pay for a new uniform in this fashion runs against anti-discrimination laws somehow.

[Radar]

This depends on jurisdiction, of course, but I somewhat suspect that docking employee pay for a new uniform in this fashion runs against anti-discrimination laws somehow.

Provided that whoever written the law has considered the possibility of changing bodies. If not, then I can imagine workplace regulations like free uniform every X months or something like that and from those it would fall naturally that if you need a new one earlier, you pay for it. If law allows it, the employer might not even provide free uniforms at all and forces employees to pay for them in general.

[Wraith]

In a lot of places, if you have to pay for your own work-related equipment, you can claim it back as a tax deduction. It's an extra hassle and not always worth the time and effort it takes to sort out, but since May's boss has in the past been shown to be incompetent and borderline corrupt then I can easily believe he'd try to screw his employees for a few dollars per shirt or something.

In an unrelated step back in time, Wednesday's strip required me to consciously stop myself from making a knee-jerk reaction to Rene's statement about Clinton; "Ugh, I can't believe he screwed up that whole situation."

1) You are Rene, and thus are in no position to criticise other people for their relationship mishaps.

2) "Clinton screwed it up" by... being stuck between two potential love interests, and taking the time to have an honest and open conversation with one of them to see where he stands, ensuring that his perspective is understood and causing as minimal discomfort to Brun as possible? Man, what a jerk!

3) Yes, he was a little drunk and didn't need to be so blunt, but Elliot is also slightly to blame for inviting Clinton to hang-out knowing perfectly well that he wouldn't be able to engage fully and would be distracted - if not just by his job, but by also crushing on Brun.

I have sympathy for the guy, and I know that Rene is defending her friends against the newcomer, but everyone seems upset because Clinton and Elliot are in the same love-triangle but only Clinton was the one brave enough to try and break the stalemate and progress in a meaningful way. It's hardly a big screw-up and he's not the only one to blame.

[georgie_leech]

I have sympathy for the guy, and I know that Rene is defending her friends against the newcomer, but everyone seems upset because Clinton and Elliot are in the same love-triangle but only Clinton was the one brave enough to try and break the stalemate and progress in a meaningful way. It's hardly a big screw-up and he's not the only one to blame.

Eh, it's still a little... tone deaf, to be asking someone if they have romantic interest while on a date with someone else.

[John Cribati]

Elliot is at work and Clinton is hanging around to keep him company. That's far from anything most people would quantify as a date.

[Wraith]

Don't get me wrong, both are at fault. Clinton got drunk and was borish, that is pretty rude at any time, whereas Elliot seems to be pretty naïve, if not a little bit overly-sensitive.

I mean yeah, Clinton could have found a more appropriate time and place to have that conversation with Brun. At the same time, which is worse; a badly timed - if otherwise honest and well-meaning - conversation, or to spend the rest of the night (if not longer?) stringing Elliot along with false hope?

As well as that, the reverse doesn't make Elliot look much better. Elliot was also crushing on Brun, so was it fair for him to be holding that candle while supposedly hanging out with Clinton? How long was he going to wait for HIS best option to present itself, or was he going to sit on the fence forever and continue not to be honest about his feelings? Complaining that it feels like Clinton is "settling" for Elliot may not be inaccurate, but it's also mildly hypocritical of Elliot who was kind of doing the same thing.

Of course, Clinton doesn't know about any of this. As far as he's concerned it was a pretty great night - he found out where he stands with Brun and spent the evening getting to know Elliot better, life it pretty great right now. Relationship drama, ho!

[John Cribati]

Also this whole situation started because Elliot happened to see Clinton first. An alternate timeline where Brun walked into the bakery first (and Elliot gained the courage to tell her how he feels), would basically have Elliot "settling" for Clinton.

[hungrycrow]

Elliot admitted his romantic attraction to Clinton, and Clinton said he'd think about it. Then he did think about it, and asked Elliot out for a drink. That's a date, even if they don't explicitly use the word.

[Wraith]

To which Elliot responded, "I can't as I'll be at work and not able to fraternize".

I mean, it's crystal clear that it SHOULD be a date but both of them are such clueless dorks they don't even know what it is they're getting themselves into... However, it's exactly this kind of miscommunication that has caused this mess in the first place.

Sufficed to say; Not every invitation to a date-like setup is a capital-d-Date, sometimes there's a middle ground between platonic and romantic attraction and it's okay to be in that place without getting all bent out of shape about it.
Even Renee managed to figure that one out - she was meeting Dan in order to "catch up" and it wasn't a Date until after the coffee and they arranged it properly.

[hungrycrow]

To which Elliot responded, "I can't as I'll be at work and not able to fraternize".

I mean, it's crystal clear that it SHOULD be a date but both of them are such clueless dorks they don't even know what it is they're getting themselves into... However, it's exactly this kind of miscommunication that has caused this mess in the first place.

Sufficed to say; Not every invitation to a date-like setup is a capital-d-Date, sometimes there's a middle ground between platonic and romantic attraction and it's okay to be in that place without getting all bent out of shape about it.
Even Renee managed to figure that one out - she was meeting Dan in order to "catch up" and it wasn't a Date until after the coffee and they arranged it properly.

Both of them are chronically unclear, but in the context of their previous conversation neither had any reason to think their meeting up together would be platonic rather than romantic.

[John Cribati]

Except for the whole "Elliot will literally be on the clock at work" part, I assume?

[hungrycrow]

Except for the whole "Elliot will literally be on the clock at work" part, I assume?

Having the date at work was dumb, but it doesn't really change what either of them were expecting.

[Max_Killjoy]

Friday's comic is a perfect example of "sensitivity" becoming a sad self-parody.

[Morquard]

I did not recognize this was May till panel 2 or so, then suddenly the conversation made sense.

[Radar]

I feel like the whole discussion about Clinton and Elliot is circling kind of around a wrong question as most of the people try to determine, who was more wrong or even try to decide which single person was at fault and by extension responsible for whatever happened. The reason I think this is not exactly the right way of looking at the situation is that the decision on who is to blame rests upon subjective weighting of how wrong was this or that action, inaction or miscommunication. Still there is no problem with dissecting the fictional situation for the sake of discussion. I know I did my share of that and it can be fun.

The true reason I felt I should write about it is that it happens all too often in real life relationships. I might even say that focusing on who was more wrong comes very naturally to a lot if not all of the people. The key problem is that for one, being on the inside of a given situation makes a person all the more unable to calmly weight all the actions. The more important reason is that even an accurate blame placement (also on oneself mind you - that's a tricky one) is in of itself not productive and often shifts the attention away from actually addressing a given issue and feelings involved. It also makes people think in terms of opposite sides, which brings up antagonistic tendencies and not thinking of a relation that might need some fixing.

Sorry, if it feels too serious for this thread, but I really needed to let that out as things would have goon way smoother, if I learned this all those years ago. There is no said story behind this, if anyone is wondering - just some experience that I really think is important in life.

Peace.

[Willie the Duck]

No worries, Radar. The discussion about culpability in general is something of a tangent. Elliot isn't as infatuated with Clinton as he was the previous day and discussions about 'fault' would absolutely not come into it.

[dps]

Ok, who the heck is it that May and Momo are talking to now? From the context, I guess it's Sven, but sure as hell can't tell from the artwork anymore.

[georgie_leech]

Ok, who the heck is it that May and Momo are talking to now? From the context, I guess it's Sven, but sure as hell can't tell from the artwork anymore.

Are we entirely sure it's not Hot Clinton from back when he had those experiences but woth dyed hair?

[Max_Killjoy]

Ok, who the heck is it that May and Momo are talking to now? From the context, I guess it's Sven, but sure as hell can't tell from the artwork anymore.

Yeah, I think it's probably chibi-Sven, since neither hand is artificial.

[Wraith]

Brown hair, brown eyes, spectacles. It's either Sven or Faye, and I'm not sure that even Jeph's art style can change so radically overnight that Faye has gained 12" in height.

...Well, probably.

[Willie the Duck]

Brown hair, brown eyes, spectacles. It's either Sven or Faye, and I'm not sure that even Jeph's art style can change so radically overnight that Faye has gained 12" in height.

...Well, probably.

Faye and Bubbles, plus whomever is in limelight currently (the bakery crew recently) get to have iconic looks, everyone else slowly morphs into colorswaps of Dora and Marten.

[Yuki Akuma]

...This "everyone looks different every time Jeph draws them" joke is kinda getting old.

Unless you literally cannot recognise Sven, in which case I'm pretty worried for you.

[Keltest]

...This "everyone looks different every time Jeph draws them" joke is kinda getting old.

Unless you literally cannot recognise Sven, in which case I'm pretty worried for you.

I thought it was intended to be Clinton until somebody pointed out the hand.

[Wraith]

This "everyone looks different every time Jeph draws them" joke

Dora, Raven and Emily don't, that's the problem! *rimshot*

Seriously though, I was being facetious. The only person who comes close to looking like Sven is *maybe* Wil, who dresses in tweed and has a moustache. If someone can't remember a character just because you haven't seen them for a month, I don't know what to say except that I wonder how they make it through real life when one of their friend gets a new haircut or puts on a new t-shirt