Questionable Content XVIII: "That's only sort of good news"

[Wraith]

Lets be fair, sometimes timing just works weirdly. It does seem like they called to ask, rather than tell her it was now, so its entirely possible that if Claire had said she wasnt free right this second they would have said "ok, we can also do 4, 6, 6:30, 7 and 9 PM any day for the next week. Do any of those work for you?" or something to that effect.

Of course, you could be right. I'm finding it a bit difficult to fit that conversation into Claire's phrasing, though:

Claire: "This is- I'm Claire. Claire Augustus. You just called me?"
Other side: "Yes, we called in order to conduct your interview."
Claire: "Wh- NOW!?"
Other Side: "Yes, is that a problem?"

You could maybe fit, "We can always call back later if you prefer" or something to that effect but it's a bit awkward to fit in?

I'm taking it as, "Jeph wanted to get this boring part over with ASAP so that he could move on to a tour of showing off his new AI city next week", and frankly, fair enough. As has been pointed out, Jeph hasn't interviewed for a job since before 2005 and the less time he spends on it, the less things people are going to criticise him for.

[halfeye]

Of course, you could be right. I'm finding it a bit difficult to fit that conversation into Claire's phrasing, though:

Claire: "This is- I'm Claire. Claire Augustus. You just called me?"
Other side: "Yes, we called in order to conduct your interview."
Claire: "Wh- NOW!?"
Other Side: "Yes, is that a problem?"

You could maybe fit, "We can always call back later if you prefer" or something to that effect but it's a bit awkward to fit in?

I'm taking it as, "Jeph wanted to get this boring part over with ASAP so that he could move on to a tour of showing off his new AI city next week", and frankly, fair enough. As has been pointed out, Jeph hasn't interviewed for a job since before 2005 and the less time he spends on it, the less things people are going to criticise him for.

Interviews are always at the interviewer's choice, you can put them off if you have a reason, but the odds do not favour the interviewer liking it (some will, some won't, the won'ts are usually the majority).

[Radar]

Interviews are always at the interviewer's choice, you can put them off if you have a reason, but the odds do not favour the interviewer liking it (some will, some won't, the won'ts are usually the majority).

That being said, the time of the interview is most commonly arranged in advance - not as random as here.

[Delicious Taffy]

Claire is gonna get the job and it's gonna turn out the Cubetown is run by Gerald Robotnik or something.

[Radar]

Claire is gonna get the job and it's gonna turn out the Cubetown is run by Gerald Robotnik or something.

If he is the Jim Carrey version, I would be perfectly fine with that.

[Keltest]

If he is the Jim Carrey version, I would be perfectly fine with that.

Jim Carrey was Ivo Robotnik, Gerald is his grandfather.

[Wraith]

There has been a leak from Jeph's Patreon which, with as much context as is available, suggests what the residents of Cubetown look like.

It's not Jim Carrey, as Dr Robotnik or otherwise. It's a "thicc goo-girl". Make of that what you will.

[Radar]

Jim Carrey was Ivo Robotnik, Gerald is his grandfather.

Oh, did not know there was a whole family of mustache-twirling roboticists fixated on a blue hedgehog.

[Wraith]

Oh, did not know there was a whole family of mustache-twirling roboticists fixated on a blue hedgehog.

In the expanded universe (Oh yes, there's Sonic the Hedgehog lore) there aren't. Ovi Kintobor was a benevolent and helpful inventor who was caught in an egg/lightning-related accident which transformed him into the ruthless and cruel dictator, Dr Ivo Robotnik.

I am not even remotely joking.

[Keltest]

In the expanded universe (Oh yes, there's Sonic the Hedgehog lore) there aren't. Ovi Kintobor was a benevolent and helpful inventor who was caught in an egg/lightning-related accident which transformed him into the ruthless and cruel dictator, Dr Ivo Robotnik.

I am not even remotely joking.

Isnt that just the Archie Comics stuff or something?

[Wraith]

Isnt that just the Archie Comics stuff or something?

Christ, are there multiple parallel universes of this stuff!?!?

[geoduck]

This conversation is already flashing warning signs that Claire will probably ignore.

[Shogo]

A couple different universes.

The Archie comics one is mostly based on one of the Sonic cartoons generally referred to as SatAM. Mostly to distinguish it from other Sonic cartoons. Why SatAM? Because it aired Saturday mornings.

It had Sonic as part of the Freedom Fighters and was pretty cool. Took place on a planet called Mobius. To summarize the story that eventually got told in the comics . . . Mobius is actually a future Earth. Some aliens tried to make first contact with humanity and one of Eggman's ancestors basically kidnapped their emissary and vivisected them. The angry aliens bombarded Earth with "gene bombs" that killed most of humanity, but this also somehow "merged" human genetics with animals. Which is why there are animal people like Sonic the Hedgehog.

What was left of humanity eventually went to war with the animal people. Eggman didn't think he got enough respect so he decided to defect and help the animal people, then turned around and betrayed them to do his whole robot army thing and try to conquer the world.

It gets pretty wild. You mostly just have to try to pretend Ken Penders doesn't exist, which isn't easy with all his nonsense. Especially where Knuckles and the Echidnas are concerned. (Penders also did some stuff that basically killed the Archie series, so now the comics are done by IDW.)

========

But to remain on topic . . . Somehow I already find myself filled with dread at the prospect of learning more about Cubetown.

[LeSwordfish]

Augh i do not want to read a comic about Quirky Naked Big-titty Goo Women. I did not want to read a comic about quirky semi-naked multi-breasted big-titty cow women either. If this is where the comic is going I shall not follow. Maybe i'll go back to ctrl-alt-delete, at least when Buckley shows off his fetish it's just "princess leia bikini".

[Mechalich]

Augh i do not want to read a comic about Quirky Naked Big-titty Goo Women. I did not want to read a comic about quirky semi-naked multi-breasted big-titty cow women either. If this is where the comic is going I shall not follow. Maybe i'll go back to ctrl-alt-delete, at least when Buckley shows off his fetish it's just "princess leia bikini".

Aurelia, at least, was presenting an online avatar. Moray apparently - since a random guy is able to walk into the frame - actually has some kind of physical chassis fashioned as a hentai slime-woman. And while I can certainly imagine that in an AI-only environment AIs, especially those not socialized to appear to human-based aesthetic standards, might chose to appear in ways that seem bizarre to us (this was in fact a major plot point of Charles Stross' novel Saturn's Children) it does not belong in this webcomic as anything more than a one-off gag, and even that's pushing it.

[Delicious Taffy]

What? Okay, I guess it's his comic and all, but... Slide the camera down, Jeph. I dare you. I double dare you.

Also this clearly is not a very traditional work environment. I don't think the comic ever pretended it was going to be, but I wasn't expecting slimegirl robots.

[Eldan]

What? Okay, I guess it's his comic and all, but... Slide the camera down, Jeph. I dare you. I double dare you.

He already posted that on his Patreon. You can go see it on the comic's reddit, people crossposted it. The reception wasn't good.

[Rodin]

First comment from the reddit sums it up for me:

Jeph, if you want to make a fetish comic, just do it. Soft reboot with your AIs and your anthrocows and I guess your goo girls and let the rest of the original cast have an ending. JFC.

Jeph being bored with QC and wanting to draw a fetish comic would make a lot of sense. It explains Mommymilkers, and the weird fanfic being read on-stream, and even links back to Claire talking about being a foot fetish model as that particular fetish also made a reappearance during that godawful Mommymilkers bit.

I seriously believe he wants to draw outright porn but thinks that if he does so it will bring down his reputation and his main income source of QC. So he's inserting as much as he thinks he can get away with as a trial balloon to see if his current audience will follow him.

So far, the response seems to be a resounding "No."

[LeSwordfish]

I seriously believe he wants to draw outright porn but thinks that if he does so it will bring down his reputation and his main income source of QC. So he's inserting as much as he thinks he can get away with as a trial balloon to see if his current audience will follow him.

I remember how during the May/Sven hookup he also posted an uncensored version of one of the comics with what felt like a very sour attitude - I WOULD put this porn on your screen but the PRUDES at google would cut my adsense, which in retrospect was a bad sign.

Just do porn as a sideline, Jacques. It works for David Willis, doesn't it, and all his characters are humans.

[Gez]

I'm not even gonna comment on Jeff's Quirky Fetish Bot #42069.

Remember when people wondered why AIs with network access in their mind would want to hire a librarian? Well given they've hired a nuclear physicist to do janitorial work, we can already answer: she's not being hired to do library work. The rational attitude would be to stay a barista.

[Wraith]

What? Okay, I guess it's his comic and all, but... Slide the camera down, Jeph. I dare you. I double dare you.

She (They?) are built like a Barbie doll, its weird but not inherently NSFW unless your workplace is especially prudish.

Remember when people wondered why AIs with network access in their mind would want to hire a librarian? Well given they've hired a nuclear physicist to do janitorial work, we can already answer: she's not being hired to do library work. The rational attitude would be to stay a barista.

In fairness to Jeph, he's not pretending that this is a normal interview. It's a world where the business is run by a quirky robot-girl on a sci-fi city that floats in the ocean, it's silly and the people are silly, and Claire is going to get hired because she's the only applicant to have read ONE website about the place, in the same why that Marten got hired at the library by noticing that the application form was written in rhyming verse.

The only semi-objection that I have to this exchange - apart from who is involved in it, what is being said, and the way they're saying it, of course - is the fact that Moray is Director of Sentient Resources, and they're interviewing an entry-level peon. That's middle-manager work, especially in HR, and far more likely it would be conducted by the Director of Libraries because that's who Claire would report to.

But yeah. Red flags for days. I would have serious reservations about moving across the street to work for this place, let alone to another country.

[Eldan]

I'm not even gonna comment on Jeff's Quirky Fetish Bot #42069.

Remember when people wondered why AIs with network access in their mind would want to hire a librarian? Well given they've hired a nuclear physicist to do janitorial work, we can already answer: she's not being hired to do library work. The rational attitude would be to stay a barista.

Reddit actually sums it up really well.

So, there's a place out in the ocean that does cutting edge AI research, apparently.
And among all the people they tried to hire, only one of them even had a look at their website?

A place like that should have hundreds of extremely motivated graduates applying if it was even half-way legitimate. I've worked at two universities in my life. One was a world class institution (like, top ten in the field) and they got 200 applications from around the world for anything they offered, even if the group in question wasn't cutting edge. The other where I'm currently working is... second or third tier and no one outside the country has heard of it. Still easily 30, 40 applications for any job offer.

I kind of put up with Jeph's weird fetishes, but I'm kind of starting to agree with Reddit that I should start considering it quits.

[Yuki Akuma]

Once again, Jeph does no research. I'm not convinced he's ever had a 'real job' if he thinks the director of HRSR is going to be doing job interviews.

Moray is pretty cute though not gonna lie.

[Vinyadan]

Two considerations.

One is how squiked that subreddit is, but also how it's the origin of some of the deliberately grossest strip slays I've ever seen.

The other one is that QC has been heavily influenced by manga (Azumanga Daioh was mentioned as one of the important influences on comic). Nowadays when I see manga quoted online, it's almost always heavily sexualised content. I don't know if there has been a shift in production, or if it's just what the fandom is talking about, but I wonder if that's why QC keeps touching these themes, as it's what the manga community is talking and joking about.

[Wraith]

Once again, Jeph does no research. I'm not convinced he's ever had a 'real job' if he thinks the director of HRSR is going to be doing job interviews.

It tells us one thing; that there is no one else of note on the island. It's like a start-up - there's the founder, their two closest buddies who become CFO and VP respectively, and now they're just trying to pull in people to whatever positions they think need filling.

*I* could be a Company Director, if I wanted to. I could fill in a form, pay ~$50 to register a trademark, and could legally put "Wraith - CEO, WTF-Industries Inc" on a business card. My company would only exist on paper and have no assets, but that's not even a problem.

Moray is Director of SR because there is no one else in SR in Cubetown. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Claire finds herself being hired as Chief Senior Librarian 1st Class, by virtue of being the only librarian there.

Also, there's already an industry-recognised, politically correct alternative to Human Resources - it's "People Professional", because referring to any kind of beings as a 'resource' is unpleasant. Sentient Resources is just... kind of worse? It makes me feel like they're going to start exploiting orang-utan, or something.

EDIT: Reddit has more leaks of tomorrow's comic, showing off more of Moray. The anatomy only gets worse.

[Willie the Duck]

Reddit actually sums it up really well.

So, there's a place out in the ocean that does cutting edge AI research, apparently.
And among all the people they tried to hire, only one of them even had a look at their website?

A place like that should have hundreds of extremely motivated graduates applying if it was even half-way legitimate. I've worked at two universities in my life. One was a world class institution (like, top ten in the field) and they got 200 applications from around the world for anything they offered, even if the group in question wasn't cutting edge. The other where I'm currently working is... second or third tier and no one outside the country has heard of it. Still easily 30, 40 applications for any job offer.

I kind of put up with Jeph's weird fetishes, but I'm kind of starting to agree with Reddit that I should start considering it quits.

Once again, Jeph does no research. I'm not convinced he's ever had a 'real job' if he thinks the director of HRSR is going to be doing job interviews.

Moray is pretty cute though not gonna lie.

He probably didn't research how human resources departments work, no. Regardless, this brings up a thought for me -- this research facility, the college library, the robot rights non-profit, heck the police department -- they all behave like Coffee of Doom -- both in scale and in how hilarious it is when things are chaotic/unprofessional/falling apart (or ought to). It maps to what I've seen called 'dysfunctional family in the workplace' sitcoms like Spin City and NewsRadio, etc. Those too had what should be massively-multiple-employee organizations (radio station, city hall) act like 6-10 person enterprises. Obviously with QC there aren't number-of-salaried-actor concerns, and given that Jeph isn't afraid to add loads and loads of characters, it's not being done out of conservation of characters the audience has to keep track of. It might be simply following a sitcom trope, or yes maybe he can't mentally scale up from his own work experience.

[Keltest]

It tells us one thing; that there is no one else of note on the island. It's like a start-up - there's the founder, their two closest buddies who become CFO and VP respectively, and now they're just trying to pull in people to whatever positions they think need filling.

*I* could be a Company Director, if I wanted to. I could fill in a form, pay ~$50 to register a trademark, and could legally put "Wraith - CEO, WTF-Industries Inc" on a business card. My company would only exist on paper and have no assets, but that's not even a problem.

Moray is Director of SR because there is no one else in SR in Cubetown. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Claire finds herself being hired as Chief Senior Librarian 1st Class, by virtue of being the only librarian there.

Also, there's already an industry-recognised, politically correct alternative to Human Resources - it's "People Professional", because referring to any kind of beings as a 'resource' is unpleasant. Sentient Resources is just... kind of worse? It makes me feel like they're going to start exploiting orang-utan, or something.

EDIT: Reddit has more leaks of tomorrow's comic, showing off more of Moray. The anatomy only gets worse.

This is true, but presumably you arent then going to actually go off and start hiring people to come out to your floating island base either. Although if you do, let me just say I'm open to being paid lots of money to do very little work if thats the direction you were actually going.

[tyckspoon]

Moray is Director of SR because there is no one else in SR in Cubetown. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Claire finds herself being hired as Chief Senior Librarian 1st Class, by virtue of being the only librarian there.

Moray is also the Receptionist. And a 'Bucketkeeper', whatever the heck that is (currently tossing up between 'there are few enough physical beings on site that they pitch in with the janitorial duties' and 'it's a position on a team for some sport they invented using cleaning supplies.')

Currently thinking Moray is a multiply-bodied intelligence, similar to Yay (or more likely Station) where the main AI is powerful enough to afford to split attention over multiple instances of itself, or Moray just reaaaaaaalllly likes talking to people and has been given all the interacting-with-people-outside-of-Cubetown tasks to deal with while other people get on with whatever Cubetown's actual business is.

[Keltest]

Moray is also the Receptionist. And a 'Bucketkeeper', whatever the heck that is (currently tossing up between 'there are few enough physical beings on site that they pitch in with the janitorial duties' and 'it's a position on a team for some sport they invented using cleaning supplies.')

Currently thinking Moray is a multiply-bodied intelligence, similar to Yay (or more likely Station) where the main AI is powerful enough to afford to split attention over multiple instances of itself, or Moray just reaaaaaaalllly likes talking to people and has been given all the interacting-with-people-outside-of-Cubetown tasks to deal with while other people get on with whatever Cubetown's actual business is.

On that note, the fact that we still dont know what Cubetown does yet is a really bad sign. Everything is a work in progress, theyre apparently horrifically understaffed, and are also apparently incredibly public about their ambitions, which has all the signs of a crash and burn in the works.

[tyckspoon]

On that note, the fact that we still dont know what Cubetown does yet is a really bad sign. Everything is a work in progress, theyre apparently horrifically understaffed, and are also apparently incredibly public about their ambitions, which has all the signs of a crash and burn in the works.

What do you mean we don't know what Cubetown does? They do 'Holistic Research'! It's on the website and everything! Don't ask questions, just give them money >.>

.. pretty sure Claire was about to ask just what 'holistic research' means. Bet it means 'We contact random smart people and fund them to work on whatever they want until either the funding/grants run out, or a saleable product gets made as a side effect.' Which, tbh, is not even that weird, there are a nonzero number of real world companies that don't make money, have no foreseeable plan to make money, and operate almost entirely off of convincing funding providers that what they're working on will at some point make All The Money (the comic already touched on this for a joke once during the 'Get May a new body' sequence, with the visionary robotics company that isn't predicted to have actual positive cash flow for another five years.)