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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social ⋅ 8hDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8d
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8d
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social ⋅ 21d
Gwen Snyder is uncivil @gwensnyder.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Ash Parrish @adashtra.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Katie @katiestp.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Hunter S Schafer @bolt451.bsky.social ⋅ 4d
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(he/him)
⚧
at least it’s not exposure
(I’ve totes been there tho, b/c being the only one unemployed is boring)
It’s leagues above exposure, sexy red head always good
The NSFW add with Mike in a Santa hat makes me wonder if he’s working in a strip club for the exposure.
add -> ad
Stupid sexy Mike….
Speaking of exposure, we got Sarah to expose a smile.
Yeah and it’s not even forced. Sarah is coming along.
Oh come on, she’s smiled before! Like this morning! And….
Okay, fine, so this morning.
Okay, real talk, we’ve seen her smile in roughly 26 strips. Out of 280.
Sarah is not a cheerful person.
She smiled here
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/goodmorning-2/
So much smile…
Is that the one… AW GODDAMMIT, I knew it.
Your gravatar makes it even funnier!
what about this one =D
DANG IT THIS ONE
Yes Indeed. She is practicing
Exposure is what bunnies who are left outside in the rain die of.
Well, it’s exposure to Becky. That’s like ten times the value of regular exposure.
“regular” exposure is 99.9999999% worthless, so Becky exposure should be worth at LEAST 10000000000000000000% the value of THAT
Dina would make an excellent Discworld Igor.
If you’ve never read them, the Discworld books feature a parody of the whole Igor trope; they are actually a whole clan, they are all excellent scientists and surgeons, and they all assist mad people.
And when you call for one, they just step out from behind you, having been there unseen all along. One character set a bear trap behind himself before trying it, heard a snap, and turned around to find Igor holding the trap like it was nothing.
Tell me Dina couldn’t do that. Pays better than being an intern, too.
In her case, Igora. Igor is her cousin.
And, it’s pronounced “I-gor”. Now, walk this way.
On Discworld, they are “Igorina.”
And Igors know which “Igor” you are referring to when you mention them in discussion.
They lead the world in organ and limb transplants, often practicing on themselves. So should you ever say “You have your father’s eyes” to an Igor, he probably does. Perhaps in a jar somewhere.
But as they say, “What goes around, comes around.”
Actually they say, “what goeth around, cometh around”. It’s a cultural thing.
I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be a lisp or pseudo-archaic…
It’s a lisp. All the Igors lisp, deliberately. They can choose not to.
I imagine them as being voiced by Peter Lorre with added lithp.
If I could walk that way, I wouldn’t need the baby powder.
Heyooo!
I always wondered what would happen if you stood with your back firmly against a wall.
(Probably turn out to be a secret door right there.)
Walls are but a temporary obstacle. A little shaped explosive should take care of that no problem.
Or a little cubby hole, and Igor was standing in it wearing an appropriately painted plaster suit.
I’m just imagining Dina meeting the Young Frankenstein Igor and being just APALLED at his lack of care for the scientific method.
Dina is the best.
Nice job, Sarah, pulling back on the snark for once.
Also swapping out negativity for being supportive!
And not only did it not kill her, she actually got a SMILE out of it. Not even a forced smile. Seriously, Becky improves the life of everyone she comes in contact with.
Well Becky is just “the best”, with no further qualifiers
I replied to the right person, but the wrong comment.
I can’t even
….She’s the Anti-Mike, then.
Sarah will be the Phoenix Wright style lawyer who doesn’t get paid because she keeps having to get her friends out of jail.
I still wonder how he pays the office rent
I’m sure he takes better-paying cases in between games.
I assume he just took one incredibly-well-paying case very early in his career, and has been riding that the entire time/is on retainer to the person from that case for a mint.
Come to think of it the third case in the first game IS a famous actor.
Most people prefer to be paid in cash, not mints.
Mia had the rent paid up like ten years in advance, and left it to him, probably.
I think he played piano before he got disbarred, so there’s some extra cash. And more recently, Trucy’s magic shows pay for everything.
I mean, half the jokes are about he DOESN’T play the piano. He plays poker with Trucy’s help.
I should have put it in quotes. He “played the piano”. But it sounded like an innuendo lol.
But I totes forgot about Trucy helping him “play the piano” so you’re right that it wouldn’t make sense that he did before getting disbarred
Yay, work !
Huh, it *didn’t* kill Sarah to be supportive. Fascinating.
And someone other than Joyce, too !
Joyce is like a virus that’s sent her to a healthier place! *Community reference*
Don’t be hasty. She could still drop dead any second.
at first i thought haha intern joke, then i realized, no sarah is helping1 yay
I imagine that their employment at Galasso’s business will last about exactly ten years, so sarah might still have a case
I think it’s official. Dina is the best girlfriend
You are objectively correct.
(i mean, i’m more inclined towards becky, but then i am biased on several levels)
Well yes, Becky is just “the best”, with no further qualifiers
If true, only because my wife is now my wife, not my girlfriend.
Awwww! <3
Well, she has the unfair advantage of not being fictional, but congrats! Even if that wasn’t recent
Dina and Becky are both wonderfully doofussi doofuses
I looked at this strip, and I thought “Hmmm, I wonder if Bagge is going to make a comment with the word “doofuses” in it today…”
Actually, I didn’t really wonder. I knew it.
Some things are constant.
Dina and Becky being doofuses is one of them!
This is so pure, I needed this after yesterday’s sads.
silly Sarah, it’s “interning”
With Galasso I think it is “serfing”
Serfing tables!
*Slowclap that’s not a bit reluctant*
Henching.
Until I read the alt-text I figured Sarah was trying to draft Dina as just that in six years time :p
What is this “muffin effer” nonsense? Everyone knows it’s “melon farmer”!
Cut her some slack. Her upbringing’s been so sheltered, she doesn’t even know the proper fake curses.
You see, ‘melon’ might be mistaken for a reference to a lady’s breasts! And ‘farmer’, uh, well, farmers are cool but the melon part is potentially problematic!
Hey, if it’s good enough for Samuel L. Jackson in “Die Hard with a Vengeance” (when shown on TNT), then it’s good enough for me.
Farmers have a tendency to plow virgin fields. Perhaps that is where it becomes problematic?
But… when they are melon farmers, and plow the virgin fields… are they technically God?
but ‘muffin’ is slang for ‘muff’, which is slang for vulvas! muffin effer is more specifically lesbian, or something, i guess
So yeah, perfect for Becky to be using.
I’m sick and tired of these melon-farming peasants on these melon-farming plains!
Mommy fudger is where it’s at though, well according to Kimmy Schmidt.
I thought that was so cute. At this rate the universe will have achieved heat death before she actually manages to swear.
You know she’s dropped at least one “fuck” so far already, right? Granted, it was to draw a response from Joyce, but I say it still counts.
Yeah, my impression was that Becky was both more willing to really swear and used less euphemistic swears than Joyce.
I think Joyce swears more than anyone else in the comic, she just disguises them.
I haven’t counted bowdlerized swears, but, while Joyce uses a lot, I’m pretty sure Billie and Sal both have her beat just in straight-up unbowdlerized F-bombs. Billie’s at 45 at the moment, and Sal’s at least 42, maybe more if you’re more liberal about counting the obscured ones here than I was. (Possibly as many as 89!)
She’s only dropped two f-bombs, according to John’s tally, and the one of them had to be forced out to get Joyce to be mad at her. I think the other (and only sincere f-bomb) was directed at her butthole dad.
*is having a hard time choosing. Diamond Dave-era Van Halen, or something earlier…?*
They’re so tiny next to Sarah.
Oh Becky and Dina, always there to put some much needed levity back in to the comic after a hefty amount of drama/feels. At least until Galasso turns one of you into his apprentice evil overlord, and you turn out far more competent at it than expected.
Sarah smiling is weird and amazing to see. And Dina is still the best. Also, “muffin effer” is the strangest way to avoid that particular swear I’ve ever seen.
“muffin effer” sounds delightfully dirty!
It does indeed sound like it’s implying that someone would be putting their own kissing apparatus near someone else’s secret spots to the delight of both parties.
When the hats come off…
I forget, where is Becky staying? Now that Billie is back in her room with Sal.
She got to have Billie’s bed last night while Billie slept in Ruth’s room. As of today though, we aren’t sure.
There is at least one hour until she has to figure it out. Plenty of time, muffin’ effers.
Okay, long ass Panel analysis time, yay!
Panel 1: I like Sarah’s show of concern here, asking where they were all day. Sure, she’s probably not been out of her mind worrying, but she’s curious enough to ask and to seem relatively open about asking – if she were more casual, I think she’d look at lot more serious like she usually does. Becky is slowly growing on her, and I think we can thank her proximity to Joyce and Dina, both of whom have become people she cares about.
And Becky’s smile could make candy grow I swear to god. She’s so enthusiastic! It’s pure cheese and I love it. She and Dina are so proud of themselves! To steal a term from the Lord of the Internets (and also Bagge and Fart Captor), dooooofuses. They’re so happy Becky is employed! And I love Becky’s faux swearing. She relies on it a lot more than Joyce does, which suggests she’s a little more fast and loose on that rule, but not quite out of the community enough to realize swear words won’t put her in hell. So cute! And so happy.
Panel 2: OW. HOW DARE YOU BECKY HIT ME IN THE FACE WITH THAT RIGHT AFTER YOU BUTTERED ME UP WITH SOMETHING THAT ADORABLE. THAT AIN’T RIGHT.
Yup. Working hard at all times is an underpinning in a lot of America’s religious culture – some of it is from the Puritans, who were under the impression that hard work and success were one of the best signs of God’s favour (though you weren’t likely to be saved unless you had a conversion experience) and ending up poor, homeless, etc. is a sign of sinfulness. And of course there’s the Calvinists, of the ‘If god likes you, you’ll do well, if not, your life will suck and you will deserve it because you are a bad person’. Plus, you know, general anti-homeless and classist bullshit that spews in ultra conservative places like their community. In all contrast to the deity they claim to worship’s message, but that’s how it goes. So much anti-poor work why.
I hope Becky learns her worth is not tied up in her job. She needs it badly. Poor baby.
Panel 3: And here’s some of Sarah’s character development! She comes off a lot warmer here than normal. She’s really making good on her promise to make things better so far. I’m proud of her! While some of her cynical advice and crankiness was true and rooted in a good place of wanting to keep people from getting hurt, she was too pessimistic to understand all circumstances and see things weren’t always as bad as she thinks and accept things can go well. this is an important step in her character growth, for her relationships with others as well as her general happiness, and I am SO proud of her!
She catches herself about to say something true but unnecessarily mean, cuts herself off and shows some tact. And then she congratulates Becky and reaches out to her, asking her about the new job she’s clearly excited for. That’s such a good step for her in reaching out to people she doesn’t have to reach out to because of roommate reasons or because the other person took a liking to her first. Fuck yeah, growth for Sarah!
Panel 4: And she keeps it up, into the fourth panel folks! She asks questions about and engages with something she knows is important to Becky. She even emphasizes a little that working at something she’s never done before must be tricky. I love it. <3 Big sister Sarah (or even just friend Sarah) spreading around is my jam.
And Becky is still so proud to be working! She clearly doesn't consider this some stupid job – she is actually finding meaning and self worth through it. And after so much worry about finding a job, that's just really good to see.
Dina is adorable here too. I note she's not looking at Becky here though, she's smiling up at Sarah. While she is still, obviously, very excited about Becky, I think she's also noticing that Sarah is reaching out and being friendlier. After Dina got annoyed with her yesterday for her cynicism (understandably), this must be really nice to see. I think she's a little proud of Sarah too.
And of course she's pleased to help Becky out. Awww <3
Panel 5: Dina, no. Bad Dina. You are doing an employee's work. It is not ethical to do that for free. I love how she's very smart, logical, and analytical but still has trouble grasping people sometimes. It's a very good conflict for her, but it also leaves her open to exploitation, especially when she's blinded by something like helping someone she loves, they are subtle about it or conflicts between her gut and what other people tell her is right (see the bit with Blaine, though she's learned from that).
Panel 6: And there's practical, blunt, and honest Sarah. She's never going away, just growing some tact. It's good that she looks out for Dina and she has a gift for seeing through bullshit. She's just like 'Dina, no, they're exploiting you.' And she offers to help – sarcastically, yes, but I can see her taking on friend's court cases when she gets older. She really DOES want to help people, but her methods have been misguided and poisoned by her pessimism.
And I am actually kinda worried about Dina here. I realize they just got back from La Porte last night and so they want to see each other. That's fine. This isn't the first time Dina has tried to worm her way closer to Becky or use her job to keep herself close and indispensable (she did it with her phone when Becky was looking for jobs too). It's not malicious, I don't think – she DOES want to help Becky and she's not very well socialized. Still, this could lead to dependency issues and I'm definitely hoping it gets nipped in the bud. Especially if Dina is getting exploited as unpaid labour (and ohhhhhhhhhh doesn't that hit on a history of East Asian folks being cheap, exploitable labour). This is definitely a bad thing and it needed to be brought up.
And yeah, statute of limitations is a dumb American thing, but I'm sure Sarah could figure out something – a lawsuit if nothing else.
Overall, this is sweet and hinting at good things for Sarah and some unfortunate possibilities for Becky and Dina's past and future.
They are indeed very doofusy doofuses, and I love it.
Oh, Becky, she’s so sweet she could give Willy Wonka diabetes. And she is right to be proud here. She did not only manage to do a good job with no training and no preparation (and just a bit of help from her awesome dinosaur chick). She also GOT the job by being Becky, being forward and direct.
And is there any doubt that smiley, bubbly, happy and silly Becky will be a GREAT asset in customer service?
This job is a triumph! It’s a mean for her to support herself and reduce her reliance on her friends. It’s also a direct revolt against the “allowed extent of her aspirations.”
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/aspirations/
In her every act Becky defies ToeDad, and its so very sweet.
Yeah, Dina did good helping Becky out. Galasso is not the kind of boss who gives his
employeesserfs training and introduction, so it’s vital for Becky to get a good start, and Dina helping a day or two is not a bad thing.But you are completely right that she has codependent tendencies. The phone thing was another good example. They might have to address that in the future.
But on the other hand, they have been so good at communicating so far in their relationship, so I have every hope for these most sweet of dofuses that they will figure it out.
Great analysis! I’m glad you’re keeping it up!
“And is there any doubt that smiley, bubbly, happy and silly Becky will be a GREAT asset in customer service?”
But what about world domination? (Or are we talking iron fist in feathered glove” here?)
If Lucy and Ken can be hired at Galasso’s without that being an issue, Becky should be okay.
We don’t actually know that Lucy works there, do we?
From what I can tell, that’s Patreon canon.
Aren’t they just?
Yes! She’s worked so hard for this and she definitely deserves a break.
Definitely not!
Ooooh, good catch! I didn’t think of that. But it is true, work outside the home and not as a teacher, hate group coordinator, or cable news commentator. Good stuff, good stuff!
It is a good thing, but it is not a good thing she’s being exploited as cheap labour.
I have faith it won’t end too badly, but they need to address it at some point, lest it go too far and we end up with Walkyverse!Dina.
I intend to! It might not always go up the night of, but definitely the next day, barring comments being closed!
Friend/Big sister Sarah spreading around is your jam, eh? Would you say that it’s… your jam, spreading around? Eh? Ehhhh?
*snorts* That was amazing!
Just because of having run against statute of limitations myself for unpaid labor, it is, or as of a decade back was, seven years in most of the Midwest US including Indiana. That said, proving that unpaid labor ever actually happened in food service or retail, especially in a college town, is the real bongo she’d run against. Most often it only gets noticed because someone gets hurt while working and due to the fairly high turnover rates (average time employed in one place for either is four or less years depending on position) and other factors it’s hard to establish how much you really worked, or even that you did in Dina’s case or the case of working under the table, vs what you got paid for.
Effing all the muffins…
There’s a My Little Pony for that!
And…huh! She kind of has Becky-hair! http://itswalky.deviantart.com/art/Sodomuffin-193865951
Looks like Galasso got two minions for the price of one. Economical.
“OUR OWN SUBJECT COMES WITH A MINION OF HER OWN!!!!”
“It’s called ‘girlfriend’, father”
“THE MIGHTY GALASSO CARES NOT FOR SUCH TRIVIAL DISTINCTIONS, DAUGHTER. GO ACQUIRE SOME MINIONS, OR “GIRLFRIENDS” IF YOU SO PREFER, OF YOUR OWN!!!”
“…I will heed your word, father.”
Our NEW subject
Pamela: “Daughter…”
By my calculations, 6 years in comic time will be roughly 82 years after the heat death of the universe
Please tell me “GAINFULLY EMPLOYED, MUFFIN EFFER!” will be the title of your next book.
That comma is important.
It’s scary how fast you fuckers comment. Do you have nothing better to do?
Usually by now there’s lots more. We have fun talking about a strip.
Do you have nothing better to do than waltz in here and make fun for it?
Better to do than obsessively discuss every minute detail in the lives of fictional doofuses and wallow in the FEELS they evoke?
I don’t even have an idea where to start looking for such a thing.
You mean such a thing even exists?
I’m in Australia, the update time is actually pretty normal hours for me.
I’m on the US West Coast, so I usually comment first thing upon waking. Most of these freaks do it before going to bed.
And some of us are night owls who just refuse to go to bed before midnight because sleep is for normal people.
DoA updates 9 PM Pacific Time, so I don’t really see how commenting in the morning follows.
I’m on Eastern Time, and stay up for the Gunnerkrigg Court and Nukees updates at 0300.
My particular congratulations go to Sarah for swallowing her bitter come-back in panel 3. She’s really taking this “let’s make things better” thing seriously, isn’t she?
FWIW, Dina strikes me as the sort of sweet personality who wouldn’t need to be distinctly employed to feel like she’s a member of the team. Just helping people and being around Becky is probably enough for her!
This is HUGE for Sarah and she deserves all congratulations for it.
Dina says that they (Galasso’s) are paying her in proximity to Becky. I wonder what Willis really means, because that word as well as that concept seems so wrong on so many levels.
-“BB”-
Galasso seems like the kind of person who deems presence to his glory (or in this case, in proxy by his serf) is a payment all in itself.
My guess is that she and Becky have a ‘what is yours is mine’ approach to their mutual possessions, so paying Becky is effectively paying Dina in her mind.
I think he means they’re “paying” her by allowing her to hang out with Becky while Becky’s working. Or, to put it another way, in proximity to Becky.
And yes, that’s pretty questionable, which is what Sarah’s saying.
She means that being in proximity to Becky is all the reward she requires. They are allowing her to stay near Becky, thus Dina feels adequately compensated for her labor.
Yeah, that’s what I grabbed from first glance.
And to be fair, I know people that would be totally satisfied just being allowed to be around their bf/gf/spouse/etc in exchange for helping out.
My wife, for example, would be ecstatic at the thought of getting to ‘ride along’ with me while I drive my taxi…
Awwwwww, just look how PROUD Becky is. YOU GO GIRL.
I also love how Sarah checks herself and admits a “…fine”. That’s HUGE for her.
That’s Sarah’s equivalent of “SQUEEE! I’m so happy for you!!”
It took me a minute to figure out that Becky wasn’t saying that she had gotten gainfully employed as a muffin effer. I was all, wait, whose muffin is she getting paid to eff? Is Galasso paying her to sire an heir on Conquest? Is Dina cool with that? Isn’t Connie only like 16 in this universe? Maybe she’s a muffin fetcher? Is Galasso’s Pizza (and subs) ((and muffins)) too? … Oooooohhhhhhh, right.
And all the time you pondered that, Becky looked at your face and giggled.
Awesome John-face achieved.
I’m starting to think that Becky is the source of all those alternate cuss words that Joyce uses!
I think that is a VERY likely scenario.
…or you know, those two peas of a pod growing up together and forming their language together, so there were a lot of give and take involved.
I am looking forward to very creative cuss words.
Yay Sarah! Stopped in the middle of one of her usual overly honest retorts, and asked Becky about how she is actually getting on, and congratulated her on her job. And talked to Dinah about it too.
And a nice great big smile too.
Joyce’s sunny disposition is infecting her like a virus XD
Muffin effer is just as dirty as the real swear.
I’m 100% sure Becky has spent LOTS of time growing up thinking up sayings that are TECHNICALLY not swears but are just as dirty, and then taking great delight in the resulting Joyce faces.
“Muffin Effer” might have gone over the head of young Joyce, though.
I thought the implication was that Dinah would still be working for free at the time Sarah graduated and she would be able to take her on as a client, so why would a statute of limitations matter?
Heh, the implications about Becky’s new job just sank in.
She’s working for a self proclaimed tyrant who demands absolute adherence to his authority, while actually having much less control and knowledge over his
employersminions than he deludes himself into thinking he has.Becky GREW UP in the house of such a man. She has a lifetime education in how to bend and break the rules for her benefit.
She will wrap Galasso around her finger in new time. This is the best job ever for her!
Interesting. I dig it!
So Becky’s gonna be assistant manager before October’s out, got it. I wonder how Connie will react to the intrusion…
It isn’t too important, but I’m curious. Why 6 years? In my country, a law degree takes 5 years (for those who actually study, unlike my friends xD) and Sarah is not in her first year. Is it this much longer in America?
In the US, law school is a separate graduate degree that you do after finishing undergraduate (at least in the very vast majority of cases; idk if there are a few programs that are exceptions), and it takes three(?) years. Sarah is currently in the fall of her sophomore year of undergraduate; assuming all goes well with her law school applications, she has 3 more years in her bachelor’s + 3 years of law school = 6 years left.
And even then…she’s not legally able to practice. She has to pass her states bar exam. Lots of hoops.
Wait, they are not even in their bachelors? Im totally confused. And also, being in my 7th year of university education, it sounds like a horrible prospect
Smile more often, Sarah !!
Perfect gravatar is perfect.
-ref alt-text. Heh, when I was a kid, I thought it was an actual statue.
Me, too, Becky!
McD’s front register is ridiculous.
I’d like to get paid in proximity to Becky, too.
She’s fun.
At first I thought that Sarah was hoping to exploit Dina into helping with her first job, too. Proximity to Becky is a cheap and plentiful resource.
The completely unrestrained happiness in Becky’s smile in panel 1 is the best