Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT: 2878-2882 (19-23 January 2015)

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Japheree:
As far as it is worth anything, I both feel desperately sorry for Faye and fo the opinion that Dora did the right thing.

I feel sorry for Faye because I can empathize with her. I know what it is like to self medicate to the extent that it starts to negatively impact on your life. I also feel like perhaps losing her job is going to make her realize that booze is not compatible with any sort of happy life for her. I managed to make those two things work together for a long time because I was able as a graduate student, to garner a nice habit while being clever enough to complete my work on the days I felt okay.

Hopefully, like me, when it became clear I couldn't carry on doing this and have the financial security, professional and home life, she will take steps to stop. It has taken me a long time and it is a big struggle but I am getting there.

The good news for Faye is that if she manages to get herself clean in the next few months (and I hope to god she does) she can actually start working on the feelings deep inside and work out how to live her life instead of deferring the pain of change indefinitely by soaking it is whisky.

Faye is desperately depressed and up to now her drinking has been a clear case of self medicating. For those reasons I can't help but feel anything other than sorry for her.

Dora did the right thing.

thedevilissix:
And I'm back from the relurk :evil:  :mrgreen:

I have to say I'm in with the crowd in favour of the firing, as bad as it must seem for Faye. In every single place of work I've worked for, turning up to work drunk is classed as gross misconduct. The employer's response to that is either bring the employee concerned in front of a disciplinary panel whereby dismissal is the likely outcome (big businesses) or respond in much the same way Dora did (small businesses). It's called gross misconduct less because of "waah, look at this revolutionary, she turned up drunk, burn her" and more because of the practical possible consequences that might arise from Dora allowing Faye to continue working that day considering the state she was in, which have all already been mentioned here.
Indeed let's see what happens tomorrow, but whether it's temporary or not, if it gives Faye the wake-up call needed and diffuses a work clusterfuck that was waiting to happen, then I'm in favour.
As for Faye and whether or not Dora will be supportive still as a friend-I don't think Dora's will to do that is gone necessarily but it will certainly be extremely awkward. I'm worried for Faye and for what might happen. However as I've found to be the case, if a person is in dire straits, oftentimes they have more positive influence over the situation than they might assume.
And Faye does-she has access to a therapist who knows her situation well, friends who care about her, lack of alcoholic enablers (at the moment) who could make matters worse for her.
She has so much at her disposal to try and steer this around, and I really hope she does.

thedevilissix:

--- Quote from: Akima on 20 Jan 2015, 00:29 ---Well, things just got real. As a boss, I think Dora did the right thing. It also illustrates that being boss is difficult to combine with being friends. And to anyone thinking that Dora should have cut Faye slack because she's a friend, I'd point out that the obligations of friendship cut both ways. It is not honouring friendship to turn up to work drunk at a business owned by your friend.

--- End quote ---

Yup. Very much this. Honouring a friendship and a work relationship cuts both ways.

gopher:
Got to feel sorry for Dora. Her bext friend is an alcoholic and her girlfriend is a hardcore pothead.

mikmaxs:
Dora did not make a mistake (necessarily) by firing Faye. Her mistake was not doing anything before firing Faye. It is not Dora's responsibility to take care of Faye, but if they really are friends then she should have at least tried something during Faye's spiral towards oblivion before it got to this point.

Dora and Faye spend a huge amount of time together (You know, the entire day, most days of the week,) Dora has no excuse for being unaware what Faye was going through. And yet, in today's comic, all Dora shows is anger.


Faye is certainly not in the right here, but I can empathize with her position. After seeing her dad commit suicide, she has major issues with abandonment. She's always struggled with alcoholism, to one extent or another using it as a painkiller when she was feeling emotional. Angus was the first solid relationship that she felt good about and had no regrets with, and he just decided to leave her because something else was more important to him. (I'll not get into whether Angus was justified here. Different argument.) Faye is crushed, and this rips open old wounds that she hasn't had to deal with in a long time. She dropped her snarky, sarcastic defenses entirely for one person, and he is now gone. Faye is in a very bad place, and one of her two remaining best friends, Marten is: One, currently dealing with his own personal life in a happy way, which Faye doesn't want to screw up by bringing in her problems. Two, someone related to her past trauma of being abandoned. (All that boyfriend drama, remember?) Both of these make him a poor candidate for helping her.

Now let's talk about Dora. Other than business troubles (Which don't seem that major seeing as the same troubles have been around since the dawn of the comic,) she doesn't really have any major conflicts going on right now, and no new relationships to be screwed up. She's Faye's oldest friend, they spend all day together, and they've both been there for each other many times in the past.

It is impossible that Dora did not know how terribly wrong things were for Faye, at least to the degree that she should have known Faye needed an intervention or a shoulder to cry into without booze being involved. When Faye says she doesn't want to spend a waking moment sober, Dora does nothing. When Faye comes in reeking of booze, suddenly chipper, and hangover free, Dora doesn't realize something is obviously wrong. She has to walk in on Faye in the act to finally react in any major way, and all we get is anger.

Based on this, Dora is either blind and stupid, or has absolutely no sympathy for her friend's suffering.

If we had seen Dora try to deal with the issue and Faye lie and say things are fine and she'd slow down the drinking, or if Dira had called Marten and Hannelore and maybe a few other people with her concerns I'd be more okay with today's strip. If Dora had only suspended Faye indefinitely, I'd be okay with today's strip. If Dora had shown any emotion on her face besides anger (Hurt, sympathy, disappointment, indecision,) for even one panel, I'd be okay with today's strip.

As it stands, though, I'd never guess that Dora was friends with Faye based off of this story arc.


I'm not saying that Dora should be enabling Faye, or letting this slide, I'm only saying that she's acting like she doesn't care about Faye as anything more than an acquaintance in spite of their years of friendship, and Faye's actions, while not justified, are at least understandable once you consider how fragile and injured she is.

Dora was justified as a boss in firing Faye, but a horrible friend in not doing anything else.

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