Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3816-3820 (27-31 August 2018)
kyraeus:
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 26 Aug 2018, 22:29 ---His "point" was a meaningless platitude. "Everything will just work out, it did for me" is not a point. Marten dismissing her legit concerns by pointing out he fell backwards into a job he had no qualifications for is not helpful. He means well, but everything Claire said was true.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, going with a 'nope' on that one. Life can be a completely random shot in the dark sometimes. Marten didn't seem to be trying to dismiss anything entirely, just mitigate it. Claire's kind of doing a classic 'glass is half empty' view here, and the honest counter to that is glass is half full. 'Yes, bad things can happen, and you can have things not go to plan... But then good things can always happen even if it's just from being in the right place at the right time.'
Also, call me just a bit crazy, but I'm just not fond of her attitude. I agree with some of the other comments to the tune of her never having heard 'no' about things growing up. *sigh* This will be misconstrued as an attack, which it isn't, but legitimately in my experience many of the people I know, at least around here, who have done the transformative thing, have some symptoms like this, attitude-wise. I could be entirely wrong, maybe it's a defensive reaction to all the negatives in their lives. (you know, along the lines of 'I'll be damned if I'll be told who and what I can't be'), or something like that. Or it could just be a Claire thing.
Either which way, wasn't a huge fan of her essentially crapping on Marten for being (occasionally clueless) Marten last couple episodes, and to now crap on his attempts to make her feel better as well? Eh.
Pretty clear to me she just doesn't WANT to feel better. When someone tries to lighten your mood and help you not be overwhelmed, the appropriate response is NOT slapping the hand they reached out to you. Least where I grew up anyway.
Last thing I want to point out is the 'again, this isn't an attack...'. I've run into this a couple of times. If you have to point out TWICE that something isn't an attack, then you probably ought to rethink what you're about to say. Case in point, I did ONCE above, and STILL put some extra thought into it. As my ex-wife used to say, 'Saying "Don't take this the wrong way", doesn't give you unlimited license to be an ass.'.
'I need you to understand where I'm coming from', after all this basically my read would be she's coming from a place where she hasn't, doesn't, and isn't interested in considering anything except the (tm) 'One True Path' that she's divined for herself, and if/when it probably fails massively, given both the current ratio of jobs/collegiates in america and the history of the comic's characters, she's pretty much out of luck without EXACTLY the same kind of dumb luck of Marten's she's been dumping on a bit here. Adaptation is key, and I'll be surprised to see her do that moving forward.
God, I'm getting old and it shows.
LustFilledRunza:
Perhaps this is the start of the Who Killed Marten Reed arc. Of course suspicion falls immediately upon Claire... but upon closer investigation it turns out a lot of people had an axe to grind with Mr. Reed... The killer turns out to be the absolute LAST person we suspect, the motive being totally justifiable too -- to the point where we all sympathize with the killer and genuinely feel bad when Bubbles crushes his or her head like an over-ripe melon. The plot twist comes when Hanners introduces Marten's replacement clone, Martin Reed -- because according to Heir To The Empire clones can't spell their original names correctly.
dutchrvl:
--- Quote from: Cornelius on 27 Aug 2018, 00:38 ---
--- Quote from: chris73 on 26 Aug 2018, 19:19 ---In NZ from roughly the late 80s onwards there was a massive shift away from apprenticeships and trades as options for schoolkids and was replaced by an almost fervent belief that University was the be all and end all and that without a degree (any degree) you'd be doomed to a, at best, mediocre life
--- End quote ---
Seems much the same here. Of course, it's compounded by the fact that even some of the most basic jobs insist on qualifications - even if it's just cleaning. On the other hand, we don't have the same kind of fees - so the student loan issue is close to nonexistent. But it does mean that it's getting hard to find good tradesmen. The past decade has seen a stronger stress on trying to direct children back towards the trades. But then, the problem is they succeeded rather too well in convincing the current generation of parents that that was a second rate choice.
--- End quote ---
Message string above edited for brevity by me
Perhaps you're also from the Netherlands, but that's exactly the issue here as well. About 5 years ago or so, it was again vocalized by the Dutch government as one of their main goals to have 80% (it may have been even higher) of the population have at least a college degree, somehow implying that the college graduation rate is a main measure of a country's success.
And yes, the past decades have really led to both parents and children being convinced that not going to college basically meant wasting your life and tossing any chance of success out the window.
Of course this has inevitably led to a shortage of good people in trades (and way too many people with business degrees) and a resulting slow but steady increase in appreciation for those trades. Unfortunately this doesn't yet mean more people end up in those fields. After all, everybody wants tradespeople (e.g. good plumbers), yet they all want other people to do it. Presumably this won't change until the shortage leads to skyrocketing service fees. After all, there is no better incentive to choose a profession than the prospect of good money!
jwhouk:
Yanno, sometimes getting your dream job - or even a job beyond your wildest dreams - ain't all it's cracked up to be.
I'm reading Paul McCartney - A Life, and at the point where I'm at, being at the top of your game can really suck rocks.
dutchrvl:
--- Quote from: jesslc on 27 Aug 2018, 02:20 ---Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly but I don't think Marten even knew Tai before he started working with her. They became friends later. Or is Claire referring to someone else? (Who?)
So while Claire has a point that connections often play a part in getting a job, that wasn't what happened with Marten. It was purely Tai's unconventional approach to hiring. Well, he heard about a potential position due to Colette (I think) but she wasn't "in the building" and he didn't get the job because of her.
--- End quote ---
No you remember correctly. Marten getting the job had nothing to do with connections. He saw the job opening on the window, went inside, passed the 'test' (iambic pentameter) and got hired. Not sure where Claire got the impression that connections played a role.
Besides, I might be wrong, but isn't Marten 'only' a library clerk or something? There are definitely actual librarians there as well, and Tai herself of course (not sure about her title). I realize that in a competitive field sometimes starting at a relatively low level is a good way to get your foot in the door, but to say many people with better/more degrees than Claire would kill for Marten's job (i.e. not a librarian) seems to be exaggerating a bit.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version