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[SmilingCat]

It reads more as if Claire was venting about her conversation with Marten to Tai, and Tai corrected her when she realized Claire did not have her facts straight.

It also works equally well if Claire was worrying over Marten's job security out of concern for him, leading to Tai explaining that he didn't get the job just because he had a friend there.

Of course, that would require not jumping to a negative conclusion about Claire, which seems to be a difficult thing around here.

[Thrudd]

Definitely, DEFINITELY not melting my lug wrench.

What are you melting?

Butter on this delicious slice of toast.

I was about to suggest cheese on toast.

That was yesterday.

Also I love budgeting spreadsheets. Makes me feel like an adult and is genuinely helpful!

I have been a praticing adult for decades and someday I may even get it right.

Man, if you believe the only thing that is needed for people to stop living paycheck to paycheck is for them to make better choices, then you live a much more privileged life than most people I know.

Privaledge has nothing to do with it.
I know people on the edge of poverty as well as those living the upscale life with six figure - repeat - six figure - incomes that live paycheck to paycheck

[dutchrvl]

It reads more as if Claire was venting about her conversation with Marten to Tai, and Tai corrected her when she realized Claire did not have her facts straight.

It also works equally well if Claire was worrying over Marten's job security out of concern for him, leading to Tai explaining that he didn't get the job just because he had a friend there.

Of course, that would require not jumping to a negative conclusion about Claire, which seems to be a difficult thing around here.

That's true, that is a possibility. It's however not the impression I got from the cadence of Tai's initial correction. My impression on how the comic read to me has nothing to do with jumping to negative conclusion or whatever. I don't have a negative general impression of Claire, quite the opposite, actually, but if the comic to me reads in a way that makes Claire's behavior seem negative, then I'll mention that the same as I would for any other character.


 

[TheEvilDog]

I'm sorry but why would Claire specifically ask Tai, when Marten didn't correct her? She had no reason to assume the idea she had was wrong. That she realized how her behavior was wrong when she found out, as well as that Marten was deliberately holding back the information to give her space to be upset and work it out, is pretty much what she'd need to do in this situation. Where the original wrong assumption came from would need Jeph to clarify, she's clearly picked up bits and pieces but we don't know exactly what.

The likely scenario was that Claire went into the library looking a little down, with Tai asking what was up, because Tai is a good boss and a good friend. Which probably lead to Claire recounting the argument and Tai prodding with some questions. Its not Claire asking Tai, its Tai stepping in with a correction.

Claire is someone who only gets part of the story and goes off before catching the rest. And its blown up in her face several times. Claire needs someone to take her to one side and remind her to stop, think and listen.

And if Claire is wondering why Marten didn't say anything, my uncle once told his son "Always let your wife have the last word in an argument. Because anything you say after that is the start of another argument." That said, he divorced my aunt and my cousin is separated from his own wife, so definitely not the best piece of "advice" he could have given.

[Case]

Claire is someone who only gets part of the story and goes off before catching the rest. And its blown up in her face several times. Claire needs someone to take her to one side and remind her to stop, think and listen.

No offence, CR, but I think that observation is true of pretty much the entire species, to varying degrees.

And while Claire can be meddlesome, she appears to be motivated by genuine goodwill for the 'victims' of her schemes - her kind of 'going off before catching the rest' isn't the kind that leads to protracted, pointless wars in South-east Asia, or the election of ageing conmen to high office.

And if Claire is wondering why Marten didn't say anything, my uncle once told his son "Always let your wife have the last word in an argument. Because anything you say after that is the start of another argument."

While I find that advice a bit sexist in its generic form, I have to admit that it might align with the coping strategies developed by male offspring of professional dominatrices.

Then again, maybe he is simply being noble. Remember how he floored Dora with his 'being attentive & considerate'-overkill? (The comic where he comes into CoD & has tickets for a concert of a band she loves and bought her the new Terry Pratchet. Or something like that.)

[TheEvilDog]

No offence, CR, but I think that observation is true of pretty much the entire species, to varying degrees.

And while Claire can be meddlesome, she appears to be motivated by genuine goodwill for the 'victims' of her schemes - her kind of 'going off before catching the rest' isn't the kind that leads to protracted, pointless wars in South-east Asia, or the election of ageing conmen to high office.

Oh no doubt about that, but as intelligent as Claire is, she's still not smart enough to realise she needs to get the whole story or else she's going to keep making the same mistake.

And there's no doubt that's Claire's a good kid with her heart in the right place, but her meddling might be for what she feels is in a person's best interests, doesn't take into consideration that its not the best thing for them right now. And while her meddling has never intentionally hurt anyone, it has adversely affected other people, the attempted matchmaking incident between Clinton and Emily. She has good intentions, but we all know what road good intentions end up paving.

While I find that advice a bit sexist in it's generic form, I have to admit that it might align with the coping strategies developed by male offspring of professional dominatrices.

There's a reason why my aunt got divorced and why I stopped speaking to him for several years.

Then again, maybe he is simply being noble. Remember how he floored Dora with his 'being attentive & considerate'-overkill? (The comic where he comes into CoD & has tickets for a concert of a band she loves and bought her the new Terry Pratchet. Or something like that.)

You're right, Marten is a good guy. He's a kind, attentive boyfriend who goes out of his way to please his girlfriend in little ways. Maybe he needs to floor Claire with some copies of Chaucer. Or he could really get the job Donne and get her a collection of 17th Century English poets.

[Zebediah]

Comic’s up.

Drugs and exams do not mix.

[SmilingCat]

That's true, that is a possibility. It's however not the impression I got from the cadence of Tai's initial correction.

I'm curious how you determined the modulation or inflection of Tai's voice reading text in a comic with no audio.

I'm not saying you started out by assuming Claire was being bratty and worked back from there based on absolutely no information whatsoever, I'm just curious how Tai sounds in real life.

[War Sparrow]

If Tai has done all of that, I feel anxiety for her liver.

[ZoeB]

There's this guvmint poll which asks people if they could cope with a sudden financial emergency. Like $400. More than half said "No". This is WORRISOME.

From a recent FB post:

Carmel scarfed up a 2.5kg Duck for $12. We have the Chinese pancakes, the Hoisin sauce, and home grown shallots, so it's 20+ Peking Duck dishes for us at a dollar a pop all up cost.

We can't afford to be poor, don't have enough income. But we do have savings, so can wait till things are half price or less, and live rather well. Most people would have to outlay $8-$10 for each dish, far more at an upmarket restaurant, and the shallots wouldn't be as fresh.

 Those who are disabled, so can't get out to take advantage of such sales, or those who just don't have the money, or are renting so can't plant their own herb garden, or have to live in a place too far from supermarkets that sell such things, can't do this, not at ten times the price. So yes, we are counting our blessings, and are all too aware of our privilege. Nothing we've done to deserve it, just luck. We should spread it around, no? Oh yes, and Carmel, whose bargain hunting skills are unparalleled, got a brand new extensible paint roller at the Green Shed recycling place for $5 instead of $100+. Again, because we're situated fortunately, and are mobile. Spare a thought for those who are neither, so are doing it tough.

[hedgie]

Oh no doubt about that, but as intelligent as Claire is, she's still not smart enough to realise she needs to get the whole story or else she's going to keep making the same mistake.

There's a reason why intelligence and wisdom are different stats.  I think in Claire's case, she maxed the former, and used the latter as a dump stat.

[Tova]

Good thing no-one around here is prone to jumping to conclusions based on incomplete information; otherwise, this conversation would be quite amusing.

[TheEvilDog]

You know, the funny thing is that I got the Patreon preview for today's comic yesterday.

Haven't supported anyone on Patreon for over a year.

[Jakk Frost]

Not being a pothead myself (I'm not opposed to others smoking it, it's just that particular buzz doesn't agree with me), Clare may just be smoking the wrong type if it makes her anxious.  There's two major strains, Indica (relaxant) and Sativa (stimulant).   It's kind of contradictory, and I may be wrong, but I believe that Indica, strangely, is the one that's more likely to cause anxiety.

[jesslc]

I'm sorry but why would Claire specifically ask Tai, when Marten didn't correct her? She had no reason to assume the idea she had was wrong. That she realized how her behavior was wrong when she found out, as well as that Marten was deliberately holding back the information to give her space to be upset and work it out, is pretty much what she'd need to do in this situation. Where the original wrong assumption came from would need Jeph to clarify, she's clearly picked up bits and pieces but we don't know exactly what.

I came across this page (https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2786) last week - thanks to someone linking the one after it - and suddenly Claire's misunderstanding about how Marten got his job made a lot more sense to me.

Marten's dialogue in panel 2 doesn’t say that Tai got him the job but it's fairly an understandable conclusion to jump to, given what he does say. And, as we've seen many (many) times, it is very in character for Claire to jump to conclusions.

I mean if you're doing a good job now, then it's highly unlikely you'll be removed from that job if your manager leaves, no matter how unqualified you were when you initially started. Because now you have experience and experience often beats qualifications in most employers eyes. Not to mention that you're a known quality and hiring new people is expensive (and sometimes doesn't work out which makes it even more expensive, etc). So I can see how his dialogue makes it look a bit like he only has the job because of Tai.

--

Re budgeting:
Basically the only way I have ever managed to budget successfully is by setting up automatic transfers to move money out of my account the day after I get paid (rent/household bills/emergency fund/medical bills/fun account). I have set it up so that about half my income gets diverted this way and then I live my usual approach - from paycheck to paycheck - on the rest. But this way I at least manage to successfully avoid spending the money set aside for rent/bills/etc. Not sure where I found this approach but it works great for me. Turns out the more money I have in my everyday account, the more I am likely to spend. I would recommend this approach to Marten if he were real - it's great for people who hate budgeting. And you don't have to have a high income or even a medium one to use this method (I'm in the lowest 25% for my country).

[BenRG]

You know, Claire, something tells me that Tai is speaking from experience; bitter experience. For example, as much as she was pretty sure that she went in mellow, she'd feel a lot happier and more secure if she had more than the vaguest memory of actually taking her finals.

Meanwhile, I do think that, if she were thoroughly examined, it would be difficult to find Tai's actually biochemistry under the layers of other stuff she takes. In fact, I don't think that Tai is drug-dependent, I'm starting to wonder if she metabolises the stuff! I mean, have we ever seen her eat?

[cybersmurf]

You know, Claire, something tells me that Tai is speaking from experience; bitter experience. For example, as much as she was pretty sure that she went in mellow, she'd feel a lot happier and more secure if she had more than the vaguest memory of actually taking her finals.

Meanwhile, I do think that, if she were thoroughly examined, it would be difficult to find Tai's actually biochemistry under the layers of other stuff she takes. In fact, I don't think that Tai is drug-dependent, I'm starting to wonder if she metabolises the stuff! I mean, have we ever seen her eat?

Yes, one of the occasions is https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2259

[Near Lurker]

...so often the employer will get it wrong, and you'll either owe money or be owed money by at least one taxing body.

"So often" is an understatement.  I would be surprised if there were a single American whose W-2 were exactly right.  Mah fellow 'mericans, speak up - have any of you ever had withholding that exactly agreed with your return?

[Case]

In fact, I don't think that Tai is drug-dependent, I'm starting to wonder if she metabolises the stuff! I mean, have we ever seen her eat?

Oh, she most certainly does! In fact, so does everyone who consumes drugs. That's because 'metabolizing' is an umbrella-term for 'all the chemistry-stuff your body is doing on the sly' ...

metabolize, verb (mɪtćbəlaɪz )

3rd person singular present tense metabolizes , present participle metabolizing , past tense, past participle metabolized

When you metabolize a substance, it is affected by chemical processes in your body so that, for example, it is broken down, absorbed, and used.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/de/worterbuch/englisch/metabolize

Bodies, eh? 

[Zebediah]

...so often the employer will get it wrong, and you'll either owe money or be owed money by at least one taxing body.

"So often" is an understatement.  I would be surprised if there were a single American whose W-2 were exactly right.  Mah fellow 'mericans, speak up - have any of you ever had withholding that exactly agreed with your return?

I’ve had a few come close - back when I was single with no dependents and no deductions for mortgage and the like.

The thing about US taxes is that there are so many variables due to weird deductions that your employer can’t possibly calculate what you will actually owe.

And never mind the years I lived in North Carolina when the state instructed employers to withhold too much in taxes - and then the state was very, very slow to issue refund checks. I think they have stopped this practice but as I don’t live in NC any more I’m not positive.

[dutchrvl]

That's true, that is a possibility. It's however not the impression I got from the cadence of Tai's initial correction.

I'm curious how you determined the modulation or inflection of Tai's voice reading text in a comic with no audio.

I'm not saying you started out by assuming Claire was being bratty and worked back from there based on absolutely no information whatsoever, I'm just curious how Tai sounds in real life.

Based on your (kind of passive aggressive) last sentence, you seem to want to insist that I have a preconceived negative opinion on Claire. If that's what you want to believe, that's fine. I already acknowledged that your possibility was also a good one, but not how I perceived the situation based on my initial read. Are you telling me that you have not formed specific voices and ways of talking for each character inside your head during reading?

Not sure why you seem to be so sensitive about anyone (in this case me) perceiving one specific comic initially as more negative behavior by Claire than you did yourself. We discuss characters' behaviors all the time here and it's quite common that somebody perceives behavior differently than others when they first read a comic.

EDIT: to be clear, I really enjoy and appreciate it when others point out different interpretations of a certain comic that did not occur to me upon my initial reading. It's one of the main reasons for me coming here. What I do not appreciate however is somebody insisting my interpretation of a specific comic situation is due to prejudice against a character.

[bhtooefr]

I... admittedly don't actually budget per se, but I have a strategy that works decently for me. Then again, I have a fairly decent intuition of how my finances work, so I can get away with not actually making a formal budget.

The rough structure is:

• If your employer offers a 401(k) and matches your contributions, contribute up to the match limit. (My employer matches 6%.) Otherwise you're leaving money on the table.
• Auto-transfer part of every paycheck into savings, and don't touch that money except in case of emergency.
  • One model that I've seen to get started with this is the "put $1 in the first week, $2 in the second week, so on, until you get to $52 the 52nd week of the year". I don't like that model for two reasons:
    • It puts the biggest contributions in the end of the year when expenditures tend to be higher, and missing out on most of the interest
    • it's a complete pain in the ass to set up as an auto transfer.
  • So, I did a variation on it last year: you'll have put $1378 into savings by the end of the year. $1378 / 52 is $26.50. My credit union only does whole dollar amounts on autotransfers, so I scheduled it every 2 weeks, on payday, for $53. You end up with the same amount in the bank (actually more because you accrue more interest), and it's a hell of a lot less work to set up. This year, I upped it to $60/paycheck, for $1560/yr deposited not including interest.
• If you've got a surplus after that and your bills, pay down any high interest debt first (I feel it's important to have the safety cushion for immediate emergencies available even if it costs you more in the long run - if you've got a lot of debt, once you've built a safety cushion of savings, you may want to pay down debt before adding to savings), then go into savings and investments. I consider anything that I put in as surplus savings as fair game to use in the same year that I put it in, and I put transfer comments on my manual savings transfers to keep track of how much surplus I've added.
• At the beginning of the year, mentally freeze savings. Anything that's in there - whether it's the automatic transfers or surplus I've put in - stays there unless there's a damn good reason for it to come out, and if it comes out, it's treated as a loan from my savings to me, and must be replenished ASAP. (It can obviously be moved over to another savings or investment vehicle, but the idea is to keep it out of "liquid cash".)
• Keep the checking account's balance high enough to take all expected hits in the near future. I don't like to see my checking account under $1000. In a higher cost of living area (although Marten does have three roommates and no car, which helps - I have very cheap rent, but also a car payment), I'd probably want to keep that closer to $1500-2000. This means that if a bunch of auto bill pays go through at once, I'm fine.
• Use credit, but use it wisely. 0% financing deals are your friend if used responsibly, as you avoid the cash flow hits of a large purchase, and you can make interest on the cash that you haven't paid off yet. Still, don't buy something you can't afford.

This strategy certainly isn't minmaxing your finances, but it's IMO manageable without having to micromanage everything.

[dutchrvl]

Good thing no-one around here is prone to jumping to conclusions based on incomplete information; otherwise, this conversation would be quite amusing.

Ha, isn't the whole point of this forum to discuss different viewpoints and interpretations of the comic and its characters' behaviors? After all, if we'd all perceive the comic the exact same way, what's left to discuss?

[JoeCovenant]

That's true, that is a possibility. It's however not the impression I got from the cadence of Tai's initial correction.

I'm curious how you determined the modulation or inflection of Tai's voice reading text in a comic with no audio.

I'm not saying you started out by assuming Claire was being bratty and worked back from there based on absolutely no information whatsoever, I'm just curious how Tai sounds in real life.

Attempting to get the cadence through a text only media is something that writers actually strive for.
Jeph's a pretty decent writer, so I totally get what Dutchlvr means by his comment.

After all, this *is* no 'Tai' in 'real life'...
We're left only with the author's words.
How we perceive them relies "... on a great... many... things."
(Not least, cultural/specialised knowledge... I can't guarantee it, but I bet a few people reading my last line there heard EXACTLY the voice my quoted words were made in.

You are, of course, correct that bare text is a bugger to put cadence into... but it is not impossible.
IN the same way that some might read a posters view in here and, through their previous comments on a character, suggest that any negative comment towards them is being made purely because "you don't like them"... which sometimes may be true... but just as often does not.

Short version?
Saying "You only said that cos you don't like them", is a pretty lame stance to take during a discussion... 'sometimes'

[Cornelius]

Not to mention that once you get into the realm of poetry, that's a pretty important part to actually get right.

[nightshade]

is it me or is tai looking a lot like faye?

well ok since the last style change a lot of the characters look a like to me anyways

[SmilingCat]

Based on your (kind of passive aggressive) last sentence, you seem to want to insist that I have a preconceived negative opinion on Claire. If that's what you want to believe, that's fine. I already acknowledged that your possibility was also a good one, but not how I perceived the situation based on my initial read. Are you telling me that you have not formed specific voices and ways of talking for each character inside your head during reading?

Not sure why you seem to be so sensitive about anyone (in this case me) perceiving one specific comic initially as more negative behavior by Claire than you did yourself. We discuss characters' behaviors all the time here and it's quite common that somebody perceives behavior differently than others when they first read a comic.

EDIT: to be clear, I really enjoy and appreciate it when others point out different interpretations of a certain comic that did not occur to me upon my initial reading. It's one of the main reasons for me coming here. What I do not appreciate however is somebody insisting my interpretation of a specific comic situation is due to prejudice against a character.

I didn't think I was being passive about it.

You went with "Claire was venting" without any context, then when offered an alternative, you vaguely suggested Tai's "cadence" without any effort to explain what you meant or how it led you to your opinion.  Looking at Tai's dialogue we see basically a neutral response, the only indication of what was said before her response were the bolded words "met" and "applied" which are clearly there to indicate what Tai was correcting. Tai's facial expression is likewise fairly neutral, not happy or sad or angry, at best one would call it a "clarification face", one that seems to show up on Jeph's characters when they're clarifying something or explaining things. Even Claire's expression doesn't help for context, since whatever expression she wore when saying whatever she had said has been replaced by her adorable mortification face.

And also, since we're being absolutely clear, I'm not saying you have a prejudice against Claire. I don't have enough information to determine such a specific detail. All I'm saying is you jumped to the conclusion that Claire was venting, I didn't speculate why you thought that. There's a fundamental difference between the two. For one thing, while venting would be a negative response, it doesn't mean the individual doing the venting is a bad person. In fact, for many it would be a natural and expected response.  Assuming somebody is "venting" isn't the same as expressing a prejudice against them.

As for why I said it. There are a WHOLE LOT of instances on this board of people jumping to the worst possible conclusion based on no data at all. Your "venting" comment was mild in comparison.

[dutchrvl]

Based on your (kind of passive aggressive) last sentence, you seem to want to insist that I have a preconceived negative opinion on Claire. If that's what you want to believe, that's fine. I already acknowledged that your possibility was also a good one, but not how I perceived the situation based on my initial read. Are you telling me that you have not formed specific voices and ways of talking for each character inside your head during reading?

Not sure why you seem to be so sensitive about anyone (in this case me) perceiving one specific comic initially as more negative behavior by Claire than you did yourself. We discuss characters' behaviors all the time here and it's quite common that somebody perceives behavior differently than others when they first read a comic.

EDIT: to be clear, I really enjoy and appreciate it when others point out different interpretations of a certain comic that did not occur to me upon my initial reading. It's one of the main reasons for me coming here. What I do not appreciate however is somebody insisting my interpretation of a specific comic situation is due to prejudice against a character.

I didn't think I was being passive about it.

You went with "Claire was venting" without any context, then when offered an alternative, you vaguely suggested Tai's "cadence" without any effort to explain what you meant or how it led you to your opinion.  Looking at Tai's dialogue we see basically a neutral response, the only indication of what was said before her response were the bolded words "met" and "applied" which are clearly there to indicate what Tai was correcting. Tai's facial expression is likewise fairly neutral, not happy or sad or angry, at best one would call it a "clarification face", one that seems to show up on Jeph's characters when they're clarifying something or explaining things. Even Claire's expression doesn't help for context, since whatever expression she wore when saying whatever she had said has been replaced by her adorable mortification face.

And also, since we're being absolutely clear, I'm not saying you have a prejudice against Claire. I don't have enough information to determine such a specific detail. All I'm saying is you jumped to the conclusion that Claire was venting, I didn't speculate why you thought that. There's a fundamental difference between the two. For one thing, while venting would be a negative response, it doesn't mean the individual doing the venting is a bad person. In fact, for many it would be a natural and expected response.  Assuming somebody is "venting" isn't the same as expressing a prejudice against them.

As for why I said it. There are a WHOLE LOT of instances on this board of people jumping to the worst possible conclusion based on no data at all. Your "venting" comment was mild in comparison.

I don't want to keep this going on endlessly, but 2 quick things:
1) I didn't conclude that Claire was venting, I said that's how it read to me. A subtle but distinct difference. At least, I assume that when I write "It reads more like..." that it's obvious that it reads that way to me, not to everyone per se. Just like when you say Tai's expression is fairly neutral or the dialogue was neutral, one can assume you mean it seems neutral to you, but not per se to everybody.
2) Thank you for clarifying that you were not concluding I am prejudiced against Claire, because your previous posts sounded an awful lot (to me, not to everybody per se ) like you were.

Alright, back to discussing the comics themselves

[NemesisDancer]

That's true, that is a possibility. It's however not the impression I got from the cadence of Tai's initial correction.

I'm curious how you determined the modulation or inflection of Tai's voice reading text in a comic with no audio.

I'm not saying you started out by assuming Claire was being bratty and worked back from there based on absolutely no information whatsoever, I'm just curious how Tai sounds in real life.

Attempting to get the cadence through a text only media is something that writers actually strive for.
Jeph's a pretty decent writer, so I totally get what Dutchlvr means by his comment.

I remember reading one of Jeph's Tumblr Q&As in which someone asked how various characters' voices sound, and it turns out they're pretty much exactly as I'd imagined (Hannelore's voice is soft and high-pitched, Marigold's is nasal, etc.) - which indicates he's very good at portraying tone of voice through his writing.

Probably my favourite example of Jeph being evocative of voices through art/dialogue is the last panel of comic 2680.

[dreed]

Marten attitude to money is so alien to me.  Iiving from paycheck to paycheck when one has kids, medical expenses is one thing.

But marten is sharing rent with 3 other people, doesn't gamble doesn't travel, so lack of savings is just weird to me.

I do know 30 year old in real life who are exactly like that. So wrong...

[Penquin47]

...so often the employer will get it wrong, and you'll either owe money or be owed money by at least one taxing body.

"So often" is an understatement.  I would be surprised if there were a single American whose W-2 were exactly right.  Mah fellow 'mericans, speak up - have any of you ever had withholding that exactly agreed with your return?

One time, I had a tax return of precisely zero.  It was nice - but I was fucking terrified that the IRS would find that suspicious and audit me, it's such an odd situation. 

[Zebediah]

Comic’s up.

This round goes to Claire.

[Gyrre]

Marten is right about "adulting" being terribly droll, though.

BTW, if you're credit is good enough, you might try starting an account with a reputable credit union instead of a bank. No hidden fees, and you don't have to worry about overdraft charges because they straight up won't let you overdraft.

[BenRG]

Panels 3 and 4 in today's strip are both so funny because of the unseen 'inter-panel' that we only see by implications by looking at Marten and Claire's expressions in panel 4.

Marten looks so happy and free in panel 3 that I know he thought that he'd somehow bought off having to look at saving money (did he think that Claire only suggested it as revenge for him having a job she wanted?). So, when she still dragged him to the local S&L it was a profound and possibly traumatic surprise! Claire's expression tells me that the childish whining, begging and pleading that ensued as she dragged him through the door had pushed her right to the end of her tether.

• Marten's expression: "Meanie!"
• Claire's expression: "I am through being nice on this; twitch towards the door and I'm pinning you."

In some ways it is reassuring that Marten and Claire are not two rigidly one-dimensional in terms of characterisation. They share the 'sensible one' and 'silly one' duties and that's a good sign in terms of the development Jeph is putting into them.

[Tova]

The funeral service will be held tomorrow at 9:30 am.

[traroth]

Yeah, banks ARE boring. I take a book with me to every place where I know there will be a waiting room, like physicians, banks, barbers... Wait, didn't those guys have some book-related job? I hope they at least like books...

[dutchrvl]

Marten attitude to money is so alien to me.  Iiving from paycheck to paycheck when one has kids, medical expenses is one thing.

But marten is sharing rent with 3 other people, doesn't gamble doesn't travel, so lack of savings is just weird to me.

I do know 30 year old in real life who are exactly like that. So wrong...

You are right, and in fact that is the thing that probably should worry Marten and Clair the most. Right now they are co-inhabiting a (small-ish I think?) apartment and sharing the rent among at least 3 people (don't know if Bubbles pays rent as well).
It's kinda surprising that he doesn't seem to have been able to save anything, especially since supposedly he also made it work before Claire moved in and started paying part of the rent.

[Thrillho]

He spends half his time hanging out at a coffee house. An independent one is likely to cost more than a chain. I doubt he is laid well, and a coffee a day seems like a small spend but adds up. Add to that his overall arrested development and I'm not at all surprised, because the exact same behaviour has repeatedly made me broke.

[dutchrvl]

He spends half his time hanging out at a coffee house. An independent one is likely to cost more than a chain. I doubt he is laid well, and a coffee a day seems like a small spend but adds up. Add to that his overall arrested development and I'm not at all surprised, because the exact same behaviour has repeatedly made me broke.

I really hope he is laid well 

Anyway, wasn't it previously implied (or maybe explicitly stated) that he was getting his coffees on the house at CoD?

Edit: agree with your statement in general though. As someone who always had to pay for everything himself (including tuitions), I got really annoyed by a fellow grad student who complained that we got paid so little that we would never be able to save anything, while holding a $5 venti frappucino from Starbucks..... (note: our grad stipend was $2100 in Chicago in 2007, which is by no means low)

[Thrillho]

God I hate my phone's autocorrect.

[bhtooefr]

Anyway, wasn't it previously implied (or maybe explicitly stated) that he was getting his coffees on the house at CoD?

It was explicitly stated that that ended when he broke up with Dora.

[Neko_Ali]

Counter point on the finances issue. We really don't know if anything changed when Claire and Bubbles moved in. Bubbles I'm pretty sure never paid. First it was 'my friend lost her work place and home, she's crashing my my room'. Then it was 'we're business partners' and now it's 'we're business and romantic partners'. Faye and Bubbles' finances are tied together at this point, and bad enough that Faye was trying to budget out eating. I doubt they have the money to pay two shares of rent.

Claire before moving in was living at home and apparently had and still does not have a paying job. First she worked as a student in the library, now she's a TA. We don't know if she gets paid for either of those, but it's quite possible not, and certainly not much. She would probably get some money from loans or her mother... But the question is up in the air if she has money to pay rent.

So it's entirely possible despite two people moving in, the finances of the apartment haven't changed. Also, Marten is capable of saving. He has a fair bit saved when he bought the expensive guitar many years ago. It's not impossible that he has savings now... Or he might not. It's more the point that he isn't planner, but a money in, money out person and hoping or assuming nothing bad will happen.

[hedgie]

Maybe my memory is off, but didn't he have the savings when he bought the 8-string, and not the other one?  I thought that the other fancy guitar was after he won a bar bet with Beatrice.

[bhtooefr]

We do know that Claire is insistent on paying rent: https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3466

[Jakk Frost]

"Should have no trouble finding work" ~ Except for, you know, that pesky problem of the availability of similar jobs.

Also:

I doubt he is laid well

Claire might want to have a word or two with you about that!

(*snort* I know it's just a typo, but I couldn't resist  )

[Is it cold in here?]

See the collections at damnyouautocorrect.com.

[dutchrvl]

Counter point on the finances issue. We really don't know if anything changed when Claire and Bubbles moved in. Bubbles I'm pretty sure never paid. First it was 'my friend lost her work place and home, she's crashing my my room'. Then it was 'we're business partners' and now it's 'we're business and romantic partners'. Faye and Bubbles' finances are tied together at this point, and bad enough that Faye was trying to budget out eating. I doubt they have the money to pay two shares of rent.

Claire before moving in was living at home and apparently had and still does not have a paying job. First she worked as a student in the library, now she's a TA. We don't know if she gets paid for either of those, but it's quite possible not, and certainly not much. She would probably get some money from loans or her mother... But the question is up in the air if she has money to pay rent.

So it's entirely possible despite two people moving in, the finances of the apartment haven't changed. Also, Marten is capable of saving. He has a fair bit saved when he bought the expensive guitar many years ago. It's not impossible that he has savings now... Or he might not. It's more the point that he isn't planner, but a money in, money out person and hoping or assuming nothing bad will happen.

Well, we do know that Claire is paying rent.

You are right though that he could very well still have savings. Marten saying he does not make enough for a savings account might just mean that he does not think he makes enough for structured monthly savings. Instead, he might just be saving whenever he happens to have a month with some money left.
He could just be slowly expanding his positive balance on his checking account.

[pallanox]

He could consider a standing order.

Maybe time to get some qualifications

[Milayna]

It boggles my mind that Marten has managed to make it to 20-something-adult years old by sewing money into the mattress. I've had a savings account since I was like, 10. My primary savings - and my credit card - are still with the federal credit union I signed up for as a middle school student.

[dutchrvl]

It boggles my mind that Marten has managed to make it to 20-something-adult years old by sewing money into the mattress. I've had a savings account since I was like, 10. My primary savings - and my credit card - are still with the federal credit union I signed up for as a middle school student.

I suspect this is far more common than you might think.