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Faypocalypse Sven

9 (6.9%)

Claireten Snuggles

12 (9.2%)

Clintonhand Naughtyness

3 (2.3%)

Dora fires Faye - Drama and drunkenness ensues

50 (38.2%)

Clairemom and Martenmom accidentally meet

4 (3.1%)

Emily gets weirder (is that even possible?)

4 (3.1%)

Sven rescues Faye - Dora gets wrong end of stick

12 (9.2%)

The surprise return on Angus - Blood and mayhem ensue

5 (3.8%)

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

7 (5.3%)

Whatever it is, it'll be completely unexpected

22 (16.8%)

ALIENS!

3 (2.3%)

Total Members Voted: 123

[Zalder]

Agreed with Zalder. If we assume the pint on the couch is the same she had at COD, then she's either had a fifth and two pints, two fifths and pint, or one pint plus maybe a fifth and maybe another pint pluse however much of the fifth she found in her bed. The unkowns are whether the large bottle in today's is a fifth or a pint and how much is left in the the bottle from the morning, if anything.

That's a lot of booze in a part of a day.

Alirght, I'm a teetotaler so...what's a fifth in measurement terms? A fifth of the bottle?

Fifth of a gallon, about 25 ounces. 

[BenRG]

Okay, when i saw the comic the last thing that came to my mind was an hospital.
I'm seeing thinks like Marty taking care of Faye, when she woke up and do a move on him.
But you guys are probably right.

Let's put it this way: there really looks like there was a lot of blood in Faye's vomit. That means a ruptured stomach ulcer and it means that she's bleeding out internally right now. She's going to hospital and she's going under the knife to sew her stomach lining back together. Although that's a routine operation, it does have a surprisingly high failure rate so it's going to be everyone hugging in the waiting room and hoping for the best.

After that, the doctors are going to want to monitor her for a few days and flush the toxins (booze) out of her system. Depending on how well she recovers and how certain the doctors are she may or may not end up in alcohol rehab for a few weeks to make sure that she is on the wagon. One thing that she is going to have to get used to is this: with a weakened stomach lining, she's going to be on a very bland diet for a few weeks and she's going to be told "No more booze or else".

Overall, Faye is going to be out of circulation for between a week and a month at least, in-comic time.

A lot of things are going to have changed, I think, when she's ready to rejoin the world.

[edit]
Fix'd typo

[ReindeerFlotilla]

Also 757 milliliters for the metric people who don't know. But keep in mind the LD₅₀ is for 80 proof (proof is double the alcohol percentage. So 40% alcohol by volume).

[Zalder]

Okay, when i saw the comic the last thing that came to my mind was an hospital.
I'm seeing thinks like Marty taking care of Faye, when she woke up and do a move on him.
But you guys are probably right.

Let's put it this way: there really looks like there was a lot of blood in Faye's vomit. That means a ruptured stomach ulcer and it means that she's bleeding out internally right now. She's going to hospital and she's going under the knife to sow her stomach lining back together. Although that's a routine operation, it does have a surprisingly high failure rate so it's going to be everyone hugging in the waiting room and hoping for the best.

After that, the doctors are going to want to monitor her for a few days and flush the toxins (booze) out of her system. Depending on how well she recovers and how certain the doctors are she may or may not end up in alcohol rehab for a few weeks to make sure that she is on the wagon. One thing that she is going to have to get used to is this: with a weakened stomach lining, she's going to be on a very bland diet for a few weeks and she's going to be told "No more booze or else".

Overall, Faye is going to be out of circulation for between a week and a month at least, in-comic time.

A lot of things are going to have changed, I think, when she's ready to rejoin the world.

Is that when they make you drink that charcoal thing?

[Finwolven]

Also, we cannot _hear_ and _see_ what's going on. Perhaps Marten can see Faye breathing (her back moving) or even hear it clearly, without a snore that would require a sound-effect (not that those seem to be common in QC anyway). So before you write Faye off, or blame Marten for taking a moment to call his girlfriend and not EMTs, consider that a drawn picture is bad at conveying small detail.

Also, blood in vomit? I don't see that. I see whiskey (perhaps poorly rendered) and gravy or curry, eaten in a huff. Blood on comic terms would be more red, as that stuff isn't dried out yet (if it was dried out, she'd probably be dead by now).

75cl of whisky is a hard days/nights binge all right, but not necessarily lethal-dosage levels. Depends on what else is going in the tummy during the drinking.

[RealityXcursion]

Depends on the size of the city, how many EMT stations are in said city and where they're located, time of day and how heavy the traffic is, construction, weather/road conditions... in other words, it could be 5 minutes, it could be half an hour or longer, all depending on the variables.

Well, Smif isn't back from summer break yet, so traffic shouldn't be too bad.  And the hospital is really close -- IRL I've *walked* there from Smith College in about 15 minutes, and was not going full speed for reasons related to needing the hospital. I'm thinking closer to 5 minute response time.

(I did not get a punching intern. Had to make do with a stress ball.)

[ASB84]

Also, blood in vomit? I don't see that. I see whiskey (perhaps poorly rendered) and gravy or curry, eaten in a huff. Blood on comic terms would be more red, as that stuff isn't dried out yet (if it was dried out, she'd probably be dead by now).

I agree. As with the suggestion that the white chunks are pills, I think that's assuming the darkest, worst case scenario. Not to insult Jeph's style or abilities, as he can draw a hell of a lot better than I can, but QC's style isn't photorealistic. We could certainly be wrong about this, but I'm with you; I don't think it's meant to be blood.

[Lubricus]

Vomit always contains corn and carrot, no matter what you've actually eaten. Everyone knows that! 

[NilsO]

People, this is a comic strip, although sometimes quite realistic. If Jeph wanted to educate us how to handle a case of acute alcohol poisoning, I guess today's strip would have been a bit different:

• Check for breathing and pulse, try resuscitation if necessary
• Call 911
• Make sure she will not choke in her vomit, or stop breathing due to paralysis, while waiting for the ambulance
• Inform her mother and sister, if he can get their phone number
• Follow her to the hospital, assume the role as next of kin, at least until her mother or sister arrives.
• It is unclear if the breakup with Angus is "formalized", but as it is a recent thing, Marten should inform him anyway, in particular because the breakup was the precursor to this emergency.
• Then he can think about calling Claire.

A good guide on what to do can be found here.

As for Pintsize, others have already suggested a couple of theories:

• Powered down or murdered by Faye
• Alcohol poisoning (I have no idea how that would work)
• New theory: Pintsize is in a state of shock. He is catatonic, fearing Faye might be dead.

[St.Clair]

Vomit always contains corn and carrot, no matter what you've actually eaten. Everyone knows that! 

actually bits of stomach lining, detached and brought up by the force of the contractions/emesis.  Yummy!

[MrNumbers]

New bet:

What are the odds Sven finds out about this, ends up on Angus's talk show as a music guest some day, and punches him in front of the cameras for reasons neither of them fully understands?

[osaka]

Yep, it is time they say to Faye what my sis had to tell my father 2 years ago. Most certainly. Probably under threat of throwing her to Hanner's washing machines.

[bhtooefr]

Also 757 milliliters for the metric people who don't know.

Actually, a fifth is typically 750 ml nowadays (it was redefined from 1/5 of a US gallon to 750 ml during metrication).

Hopefully Marten explains to Claire what's actually going on, too - Claire's the kind of person who will work herself up into a panic over Marten just cancelling a date out of the blue, if there's not a reason for it. I think she'll be completely understanding if he explains, but...

[dielicious]

Okay, when i saw the comic the last thing that came to my mind was an hospital.
I'm seeing thinks like Marty taking care of Faye, when she woke up and do a move on him.
But you guys are probably right.

Let's put it this way: there really looks like there was a lot of blood in Faye's vomit. That means a ruptured stomach ulcer and it means that she's bleeding out internally right now. She's going to hospital and she's going under the knife to sew her stomach lining back together. Although that's a routine operation, it does have a surprisingly high failure rate so it's going to be everyone hugging in the waiting room and hoping for the best.

After that, the doctors are going to want to monitor her for a few days and flush the toxins (booze) out of her system. Depending on how well she recovers and how certain the doctors are she may or may not end up in alcohol rehab for a few weeks to make sure that she is on the wagon. One thing that she is going to have to get used to is this: with a weakened stomach lining, she's going to be on a very bland diet for a few weeks and she's going to be told "No more booze or else".

Overall, Faye is going to be out of circulation for between a week and a month at least, in-comic time.

A lot of things are going to have changed, I think, when she's ready to rejoin the world.

[edit]
Fix'd typo

I was not being sarcastic, i really get your guys point.
I was just hope that a post-faint Faye could do a Drunk Desperation Move (KOF XXX) kissing Marty and all the tension that it could cause.

Don't get me wrong, i'm new to QC forums, since i met the comics about a month and a half ago, got addicted and read the entire series in about 3 days.
I like how you guys really takes real facts and hypothesis to the comic discussion, makes it in a whole new level.

Also sorry for any grammar mistake, i'm still learning english,

[ASB84]

Hopefully Marten explains to Claire what's actually going on, too - Claire's the kind of person who will work herself up into a panic over Marten just cancelling a date out of the blue, if there's not a reason for it. I think she'll be completely understanding if he explains, but...

We can probably assume he will, albeit off-screen due to conservation of detail, and the first couple of sentences of the conversation being a punchier way of punctuating the strip.

[Schmorgluck]

I quickly scanned this thread, and I haven't read recent WCDTs, so maybe someone already said it, but this storyline seems like a perfect opportunity to bring Steve back to the forefront: he's been through something similar, he's in a good position to help.

[Euthemes]

Yes, but then I would have said that Faye working at Coffee of Doom was one of the core elements of the comic.

Not anymore, a lot of characters work here as of 'today'. Marten and Faye is what started everything and still plays a large role to the development of the story (e.g. Faye as a catalyst for the Clairten thing to happen). Of course, Faye could move out and have less screen time (the Amherst effect), after all her and Marten cannot live together forever, being just friends. Plus, there are a lot of characters Jeph could show more. I just think this would be very risky and would deprive the comic of a very useful and familiar plot mechanism.

Even if there is a Faye demotion, I can't see myself not waiting anxiously for the next strip every morning (I live in Greece) 

[snubnose]

New bet:

What are the odds Sven finds out about this, ends up on Angus's talk show as a music guest some day, and punches him in front of the cameras for reasons neither of them fully understands?

I vote for this as the most unlikely theory I ever read in this forum.

(Though I fear by voting for it this way, we only give Jeph bad ideas ...)

[ZoeB]

I'm seriously concerned about Pintsize. It's possible he's in worse shape psychologically than Faye.

And yes, emergency services for Faye. She's in the recovery position, which is good, but 750ml for someone that size is no joke unless over 48 hrs.

[BenRG]

I also think some people might be misinterpreting the "insubordination" speech; to me, it sounded like she was saying "Look, I put up with your quirks, I even eat up your (metaphorical) shit and call it ice cream, but you broke the one rule I asked everyone not to break under any circumstances."

I missed this on my first trawl through the posts for Friday's strip. However, I just wanted to give my support to ASB84's interpretation of Dora's comments in that panel on Thursday. The one thing Dora has never questioned is Faye's commitment to the job; that's the reason why she's tolerated Faye's abrasive personality for so long because, in the end, it's jsut a quirk and doesn't affect the quality of her work. By turning up drunk and drinking on the job, not only has she crossed the one red line that Dora has ever specified, it implies strongly that she's stopped caring about the job. It was caring about the job, more than anything else, that is why Faye got the Assistant Manager gig. It's obvious that she cares about CoD and doing the job right (that's why she's so strict with the others about their work, attitude and handling of the equipment). Hell, she's trained all of them on the job with the possible exception of Hannelore, who was partly trained by Marten, of all people, after she had her panic attack.

But she turned up drunk. She was drinking strong spirits at work. She lied to Dora about it. Not only is that dangerous but it was a breach of trust, not only with her employer but also with one of her oldest friends in Northampton.

Should Dora have realised that Faye was in a death spiral? Should she have called Marten and maybe Hannelore to warn them that Faye desperately needed help? Maybe but I think she was too angry and upset about the breach of trust to think straight. She's human and she makes mistakes, the same as everyone else.

I'm expecting Dora to tear herself a fresh one in the hospital waiting room, blaming herself for what has happened to Faye. Marten will probably tell her that she's being stupid. Faye's just too practised and capable at hiding her feelings and keeping potential helpers at arm's length.

Marten should have noticed something but either ignored the signs or was too wrapped up in his own life to notice. Dora should have realised just how serious things had to be for Faye to drink at work. Pintsize shouldn't have tried to handle things himself and told Marten what was going on. Faye should have gone to her friends rather than try to handle this herself. There is plenty of blame to share around for everyone. What they have to focus on now is being there for Faye when, God willing, she's regains consciousness.

[Lubricus]

New bet:

What are the odds Sven finds out about this, ends up on Angus's talk show as a music guest some day, and punches him in front of the cameras for reasons neither of them fully understands?

Quite high odds, I'd say - Sven's not likely to punch anyone.

[hakko504]

Speaking of Hanners, is the next strip going to start with Marten showing up at Hannelore's door with a Tom Collins in his hand?

I've read the thread and I'm seriously worried about Faye. This is not good. I'm also very curious to see how Claire reacts to Marten cancelling their date. If he doesn't ask her to come over and help him, she may get all sorts of wrong ideas fueled by Pintsize's tl;dr.

[Mr. Skawronska]

I'm sad that Marten's date was cancelled. Damn you, Faye!

Yet another misery she has visited upon poor Marten.  She really is a happiness vampire.

For future reference, don't try to drive someone to the hospital in a situation like that. If she stops breathing, better to have it happen inside an ambulance with oxygen and expert people right there than in your car in traffic.

Unless of course you ARE the expert and realize that the response time of your colleagues delays care unacceptably.

I wouldn't know anything about that.

Nope, nope, nope.

Are you a medical professional or some sort of specialist in the sciences of life?

Nothing of the kind, which is why I had to ask the question. Just speculating based on my own sleep apnea problem. Please do not add that to your fact bank unless I turn out to have guessed right!

I think you have.  More research is required.

It's actually slightly worse, as severe alcohol intoxication can inhibit the gag reflex, which is why choking on vomit or positional asphyxiation is more probable.

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/AlcoholOverdoseFactsheet/Overdosefact.htm

I bet if Jeph had any idea the reaction was going to escalate this quickly, he'd have written this differently. Like, smaller bottles, to start.

I don't think real world physics is in play here. I mostly pointed out the LD⁵⁰ because people need to be aware. In real life, that much drinking can kill you.

As for what Marten has to spend time doing: Leaving out the alcohol poisoning stuff, he has to get Faye out of her own vomit. Bile and skin should not be mixed.

He needs to clean up what he can.

I don't know about you, but after policing vomit, I wouldn't want to jump right into cuddles and a movie.

Ew.

Nah.  Spend a couple years in EMS and you'll find your ability to eat Hawaiian Style pizza right after a patient has painted the entire interior of your rig in vomit yellow increases dramatically.

Excellent assessment, by the way.  But Marten, sadly, is not a professional, so it is unlikely he will know any of this.

Long time Lurker, first time poster!

I don't like Faye, I've never really liked her to be honest? That type of person I'd find extremely unpleasant to be around, I fully acknowledge that she's been through hell, but she always puts the other people around her through hell too which is really unfair , she seems to expect constant support no matter how badly she behaves...I think it's time she finally dealt with some consequences of her actions (Losing her job is a consequence of her own actions)

Damn skippy.

I'm not trying to challenge anyone's right to detest fictional characters, but I gotta ask: If you hate [insert appropriate girl's name here] so much, why do you read the comic?

I am honestly unable to guess why, and I really would like to know.

Because:
1) I love the comic, including the characters I love to hate.
2) Seeing the characters I love to hate getting their comeuppance makes me smile.
3) I enjoy good storytelling that can actually evoke an emotional reaction from me, good OR bad.
4) In every story, there's a character you cheer for, and a character you boo and hiss at.  Faye, in this case, is my boo-hiss character.  Both types of character give me happiness to read, but for different reasons.

That's why.

Also a fifth of whiskey really isn't that much, considering how much and how often Faye drinks, her tolerance is likely quite high.

I was thinking that, too.

Highest BAC I have personally witnessed was something ridiculous like .454, and not only did the person live, she was unharmed and did not spend a minute in ICU.

The human body is a weird and wonderful thing.

Let's put it this way: there really looks like there was a lot of blood in Faye's vomit. That means a ruptured stomach ulcer and it means that she's bleeding out internally right now. She's going to hospital and she's going under the knife to sew her stomach lining back together. Although that's a routine operation, it does have a surprisingly high failure rate so it's going to be everyone hugging in the waiting room and hoping for the best.

That's an excellent point.  Think Jeph made the vomit that color with this condition in mind?

More popcorn, more vitriol, more catharsis.

This...THIS RIGHT HERE, and THIS DISCUSSION...is why I love this comic.

Warning - while you were slapping this mess together someone else actually posted something worth reading. You may wish to delete it until you can post something smaller than a novella.

[aphanisis81]

I'm not trying to challenge anyone's right to detest fictional characters, but I gotta ask: If you hate [insert appropriate girl's name here] so much, why do you read the comic?

I am honestly unable to guess why, and I really would like to know.

I think it's less about truly hating them as though they're individuals and more about deciding which character(s), for you as a reader, fill the role of antagonist. Every story needs conflict and most conflict is caused by people, right? Hating Faye (or Dora, or whomever) seems to me no different from saying "I hate Iago, look what he's doing to poor Othello!" That doesn't mean you don't think he's a well-constructed character in a compelling story.

It's a strong, thoughtful author who can inspire this kind of diversity of reaction in his readers, to the point that people are taking sides about who the antagonist even really is. Instead of one mustache-twirler, we get deeply human, sometimes ambiguous or contradictory, behaviors that we interpret differently. And we can all point to different strips to support different readings.

To me, asking "Why read the comic if you hate the characters?" misses the subtleties of what "hate" entails when used in this context. We do it for the same reason we watched seasons 1 & 2 of The Office even as Michael Scott's social ineptitude made us almost physically uncomfortable. Anything that can inspire a visceral reaction, even if it's a negative one, makes for enjoyable narrative art.

[hedgie]

There is also the matter of characters that one loves to hate, especially with the Schadenfreude  that results when they get knocked down a peg or two.  At this moment, I don't feel that way about Faye.  She's hurting hard, and I've been in a similar situation, and fear falling back into it if I can't get my psychiatric situation sorted.  It's made even worse by the fact that I was forcibly detoxed from Lithium because the clinic hasn't got back to the pharmacy about the matter of getting it paid for (didn't have the cash on hand to pay for it). 

This shit is hitting pretty close to home.  I'm not going to make Dora into a villain either.  She did what she had to do.

[NilsO]

Next question: How will Dora react? Is she going to blame herself for causing this? Or will she be the hard-nosed Dora Boss, saying "Meh. Not my responsibility, she is no longer my employee, I did what I had to do." Of course, Dora could not have foreseen this, but knowing Faye, she should have been at least a little concerned for what could happen after Faye walked out from CoD.

The appropriate thing to do would be to make sure Faye got some support from her friends. Alerting Marten and Hanners would be a natural thing to do, but we have no indication Dora actually did this.

[Lubricus]

Yeah, it would have made sense for Dora to alert Marten to the situation. Then again, she might not have had the chance yet. She's at work, after all, minus one employee.

[Rubick]

Storyline implications and theories aside, I'm glad that Jeph is tackling this subject with all the seriousness that it should be.

[ReindeerFlotilla]

I'm not trying to challenge anyone's right to detest fictional characters, but I gotta ask: If you hate [insert appropriate girl's name here] so much, why do you read the comic?

I am honestly unable to guess why, and I really would like to know.

I think it's less about truly hating them as though they're individuals and more about deciding which character(s), for you as a reader, fill the role of antagonist. Every story needs conflict and most conflict is caused by people, right? Hating Faye (or Dora, or whomever) seems to me no different from saying "I hate Iago, look what he's doing to poor Othello!" That doesn't mean you don't think he's a well-constructed character in a compelling story.

It's a strong, thoughtful author who can inspire this kind of diversity of reaction in his readers, to the point that people are taking sides about who the antagonist even really is. Instead of one mustache-twirler, we get deeply human, sometimes ambiguous or contradictory, behaviors that we interpret differently. And we can all point to different strips to support different readings.

To me, asking "Why read the comic if you hate the characters?" misses the subtleties of what "hate" entails when used in this context. We do it for the same reason we watched seasons 1 & 2 of The Office even as Michael Scott's social ineptitude made us almost physically uncomfortable. Anything that can inspire a visceral reaction, even if it's a negative one, makes for enjoyable narrative art.

I'm not unaware of that kind of, I guess, adversarial, response to a villainous character.  But the Dora/Faye hate in this thread seems to be different. I can't relate to your feelings about the Office. I don't find that kind of comedy funny. I'm bad at schadenfreude, I guess.

I'm guessing this involves some kind of thrill of watching a train wreck, or something. I'm not big on villains I don't love to hate. Greg House for example. I don't want to be him. I don't condone his methods. But I enjoy watching him being bad. I can't relate to watching a bad guy and actually despising the character.

I'm not sure if you're talking about something different from my experience or not. It sounds like those who have expressed vitriol towards Dora and Faye are not enjoying the villainy they see. The best example I can relate is a slasher film. I don't enjoy the villainy. I don't watch them. If that makes any sense.

[BenRG]

Next question: How will Dora react? Is she going to blame herself for causing this?

Yes. Also, given her own issues, I would strongly advise Tai not to let her out of sight for a while. My concern is that she'll have such a strong guilt reaction that she might self-harm. I'm also expecting her to lash out randomly at everyone for reasons of guilt transference.

Please note that I'm still not blaming her; I'm just saying that she'll blame herself. As I've already said, Dora was probably too angry to think straight and tell anyone else about her confrontation with Faye. It's strange how the human mind works sometimes. Dora probably told herself that she wanted to calm down so she could explain to Marten (and maybe Hanners) what is up with Faye without letting her anger control her words. It is even possible that she intended to visit Faye that evening and talk to her as a friend rather than as a boss, with Marten as mediator.

It is possible that her desire not to use counter-productive insulting or angry language when talking about Faye's situation with her friends may have overridden whatever concerns she may have had about whether Faye was in immediate peril. "She's a big girl and she's not stupid - We can hash this out tonight after we've both calmed down."

I also suspect that Faye's dismissal will be quietly forgotten, assuming that Faye herself is able to remember it, something of which I'm not sure.

[aphanisis81]

I'm not trying to challenge anyone's right to detest fictional characters, but I gotta ask: If you hate [insert appropriate girl's name here] so much, why do you read the comic?

I am honestly unable to guess why, and I really would like to know.

I think it's less about truly hating them as though they're individuals and more about deciding which character(s), for you as a reader, fill the role of antagonist. Every story needs conflict and most conflict is caused by people, right? Hating Faye (or Dora, or whomever) seems to me no different from saying "I hate Iago, look what he's doing to poor Othello!" That doesn't mean you don't think he's a well-constructed character in a compelling story.

It's a strong, thoughtful author who can inspire this kind of diversity of reaction in his readers, to the point that people are taking sides about who the antagonist even really is. Instead of one mustache-twirler, we get deeply human, sometimes ambiguous or contradictory, behaviors that we interpret differently. And we can all point to different strips to support different readings.

To me, asking "Why read the comic if you hate the characters?" misses the subtleties of what "hate" entails when used in this context. We do it for the same reason we watched seasons 1 & 2 of The Office even as Michael Scott's social ineptitude made us almost physically uncomfortable. Anything that can inspire a visceral reaction, even if it's a negative one, makes for enjoyable narrative art.

I'm not unaware of that kind of, I guess, adversarial, response to a villainous character.  But the Dora/Faye hate in this thread seems to be different. I can't relate to your feelings about the Office. I don't find that kind of comedy funny. I'm bad at schadenfreude, I guess.

I'm guessing this involves some kind of thrill of watching a train wreck, or something. I'm not big on villains I don't love to hate. Greg House for example. I don't want to be him. I don't condone his methods. But I enjoy watching him being bad. I can't relate to watching a bad guy and actually despising the character.

I'm not sure if you're talking about something different from my experience or not. It sounds like those who have expressed vitriol towards Dora and Faye are not enjoying the villainy they see. The best example I can relate is a slasher film. I don't enjoy the villainy. I don't watch them. If that makes any sense.

If people see Faye or Dora as comparably one-dimensional as, say, Jason Voorhees, then I agree, that's a weird, adversarial place from which to be reading a comic about occasional kissing.

[NilsO]

Yeah, it would have made sense for Dora to alert Marten to the situation. Then again, she might not have had the chance yet. She's at work, after all, minus one employee.

I imagine Dora was there just to open shop with Faye, and handle the daily coffee roast. Now, she has to cover Faye's shift. She could call Dale, who is always happy for more work, but he may of course be busy with one of his other jobs. Anyhow, after the morning rush there should be plenty of time to make a few phone calls.

Come to think of it, CoD usually appears empty of customers (I know, they are just outside the cartoon frames, and it is a heck of a job to draw them all), but as presented, the business would soon be bankrupt. Of course, economic laws are somewhat different in QC.

[Somnus Eternus]

I don't know about all this; I mean, Dora wasn't wrong on any of her points.  Faye hasn't exactly been the most professional, and for someone whose boss is supposedly also her friend she does have a tendency to be really disrespectful.  There have been times even prior to this when I wondered why Dora didn't push her to find another job.  I don't know if the same Dora who just disowned Sven not that long ago really will blame herself for anything or question whether she made the right choice...I almost feel like this is also something that's been building for a while.  They've been blurring the lines of employee/employer and friends for a while, usually to the detriment of the employee/employer side of things.  This is Dora's business and her livelihood.  If she's smart, she won't regret her decision...but hopefully, she'll also leave the door open for Faye to return later should she get herself together.

That being said, I'm really hoping this isn't going to mean that Dora is going to just abandon Faye as her friend, too.  It's not going to be easy, but a friendship can be salvaged even though the work relationship had to be terminated.  Hopefully when Faye sobers up, she'll be able to stop being defensive enough (which, let's be real here, is typical of her character) to recognize that she really screwed up all on her own this time. 

There's a nagging part of me that worries that all of this is gradually leading to Faye going back to Georgia, and I'm not really sure why that is.  I don't see her running after Angus at this point, but going home...that seems plausible, though I'm really hoping that won't be the case.  I like Faye's character.

[Lubricus]

Well, she might go to Georgia for a visit - that has been good for her before. It won't likely cure her of alcoholism, though.

[ASB84]

I'm not trying to challenge anyone's right to detest fictional characters, but I gotta ask: If you hate [insert appropriate girl's name here] so much, why do you read the comic?

I am honestly unable to guess why, and I really would like to know.

I think it's less about truly hating them as though they're individuals and more about deciding which character(s), for you as a reader, fill the role of antagonist. Every story needs conflict and most conflict is caused by people, right? Hating Faye (or Dora, or whomever) seems to me no different from saying "I hate Iago, look what he's doing to poor Othello!" That doesn't mean you don't think he's a well-constructed character in a compelling story.

It's a strong, thoughtful author who can inspire this kind of diversity of reaction in his readers, to the point that people are taking sides about who the antagonist even really is. Instead of one mustache-twirler, we get deeply human, sometimes ambiguous or contradictory, behaviors that we interpret differently. And we can all point to different strips to support different readings.

To me, asking "Why read the comic if you hate the characters?" misses the subtleties of what "hate" entails when used in this context. We do it for the same reason we watched seasons 1 & 2 of The Office even as Michael Scott's social ineptitude made us almost physically uncomfortable. Anything that can inspire a visceral reaction, even if it's a negative one, makes for enjoyable narrative art.

I'm not unaware of that kind of, I guess, adversarial, response to a villainous character.  But the Dora/Faye hate in this thread seems to be different. I can't relate to your feelings about the Office. I don't find that kind of comedy funny. I'm bad at schadenfreude, I guess.

I'm guessing this involves some kind of thrill of watching a train wreck, or something. I'm not big on villains I don't love to hate. Greg House for example. I don't want to be him. I don't condone his methods. But I enjoy watching him being bad. I can't relate to watching a bad guy and actually despising the character.

I'm not sure if you're talking about something different from my experience or not. It sounds like those who have expressed vitriol towards Dora and Faye are not enjoying the villainy they see. The best example I can relate is a slasher film. I don't enjoy the villainy. I don't watch them. If that makes any sense.

If people see Faye or Dora as comparably one-dimensional as, say, Jason Voorhees, then I agree, that's a weird, adversarial place from which to be reading a comic about occasional kissing.

I'll also add that for some readers, it could be a case of "Love to Hate". Some people kind of enjoy having a character they find dislikeable, one that represents values or a personality that rubs them the wrong way in real life, which they can dislike and cheer against in a cathartic sort of way. Indeed, storylines in professional wrestling and soap operas pretty much run on that trope.

For other people, they may genuinely dislike and not enjoy the characters, or perhaps they've just grown sick of them, but it's just not enough to turn them off the strip completely.

Additionally, since neither Dora nor Faye appear in every single strip, or are heavily involved in every single story arc - they're main characters, so they're in a lot of them, but not all of them and not in a way that necessarily pushes someone's buttons as a reader - someone who dislikes either or both of them can probably gloss over that to some extent, and just focus on the characters and arcs that they do like.

[jwhouk]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!



On to other thoughts that have probably already been aired in the four pages that have been posted since last night:

I'm really suspicious that Pintsize may have tried to stop her from drinking. Ergo he ended up turned off while she's puking up on the couch.

[Neko_Ali]

It is entirely possible that Dora called Marten off screen, and that's why he went home to check on Faye before going over to Claire's.  It is also equally possible that Dora didn't think to call, or was to angry to call. Not out of spite towards Faye, but in a 'I just don't want to talk about it' way. In the end, it was Faye who made the decision to go home, finish the bottle she was working on and another too. Clearly a few hours have passed between Faye and Marten getting home, so I am guessing either he didn't know, or he didn't he would have to rush home to try and stop Faye from trying to drink herself to death.

[ASB84]

A further thought regarding the severity of the situation: Jeph's commentary for the strip is "oh dear". Now, perhaps I'm reading too much into two words, but to me, that would be a pretty big understatement if things were really dire. An "oh dear" moment isn't exactly good, but it's a long way from an "oh shit" moment too. So, perhaps it's an indication that while things are certainly bad, they're not going to get as dark as has been suggested.

[kent_eh]

In late, but here's my thoughts.

- We don't know if the bottle(s) were full when she started guzzling. I doubt she planned this binge by first making a shopping trip. She may have just drank whatever part bottles she could find in the house (and in her purse).

- the color of puke: Maybe she had marinara for lunch.

- Pintsize: Whatever happened, I doubt he was much other than a smartass. That's historically been his character.  His current apparently catatonic state could be anything from impact damage to a porn induced haze. Or he could have gotten bored after Faye passed out and simply gone into "screen saver" mode for a while.

We don't really know, but given that it's Friday, we're going to be hanging on this dramatic cliff-hanger for a couple of days. Jeph is a clever and evil man.

[TinPenguin]

Well.



This is not hilarious.

[TheEvilDog]

AH fuck balls.
That's all I've got to say.

[Bologna]

I'm assuming that Marten's going to tell Claire a bit more about the situation than what we've seen.  It would be nice to see her go over to Marten's to help him clean up and just generally be there for him.  It'd be sad if Marten had to deal with all of this alone; I doubt he's going to take this time to call upon his other friends (though Hannelore might get drawn in due to proximity).

Marigold could also be brought back into the picture to help with whatever's going on with Pintsize. 

Faye...what's there to say? 

[BenRG]

I'm assuming that Marten's going to tell Claire a bit more about the situation than what we've seen.  It would be nice to see her go over to Marten's to help him clean up and just generally be there for him. 

I'm thinking of something like this:

PANEL 1 (one-third page width)
MARTEN is sitting on a wooden bench. On the off-white wall behind him are various posters about vaccinations, sexual health and identifying common illnesses. He's looking down at the floor sadly.

PANEL 2 (one-third page width)
CLAIRE is standing next to MARTEN, who's looking up at her.
CLAIRE: "Hey."
MARTEN: "Hey."

PANEL 3 (one-third page width)
CLAIRE is sitting next to MARTEN and they are cuddling, CLAIRE cuddled up against MARTEN's size and nuzzling into his neck. MARTEN has his face buried in CLAIRE's hair

PANEL 4 (full page width)
MARTEN and CLAIRE are still cuddling. Next to them, HANNELORE is sitting bolt upright with an expression of dull, horrified oblivion. Furthest over, DORA is sitting, nearly bent over double onto her knees and is covering her face, sobbing heart-brokenly; TAI is sitting close by her, rubbing DORA's back in an attempt at comfort.

A DOCTOR is standing at the end of the panel, looking at a clipboard.

DOCTOR: "I have a Mr Marten Reed as Ms Whittaker's designated emergency contact...?"

[snubnose]

About Pintsize, I believe Faye shut him off because he was bothering her.

[MrNumbers]

DOCTOR: "I have a Mr Marten Reed as Ms Whittaker's designated emergency contact...?"

Where I am it is 2am, and I'm watching British soap operas and one of the characters is a drug-addicted cancer patient.

They paused, midline, looked over my shoulder at your post through the television screen, then just muttered; "Well, fuck" and the show cut to commercial break.

EDIT: They've redoubled their efforts to compete with the dark edge that your posts contain. They reek of desperation to attempt what you seem to be pulling off so effortlessly. It's kind of sad, really: Still not as sad as the mental images you're conjuring.

I mean, damn, dude.

[Emperor Norton]

If one fifth of 80 proof liquor REALLY had a 50/50 kill chance, I, as well as a large number of my friends, have all had lottery winning levels of luck in not dying in our 20s. I think that there is something you might be missing in how those calculations are done.

(also, I'm sure Faye weighs more than 60kg, though I didn't in my hardest drinking partying days)

[plusorminus]

In late, but here's my thoughts.

- We don't know if the bottle(s) were full when she started guzzling. I doubt she planned this binge by first making a shopping trip. She may have just drank whatever part bottles she could find in the house (and in her purse).

- the color of puke: Maybe she had marinara for lunch.

- Pintsize: Whatever happened, I doubt he was much other than a smartass. That's historically been his character.  His current apparently catatonic state could be anything from impact damage to a porn induced haze. Or he could have gotten bored after Faye passed out and simply gone into "screen saver" mode for a while.

We don't really know, but given that it's Friday, we're going to be hanging on this dramatic cliff-hanger for a couple of days. Jeph is a clever and evil man.

I think the fact that a whole panel is devoted to Pintsize looking, honestly, as if he has been deactivated or erased sort of indicates that whatever is happening with him, it's not mundane. Especially considering this. I think it's entirely possible that he tried to stop her and said he was calling Marten and she turned him off or, as suggested, threw him against a wall.

There had been something bugging me about this comic and I think I know what it is, and that's Marten's complete lack of surprise. As opposed to here. The cases are similar. If he had no heads up, he would probably, upon seeing Pintsize be like "What the fuck ...?" instead of resigned silence. The same with Faye. He looks concerned but he doesn't have the look of shock as a person who has no idea that their roommate got fired for drunkenness and might have gone on a bigger bender. So I am thinking, especially since prior to their first date he told Claire that getting all dressed up wasn't really necessary, that Dora did call him or text him, or at the very least, texted Tai.

[dexeron]

OK, I'm a noob, and I know this isn't the time for it...

but someone has to explain to me the whole "While you were posting, such and such" thing, and how it seems to (sometimes) intelligently comment on what's been posted.

Are these forums actually a self-aware AI?  They are, aren't they?  And QC is just Jeph's extremely round-about way of making society comfortable with the concept of AI-human interaction.

That's the QC endgame, isn't it?

 

[MrNumbers]

OK, I'm a noob, and I know this isn't the time for it...

but someone has to explain to me the whole "While you were posting, such and such" thing, and how it seems to (sometimes) intelligently comment on what's been posted.

Are these forums actually a self-aware AI?  They are, aren't they?  And QC is just Jeph's extremely round-about way of making society comfortable with the concept of AI-human interaction.

We copy and paste them, add a colour tag and edit it ourselves.

Sorry. Is this like telling a kid the Santa Clause in the mall isn't real by shooting him execution-style in front of them?

[Neko_Ali]

It's people making fun/smart comments about the automated "people have posted while you were writing" message. Not copy/pastes. It's kind of a forum tradition.