364

Broughtcher
Posted on January 15, 2017 by David M Willis

364 thoughts on “Broughtcher”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “…TODAY I WANT THEM IN A CUP”

    “Joyce, why doncha just order a cheese with a side of sausage”

    “NOT THE SAME”

    …

    SPEAKING of not the same, did Gravatar fail? I don’t see my intended Grav \=|

    1. Pablo360

      Somehow I read Gravatar fail as Gravity Falls and now I’m wistful again

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Just go down to the Budayeen for a shot of gin and a shot of Bingara over ice, with two squirts of Rose’s Lime Juice. That will fix you right up.

    2. Reltzik

      Over on IW Willis is suddenly Robin.

    3. TheAnonymousGuy

      isn’t there I part in the bible about not eating pig meat (rhetorical)? I would of thought Joyce new that.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        That was the Old Testament, Bible 1.0. The new Testament, Bible 2.0 supersedes it. She told Sarah that back in the comic I am too lazy to look up.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Don’t they have beef sausages?

        1. Ana Chronistic

          “I don’t know where they get the meat… I don’t care.”

          “I mean, have you even SEEN a cow?”

        2. inqntrol

          Insert cannibal joke here.

        3. inqntrol

          Seems like Gravatar failed for me as well.

        4. IllogicalBobcat

          Only the best sausages are made of beef. Most are made of a list of animals in small print on the back.

        5. Fart Captor

          I would not advise eating any sausage which has small print on it

      3. brionl

        Maybe it’s Camel sausage.

        1. duckgalrox

          Camel is also not kosher. Land mammals are kosher if they chew their cud and have split hooves; camels have feet.

        2. Marisa Mockery

          Well the more you know

      4. Delicious Taffy

        I also would have assumed that.

      5. Ellegos

        Essentially the rule of thumb is “The old testament rules only matter if we want them to.” The rule about gay sex is right next to the one about shellfish and no blending textiles, like polyester.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          or shaving

    4. Dara

      but it’s not the same

      i don’t like pepperoni but i like pepperoni pizza with the pepperoni pulled off, because there’s still some of the pepperoni flavour but not the huge chunks of it.

      (i do not at any point in time proceed to eat the picked-off pepperoni, however)

      1. Ana Chronistic

        see, why would you then want the picked-off bits put in a bowl and brought out to you

        1. Shade

          Some people are just finnicky about their food.

        2. Disloyal Subject

          Bartering chips.

        3. Charlie Spencer

          I would trade an entire slice of something else for the picked off pepperoni.

          The kitchen hates that, by the way. You ever picked hot greasy toppings off hot cheese?

        4. Ashonai

          Yes. If I didn’t like eating the toppings by themselves, it wouldn’t be worth it.

        5. Skizz

          Because it is okay when the flavours mix, but not okay if the food touches. See Joyce and tacos.

      2. Needfuldoer

        What about cheap delivery pizza? The last “pepperoni” I got from Domino’s was about as thick and translucent as tissue paper.

        1. thejeff

          Domino’s death discs!

    5. HeySo

      “Not the same!”

      It really does taste entirely different, when there’s no meat juices/greasyness on the pizza, and no cheese clinging to the toppings.

    6. Ana Chronistic

      okay, it’s back, wonder why the weirdness

  2. lia47

    inb4 hawaiian pizza hate

    1. wheelpath

      I will never understand, pineapple is good

      1. Smiling Cat

        You are objectively wrong and you should be ashamed of yourself.

        1. lia47

          pineapple is bad?????

        2. kkiten

          Usually, but it’s good on pizza with sausage and spinach.

        3. Leorale

          Pineapple + hot sauce = tastiest pizza.

        4. Smiling Cat

          Honestly, it’s just a personal preference. I can’t stand the taste of pineapple.

          Also mine is obviously the objectively right way of being and everybody who disagrees are clearly horrible people. Possibly reptilian aliens or shills for Big Pineapple.

        5. Fart Captor

          I love pineapple, but putting it on pizza is just wrong

        6. Reltzik

          Pineapple on pizza is awesome.

          Don’t ruin it with Canadian bacon.

        7. Mordecai

          The truth has been spoken.

        8. foamy

          Get yer damn fruit off my ham pizza >=|

        9. Reltzik

          ….

          “Okay, we’re ready to order. We’re splitting a large Hawaiian, but listen carefully. We want ALL the Cannadian bacon on one half, and ALL the pineapple on the other half. So that’s really a half double-ham, half double-pineapple. Then you need to slice it VERY CAREFULLY, so there’s no fruit on the meat-half and no meat on the fruit-half. You know what, every time the pizza slicer hits the halfway mark, give it a rinse before continuing.”

        10. HMRC4EVR

          Where’s the down vote button?!

          Canadian Bacon and pineapple is THE BEST!

        11. lia47

          i serve the Big Pineapple and he has never shown me anything but compassion and a tangy tropical flavor sensation thats sweeping the nation

        12. Tacos

          Whenever I get anything with pineapple it’s always super woody. What kinda weird-o curse have I been placed under?

        13. Dellaran

          Curse of the Priapic Pineapple? Dole’s Dastardly Dildo Doom?

          Er, that’s not what you meant by “woody”, is it…

        14. trlkly

          You go to places who don’t know how to cut pineapple or pick fresh ones?

        15. thejeff

          OTOH, it probably means they’re actually cutting up pineapples rather than using canned.

        16. Schmeedle

          http://www.bigpineapple.com.au

        17. Tyler W Durham

          To quote the late great Terry Pratchett, “There is no excuse for putting pineapple on pizza.”

        18. NelC

          “All right then, I’ll go to hell”

      2. Rocketboy1313

        Because at some point someone made fun of Hawaiian Pizza and got a laugh, so now every moron who thinks negativity is all you need to get a laugh will bongo about it trying to be funny.

      3. DinaWho

        I agree, pineapple is good!

        Pineapple on pizza, on the other hand, is terrible.

        1. TheAnonymousGuy

          I really like black olives and mushroom

        2. Dean

          And anchovies. Be wary of people who dislike anchovies, as they often have wrong opinions about other things as well.

        3. Bicycle Bill

          Small fishies belong in a minnow bucket or an aquarium, not on a pizza.

        4. Sev

          Fish are friends, not food! Especially if they make eating pizza into a russian roulette of waiting for the inevitable overpowering saltiness.

        5. JetstreamGW

          Oh come on. Anchovies are insanely salty. It’s not weird to dislike them 😛

        6. Lawzlo

          I tried anchovies on pizza for the first time a couple weeks ago (having always been scared off by the negative reputation of this particular combination), and I kinda dug it, but I totally understand why some people would hate them.

          It helps that I love seafood in nearly every form I’ve ever encountered it.

        7. The Other Mike

          I dig seafood as well, and I generally love salty things, but the first (and only) time I tried anchovies I couldn’t even get one bite down.

        8. pbarnrob

          The whole trick to anchovy is:
          INSIST on chopped fine, sprinkled across the pizza!
          Munching along, suddenly BIG CHUNK of salty fish, no no no.
          Ruins the experience, makes ANTI-anchovy haters.
          Make it just another condiment, YUM!

        9. EvilMidnightLurker

          Anchovies, olives, roasted garlic, parmesan, pickled artichoke hearts, feta cheese, pepperoni.

        10. Name

          Congratulations. That’s in super poor taste.

      4. Danni

        pineapple on its own is terrible, punapple needs ham

        1. Bicycle Bill

          And sauerkraut.

      5. JetstreamGW

        Pineapple is delicious, canadian bacon sucks.

        Chicken pizza with pineapple, however… <3

      6. UltraKyrie

        I love pineapple but I detest the texture of it on pizza

    2. Doctor_Who

      About twice a year I get an ungodly craving for a Hawaiian. Only those times, though.

    3. John

      Hawaiian is the one exception to my “the only acceptable pizza topping is meat” rule.

      1. achallenger

        john, i didnt think anyone could get wronger about pizza toppings, esp wrt pineapple, and yet here we are…

        1. Cholma

          Exactly. Pineapple is TERRIBLE on pizza. It’s far too acidic to go with the mouth-watering deliciousness of cheese, tomato sauce, pepperoni, sausage & thick, chewy hand-tossed crust!

        2. lia47

          maybe you’re just too basic to handle it

        3. Jason

          oh snap

        4. Mav

          Agreed. I dislike pineapple because it’s way too sweet for me. Same with mango. I can drink the juice, just not eat the actual fruit. For me, pizza is a savory dish and therefore should never have to encounter sweet toppings. I don’t understand people who put sugar in the sauce even.

        5. Plasma Mongoose

          Never heard of mango on a pizza before.

        6. Just A. Thinker

          I hadn’t heard of mango on pizza either, but now I want to try it. VIVA HAWAIIAN PIZZA!

        7. Mav

          Ah, I meant the fruit in general (although I have had pineapple on pizza). I googled and saw a restaurant in NJ and a bunch of homemade recipes though

        8. Daibhid C

          It wouldn’t surprise me – you get mango chutney in Indian food, after all.

          (UK citizen here, so I grew up with chutneys, sweet pickles, and molasses-based brown sauce. Mixing sweet and savoury makes perfect sense to me.)

        9. Thorbjorn

          I personally feel the fact that its acidic and rather sweet goes well with the salt of the ham and the fat of the cheese.

        10. Shade

          Agreed, it makes a nice contrast with the savory.

        11. John

          It’s unfortunate that you’re wrong about pizza toppings, but good that you recognize the problem. That’s the first step towards recovery.

      2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        I also add mushrooms to the list.

        1. John

          I have a general policy that if food has fungus on it, it isn’t food anymore.

        2. Pablo360

          I have the same policy, but replace “mushrooms” with “pineapples”.

        3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Does that include yeast?

        4. JetstreamGW

          Everyone forgets that yeast is a fungus.

          HOW DO YOU LIKE BREAD NOW, bongoES!?

        5. Positron

          I think I’ve truly enjoyed mushrooms twice in my existance, and both times they were on gourmet pizza.

    4. Tacos

      I don’t have any feelings one way or another about Hawaiian pizza.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        If you don’t sign up with one faction or the other, you will have no hope at all in the upcoming war.

        1. Tacos

          It’s cool. I’ll just wait it out in my bunker and then live in the burnt out husk of humanity.

        2. JustCheetoDust

          I hope a future Fallout game uses this story.

        3. The Other Mike

          “Pizza. Pizza never changes.”

        4. thejeff

          “Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the Franchise Wars.”
          “Now all restaurants are Taco Bell.”

        5. Ellegos

          We must rebuild. But who will lead us in the rebuilding process?
          Man, it’s got to be someone with the know-how
          and the elbow grease to lead us to a new land.
          No, not me and Tacos, we don’t have the cognitive capacity to lead…
          Alright, we’ll do it!
          WE’LL LEAD AS TWO KINGS

    5. Plasma Mongoose

      Not a big fan of pineapple or ham myself.

    6. Emperor Daniel

      I love pineapple and mushrooms.

      Especially on the same pizza.

    7. Dana

      Pepperoni and pineapple is the closest reasonable alternative. Canadian Bacon? Blech!

      1. Kuraimizu

        You clearly have never had a BBQ chicken hawaiian pizza.

        1. Seerow

          I would love that if I could find one that used bbq chicken with tomato sauce, instead of grilled chicken with bbq sauce under the cheese.

          Seriously it’s not Pizza if it doesn’t have marinara sauce.

        2. Kuraimizu

          the one I’m talking about is regular pizza sauce for the base
          cheese, pineapple, and chicken and then BBQ sauce is drizzled on top

    8. Mandy

      I love pineapple on pizza but I hate ham. I like pineapple/sausage.

    9. Dara

      you are all weirdos

    10. Bicycle Bill

      I you want to truly walk on the wild side, the the Pizza Doctor invites you for Exploratory Surgery.

    11. ninja_jesus

      As someone who was born and raised in Hawaii, I disapprove of ham and pineapple pizza being called “Hawaiian” pizza.

      A true Hawaiian pizza would be pineapple and spam. Hawaiians love spam. 🙂

      1. Kuraimizu

        Hawaiian Luau doesn’t use Spam

        1. DinaWho

          Yeah, but a Hawaiian pizza doesn’t use Kahlua pork.

    12. Needfuldoer

      Mmmm pineapple pizza… (It’s best with ham and bacon though.)

      Fun fact: pineapples are acidic, which causes that tingling, slight burning feel. While you’re eating the pineapple, the pineapple is also slightly eating you!

      1. Neeks

        That’s why it works so well as a palate cleanser. It strips your tongue of the taste buds with any memory of what you just ate.

    13. Deviant

      I didn’t know others hated hawaii pizzas… I thought it was just me being weird.

    14. trlkly

      Yeah, I don’t get it, either. I get it not being your favorite. But it’s not bad enough to become a meme for bad food. I get that with stuff like sardines or durian and such.

      I prefer pepperoni. Sometimes I pick it off, to eat them separately. And, no, it’s not remotely the same if you just get a cheese pizza and pepperoni on the side.

      Still, I find it weird that someone who likes the food separate still wants the flavors to mix. You’d think that would count as “contamination” in her mind.

    15. Jhon

      I will eat anything if you put pizza on it.

  3. wheelpath

    Awwww, best friends

    1. Fart Captor

      the bestest

      1. Bagge

        The bestest of the bestest.

  4. Adept Arcanist

    Don’t be sad, Joyce – I always order the same thing too!

    1. Kuraimizu

      Maybe Joyce should order something different out of spite.
      Question is would the spite be towards herself or Becky?

      I recommend she order a rootbeer and an alfredo chicken
      Or a BBQ chicken hawaiian.

      1. Seerow

        It’s kind of a cut off your nose to spite your face sort of deal though. If it’s what you want, do you really want to change it just to prove to somebody else you could change?

        1. Kuraimizu

          it would be character building
          maybe Joyce might discover a new favourite pizza

  5. CleverTrousers

    I’ve been refreshing since 9:00. How does the front of the comments section club do it?

    1. Cerberus

      They’re all time lords.

      1. Reltzik

        And they’re settling a bet to see how many of them can all fit in one phone booth.

      2. nightsbridge

        I was a time lord too, once. It was far too busy crowded.

    2. Cholma

      At the $500/mo Patreon level, The Willis® gives you special access to pre-load your comments. DONATE TODAY!

  6. Stephen Bierce

    ‘At’s a spicy meat bowl!

    1. C baker

      GROAN.

    2. achallenger

      ten points to griffendor, and a swift kick in the nuts

      1. Reltzik

        Yeah, there’s no topping that one.

        1. Leorale

          I’d join in, but mine are all terribly cheesy.

        2. DonDueed

          You’d have to be pretty crusty not to appreciate it.

        3. Leorale

          Oilove to make puns, but I want to give everyone else as muchroom as they knead.

  7. Kernanator

    Look, sometimes you get yourself into a groove and like knowing what to expect. Even if what you’re expecting is really weird.

    1. Skizz

      Becky will learn, the waitress at my local IHOP used to take everyone else’s order, then say to me, ” can I get you a chicken and spinach crepe with extra hollandaise and a vanilla coke, darlin?” And I would nod, greatfully.

      1. CoMa

        That sounds rather tasty!

        I can understand why Joyce looks annoyed and a bit angry, because other than in your case, Becky did not confirm Joyce’s order like the waitress at your IHOP did, asking if she’ll have a sprite and sausage pizza with the sausages extra “because that’s what you always order, right?” – she just noted it for herself without checking if it’s still the case, no matter how much she knows Joyce.
        Well, she’s still Becky and Joyce is Joyce, but normally a waitress would at least ask for verification (like in your case) and not assume. And we’ve seen of Joyce that she hates when people assume stuff about her, however true the assumptions turn out to be.

        1. thejeff

          Hey, it’s only her second day of work, with no actual training. Cut her some slack.
          But yeah, it’s mostly Becky teasing Joyce, which her default mode. I doubt she’d do that to anyone else, even if she’d been there long enough to pick up on a regular’s pattern.

        2. Skizz

          Like I said, Becky will learn.

        3. Cerberus

          Becky will become Waitress, avatar of the best waitressing has to offer, its champion in the dark days ahead.

        4. Skizz

          I hope Becky will become Student, and half ass her way through Waitress, just enough not to get fired yet still be entertaining.

        5. HMRC4EVR

          Is it wrong of me to want to see Billie in a Hooters outfit now for some reason??

        6. CoMa

          True, it’s just her second day, and as Skizz said, Becky will learn.

          I intended my comment to be more about the “Why” Joyce is sulking in the end (drawing on the example Skizz provided), than to say “Becky is doing it wrong” – it was intended as an explanation for why Joyce is annoyed/angry/sulking.

          That said, it does not look like nice teasing, judging the faces Becky makes and from her looks towards Joyce, but that’s probably just me interpreting things into it (it looks more like a stern “are you serious?” more than anything else).

        7. Skizz

          I was going to say, Becky screwed up, just a little, but did it with a friend, so it is safe.

          No idea if it is correct, but my interpretation of Joyce’s face in the last panel is conflict between not wanting to order anything else and having to admit Becky is right.

        8. CoMa

          Yes to that 🙂

          Yeah, I get the vibe that it’s probably a combination of what you said and I said leading to that face up there!

      2. Larkle

        I always kind of like when the people at places you frequent start knowing your habits. Like, I usually order a variety so it’s not like knowing my order, but some places I frequent know that I have a nut allergy, since I always ask about it, which is helpful. And sometimes becomes a bit of a running joke, like at an Indian restaurant, the proprietor always jokes about the ‘cashew tea’ which is actually masala chai tea. And it’s kind of our bit.

  8. Rocketboy1313

    Picked off? What?
    I would just tell her to leave.

    1. kkiten

      Then you aren’t an acceptable loss http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/homewrecker/

      Joyce would just ask you for a bowl.

    2. Mav

      “What if they want their steak well done?”

      “We ask them politely, but firmly, to leave.”

    3. JetstreamGW

      I’m sure Joyce usually picks it off herself. She probably just orders a little bowl to go with her pizza.

  9. Dedlok

    Surprised it was not “no sauce, no cheese, left beef”

    1. Cholma

      +1 Classic.

  10. athan1214

    I can never decide if I should be salty or not in these situations. I mean, I’m rather happy when someone knows me this well, but I think I’d like to have the option of something different. It always leaves me in a mood of “Damnit, that does sound delicious…”

  11. Plasma Mongoose

    I feel sorry for that Hawaiian being split like that, sounds like a serious case of racism.

    1. Rocketboy1313

      I don’t get it.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Sometimes jokes fall flat, especially after lack of sleep due to a serious case of cellulitis.

        1. kkiten

          cel·lu·li·tis: n –
          Inflammation of subcutaneous connective tissue.

          wait how does that cause lack of sleep and flat jokes?

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          When you cannot find any relief from the pain no matter what position you put your arm in, it makes sleep impossible and as for the flat joke, the chances of making failed jokes increase when you are zonked.

        3. Bill J. from Austin

          That kind of pain will keep you up at night. It’ll also make you mean!

          Or so I’ve heard. Myself, I’ve never spent night after night (after night, ad nauseam) awake and squirming around, trying desperately to find any position that didn’t hurt!

          And the sky is not blue and water isn’t wet.

          I hope you get better soon.

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Just another case of Solomonic Justice. Ask Joyce about it.

  12. Tacos

    Well at least Becky seems to have gotten the hang of her job.

    1. Abel Undercity (@AbelUndercity)

      “Your customer has submitted to you! Galasso is pleased!”

  13. SGT Anonymous

    There needs to be a word for when someone is adorable and annoying at the same time, like Becky is to Joyce…

  14. JessWitt

    So, a plain cheese pizza with a bowl of sliced sausage?

    1. kkiten

      no, no the sausage needs to be baked onto the pizza and then picked off later into the bowl.

      1. JessWitt

        Okay, a cheese pizza with a dash of sausage flavoring.

        1. kkiten

          tbh Joyce would hate sausage flavoring.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          Why not just order a small Margarita pizza and some sausages?

        3. kkiten

          again:

          no, no the sausage needs to be baked onto the pizza and then picked off later into the bowl.

        4. Plasma Mongoose

          What, to add sausage flavor to the cheese?

        5. kkiten

          dunno, gotta ask Joyce or Becky about that.

        6. Mav

          Baking it in does indeed add flavor..it’s like boiling rice in broth vs. boiling rice in plain water. The first method is way more flavorful, if you aren’t interested in plain rice on the side.

        7. No Name

          Yes, actually, that’s how it works. When I was a youngin’ and my elementary school had pizza day, I’d always order the pepperoni pizza, pick off the little pepperoni cubes, and then eat the pizza and the pepperoni separately, much like Joyce does with sausage pizza here. Granted, the reason I did that was because I’d gotten into the habit with sliced pepperoni pizzas (the slices would always end up along a bite-mark and ruin the pizza by pulling the cheese off) and my six year old logic applied that to all pepperoni pizzas.

        8. JessWitt

          Doesn’t a margarita pizza contain tomatoes and basil too? Joyce might not like that.

        9. Reltzik

          I’m sure she loves basil and tomatoes.

          …. on the side.

        10. the final pam

          also it’s typically chunks of mozzarella cheese that’s melted onto the pizza, instead of shredded cheese

        11. Positron

          The problem is that margarita is such an overused name now that it needs context to tell what sort of pizza you actually mean. It can mean anything from a plain tomato sause plus shredded cheddar pizza up to a legit mozarella, sliced tomato plus proper sauce pizza now.

  15. AnvilPro

    Becky’s face says “This is my first real day at this job do not try me”

  16. Keulan

    I’m cracking up over the last 3 panels! And I’m like Joyce in that I tend to find one thing I like at every restaurant and always order that same thing every time.

    1. tim gueguen

      That’s not always a bad thing. Some places make only one thing well.

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      “If there’s cereal, and cereal is best, why wouldn’t I always choose it?”

  17. kkiten

    I’m kinda like Becky too, I start making offensive jokes and is overly excited and scream-y when I’m scared or nervous. Nice to see she’s able to be deadpan. <3

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Deadpan is OK but most customers prefer deep-pan.

      1. Geneseepaws

        See, sometimes lack of sleep leads to better humour. That made me wake the dog with my laughter.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          I have my moments, my humor is hit and miss.

  18. achallenger

    you betcher!

  19. Nono

    MAYBE TODAY I WANT A SIERRA MIST.

    1. kkiten

      Joyce… probably won’t be drinking sierra mist ever again.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Since it apparently is changing its name to Mist Twst, it shouldn’t trigger her.

        1. Pablo360

          Frankly, given how similar the two taste, I’m surprised she can even drink Sprite*

          *this is my impression of flavor n00bs who can’t tell the difference between Sprite and Sierra Mist, even though they’re about as different as lemon-lime sodas can get without either one being Faygo

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          While I can drink lemonade if that is all that is on offer as soft drinks go, I rather have something like lemon instead like Solo or Lift.

        3. Lumin

          Yes! This!

          Do you know, you cannot get lemon squash in the UK? They only have lemonade.

          And they don’t have raisin toast, either. It was torture.

        4. thejeff

          I’m not in the UK and I have no idea what lemon squash is. There does seem to be a variety of actual squash, but I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about.
          Maybe a regional name for something?

          Not sure about raisin toast either. You can buy bread with raisins (and usually cinnamon) in it, which is good toasted, but I never thought of it as a specific thing.

      2. Cerberus

        Aw shit, yeah, that’s a depressing point. And extra sad that given her pickiness there might have been a past time when she was really excited that she had expanded her drink palate to two soda which completely ended previous angsting over which type of drink machine a restaurant had and now she’s back in a state of worrying if a place is Coke or Pepsi oriented.

        🙁 Triggers suck.

    2. Some1

      Is it possible Joyce has some form of OCD? I would also peg Mary with Anti social personality disorder.

      1. Some1

        That was not meant to be a reply.

      2. Reltzik

        For Joyce? If so it’s a pretty minor case. I’d guess it’s just that she’s super-conservative in more ways than one.

        Mary doesn’t really seem to fit the description of ASPD. She’s too rule-oriented and too tied to the “us” of the us-vs-them mentality. ASPD is marked by a lack of morals. If anything, she’s got too STRONG of a sense of morals. Shitty morals, but morals.

        1. Some1

          Unless of course, she realized she had something wrong with her, and ended up going to some pastor. It’s entirely possible her morals are so shitty because she doesn’t understand them either, but the first person to reach out to her told her that gay/trans people were bad.

        2. Norah

          No, some people are just picky eaters, and it doesn’t have anything to do with being conservative or liberal, or being religious or not religious. People’s taste buds vary. It’s just like the pineapple thing –some people like it on their pizza, and some think it’s gross.

        3. BBCC

          Some people also have extremely picky gag reflexes that reject anything with more than one texture or taste mixed up/on top/whatever because their brain goes ‘Is this Food X? Is it Food Y? I don’t know, so out it goes.’ (or, in the case of soup/stew ‘Is this Food? Is it a Drink? Dunno, out.’)

        4. Reltzik

          Well, not “conservative” in the political or religious sense, no.

          But “conservative” in the “I don’t like to change my routine” sense.

        5. Benjamin Geiger

          Mary is what pre-4e D&Ders would call Lawful Evil.

      3. Leorale

        Her pickiness doesn’t seem to be impacting her life significantly enough to count as any particular disorder.
        If she felt that picking off the meat prevented her from getting poisoned or something, it added several hours to every meal, and/or made her super anxious to think about it, then that could be a much more textbook example.

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          Joyce might be a supertaster, someone who experiences flavors much more intensely than the average person. Or she might just be a person with strong food likes and dislikes.

      4. Positron

        It’s also possible to have obsessive compulsive tendencies without those being bad enough to “count” as OCD, since a proper OCD diagnosis has requirements surrounding how it affects the person and their work/social/etc life, not just having 1 or more obsessions and/or compulsions. Joyce seems mostly functional despite this peculiarity for instance, and diagnosing and treating her for OCD may well be more unpleasant.

      5. Cerberus

        Joyce hasn’t been shown to have the intrusive thoughts part of OCD, which is a much bigger component than just being picky.

        Similarly, Mary has shown herself, much like Trump, to be perfectly human and pleasant to people who agree with her entirely, which rules out ASPD or any other PDs. I’m afraid Mary and Trump’s problems are they are just both intense assholes who don’t see the humanity of those who fall outside the very narrow segment of the population they regard as “full humans deserving of life and happiness”.

  20. John

    No, Becky, try it like this: “The Lord Galasso has decreed that you will have Sprite and a small sausage pizza with the sausage picked off and placed on the side in a little bowl! And you will like it!”

  21. Romanticide

    Becky knows her people.

    1. kkiten

      Becky knows her Joyce.

      1. Bagge

        And it’s adorable.

  22. tim gueguen

    I assume she’s actually going to eat the sausage, or she’d just order a straight chees pizza.

    1. kkiten

      She eats tacos too, just with all the parts separated. So I assume she eats ground beef when it doesn’t touch other food.

      1. Danni

        does joyce like hamburgers?

        1. kkiten

          I don’t remember her ever having eaten one in-comic. You have to ask her or Becky about that one.

        2. Gwen

          Yes. She smashes them flat to make them “taste more like McDonalds.” Per Sarah.

        3. kkiten

          Oh yeah, forgot about that! haha she’s weird!

        4. Jhon

          onions

      2. Bicycle Bill

        <A HREF="http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/homewrecker/"&quot;…did that used to be tacos?"
        "It's still tacos, I just don't like stuff touching."

        1. Bicycle Bill

          Let’s try that again…..
          “…did that use to be tacos?”
          “It’s still tacos, I just don’t like stuff touching.”

        2. Reltzik

          I’m going to screw this up, but…

          It’s <a href=”URL FOR YOUR LINK HERE”, title=”OPTIONAL MOUSEOVER TEXT FOR LINK HERE, OTHERWISE JUST LEAVE THE TITLE-PART OUT”>THE TEXT FOR YOUR LINK HERE</a>

        3. Reltzik

          Or simpler:

          > a href=”URL”, title=”MOUSEOVER TEXT”<LINK TEXT</a>

          Where bolded is mandatory, italicized is optional, and underlined are the blanks you have to fill in.

        4. Reltzik

          … trying that again.

          <a href=”URL”, title=”MOUSEOVER TEXT”>LINK TEXT</a>

          Where bolded is mandatory, italicized is optional, CAPS is a blank you fill in yourself, underlined isn’t actually implemented in this platform, and I actually hopefully get all the braces pointed the right way this time,

        5. Bicycle Bill

          Trust me, I know; but the lack of an edit feature here means that if I *DO* mess up I can’t go back and try to fix it.
          Also, I was trying to add some text enhancement in the link, which might have boogered up everything as well.

        6. Reltzik

          Tell me about it.

          I mean, I get not allowing edits, especially after people reply to you. But a preview function would be awesome.

        7. Jhon

          So do what I do — make your reply on some board that does allow editing, then cut and paste it here.

  23. Danni

    “today ill be a rebel! pepperoni and diet sprite!”

    1. Commodore Counterintuitive

      Diet drinks are a farce that don’t actually help with weight loss and whose active ingredient has been linked to carcinogenic properties, even Joyce isn’t naive enough to fall for that.

      Also, mining rare earth metals for solar panels pollutes the environment, organic farming is worse than non-organic because of volume, and getting a new electric car might be worse for the planet than keeping whatever car you already have due to production costs.

      1. Mav

        This is an interesting discussion. I think I remember reading about a study where people were actually more likely to drink or eat nearly twice as much when told that the food was diet, so it doesn’t actually help people control their habits of overeating, it seemed to cause them to overeat. I’m also suspicious of fake sugars, but I’ll have to do more research on my own about that.

        Can’t speak to solar panels because I don’t know enough about them, but I have read a few interesting books about food politics and policy. I feel like there are a lot of things we could be doing different to help preserve the ecological environments found on a lot of farms and other places, but it would mean food becoming more expensive for a period of time and it would mean letting go of the insta-gratifying, seasonal foods all year round businesses developed globally that are causing a small percentage of the world’s population to take up a vast amount of global resources for our own convenience.

        Ex…you shouldn’t be able to get berries in the winter depending on where you live, but we spend a lot of money, power, gas, and land to do that. Local communities go hungry because they mostly don’t benefit from foreign corporations shipping crops abroad (and owning the land, and not letting them farm there, and paying them shitty wages…). Population size is a huge part of the problem, but I feel part of the truth is we’re pretty wasteful in general. Sure, we consume (defined here as buying a product) massive amounts of food, but how much do we actually *eat*?

        Additionally, in America for example the eating habits are pretty general. For all the options we have, we tend to eat the same thing over and over…salmon and corn (all corn EVERYTHING) anyone? This causes more demand than a natural ecosystem (or a local farmer for that matter) can produce, which in part leads to the year-round, monotonous, land-depleting food production processes.

      2. snogglethorpe

        Better to not drive at all.

        1. Dean

          Live in a cave, eating only locally foraged leaves and twigs.

      3. Skizz

        Don’t forget the way wind farms kill rare birds, tidal power destroys river ecosystems and black cats may be cute, but they do not show up as well in selfies.

      4. trlkly

        Yeah, no. There are no carcinogenic artificial sweeteners. It’s true that diet drinks can cause dips in blood sugar, but I know plenty of people who have lost weight just by switching to diet soda. You just have to not give in to the extra craving you’ll have for sugar.

        And wind farms have not been shown to increase bird kill counts, tidal power doesn’t appreciably decrease the tidal forces, and black cats’ll show up fine if your camera or software knows how to handle black people and white people in the same photo.

      5. bhtooefr

        Although, the GHG emissions payoff period on replacing an ICE vehicle with an electric vehicle is typically not that incredibly bad, unless you’re already replacing a highly efficient ICE vehicle with an electric vehicle, in a fossil fuel intensive grid region, without a renewable power plan. (In that case, it can actually become negative efficiency. For instance, buying an average EV is less efficient in my grid region than my Prius… except for the fact that I have a 100% renewable power plan.)

        Now, you’ll want to stick with that EV for as long as practical, because odds aren’t good that it’ll be efficient to replace it, but…

  24. Antonio

    I worked at a coffee shop and people wwould always pull this when I made their drink before they ordered.

    Only got it wrong once because of twins.

    1. kkiten

      I actually prefer if the person asks me every time even if they know my order because then I feel like we are becoming friends and onhoIhave accidntally made a f-ffriend what am I — *social anxiety takes over and I never go to that coffeeshop again*

      1. timemonkey

        Aw, you don’t have to worry about that really. Remember, servers are paid to be polite and probably view you as a burden.

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        I learned this lesson in my first week at my first fast food job. Every weekday morning, a guy came through the drive-through at 6:00 AM on the dot and ordered a large coffee. Friday morning I had the coffee for him as drove up, and I said something like, “I knew you’d be coming.” He gave me an odd look, and I never saw him again.

        If you want the customer to come back, you always have to ask. Even if it’s just “The usual?”

        1. StClair

          People tend not to like having it pointed out how much of their life they spend as not-really-conscious robots. Even (especially) when it’s true.

    2. Benjamin Geiger

      I used to go to the same Taco Bell several times a week. After a while the guy behind the counter would instruct the cooks to fry three chalupa shells as soon as I walked through the door.

      He was only wrong once; that day I only wanted two. 😉

      That said, you can confirm without requiring them to recite the order: “your usual, Joyce?”

    3. Bagge

      That’s a pretty hilarious reason to be wrong

    4. trlkly

      Yeah, I wouldn’t like this, either. For the simple reason that, if I come often enough for you to know me, I’m gonna want to switch it up at some point.

      Well, unless it’s the only thing on the menu that’s good that doesn’t have things in it that I can’t have. Caffeine is bad for anxiety disorders. I am gluten intolerant, and am allergic to milk.

  25. Reltzik

    …. welp, so much for the worries that the newest waitress will have trouble remembering orders.

    1. Cerberus

      She’s had tons of practice remembering all the little lies she’s had up and running against her dad. This also helps her keep everything straight* in high-pressure situations.

      *Well, reasonably curvy, Becky doesn’t do straight… unless Joyce is making an exception.

  26. lia47

    man i really want a pizza now

    1. kkiten

      Pan-fried Hawaiian to be exact.

    2. Sir Robin

      Me too

  27. Rukduk

    I don’t know why, but I feel like Becky’s head is covering a slowly forming smirk on Joe’s face over how specific that order is.

    1. Bagge

      And Sarah’s
      And maybe even Jacobs.

      Funny Joyce-stories is the thing that unites them, after all.

  28. Dana

    No tip for Becky.

    1. Fart Captor

      D:<
      Extra tip for Becky

      1. Dana

        /me points at Joyce’s face.

        1. Fart Captor

          You mean where she’s realizing Becky is right?

          Besides, she would never stiff her best friend

        2. Dana

          I do mean there. I think I’d be *more* likely to stiff my best friend.

        3. Dana

          Not that I’m likely to stiff anyone.

      2. Reltzik

        Oh, yeah, Sarah’s opening up her wallet for that scene.

        1. Bagge

          Dinner AND a show

  29. Mav

    I am that person. I always order one of the same 3 flavors: NY style pepperoni, cheese, or chicken. Partly because I’m boring and happily set in my pizza ways, partly because I’m not wealthy and I hate when I buy something and I end up not liking it. I did have pepperoni deep dish when I was in Chicago once, it was actually amazing. Pizza is amazing in general.

    1. BBCC

      I generally find one, maybe two or three, things on a menu I like and order those. I’m okay with that.

    2. StClair

      Every weekend:
      Half BBQ chicken, half pepperoni-mushroom-olive.

    3. KSClaw

      I can be pretty set in my ways too. I love hawaiian pizza, but I also like a few others. I just have to be careful on my part because of allergies (and there’s an awful lot of seafood pizzas for some reason)

  30. BBCC

    I love the pizza discussing comments here. For me, pizza is just sauce, crust, and pepperoni. So seeing folks get all bent out of shape about pizza toppings is pretty fun for me. XD

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      But the real question is what bases do you like, standard, thin or deep-pan?

      1. BBCC

        Never had deep pan, standard is fine, and it depends. Sometimes thin crust is too thin and it makes the whole thing taste like sauce. Or worse, makes the thing feel better.

        1. BBCC

          *heavy, not better. Goddammit, typos.

    2. Just A. Thinker

      I’m the opposite XD! I’ll eat cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza, but I prefer pizza with the WORKS. Pepperoni, sausage, ham, tomato, mushroom, artichokes… everything. It feels so bare without all of those XD XD XD

      1. BBCC

        I’m allergic to cheese, so that was never gonna happen. XD I don’t mind sausage, bacon, chicken, etc, but pepperoni is my favourite, so I’ll usually double or triple up on that if I’m getting more than one topping. Basically I’m with Walky – pizza is a meat delivery system. A meat delivery system that will remain cheeseless. XD

        1. ninja_jesus

          Allergic to all cheese, or just cow cheese?

          Because goat cheeses are great.

        2. BBCC

          All cheese.

        3. CJ

          callapizza over here sell you analogue cheese at an upprice as vegan pizza.

        4. BBCC

          ….I will pass, but thank you for the offer.

  31. Whammy

    I remember this lady who worked the sandwich counter at the university cafeteria. She got my sandwich order down pat that all it took was seeing me walk her way to know it was time. She even got to the point of making recommendations for new things, and thanks to her I now enjoy the magic of pesto mayo. Very nice lady too; would chat with her. Too bad I have the retention of a goldfish about social stuff so while I’d recognize her I can’t recall her name or details that much…

    1. Dana

      I once worked in the front store of a CVS and there was this one little old lady who came in every Friday and paid for her items with a check. New Hampshire drivers license numbers are easy to memorize, so I stopped needing to see her ID.

    2. Bagge

      …pesto mayo?
      …excuse me, I need to be somewhere.

      1. Roborat

        Your bunk??

  32. Kamino Neko

    I approve of Joe and Jacob’s taste in pizza.

  33. StClair

    “… but today is not that day!”

  34. Lordmazapan

    Joyce face hahaha

  35. Plume

    Lolz! Becky’s just glaring at her like “I’m not your best friend for nothing”

  36. Thevoiceoftreason

    I’m surprised she doesn’t demand the cheese and tomato sauce be kept separate from her pizza.

  37. chris73

    I might reading too much into it but I’m liking the look on Beckys face in the last panel, the jobs been good for her already

    1. Bagge

      It sure has

  38. RacingTurtle

    Yay, Becky’s here!

  39. NinjaNick

    Becky knows everything.

    1. kkiten

      Becky knows Joyce.

      1. Larkle

        Pretty much.

  40. BenRG

    “Damn you for knowing me so well Becky McIntyre!”

    I’ve said this before but I’ve got a feeling that there’s more to Joyce than being a picky eater; it’s almost as if she’s got a neurosis about this!

    1. chris73

      Youngest child, only daughter could be one of the few ways she had any control over decisions for herself maybe

  41. Quarah Hugg

    I’m guessing Joe ordering a Hawaiian means he’s not particularly religious, since it includes ham, which is pork. (Also, meat on top of cheese.)

    1. Arianod

      It’s not kosher to put meat on top of cheese?

      1. Mydnyt

        Must keep you’re meat and dairy separate. My wife was raised jewish and every high holy day in memory’s of her mom she engages in the twofold sin of a glorious Bacon Cheeseburger.

        1. Bicycle Bill

          I’m not Jewish but I used to date/see a lady who was, and I remember one night we hung out at her motel room (we lived about 150 miles apart but still saw each other three/four times a year) and shared a cheese-and-veggie pizza … and some chicken wings.  When I asked her about the kosher rule about keeping meat and dairy separate she explained that the wording in the Scripture had to do with boiling a kid in its mother’s milk and from that the rabbis and scholars had come up with the whole “meat and dairy must be separated even to the point of separate cooking utensils”.  She also said that she had never yet seen or heard of a chicken that gave milk, so she felt that chicken would get a ‘pass-over’.

          God, I still miss that woman!

    2. timemonkey

      Joe’s already established the only part of his religion he cared about was inheriting a bunch of cash when he came of age.

  42. Dariu55

    Sarah, that’s not a pizza. That’s cheese and peppers. That’s an open faced pepper sandwich.

  43. Bagge

    TAKE A LOOK AT THIS, MUFFIN EFFERS!!! Look who is gainfully employed and does a great job. Positive energy, banter and efficiency, she is everything I would want from a college town server.

    She even remembers your favorites!

    “Come to Galassos’, where everyone knows your name…”

    1. JBento

      Wait, doesn’t BECKY want to be a muffin effer?

  44. Arianod

    Gotcha.

  45. gqbrielle

    *puts on joyce closet cosplay outfit* this callout comic of me will not be tolerated ><;;;; *furious tsundere blushing* lol

  46. Zatar

    Hey Joyce, at least this doesn’t happen to you with people who aren’t your friends at places you only visit three times a year at the most.

    1. Larkle

      Has that happened to you? It seems specific…

  47. Liliet

    I mean technically a “Joyce, the usual?” question was warranted anyway… but it’s funnier this way.

    1. Liliet

      Also, sausage pizza is gross. Pineapple and chicken, now…

      1. David M Willis

        YOU ARE BANNED

        1. Minomelo

          PINEAPPLE IS THE ULTIMATE TOPPING AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE

        2. JBento

          PINEAPPLE IS STRICTLY INFERIOR TO BACON!

          COME AT ME, SIBLING OF UNKNOWN GENDER!

      2. dethtoll

        UNCLEAN

      3. CoMa

        The best for me is vegetables or only cheese! E.g. onions, broccoli, zucchini, paprika and corn! I love corn on Pizza. And lots of cheese!

        That said, I’m also vegetarian, so it’s no wonder I don’t like sausage or chicken or bacon etc. on my pizza…
        Pineapple tastes best as desert afterwards 😀

        1. CoMa

          Ah, I meant to write pescetarian, but with pizza it’s vegetarian, cause I don’t like tuna and any other fish on a pizza would be really strange…

        2. Reltzik

          …. I don’t really think about meat on a pizza. But now that I do, maybe salmon could work?

        3. Reltzik

          I mean, it’s a subtle meat. Its flavor can get lost in everything else if you’re not careful. So… maybe swap out the tomato sauce for an olive oil base, bake on some grated Parmesan in addition to the mozzarella, and add fresh rosemary and pineapple.

        4. CoMa

          So a pizza with a sort of pesto? (I tried that out once, tasted great)
          …
          …
          …
          You know what, I’m actually putting that suggestion down now in my book of recipes so that I can try that the next time I make some pizza, because it honestly sounds delicious!

        5. Reltzik

          I meant olive oil instead of pesto, but now that you mention it pesto might work as well.

  48. Crumplepunch

    BROUGHTCHER

  49. DarkoNeko

    Creature of habit.

  50. KSClaw

    Joyce, sweetie, there are other kinds of pizza. You do not have to order anything with sausage. (but man I could go for a Hawaiian right now)

  51. Mr.Morningstar

    I relate to Joyce with this,

    i too am a picky eater and I too always order the same damn thing

    1. JBento

      I do too, and I never understood why you WOULDN’T. I mean, I’ve looked at the menu and found this is the thing I like the best. Unless there’s something new on the menu that looks like it’d be worth a try, why would I get something I like less?

      1. Bill J. from Austin

        Because some days I want steak, some days fish, or – oh, hell, let’s be crazy – even a salad!

        Just me.

        1. CoMa

          Nope, I’m like that too – though sometimes you need to be creative to find things you can eat (I’m pescetarian AND a picky eater) ´- still survived up till now and ideally there are always a few new items worth trying on a restaurants menu. How else would you know other things don’t try better?

          That said, I’m more on the “cooking” for myself side and mostly only eat stuff at restaurant which I hardly cook myself (e.g. maki-rolls)

        2. JBento

          Yeah, but you’re not going “well, this is my favourite fish dish, but it’s been longer since I had this OTHER, tastewise sub-optimal, fish dish, so I’m going to go with that instead.”

        3. CoMa

          Nope, but I also don’t dine out that often which is probably why I have a hard time understanding that. I have like one restaurant I regularly dine in and since I go there like maybe once half a year or at the most 4 times a year, I try out new things from their menu and normally don’t stick with the ones I had the last time.
          I don’t have a “favourite dish” from a restaurant, I mainly cook my favourite dishes myself… so I get what you mean, but I seem to be completely different, because we just seem to have very different dining backgrounds….:/

          Ah sh…., I just realised you probably intended this to be directed at Bill J. from Austin, right? XD

        4. CoMa

          Sorry, the comment system confused me a bit…

        5. JBento

          Nested responses get confusing – the trick I came up with was to line up the mouse cursor with the left of the gravatar image and then scroll up with the mousewheel. When the cursor stops aligning with the gravatars, that’s the recipient.

          And then you find out that, after a certain amount of nesting, the system totally breaks down, because you can’t reply to people and to continue the discussion you have to reply to someone far up the chain, and then things get REALLY fun. -.-

      2. trlkly

        Because it’s unlikely there’s one thing that’s “the best.” At most, there’s something that was the best at that particular time. The same thing may taste good one day, but I don’t want it another day. Most often, there are multiple dishes that good in different ways.

        The only reason I would get the same thing every time from a restaurant is if I only go there when I want that one thing. But that’s not something I can do when going out with others.

        Even the best food gets old if you keep eating it.

        1. JBento

          Eh, I have like 4-5 dishes that I could probably rotate as meals forever.

          I guess that’s just another thing where Dina’s thought processes and mine coincide (well, my food choices don’t get me nutritional deficiencies, but still).

        2. JBento

          Damn it, I spent 10 minutes looking for this strip just so I could link, and then I forgot to! >/

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/cereal/

        3. DinaWho

          Seconded! (And I am also amused the Dina gravs are in agreement on this)

      3. thejeff

        Appropriate gravatar is appropriate.

  52. trlkly

    I’m surprised she doesn’t have the cheese picked off, too. (Picking off the sauce would basically be impossible.)

    Then again, I’m surprised she doesn’t pick it all off herself.

    1. Gwen

      She probably *does* normally pick them off herself. Otherwise, she’d just get cheese pizza and a bowl of sausage, which is not the same thing at all!

  53. hof1991

    Love Sarah’s face. She seems stunned by the sight of Becky functioning in a job.

    1. Bagge

      I think it’s more that she’s sitting next to Jacob, but between Joyce and Becky the attention is not on her so she can enjoy it without attempting conversation.

      But at the same time she KNOWS that sooner or later she will be expected to TALK to him so she can’t enjoy the moment to it’s fullest.

  54. trlkly

    Huh. Just noticed that Joyce eats a bigger pizza than Sarah, who wants an “individual.” Took me a bit to figure out that she wasn’t just saying “I want my soda in a separate glass.” Or that she didn’t just want a single pepper.

    1. missilentmurmur

      a small pizza is bigger than an individual sized?

      1. kelticat

        A small tends to be 6 pieces while an individual is 4. Inch wise the individual is 6-7 inches while the small is 9-10 inches.

  55. Otera

    that face! The face Joyce is making is the same face my 85 year old neighbor makes when she’s trying to complain about something and my husband and I have already dealt with it. XD Often when we show up with exactly what she wanted for dinner, but did not answer the phone because we were cooking. and Becky’s face is the face that we make when we tell our neighbor that we cannot pick up the phone while we are cooking and that she needs to relax and not call every five minutes after we say we will cook food. for the ten thousandth time.
    So, great work with those expressions. they really, truly captured the interaction perfectly.

  56. raul

    D’oh. I hate it when you’re right all the time.

  57. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Panel 1: “… you came after me…” http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/01-to-those-whod-ground-me/strength-2/

    Seriously though, Becky’s enthusiasm and gratitude for the presence of friends is hella infectious.

    Panel 2: Sarah’s eyes are definitely doing a “wow, Becky, you’re being confident and good at your job”, which I think is definitely countering a lot of the ideas about Becky that Sarah built in her head. Especially after her last interaction with Dina, I think she had it in her head that Becky was a hopeless mess who would be ripped apart the second Dina wasn’t there to help her, rather than just a new and excited employee who needed someone anyone to show her the ropes so she could succeed*. Hopefully now she’ll stop accidentally trying to sabotage her and Dina’s relationship. >:(

    *And there’s an interesting parallel here to the weird way the poor and marginalized are frequently viewed. As if there were some inherent character flaw that keeps them impoverished or that they are less capable of improving themselves than a “smarter” person who is wealthier or more advantaged. When really what a lot of people need is just a single stone to hold onto that they can build off of. A single chance or two to have a means by which to get out. I mean, for those who like my commentary, it is worth heavily noting that the only thing that kept me from being a random homeless person you step over on your way to work was a spot of rare good luck at a crucial time.

    But seriously, Sarah’s in a hellishly awkward situation right now and I’m glad she has this temporary reprieve from it by focusing on Becky.

    Panel 3: But seriously, this is so impressive from Becky. She has never worked before, never done customer service, but just like with Biology, she cares, she works hard to undo the gaps, and she thrives when given the chance and an excellent tutor (cough cough Dina).

    And you see it here, she’s got excellent service rhythm, good customer service techniques, polite and efficient service. If you didn’t know, you’d assume she’d been doing this shit for at least a year.

    1. Bagge

      Among the many, many, MANY things I love with Becky is her ability to play to her strengths. “OK, customer service, so many things to remember, so many mistakes yet to do, but, hey, I got a great smile and some goofy expressions, so LET’S USE THEM!”

      I mean, that’s how she landed that gig. By being forward and social loopsided orange.

      And I completely agree on how one stepping stone might be enough, and how people far too seldom are allowed that stone (I’m glad you did).

      I don’t really think that’s what going through Sarah’s head, though. I think she’s mostly struck by Jacob’s presence and is nervously waiting for things to get incredibly awkward. If anything I just think’s she is impressed by Becky and wonder how well she would have done in the same situation.

  58. Cerberus

    Panel 4: Oh my. I love how hurt Becky is in this panel… okay, like I hate it because seeing Becky looking hurt is really sad, but I love how its presented. I think Becky really did think she was doing Joyce a solid, knowing her well enough to know her order, and is feeling like her knowledge of Joyce is being attacked by being called out by her.

    And this is a source of improvement for Becky in the future, because just because she knows someone’s order by heart, it’s usually nice to confirm with the diner nonetheless, otherwise it can feel like an attack to the diner (as if the person is calling them overly predictable).

    And so Joyce’s anger is understandable as well. And her statement at the end is interesting, because we’ve been seeing that a lot from her lately, mostly about food stuff.

    I dunno, I almost want to reach like hell and argue that Joyce is feeling a need to rebel against a lot of the ways “she used to be” and sees her inflexibility surrounding food choices to be part of the same resistance she feels when she’s discarding old beliefs she’s recognizing more and more as toxic.

    And it wouldn’t be true (food pickiness is not the same thing as political inflexibility and Joyce has changed a lot in a short time). But I imagine it could feel true, especially since she’d be comparing herself to Becky who is slash-and-burning her old beliefs like so much rotted roughage.

    Panel 5: And on the Becky side, we see her get a little upset. Like, c’mon its my first real day, I was just trying to do you a solid. Like, I know you, here’s your order, am I wrong in my assumptions?

    And it’s interesting because I think Becky is definitely interpreting this as a “you don’t know me” which is especially hurtful for Becky because of how intimately Becky has gotten to know Joyce over the years and also because of a recent incident where she did massively misread one thing about Joyce that led to a really awkward situation for both.

    Panel 6: “Fuck, that’s exactly what I want, but if I admit that, my whole reason for interrupting feels small and petty.”

    But that’s Joyce and Becky both talking around the real disconnect which is, ask first, just to confirm. Hell, it’s why consent in all things is important. Even if its nonsexual, even if its something you know by heart, it never hurts to double-check once in a while, just to make sure it’s still the case.

    Heck, I feel the last several comics are making an interesting commentary about consent. With Joe’s past awfulness about consent and his maneuverings around it to him pushing against Joyce’s lack of respecting boundaries in trying to make her ships happen and play matchmaker to Becky making an assumption that was accurate but hurt feelings none the less.

    Plus, I imagine Joyce is also upset because she was looking forward to being able to participate in Becky’s new job by giving her her order and Becky basically maneuvered through everything without talking to her once.

    And that might be the thing she’s most hurt by.

    1. Cerberus

      “not talking to her once” minus of course the initial excited greeting.

    2. Bagge

      I think you are right about Joyce. We have seen time and again how her being picky with her food is the standard joke in the family, almost to the point of being a greeting. Rebellion aside, I can see her wanting to prove to them that she is a BIG girl now.

      Also a good rundown of the interaction between Joyce and Becky. This is not a big conflict, nothing like what they have already managed, but both of them went into this conversation with different scripts for how it would unfold, and both were a bit miffed when the other didn’t play along.

      Even so, Joyce came to see Becky, and Becky will give Joyce the pizza she wants.

      1. Cerberus

        And that’s really a large problem of going into conversations with a script you’re expecting to follow. It’s easy to get frustrated with the other person who goes “off script”.

        Better to just accept conversations as they are.

      2. Emperor Norton II

        As someone who’s a picky eater* and have been all my life, I’d say that regardless of anything else, it’s just fucking tiring to be reminded about it. It’s not, and it will never be a good thing to be a picky eater, and I don’t like it, but I’m stuck with it. So the best I hope for is for people to just shut up about it forever.

        Reminding me about my pickiness is not going to help. Trying to shame me into trying something else is -definitely- not going to help. I have in fact tried many things, it’s just that I did not like them.

        *Partially flavour (I don’t think I’m a real super-taster, but at least with wine, I have never been able to taste much except bitterness… and some sort of soap-like taste somewhere in there**), but a lot in consistency. Trying to chew certain types of things starts up my gag reflex. Yeah, that’s fun to deal with.

        **I find that same soap-like taste in American grape juice too. Why do you use the soap grapes to make juice with, America?!?!

        1. BBCC

          You are my new favourite.

          I don’d mind joking about it, but getting on my case is not going to go well for you.

        2. Emperor Norton II

          Are you just saying this to see if you feel the same way trying it out on a friend as you do about someone you are infatuated with?

          If so, I am fine with actually being your second favourite, and I won’t be expecting you to court me.

      3. chris73

        It is a little thing but I’ve noticed that its the little things that can cause real issues, generally because its perceived as being little so its not brought up or hashed out and the little thing soon grows into a bigger thing…

  59. Exilon1

    …Why would you want the sausage in a bowl to the side, though

    1. HeySo

      ’cause you still wanna eat it- savor it even, on its own?

      I mean, I used to pick apart Nutty Bars ’cause I preferred eating the chocolate wafers and the peanut butter filling separately, even though I liked the little bits of each that remained to each separate section. Sometimes we just like enjoying specific flavors at a time, rather than underemphasizing them by mixing them too heavily with other flavors.

      Besides, they’d just throw away the sausage if you didn’t ask them to keep it for you, and that’d be a major waste of food. o.O;

      Then again, I guess if you’re entitled enough to ask someone to pick apart your food for you instead of doing it yourself… :X

  60. shammers

    It’s so nice seeing Becky working and happy and approaching stability

  61. BBCC

    Panel One: Becky being so excited to see her friends makes me happy. You just know that she and Joyce squeed for hours over her new job. And Becky always seems so surprised and happy when Joyce shows up to support her. D’awwww. Baby goofs. And Joyce is so happy to see her too. Precious!

    Panel Two: Wow, good for Becky! She’s picking up the waitressing game quick. Snaps for her! She’s polite, efficient, and friendly. To be honest, she’s kind of perfect for it. It’s too bad waitresses don’t make a living wage, because that’d be a great job for Becky to live on until she gets her biology degree.

    Sarah looks surprised to see how well Becky’s doing. Unlike Cerb, I didn’t read any ideas Dina would have to be the one holding Becky up the entire time (actually, I kind of read the opposite – that she was trying to make sure Dina wasn’t exploited by Galasso while she was helping Becky), but this is definitely a thing that surprises her. While she seemed to be trying to be supportive the other day, I don’t think she really expected Becky to be good at it. Certainly not to pick it up so fast. And that’s going to continue being a thing for a while – Sarah noticing things aren’t as bad as she thought they would be. The good thing is she’s noticing it now and not just waiting for the other shoe to drop, like a good pessimist. She’s growing and that means something.

    Also obligatory phrasing joke at Jacob.

    Panel Three: Once again, lovely job, Becky! And Joyce….really? You’re bffs. She knows your pizza order and you don’t change things up. As a fellow picky person, I respect that. 😛

    Panel Four: ahahaha, this reads like a discussion I’d have with my family or my boyfriend. I always pick a favourite and just order that. And then someone mentions it and I’m like ‘whhhhaaaaaaaaat no I am not that predictable and picky, what are you talking about?’ And yeah, she’s been getting teased a lot about it recently, and she’s expressed a desire to be less picky so I can see that comment getting to her. And, to be fair, Becky, it’s good service manners to ask ‘The usual?’ before you just go and submit the order, on the admittedly off chance you’re wrong. But, awww, Becky looks so sad. Like a scolded puppy wondering what she did wrong.

    Panel Five: Yeah, sorry, Joyce, you can’t bullshit Becky on this one. It’s too late. She knows you too well. The only way to win this one is samurai swords to the death. Good luck..

    Also, her pout is adorable.

    Panel Six: *snorts* That is the face of someone who lost an argument but does not want to admit it. Sorry Joyce, you know its what you want and more importantly, so does Becky. Though, again, Becky should have asked just to confirm. Joyce came to see you and participate with the whole nine yards giving orders, Becky, don’t spoil her parade. 😛

    1. Bagge

      I can really see Joyce and Becky squee about her new job and it is ADORABLE, and they are just so HAPPY in the first panel here.

      This is not just Joyce being a good friend congratulating Becky on her new job. This is their joint triumph over ToeDad and “danged extent of her allowed aspirations”. THEY WON!!!!

  62. Ann Potter

    Joyce orders things like Sally in When Harry Met Sally.

  63. Just Me

    Why doesn’t Joyce just order a plain pizza with a side of sausages?

    1. nlips

      Because then the cheese pizza wouldn’t be subtly seasoned with sausage grease.

      1. Socks in Sandals

        Jocye is strange enough to want sausage subtly seasoned with cheese pizza grease.

  64. nlips

    As a cook and culinary student, I don’t understand being a picky eater. I’ll eat anything once, and most things more than that.

    On the other hand, it’s also my job to make your order the way you want it. Not really my business if you always want exactly the same thing. In fact, it’s kind of a compliment — you like my dish so much you want to eat it forever!

    1. HeySo

      That, or if something I know I like tastes this iffy, I’m too scared to see how you’d prepare anything else..

      :3

      But no, you’re pretty on point, I think- I rarely order the same thing, and when I do, it’s always ’cause I really appreciate the way the place makes the specific dish. So it probably should be considered a compliment. 🙂

  65. HeySo

    SIGH.
    Now I want pizza.

    #DamnYouWillis

  66. StClair

    I don’t think I’m a picky eater, but I’m apparently a little unusual in that I don’t mind at all being considered predictable, even “boring”; I acknowledge, often cheerfully, that I am very much a creature of habit (hobbit?), set in my ways. If I go to a place for food often, I almost certainly have a regular order (or a small number of them), and 9 times out of 10 it will be either Order #1 or Order #2. The tenth time, it’s usually either “both” or “plus a drink, because I’m eating here/ran out of soda and can’t be bothered to go buy more at the moment.” I only change things up when I specifically want to try something else that’s on the menu, and possibly add it to the rotation.

    1. JBento

      People who use “creature of habit” as a flaw are just jealous that their habits don’t make them happy. My habits make me happy, which is exactly WHY I made them a habit.

  67. StClair

    (and “both” is either “I missed a meal and am extra hungry” or “I’m taking it with and having it for my next.”)

    The places I go to, and the foods I make for myself at home, are also on a limited rotation. I’m not a candidate for Soylent, because I like my food to have some taste and texture, but I could probably live indefinitely off a freezer holding an endless supply of a dozen (or even half-dozen) kinds of frozen dinners.

  68. chris73

    I always feel bad for picky eaters or people that don’t like to try new things, one of the cheapest ways to get a little bit of pleasure is trying new types of food

    Even if its just at a food court and you decide to try something slightly different its all good

    1. John

      It’s also a quick and easy way to turn a known pleasant experience into a spin on the roulette wheel of unpleasantness.

      And, seriously, there’s a reason that “comfort foods” aren’t “some random thing you’ve never tried before and have no idea if you’ll like”.

  69. brionl

    Coke with green peppers? Sounds like an acquired taste.

  70. newllend(henryvolt)

    Maybe she wanted a large sprite ever consider that ?

  71. Black Mammoth

    Jeez, Joyce is so fucking neurotic. I bet she has some real mental health issues even BEFORE the attempted rape, but her folks probably thought they could just pray away her issues…

  72. Kelli

    Would she know the difference if she were served a cheese pizza and a bowl of sausage bits?

  73. Joe Covenant

    I never thought I’d make my first post here getting all bent out of shape about UK shops being maligned!
    Raisin Toast

    Lemon Squash

    End Of Public Service Announcement.
    (heh)

  74. Akahane

    Joyce’s adorable grumpy face *squishes it*

Leave a Reply to CoMa Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.