277

Entry-level
Posted on April 21, 2019 by David M Willis

277 thoughts on “Entry-level”

  1. Doctor_Who

    The nosebleed is clearly Dorothy manifesting her telekinetic powers, like Eleven in Stranger Things. She’s going to psychically summon an extra hand so she can facepalm x3.

    1. Darkoneko

      Her brain went KABOOOOM

    2. Batz

      Oh God, that would be an awesome left turn for this entire reality!
      I knew as soon as I read panel 2 which direction this strip was gonna take, but putting your idea into it just made this already awesome strip 10 times better!

      (Suddenly Dorothy gets this insatiable craving for Eggo Waffles!)

    3. Thursday Violist

      I thought nosebleeds meant ‘turned on’.

      It makes sense.

      1. LeslieBean4shizzle

        And thus begins the Dorothy/Becky ship we didn’t know we wanted?

        1. Bagge

          Joyce will be SO CONFLICTED.

        2. Someone's Ed

          Wasn’t there somebody asserting that Becky should get all the single ladies? Dorothy’s single, right? I’m not sure how this isn’t something we didn’t know we wanted. Or maybe I’m just confused. I know, at a minimum, that I’m confused. But then, I’m always confused.

      2. Deanatay

        Only in Japan. In the West, it’s often an indicator of a spike in blood pressure.

        So, maybe the same thing? I’m not a doctor.

        1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Well my childhood nosebloods were an indication of raised body temperature, literally. Like, every day during the summer I would just get them with no warning at all.

          That always freaked my teachers the fuck out. xD

    4. LookingIn

      I thought it was because she was manipulating the Justice League and was now in control of Superman?

      1. Jeff K!,

        Lord, I think you got the max you could out of that joke.

  2. Ana Chronistic

    it’s not what you know, it’s who you know

    and Becky knows an incompetent politician

    1. John Smith

      But seriously, it’s true. There’s a million competent people for every job, you need to be the one they see when they decide they need to hire one of them.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Dorothy: You could hire me!

        Becky: I would but I don’t like you.

        Dorothy: Wait, what?

        Becky: Hey Joyce, want to be my assistant campaign manager?

        Joyce: Is she Republican?

        Becky: You betcha!

    2. DailyBrad

      True, though, to give credit to Becky, she only got hired because Becky’s doing a good job resonating with people with what began as her trolling Robin. Even if she didn’t follow a traditional path, it’s still her displaying competence at it.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Dorothy had a bit of a wakeup call in that she couldn’t even win R.A.

        1. BBCC

          RA wasn’t a vote. And once Grampus started meddling, nobody was getting that job but Ruth.

        2. C.T Phipps

          It’s more Dorothy tried to treat it as such and found out no one wanted her as RA. It wasn’t about her hard work or qualifications. It was about popularity. That was devastating to her.

        3. BBCC

          Yep – competence vs charisma has charisma win way more often than you might want it to (though I’d argue Roz wasn’t nearly as incompetent as people posited).

        4. Abbefaria

          Hardly incompetent by a long shot, even if she was heavy handed your still talking about reigning in and keeping a bunch of older kids of varying backgrounds in line, some of which inevitably come from backgrounds were rules and discipline were a lot looser. Most of those end up hating the person delivering the sudden reality check.

        5. BBCC

          I would argue that Dorothy generally acts with more foresight, patience, maturity and is less likely to cause the admins problems herself and so would probably be my first choice were I Cloe.

          That said, Roz is also more approachable has more understanding of at least some local resources (like the local Planned Parenthood she volunteers at) and is less likely, imo, to make a mountain out of a molehill. She’d also certainly crack down on bigots on the floor like the angry hand of God. I think she could be a reasonably good RA given the chance.

        6. taekwondogirl

          I also think Dorothy’s pretty close to burning herself out and wouldn’t be able to actually handle being an RA on top of everything else.

        7. BBCC

          Well, yeah, but for argument’s sake, I’m assuming Dorothy and Roz are both running at full capacity.

        8. Bagge

          Heh, Grampus

        9. BBCC

          I enjoy coming up with cathartic nicknames for him!

        10. Reltzik

          Huh. We both came up with the same nickname.

        11. BBCC

          I thought I’d seen it before! 😀

    3. BenRG

      An incompetent politician who desperately needs someone to make her popular with the voting public or at least a significant-enough subset of them to get re-elected. Dorothy is a brilliant analyst and academic but something tells me that she’s always need someone like Becky to translate policy ideas into the bite-sized memes that seems to be all the modern Anglophone electorate can digest.

      1. Piotr W

        So, basically… Dorothy’s going to be a president and Becky her PR woman? Or is Becky going to be the president and Dorothy her chief advisor?

        1. ProfessorDetective

          President Keener and Press Secretary MacIntyre for 2020!

        2. Deanatay

          Hey, inner circle is inner circle. If West Wing taught me anything, it’s that it’s an easy jump between press secretary and chief of staff.

        3. BenRG

          I’m guessing that Dorothy will end up an adviser and Becky the Chief of Staff because she’s the dirty street fighter; ideal for keeping Congress in line. It’s unlikely that Dorothy would ever even be a semi-known name!

          Robin will be President, of course. That won’t matter because she won’t ever have a policy that wasn’t drip-fed to her by Becky.

        4. Ana Chronistic

          Ooo, ooo, Joyce for First Lady

          Am I doing this right

  3. Darkoneko

    Uh oooooh

    1. Tacos

      I’ll be honest, when I first saw the last panel I thought, “Ah shit, is Dorothy taking drugs because she wants to stay awake to be productive and now she has a nosebleed because of it?”

  4. Yumi

    I like that Becky went to Dorothy about this! Even though it broke Dorothy a little.

    1. Poofdepoof

      Same!

    2. ShinyNeen

      Friends! Friends that sometimes inadvertently break each other, but still! Friends!

    3. Bagge

      Becky’s ability to reach out to people who are in a position to help her really is a super power.

      1. Deanatay

        It’s what makes her a good manager.

    4. Kinoko

      Same! She understands that Dorothy cares about politics and is the most qualified in her circle to help, and that’s really cool. 🙂

      Also, I mean. If Dorothy helps her now and Becky gets a career out of this, she’s gonna remember who helped her.

      1. Chris Phoenix

        Yeah! Becky/Dorothy, that’s the ticket!

        The Veep is allowed to be uncharismatic.

        And, at a week per year, they’ll be old enough in about 2950, at which point the U.S. might be ready for a female president and Veep.

      2. Kabo

        Couldn’t she just hire Dorothy? “Campaign manager” sounds like somebody that gets to hire people. Problem solved.

  5. Some1

    Dorothy finds this whole situation super hot.

    1. Some1

      For context nosebleeds in anime and manga are often used as a stand in for showing sexual attraction. I’m sure most people here knew that but I wanted to clarify.

      1. Yumi

        I used to get nosebleeds all the time, and one time when someone asked what happened, I joked, “Oh, I just saw a really hot chick.” I did this assuming they were familiar with the anime/manga portrayal of nosebleeds. They were not. It was awkward.

        1. ian livs

          Oh gosh, my spouse used to get nosebleeds all the time when he was younger (they’re less frequent now) and the first time he made that joke to me was the first time I was introduced to the trope. I was so confused. Of course, now I just blame any and all nosebleeds on myself~

        2. Some1

          We’ve now opened the possibility that you and Yumi are married without realizing it.

        3. Yumi

          This is true. ian livs, did your spouse get his nose cauterized or did they just let up over time? This is the only way to determine whether we’re wed.

        4. Delicious Taffy

          Wait, you can get it cauterised?

        5. sdrainbow

          You can, but it doesn’t always help. I did when I was….twelve?….and the nosebleeds didn’t really clear up until I was nearly 30.

        6. Yumi

          Yup. I don’t know if things have improved since sdrainbow got theirs done or if it was just situational or what, but for me it was one little procedure and my face hasn’t gushed blood in years.

        7. Woden

          I think the effectiveness varies a lot from person to person. For me, it only stopped the nosebleeds for a few months. And this was only about 5 years ago, so I don’t think there have been any significant improvements.

        8. Roborat

          I was plagued with childhood nosebleeds, to the point I would get wobbly and loose consciousness at times from blood loss. I have had many attempts at cauterization, they only work for a little while. Decades later, I still have frequent nosebleeds.

        9. ian livs

          Oops, just saw this belatedly, my potential spouse! (Haha, no, he didn’t get his cauterized. It just mostly stopped on its own for some reason?)

      2. C.T Phipps

        I remember a parody where an attractive girl flashes a guy her leg and he has a huge nosebleed.

        She then is next to him in the next panel, trying to revive him as he had a brain aneurysm.

        1. ProfessorDetective

          This? https://tinyurl.com/ngpco6g

        2. C.T Phipps

          Indeed!

      3. Meagan

        I hella did not know that.

        1. Some1

          Either your being ironic or your gravatar makes that statement wonderfully ironic.

        2. Some1

          I mean sarcastic for the first time I said ironic.

        3. emusam

          Sarcasm is irony with bite.

        4. Deanatay

          I think I just had a sargasm.

    2. drs

      That would be the manga/anime meaning of nosebleeds…

  6. Nono

    Dorothy’s 18, yeah? Man, those ‘where do you see yourself in five years’ plans suddenly sound so exhausting since this is ‘in five years, I’ll have taken the first step!’.

    1. C.T Phipps

      I think Dorothy has been raised by some very idealistic white upper class parents into believing a lot more about the system than is probably healthy for someone in the system.

      For example, she’s missed that lots of idiots are volunteers at the campaigns right on campus.

      1. Poofdepoof

        Whoa, good point! College is a great place to actually get politically involved, but despite Dorothy’s stated ambitions this entire time, she hasn’t done much political activism or even, I dunno, volunteered to help register people to vote? Help out with class council? Roz seems like more of a politician than Dorothy (which I guess makes sense)… I guess Dorothy is still trying to “fix” which University she has on her resume first, and then work more directly on her passions*?

        *Why, exactly, does she want to be president anyway?

        1. C.T Phipps

          I think Dorothy assumes she’d do a good job but it seems to be the “it is the highest thing I can aspire to, so I want it for that.” Which isn’t bad but is something many women get condemned for.

          Women aren’t supposed to be ambitious for the sake fo ambitious, dontcha know. *yes sarcasm to be clear*

        2. Yumi

          She was doing some campaigning or vote registering or something that was also extra credit for a class. She could definitely be getting more involved in political groups on campus.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Well, that would be just one year out of college.

  7. BBCC

    Someone call 911, I’m afraid she’s going to haemorrhage.

  8. ShinyNeen

    AHH!! N-no, Dorothy, it’s okay, it’s okay! Maybe Becky can get you a position, too?

    1. Doctor_Who

      Becky: Dorothy, you can have my campaign manager job, I’m quitting.

      Dorothy: Aww thank you, Beck- wait, why are you quitting?

      Becky: I met the president at some stupid fundraiser and told him that under these lights his combover looked sorta convincing, and he made me his new vice president! Hold up, getting a text – huh, apparently he just keeled over in the middle of his fourth Big Mac, wonder what that means for me.

      1. C.T Phipps

        I feel bad but I think Dorothy would be kind of shit at campaign management. Does she have any ideas that would actually appeal to voters? I feel like her answer is, “Clearly articulate the issues. Here’s a 40 page summary on our website.”

      2. Bagge

        Yup, the way Dorothy’s day is going that seems very likely.

        I just expect Chloe to swing by and make Becky RA any minute now.

      3. Lily

        Commenting because this is hilarious

      4. emusam

        President MacIntyre is so much better than we deserve I could cry.

    2. DailyBrad

      I dunno, she could, potentially, but would Dorothy *want* working for a disgraced Republican on her resume? It’d be a potential problem down the line.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Not if Robin wins.

        1. BBCC

          Nah. I don’t think Dorothy would want Robin’s campaign on her resume anyways. Robin’s been kinda fucking awful.

        2. C.T Phipps

          Really? You don’t support the campaign in favor of a Green(er) New Deal, Universal Basic Income, and free robot dinosaurs? Because DeSanto is. It’s on her tweets.

        3. BBCC

          I said she’s BEEN awful. Her suddenly flopping on issues after she’s lost her party endorsement looks like a desperate power grab. Plus, even if Dorothy thought it was legit, Becky being her campaign manager suddenly throws that all in doubt (as in, how much of this was Robin vs how much Becky?). Dorothy would be better off campaigning for Manley.

        4. nooB

          DeSanto-Manley-Act: 87% written by Dorothy???

        5. BBCC

          That requires them both to be elected, doesn’t it?

        6. MaximumZero

          Manley? Like SCOTT Manley?

          25000% funding into Space Exploration? Fly safe, little Kerbals.

        7. BBCC

          No, as in Jake Manley, Robin’s opponent.

        8. Bagge

          I mean, it IS a desperate power grab, so that’s truth in packaging right there.

        9. BBCC

          Well, now it is. Before now it’s been Becky screwing around and Robin looking wildly inconsistent, between voting with her twitter and still considering AOC’s views evil mirrors of her own.

        10. Needfuldoer

          Robin could frame herself as the DoA analogue of Weathervane Mitt, but would that be enough to carry her to victory?

        11. BBCC

          God I hope not. I trust her as far as I could throw her. Which I can’t because she’s fictional.

        12. thejeff

          I’ve been saying all along I don’t see any path to victory for her. But then I don’t even see why she’s apparently getting so much positive social media.

          I mean, I like her (Becky’s) new policies, but those who like them won’t trust her and her old base will despise her. Even if she’s getting support from the left, she’d be getting attacked by the alt-right: A female (Latina!) Republican suspected of being gay, coming out for social justice and redistribution? That’s red meat right there. Anything Becky posts should turn into a cesspool.

        13. BBCC

          Plus, we don’t know anything about Manley. For all we know, he’s been campaigning on the same policies for longer and more consistently – which would make Robin look like a total copy cat.

          I can see it becoming more positive among younger people, but the rest of her base? Definitely thinks she’s going to hell now.

        14. BBCC

          Though, that said, when the fiasco with Leslie made Robin so utterly unpopular with her base, any increase in popularity must look like a skyrocket.

        15. thejeff

          Even aside from her policy views, which might be survivable if you came on board as she switched, I think Robin would be way too toxic as a boss for anyone wanting an actual political career. I mean, you’re probably going to have to coordinate with Aide, who is a stolen lamp last time I checked.
          This isn’t a promising start to a career.

        16. BBCC

          Also, she’s an immature hack who can’t focus or act like an adult for longer than 2 sentences. I think if Dorothy signs on, she’s never going to actually be President because she’ll be in jail because she will strangle Robin within the week.

        17. thejeff

          Yeah, pretty much that.
          Even if that approach works for Robin, it tends be rough on staff.

        18. BBCC

          Especially because Robin doesn’t actually believe the things she’s campaigning for which makes it a lot easier for her to ditch them when they become inconvenient. Sure, Becky made her promise she wouldn’t, but A) Becky has no way to enforce that promise and B) That won’t help if/when Robin gets a chance to rebuild her deplorable base.

        19. Sunny

          You could probably persuade Robin to do just about anything you want by telling her Aide Lamp agrees with you.

        20. LookingIn

          Exactly. In political circles, you are only as good as your most recent candidate and if Robin wins it actually helps her resume rather than harms it- nobody wants to hire someone who worked for a loser, unless they come from a powerful political family which Dorothy may not…

      2. Hazel, Crazy Goat Lady

        Have you ever herd the term “failing upwards”? A huge amount of the political class just straight up will jump from one failing campaign to the next and get hired over and over and over.

        1. LookingIn

          That’s only for the lower tier workers, the higher tier people have to go from winner to winner as losers cost them both politically and financially. The phrase “you are only as good as your most recent candidate” is used…

        2. BBCC

          Even if Robin wins, it probably wouldn’t be worth it. Robin’s an unfocused, unreliable, immature tool who gets her policy from twitter and obfuscates away from problems. People don’t want to hire folks who worked for people like that. A lot of former Trump staffers from his campaign and administration have talked about how difficult it is for them to find other work.

  9. Stephen Bierce

    It’s never WHAT but WHO it is you know
    So easy to get stuck in all that DeSanto snow..oh no
    Take a good look around and you’ll find
    People tryna mess with your mind

  10. Zach

    If Dorothy is finally having a reality check, thank Willis.
    Her naivety is painful.

    1. C.T Phipps

      She kind of has all the Lisa Simpson qualities but no Bart to dial her back.

      1. DrunkenNordmann

        Holy shit, you’re right. :O

      2. LookingIn

        well, it is Willis. The characters are devolving into stereotypical characters in his attempt to keep them away from what they were in SP! and IW!

      3. Amazi-Stool

        Lisa Simpson?

  11. newllend(henryvolt)

    Eat your heart out woman.

  12. woobie

    I love Sierra.

    1. DailyBrad

      She’s awesome. Like, I’m sure she’s got some fault or another, everyone does, but I’ll be damned if I’d know what it is.

      1. Cass

        Her one fault is that she always leaves dirty footprints on everyone’s clean floors.

        Pray she never visits you if you have white carpeting.

        1. thejeff

          As opposed to the dirty shoeprints everyone else leaves?

    2. Bagge

      I want to have a comic of Sierra and Agatha hanging out and being nice to each other and just having nice things happening.

      (Maybe with a frantic Dorothy running around in the background for perspective)

      1. Deanatay

        Just gonna leave this here…

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKOsx4H2HKY

  13. Schpoonman

    Oh, Dorothy.

    On an unrelated note, I read “Dorothy” enough times in my head that it’s no longer a real name, just meaningless syllables.

    1. ShinyNeen

      Oh jeez same though, that happens to me all the time >.>

    2. 3oranges

      I feel like most names are meaningless syllables to me. In theory I know Dorothy is Greek for god-gift, but when I read this comic it almost never comes to mind.

      1. Opus the Poet

        That explains her adventures in Oz…

        Also what’s going down in Namesake.

  14. C.T Phipps

    I wonder if Dorothy was told by her parents that hard work=success in life (by your bootstraps!). The thing is, in politics, it’s literally about your ability to appeal to people and networking. These are skills that Dotty is completely neglecting and really needs to work on.

    She’s doing a very good plan if she wants to be a Supreme Court Justice–not so much a politician.

    1. Yumi

      I feel like my standards of what gets one to a position of being a Supreme Court Justice have changed radically as of late, so, like…is she?

      She still needs to work on networking to get there for sure.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Well, theoretically, you have to be a talented lawyer first. However, yes, cronyism seems to be the big Judge requirement now as well. Which could help Dorothy there too!

        Dorothy: I don’t want to be put in by a politician I don’t respect.

        President DeSanto: Okay, Walky, you’re on the Supreme Court.

        Dorothy: WAIT WHAT?

        Becky: *Ghostbusters voice* This is why when someone asks you if you want to be a SCJ, you say yes!

        1. Yumi

          I mean. You don’t have to be anything first. I think it’s gonna be most likely that you reach the level of being a judge before, though, and to get there from lawyer also requires being able to appeal to people and network.

        2. dg

          I think the most typical route is lawyer–>maybe something in politics—>judge(probably federal), or better a federal appellate judge—>SCOTUS seat, although apparently Kagan was Solicitor General. And of course any position at that level of influence is probably going to require politicking and networking, and some charisma, but perhaps not the same level as say running for President.

      2. thejeff

        Apparently these days you have to really like beer.

        (too soon?)

        1. Needfuldoer

          And go to YALE, which she’s counting on.

      3. Dalben

        There are significant requirements unrelated to legal ability, basically be generally aligned with the party in power (she’d have to wait for a Democrat, but this would be decades from now anyway) and avoid doing anything controversial or even noteworthy for decades at a time.

        However, graduating from Harvard or Yale law school seems to be a minimum requirement, so succeeding academically would be a step on the way to that.

        However, if that’s what she wants she should modify her plans slightly and give up on the basically impossible task of getting into Yale undergrad and concentrate on getting into Yale Law school. Yale takes almost no transfers and they need to present a a compelling reason to take them, not just did pretty well but struggled a bit ad a Freshman at a good but much lower ranked school. Yale law school is also really hard to get into, but you have much more time to build up your resume and study the LSATs.

        Yale law school would also be a good place for a budding politician to make connections and get hired into a political job upon graduation.

        If the plan is just graduating top of the class in Indiana and getting into politics then she’s making significant mistake because no one will care about her grades for being hired for a political job. She’d be better off getting involved I’m politics and making connections now. Luckily there’s no time limit on getting involved in politics and doing well in school is a good general idea if you dont have any specific plans.

        I think her biggest problem is that she isn’t really interested I’m being involved in politics in the first place, she shows no interest in any campaigns except when it’s shoved in her face. The only career related thing she actually shows interest in is journalism. She should either concentrate on that OR decide that as much as she likes it, it’s more of a hobby than the kind of career she wants and start figuring out what she actually wants to do. Because – so far – politician is not something she really wants to do or has a realistic plan for doing.

        It’s more in the realm of wouldn’t it be cool if I did this. Sort of like if someone said
        ‘I want to be an astronaut becuse it’s awesome, so I’m going to study really hard and become one.’
        Ok, that’s really hard, few people make it, but it’s possible. What are you going to do? Are you going to study in a field related to being an astronaut? Join the Air Force? Get an internship at NASA? Try to make connections with people involved in the space industry? Read about and discuss the latest advances in Space Travel online?
        ‘No, I’m going to study really hard and if I get good enough grades I’ll become an astronaut.’
        Okay, astronaut may not really be the job for you. You should look at other careers better suited to your talents and interests, or at least get some help figuring out a more realistic plan for becoming an astronaut.

        1. thejeff

          That’s kind of my take. She’s just not thinking about it reasonably. Not in the sense of what the chances are, but in terms of the path she thinks will get her that.

          That said, just for reference: Obama went to Harvard Law, Bill Clinton to Yale Law, as did Ford. That’s basically it in recent history. GW Bush had a Harvard Business school degree. Nixon had a law degree from Duke. Other presidents since then haven’t had advanced degrees.
          There’s no minimum requirement, even in practice.

        2. Dalben

          I meant it as a minimum requirement for becoming Supreme Court justice in response to CT Phipps, but looking back that wasn’t clear.

          Of course it’s not really a minimum requirement for becoming a Supreme Court justice, but it’s close. Certainly if you’re aiming for that position that’s where you want to go.

    2. newllend(henryvolt)

      You see when you subscribe to that mine said you end up missing one key Factor and that is you haft to work smarter as well. Dorothy’s work ethic would make her great as a president but she needs to think about a strategy on how to get there in the first place which involves taking advantage opportunities in learning to work with people while at the same time learning how to get people to work with her and much, much more.

      1. C.T Phipps

        There’s also the fact that the President can surround himself/herself with advisors on policy but they can’t have someone get elected in their place.

    3. Nono

      Oh no.

      Dorothy is literally Dana-era Sarah. Just, well, less cranky.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        That will come in time…

  15. Kravis

    Then Becky starts feeling a headache before her head suddenly and inexplicably EXPLODES into a million little pieces.

  16. Delicious Taffy

    “…Hey, Sierra, wait up!”

    1. Pacce

      That would be a great reaction and be a nice move for Dorothy. She’s so worried about how doing anything can be used against her in a theoretical future. I mean, it WILL, but…

  17. bobvankay

    Oh Dorothy, you don’t need to be competent to work in politics.

    1. C.T Phipps

      I should point out that I was a Ohio Senatorial candidate’s campaign aide. How did I get this job?

      I showed up and volunteered.

    2. Keulen

      The current U.S. president makes that abundantly clear.

      1. 3oranges

        He even presents a case that competence may be a liability.

  18. GoblinScribe

    Becky and Dorothy can become the Dumbiverse Gravelanche Kids.

  19. sun tzu

    Dorothy is entirely focused on studying and working hard to become the sort of person who’s good at the job.
    Sadly, that leaves little time for studying and working to become the sort of person who GETS the job.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Dorothy believes in the American Dream where hard work and diligence will be rewarded.

      *cries into desk*

      1. StClair

        Yyyup.

      2. chris73

        It will, it just not might be in the career she expects is all

        1. Fart Captor

          Or it might not pay off at all because sometimes life is bullshit

        2. chris73

          Agreed but all things being equal it’s better to have an education then not

  20. newllend(henryvolt)

    So is Dorothy interested in being Becky’s rival now?

    1. C.T Phipps

      Will she volunteer at the Desanto’s Rival Campaign!

      1. Zero

        She could influence both campaigns. Conflict of interest Win-win!

        1. Zero

          Oh no I did that wrong.

        2. Opus the Poet

          It works as presented.

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      I want a Becky vs. Dorothy slow motion fight scene with primary color backgrounds and slashing motion.

  21. Kyrik Michalowski

    I think Dorothy just had an aneurysm due to sheer rage and/or having her dreams thrown in her face. Either way she needs some help before she turns into a gibbering wreck or murders Becky.

    1. Ursla Davina

      Or her room could be really really dry.

  22. Tarnish

    For reference, getting on a campaign in entry level staffing or internship positions isn’t as hard as Dorothy makes it out to be, especially during primary season! Most people with a bachelor’s degree in a somewhat related field can manage it!

    1. C.T Phipps

      It’s also something people are more interested in campaign experience or connections on. I got mine just by having worked with a friend of my candidate’s shoddy mayoral campaign.

    2. BBCC

      Dorothy doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree and won’t for another four years. Hence, when she’s 23.

      1. thejeff

        But the point is that experience working on campaigns, even on a volunteer level, is probably as useful as the degree she’s shooting for.

        Is “campaign staff” really a normal route into running for office yourself anyway?

        1. BBCC

          Dorothy has been volunteering recently – it was for class credit but she probably would have ended up doing so sooner or later anyways. Given that it was a campaign with actual staff and volunteers, it was probably for Manley.

          I dunno, but it can’t hurt to have campaigning experience, I guess.

        2. thejeff

          At this level probably – volunteering as a student. Aiming to work up the paid campaign staff ladder, less so.

        3. GoblinScribe

          It’s also worth noting that Dorothy is a poli-sci major, which isn’t necessarily actually the best route for a politician. History can be a lot more helpful overall, as can a legal background. I do kinda lowkey wonder if Dorothy’s “by-the-book” approach is a bit off-base sometimes.

        4. thejeff

          Since there’s no undergrad law degree, poli-sci isn’t a bad entry into law school, as long as you’re taking classes that’ll help with the law parts.

          And she’s only first semester.

        5. BBCC

          I dunno how long she wants to be there though – my guess is she’d move on to congressional staffer and up different staff/advisory positions before she ran for office herself.

    3. Keulen

      You don’t even need a bachelor’s degree. Mike Gravel’s current campaign is run by a high school senior and a college freshman.

      1. BBCC

        Mind you, Mike Gravel is explicitly not trying to win, just get his ideas out there.

    4. wynne

      Yeah most of the campaign staffers I’ve known did it as an entry-level job before law school, a congressional job, or a separate fundraising-type job.

      Going to Yale might help her bypass the slums of campaign staffing and go straight to congressional staffing (source: a cousin who did that), but she could also just *do* the campaign staffing and get a congressional job that way (source: a friend who did THAT). Yale would help a lot with networking, that’s no lie, but a large well-known state school isn’t exactly a SLOUCH in that department either, especially if she started in Indiana politics.

      1. Tarnish

        I’m actually about to apply for a volunteer/intern position in a couple campaigns. Any tips?

  23. Emperor Norton II

    Sooo… am I the only one who loves a well-executed trope of a character being told news so devastating, their face just shuts down in the position it was right before they were told the news?

    1. Bagge

      No, Emperor, it’s not only you.

      It’s a very well executed example of the trope.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        “Too shocked to look shocked” is what We declare this trope to be called.

  24. StClair

    Joyce isn’t the only one finding out the harsh truths behind the lies her parents told her.

  25. brasca1

    To quote TFS Vegeta. It’s just an aneurysm out of sheer stupidity.

    1. Shaith86

      “Wow, did think you were that stupid Vegeta.”

      1. Shaith86

        didn’t*

        *joins those cursing the inability to edit comments*

      2. Schpoonman

        I came so close to referencing this, but it started with a comparison asking to pity the mass-murdering space pirate and my mood at the time didn’t wanna go there.

        Nine minutes eighteen seconds, NINE MINUTES, EIGHTEEN SECONDS

        1. Shaith86

          “What’s that Vegeta?”
          “Happiest. Moment. Of my life.”

  26. AntJ

    The title for the next storyline has been changed from “Chum Malaya” to “Vote for Robin”

    1. JessWitt

      Is the former meant to be a pun on “jambalaya”?

    2. BenRG

      As interesting as learning who Malaya really us behind the unpleasantness (including Marcie finding out if it is a shield from insecurity or if she’s just nasty all the way down), I think that Willis realises that Becky coraling all the main cast into getting Robin re-elected as an independent on a progressive platform is a far more interesting storyline to focus on for the next chapter!

      1. Jhon

        We need at least one cast member who is nasty all the way down. It’s the way human groups work.

  27. Well_Played

    This somewhat reminds me of a homer simpson and frank grimes moment

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Yep looks like we have a case of the “Works Hard, Hardly Works” Trope. In fact I think I would use this entire strip as the thumbnail picture for the TV Tropes page for that one.

    2. Delicious Taffy

      I hope it doesn’t end the same way.

  28. Astro-L

    Everyone in this scene is seeing half the world through Hair-O-Vision.

    1. ShinyNeen

      Speaking as someone who’s legitimately procrastinated a haircut for over a year: you kinda get used to it after a while. *shrugs*

      1. Deanatay

        If there’s a time in your life when you neglect to cut your hair, it’s during your freshman year in college.

  29. chris73

    Getting a bit of whiplash here, just when I start warming up to Becky (which is hard as her default setting seems to be insufferable know all) she pulls a stunt like this

    1. C.T Phipps

      Saving Robin from being pure evil? We liked Robin. It’s just a completely unqualified buffoon running on antics in office isn’t as funny as it used to be.

      1. chris73

        Well I never liked Robin and I like her even less in this but more about how shes treated Dorothy before but now wants advice from her

        It just rubs me up the wrong way is all

    2. Nono

      I don’t think this is Becky rubbing it in, she came to Dorothy for advice.

      She hasn’t seen first hand how manic Dorothy gets about her goals.

      1. chris73

        I agree I don’t think shes rubbing it in. I do think she seems to have no problem going to Dorotyy for help when, in the not very distant past, she treated Dorothy very badly

        I have no problem with people getting help to further their own means but to use someone when you’ve treated them poorly on the past is just…I dont know, not good

        1. Nono

          Dorothy’s also gone to Becky for advice or at least a second opinion (re: Ryan’s photo). Seems like they’ve just reached that point where they can bounce things off each other.

        2. Miri

          I don’t think she treated Dorothy that badly? She just viewed her as a rival for Joyce and let that spill over a bit immaturely and confused Dorothy a few times as a result.

    3. Bagge

      She goes to her friend for advice with something said friend might be able to help with?

      Sounds like something friends do to me.

      Especially considering the alternative. Would it be better to hide it and let Dorothy find out down the line?

      1. chris73

        I thought Becky considered Dorothy her rival or some such nonsense

        1. Bagge

          Í’m pretty sure they have upgraded to frienimy or some nonsense like that.

          But shenanigans aside, I don’t think Becky has forgotten who bought her sushi when she had nothing and who came to check on her in the hospital after the ToeDad incident. And of course, they have bonded over managing Joyce’s neuroses (and lately love life).

          Also worth remembering is Becky checking on Dorothy after her breakup with Walky (specifically, after she found him smooching Amber). She clearly cares for her in some ways.

        2. Bagge

          In a way, I hope this will turn into a stupid parallell to Becky’s onesided feud with Dorothy over Joyce; with Dorothy having some sort of onesided spat of jealousy over Becky’s job. It would be suitably hilarious.

        3. chris73

          If it teaches Dorothy (eventually) that she may have to look at a different career option then that’d be a good thing

        4. thejeff

          I think Dorothy more needs to think about career options at all. “I want to be President” isn’t a career, it’s more of the capstone to a career. I don’t think Dorothy has ever said anything about what she wants do on her way there. Other than Yale, which isn’t nearly as relevant as she seems to think, particularly as an undergrad.

    4. BenRG

      In Becky’s defence, she’s gone to Dorothy because, of all the people she knows, the thinks Dorothy would be best able to advise her on how to make this work. That’s a complement! A complete lack of ability to predict how this might negatively impact Dorothy is just a reminder of all the things Becky and Joyce have in common!

    5. Schpoonman

      I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Becky has never once tried to kick Dorothy when she was down. Their relationship has always felt to me like Becky is playfully ribbing and Dorothy has just been missing the joke. Even if Becky should have clarified at some point, and there’s some moments where Becky’s been a little unnecessarily pointed (“He’s the biggest Dorothy I’ve ever seen,” with the facial expression she’s wearing isn’t a great look), Becky has always respected Dorothy, even if only for the intelligence and capability Dorothy oozes.

      That, and these characters are all complex as actual human beings so I give them leeway for flaws like jealousy and envy for the best friend you recently realized you loved pretty much all four ways.

  30. Opus the Poet

    When you facepalm so hard you give yourself a nosebleed…

  31. abysswatcher1993

    Here’s the thing Dorothy: politicians are social animals. Being a good student will give you a good job in academics, but you wouldnt be able to lead. This is basic sociology.

  32. Bagge

    Hah! I called it.

    Oh, Dotty. things never seem to follow your script, do they?

  33. chris73

    The good news for Dorothy is that all her hard work, determination and education will pay off for her

    The bad news is that it probably won’t be in the way she thinks

    As Mike Rowe puts it following your passion isn’t always your best course of action

  34. ninja_jesus

    Maybe Dorothy should read some John Maxwell.

    1. chris73

      Couldn’t hurt

  35. jmsr7

    Well, i think we all saw this coming. And it.is.satisfying!

    1. Bagge

      Dorothy didn’t 🙂

      1. BenRG

        Dorothy’s disadvantage is that her focus on academics for the past couple of days has left her seriously disconnected from events. When she emerges with poliico!Becky to meet bikerchic!Joyce, reconciled!Walkerton Twins and healing!Amber, she’s going to wonder if she’s slipped sideways into an alternate time-line!

        1. MatsuoTanuki

          https://youtu.be/B_Cpv1AL0Jg 1:36

          “If you ever disappear for a few days, get ready to feel like an alien among your group of friends!”

        2. Bagge

          “WHAT ELSE HAVE I MISSED?”

          Sarah and Mary walks by, happily chatting about how awesome it is that Sarah is a witch.

        3. Schpoonman

          What color would the panel be for THAT reaction?

        4. Deanatay

          First panel: Dorothy looking slightly flummoxed.

          Second panel: Same as the first, only with a crack running through the entire panel, and the two sides slightly offset.

        5. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Dorothy version of the Joyce freakout face?

        6. Bagge

          We already have the Joyce, Dina and Walky versions.

          I look forward to the full set!

  36. BenRG

    Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it Dorothy? Some people achieve things by dedication and hard work over a period of years. Others achieve them by blind luck! That’s just the way things are.

    That said, drunk!Dorothy bawling out her disillusionment on poor Walky or Joyce’s shoulder is a definite possibility, going forwards!

    1. Bagge

      I want that SO BAD!

      (For loving Dorothy as a character as much as I do, I sure wish her a lot of bad things. Sorry, Dotty. Can’t have a good story without hardship.)

      1. Icalasari

        I mean, we’re getting bad stuff for her – She’s been overloading herself and neglecting the MOST important thing, more important than even grades – CONNECTIONS

        It’s just that we’re finally getting to see the cracks turn into collapsing architecture

  37. Koboldnation

    Almost expect the next line out of Dorothy to be “I’ve made a huge mistake” (alt tekst #GOB)

  38. Reltzik

    …..

    ….. so this is a red panel moment, right?

  39. Calibus

    Dorothy should take care of that brain aneurysm first and foremost

  40. mrnoidea

    I think this is where beatings ensue.

  41. MatsuoTanuki

    Dotty… it’s gonna be okay. Deep breaths…

  42. Piotr W

    I was recently watching Julia Dreyfus’ Veep (first season – please don’t spoil me regarding further episodes!) and I had this idea: this is, basically, a show about Robin!

    1. brasca1

      Indeed, and I would say Amy is the person Dorothy is likely to evolve into.

      1. Piotr W

        True, although I kind of thought of Amy as the future version of Becky 😀

        1. C.T Phipps

          No, Becky would never put up with it long enough. 🙂

  43. Furious_Tomato

    Frank Grimes just became Dorothy’s spirit animal.

  44. Shane Wegner

    “An’ it’s all thanks to me committing unauthorized computer network access of a government representative–a felony! Crime really pays, huh?” ::other nostril bleeds::

    1. Khyrin

      Nope.

      She’s crying tears of blood.

  45. Jay

    Now quick. Realize your life is doomed and go back to Walky and be a happy couple again. *fixes sail on sinking ship* *cries*

  46. Tacos

    I wonder if the rest of the strips will just be each remaining cast member getting “Hello Darkness My Old Friend’d”?

    1. Schpoonman

      Willis ends the series completely at random later this year after going through every single character.

      He gazes down at us from his mountain top. “I hurt you like this every time, yet you always came crawling back, expecting mercy. Why did you think the ending would be any different?”

      1. Opus the Poet

        Yet another example of why this comic needs an upvote system in the comments section.

  47. Icalasari

    Oh thank god, Dorothy is about to learn that her grades and such mean *shit* if she doesn’t make connections while in college!

    1. Ethics Gradient

      Indeed.

      Uni is about finding who you are, making connections *and* studying. Not necessarily in that order.

  48. brasca1

    It’s really for the best. Becky literally has nothing to lose being Robin’s campaign manager, but even if Dorothy could stomach working for someone who represents so much of what she opposes if the campaign continues to go down in flames she’ll be associated with it. That’s not good for a political resume.

    1. emusam

      It’s already gone down in flames. If Becky wants it on her resume, there’s no amount of spiraling that will make it look like she did a bad job, only that she had a bad job to deal with.

      1. thejeff

        In politics even being associated with disaster taints you. That would be an anchor Dorothy couldn’t get rid of, no matter how much she argued it wasn’t her fault.
        And realistically, sooner or later, Robin’s going to flame out, but then there’s nothing realistic about Robin. She’s a parody, so who knows.

        Becky doesn’t care of course, cause she’s not going into politics as a career and she’s desperate.

  49. Jake'm

    The ol’ chestnut that everyone insists on sharing – “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know that’s important”

    Like yeah, education is important, but if you don’t network, getting people to go “they’re a good’un” is gonna be difficult. Hopefully Dorothy doesn’t get… too upset at Becky getting ahead with sheer dumb luck.

  50. CianM1301

    I’d imagine the Kill Bill siren’s currently playing in Dorothy’s head as Becky just looks on concerned.

  51. Arianod

    Being Dorothy is suffering…

  52. DaveM

    This is going to go all “Pinky and the Brain” isn’t it?
    Becky’s largely scattershot idealistic tweeting is working to some degree, then Dorothy steps in and shapes this into an immaculately sensible, finely focused and well thought out campaign.

    Cue Robin’s campaign crashing and burning.

    Dorothy: “Go away Becky I need to begin planning for tomorrow night.”
    Becky: “Why? Wot’cha gunna do tomorrow night?”
    Dorothy: “Same thing I do every night. TRY TO GET INTO YALE!”

    1. sunflowerofice

      ok so we got pinky and the brain, but who will be larry?

      1. C.T Phipps

        Larry.

        He’s a new character Willis was forced to include.

        1. sunflowerofice

          it messes with my groove on the theme song though.

        2. DaveM

          As long as we don’t get an “Elmyra” character being forced into the plot for no good reason, I’ll be happy. 🙂

  53. Lone Duck

    With any luck, Dorothy will realize that networking (both politically and with donors) is far more important than academic achievements, if you’re looking at getting into politics. That and memes, most of all. Memes forever and ever, Amen.

    1. Eldritch Gentleman

      Very much so, being friends with people and being visible to them is often more important than just the sheer competence. But sadly it frequently leads to nepotism…

      1. Zaxares

        Yeeeep. This was probably the most important lesson that I learned in my first 5 years of being in the workforce. Unless you’re in an extremely technical or exacting field that requires niche training (like medicine, law or IT), your academic qualifications matter a LOT less to getting yourself hired than simply knowing the right people and getting those people to like you. A lot of positions in my company were filled by staff members who went “I know a guy/girl…” and gave them a good recommendation. Hiring somebody new off the street is extremely time consuming so a lot of the time, if a company has a candidate that somebody (in good standing) at the workplace is willing to vouch for, that catapults them right past a lot of the other entrants.

  54. SlothfulCobra

    Let’s be honest, political campaign staff isn’t exactly one of the more academically demanding professions.

    Really lowballing your life goals there Dorts.

    1. regina phalange

      I assume her plan is to take some gap years between undergrad and law school, and work on the campaign in the meantime–law school applicants get an edge if they’ve been out of undergrad for a year or two, even more so if it’s between three and five years.

      Still, you’re right–I’m not really sure why she’s set her sights on political campaigns instead of trying for a Rhodes or Fulbright. And let’s be real, someone who wants to be president usually doesn’t get outwardly involved in politics until they start building that career post-law school. She wants to be *president* after all, not a party leader.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Dorothy’s parents really seemed to have sheltered her with a “You can do anything if you work hard enough” attitude.

  55. sunflowerofice

    Luck and dedication are the two most important things for a lot of forms of success. Luck for obvious reasons and dedication gives you more chances to be lucky.

  56. RaulTsi

    why is her eye twitching like that?

  57. Deanatay

    Becky: Dottie? I think you may be stuffin’ too much brains into that head o’ yours, it’s startin’ to leak out…

    Dorothy: Leak…? Oh! Ha, ha! That’s not my brains, silly. That’s just my murder juices flowing.

    Becky: Murder ju- HLK! *is murdered*

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Becky makes the same death noise Leon makes in Resident Evil 4.

  58. figureaddict

    Halfway through panel 2 we all new exactly how the last panel was gonna end!
    This has become one of my top 10 strips of the whole series.

  59. ego

    aaaaaannnnnd amazi-girl finally has her Joker

  60. C.T Phipps

    I think Dorothy’s biggest problem isn’t that she’s faced with a situation that contradicts her worldview, it’s that whenever she gets evidence on it that she just doubles down and decides to work harder.

    1. regina phalange

      True. But there’s worse worldviews to double-down on. (I mean, people with that personality type are how we ended up with Trump.) At least she’s right that getting good grades will get her into a top-tier law school, and studying is the thing she keeps returning to.
      It’s going to hurt her in the long run, though, when all she has are these carefully cultivated personas, like every other Yale applicant, instead of something real or interesting. Hell, that may be the exact reason she’s not at Yale NOW. She’s the kind of person who would write her essay on the soup kitchen instead of her friendship with Joyce, and that’s not how admissions work.

  61. kilgaen

    Oh no

  62. Charlotte

    OK, I may be projecting and way off-base here, and it’s also kind of off-topic, but here goes:
    I identify a lot with Dorothy. I worked very hard during my studies, academic achievement was extremely important to me (still is, actually), I am a strongly driven person, and I did make myself sick with stress at various points during my studies. A difference is that while it impacted my physical well-being a lot, it never impacted my academic performance.
    (I had it a bit easier than Dorothy in that I got accepted to all of the universities I wanted to go to, and, as I said, never actually got disappointing grades.)

    But I like academic pursuits just in themselves and I had a strong passion for my subject of study (physics, later mathematics), which I am not sure is true to the same degree for Dorothy?

    Anyway, I’m not sure Dorothy is a politician or would really be happy in that role. She seems to do it mainly to achieve success in a field no woman has ever had that amount of success in — which I understand in itself. I am also very driven by wanting to be successful in what I do. But maybe Dorothy should try and do it in a field she is actually passionate for in itself?

    I’d be a terrible politician, and, as I said, Dorothy reminds me of myself in many ways — I’m not sure she’ll really be happy in a political career.

    What do you think?

    1. ninja_jesus

      Personally, and forgive me if this sounds a bit naiive, but the main thing about being a politician seems to be one thing that Dorothy has kind of abandoned: connecting with and harboring relationships with people.

  63. Fred

    I think Dorothy’s problem is that she wants to be involved in Government, not in Politics, and she thinks the second is the route to the first. Unfortunately, the two are paired like Lannister Twins in America right now. Dorothy is great Executive Branch material. She just forgot that the head of the Executive Branch is a popularity-based politics position, involved in public relations, overall vision, and being the “face” of the nation.

    1. C.T Phipps

      “Surely Americans will elect who is the most qualified for the job.”

      I’m now seeing Dorothy as the Hillary equivalent of her world, possibly married to former President Walkerton.

  64. TheFlamingonator

    Dorothy is about 5 seconds away from getting a haircut, dyeing her hair, getting some contacts and acting as Becky for councilwoman DeSanto from this day forth

  65. Mattyos

    Dorothy.exe has stopped working

  66. Reed

    …and that’s how dorothy learned that politics, just like life, are not a meritocracy.

  67. Cmd1095

    Poor Dorothy, I think Becky broke her

  68. Mr. Random

    Remember, the real world starts on connections.
    But it’s maintained by skill.

    You can get a hob, pretty much any job if you have connections, but you won’t hold it withiut the skill to do it.
    And vice versa.
    You could be a genius with the skill to do anything, but if you don’t have connecrions to get people to vouch for you, you won’t find it easy to get properly employed.

  69. ninja_jesus

    Honestly, I was hoping this would happen to Dorothy, to snap her out of this self-destructive lone wolf mindset. Sooner or later you need to get out and seek fresh perspective. She holed herself up for way too long.

  70. Tim

    Because a vision softly creeping

  71. Hinoron

    Politics is just one of those horrible, horrible fields, where you could go to school for half a decade trying to master it, and be passed over for the job by a hobo who wandered in off the street right after his free shower at the YMCA and has some interesting ideas to share. “Qualifications” count for far less than “impressions”.

    …Kinda not that far from what just happened now… no shade on Becky.

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