Right, but that’s not an automatic process. I figure maybe Yuri or an associate of his has it now and is handling his usual jobs.
Mark
I recall a story by someone whose friend had died. He spent some considerable time struggling with the question of whether to delete the friend’s entry from his contacts. Finally he decided to do it, but for nostalgia’s sake called one last time, to hear his friend’s voice saying “leave a message” — and someone answered. The friend’s son. They were both weirded out for a moment.
It’s perfectly fine timing to release tension and switch the subject.
Dave the Inverted
This.
Embe13
prefect timing to keep her from spiraling further. he know she needs to process this shit, and he know she may not want to fully process this in front of him, or at least she doesnt want to do so with all her barriers and emotional control lost. i don’t believe he actually asked the question expecting her to actually forward them to him, only to get her to snort with derision and give her a chance to take a breath. he has got her to admit to herself that there is feels she needs to confront and deal with, and doesnt want her to disolve into a useless puddle because he know allowing her to do so may cause her more trauma she doesnt need at this moment. now to see if he is able to continue this level of emotional growth.
Yeah, like I’d love to know what he did here that is so bad when those were intended for him from the start.
Matthew Davis
I think there’s a group of people here that any hint of objectification on Joe’s part — even in a context like this where the object of his desire intended for him to see her in that light — is automatically total backsliding. I blame the loss of context in online discourse, myself.
You know if he asks Joyce, Dorothy is just going to get another copy.
morleuca
and it will start the whole discussion of “if you didn’t get them, who did? and why didn’t they say anything?” and Myabe Dorothy could use a bit of time before having that conversation directly with Joyce
Proxiehunter
It wouldn’t be unlike Joyce to have deleted them already. And sure, she could take more but they wouldn’t be those titty pics that Dorothy still has on her phone.
The fact that Dorothy still has those pics should have been a clue for Dorothy about her feelings.
Embe13
now i am not sure how much of a digital hoarder dottie is, her organizational tendencies lead me to think she probably archives things more than deleting everything, i know i don’t delete old mssgs, to much effort on a device i don’t like owning to beggin with. but i am also of a generation that the fear of the commies getting their hands on our intimate pictures wasso strong i know people who were grounded for 6 months for simply using her real first name as a user name (1999 to be specific on the year), no last name nothing else that could have id’ed her. i entered grade 7 with 56k modems being the fastest way to access the net, and was told there was little to no actaul security online at that time. they really pushed being anonymous online as a necessity of being online.
Mark
If he asks Joyce, where they actually went will come out and Joyce may freak.
If Joyce wants him to have those pictures, Joyce can send them to him. Just saying pictures were meant for you is insufficient proof that they actually were. As a general rule, don’t forward nudes just on the say so of anyone but the sender, even if the one saying so is the boyfriend.
zee
But she said they were meant for him. Joyce told him she sent some spicy pictures and those pictures ended up going to Dorothy. Ergo, meant for him
Regret
Joe can say that, but Dorothy should only believe that if Dorothy heard Joyce say that herself. You need to keep your mental models of all characters seperate and try to keep track of who knows what. Joe knows they were meant for him because Joyce told him. Joyce obviously knows they were meant for Joe. But does Dorothy know that from Joyce or from Joe? The distinction is important.
Jeremiah
God you are insufferable.
zee
Dorothy herself already said “oh these were clearly meant for Joe”.
And if they weren’t well fuck i guess Joes girlfriend is cheating on him, that has to be a conversation
What are you on about? This isn’t some abstract hypothetical set in a white room with no doors or windows, Joyce literally meant to send pictures of her titties and panties to Joe. She even asked if he got them.
Regret
Try to see this from Dorothy’s perspective. Does Dorothy have confirmation that Joyce meant these pictures for Joe from sources other than Joe? You have to remember that Dorothy doesn’t know what we know, she isn’t reading the comic. She can only know for certain that Joyce wants Joe to have these if Joyce confirms it.
(In another dimension of my existence I’m a sysadmin. I can’t afford to assume that I have permission to do things with others’ information; I need to ask them.)
The rules for jobs, especially jobs where you have access to things like that, are very different than the rules between friends.
Alongcameaspider
Why do you think Dorothy thinks so little of Joyce that she’d cheat on Joe?
Because that’s the only reasonable thought process if Dorothy doesn’t make the completely rational assumption that the pictures were meant for Joe
Li
I mean, I think you are technically right in terms of what someone should do IRL. Especially in our modern age where bitter breakups do sometimes lead to maliciously spreading similar photos.
But. It is not a hill I would die on here, when we and Dorothy both know the people involved well enough to know that isn’t a real concern.
I’ll be honest, I actually think I’m giving him points for that too. Hopefully Dorothy’s aware enough to realize that him butting those in is cutting the tension for her on purpose, because wow is she feeling like crap and wallowing in her own feelings.
Having a breather from that into something else is probably good for Dorothy, long as she ruminates on and digests the information on the whole later.
Also I think he’s aware that Dorothy is not comfortable being *this* vulnerable with him specifically. She’s just opened up a lot to someone she’s known and seriously disliked for a long time. Pulling back instead of pressing her, putting a little more distance in so it’s more like the relationship they’re used to, is a kindness. Dorothy is clearly just realizing a whole lot and it’s her choice who she shares this with, to what extent, and when. Joe not trying to be her BFF or her therapist is the right move. He’s giving her an out here and I think that’s really kind of him.
RassilonTDavros
That’s pretty much how I interpreted the last panel as well.
Abdomino
Gotta be careful about breaking people’s expectations for you, it can go poorly. Joe is actually doing something rather emotionally mature by taking an opportunity to deescalate the tension with someone he doesn’t have enough of a rapport with to maintain it healthily. Maybe not entirely purposefully, but he IS a child of divorce.
Let Dorothy shake her head about how Joe “never changes” and then leave her be to think on the ways he has.
pope suburban
Oh wow yeah, I think his parents’ divorce does explain a lot here. He’s always been perceptive about people’s feelings, and he’s always been leery of getting too deep into them – he prefers to keep things lighthearted. That totally makes sense if that’s how he navigated his parents’ split when he was younger. We’ve seen his dad do similar things too, though he appears to be taking things very seriously when it comes to being Stacy’s husband and being a father to Joe and Amber. So, you know, maybe it’s the character arc of the Rosenthal men and we’re going to keep seeing Joe do the right thing by the people around him.
Oh! Didn’t see this! But yeah, I thought so too omg, and Abdomino’s addition on him being a child of divorce is pretty on point considering the method.
To think that she had only freed herself from a certain weight on her shoulders and it seems that there is still a lot to release, but yes, of course she needs help, but the question here is
Will she admit it?
325 thoughts on “Gloat”
Ana Chronistic
then Dotty accidentally forwards Jennifer’s titty pic
[Joe doesn’t exactly COMPLAIN]
clif
Oh come on. You know she’s going to accidentally send Joyce’s pics to Becky.
Hoboturtle
That would be the funniest next event.
Taffy
Even worse, she manages to send them to Blaine’s phone.
Nono
Isn’t Blaine dead?
Taffy
Did I wake up in an alternate dimension where your phone stops existing after you die?
cain
It usually gets disconnected from the network. Nobody would receive the message.
Taffy
Right, but that’s not an automatic process. I figure maybe Yuri or an associate of his has it now and is handling his usual jobs.
Mark
I recall a story by someone whose friend had died. He spent some considerable time struggling with the question of whether to delete the friend’s entry from his contacts. Finally he decided to do it, but for nostalgia’s sake called one last time, to hear his friend’s voice saying “leave a message” — and someone answered. The friend’s son. They were both weirded out for a moment.
Liara
Aannd there’s the Joe I know and loath again
Raven
I don’t see what the problem is? Joyce wanted him to have the tit pics. Joe has a right to see them and be excited about them
butts
it is kind of shitty timing on his part, though
Thag Simmons
Yeah, and he’s done well enough in this conversation that we can easily excuse that sort of thing.
Betsumei
Shitty timing from a watsonian standpoint, probably. From a doylist standpoint, it’s perfect timing, as we need a punchline every now and then.
StClair
(reposting this further up)
I would rather have no punchline, or a cutaway to someone else doing a funny thing, than what we got today.
Proto
Yeah there’s more than a few strips like that in this comic
eh, whatever
You misspelled “damn you, Willis”.
Opus the Poet
+1
Mark
Yeah, I was hoping this conversation would continue, but apparently no.
morleuca
who said its over?
Taffy
Comedic timing. Tomorrow, Joe’s gonna leave and the second he’s out the door, Dorothy’s gonna be looking at pictures of Tifa.
HueSatLight
reminds me of https://www.dumbingofage.com/crowded/
but that ended up catalyzing the drama.
Liliet
It’s perfectly fine timing to release tension and switch the subject.
Dave the Inverted
This.
Embe13
prefect timing to keep her from spiraling further. he know she needs to process this shit, and he know she may not want to fully process this in front of him, or at least she doesnt want to do so with all her barriers and emotional control lost. i don’t believe he actually asked the question expecting her to actually forward them to him, only to get her to snort with derision and give her a chance to take a breath. he has got her to admit to herself that there is feels she needs to confront and deal with, and doesnt want her to disolve into a useless puddle because he know allowing her to do so may cause her more trauma she doesnt need at this moment. now to see if he is able to continue this level of emotional growth.
DJTsurugi
exactly, y’all need some chill. ~<3
DailyBrad
Yeah, like I’d love to know what he did here that is so bad when those were intended for him from the start.
Matthew Davis
I think there’s a group of people here that any hint of objectification on Joe’s part — even in a context like this where the object of his desire intended for him to see her in that light — is automatically total backsliding. I blame the loss of context in online discourse, myself.
AntJ
correct, but asking for Dorothy to forward them instead of Joyce *does* come off as gloating
John Campbell
You know if he asks Joyce, Dorothy is just going to get another copy.
morleuca
and it will start the whole discussion of “if you didn’t get them, who did? and why didn’t they say anything?” and Myabe Dorothy could use a bit of time before having that conversation directly with Joyce
Proxiehunter
It wouldn’t be unlike Joyce to have deleted them already. And sure, she could take more but they wouldn’t be those titty pics that Dorothy still has on her phone.
The fact that Dorothy still has those pics should have been a clue for Dorothy about her feelings.
Embe13
now i am not sure how much of a digital hoarder dottie is, her organizational tendencies lead me to think she probably archives things more than deleting everything, i know i don’t delete old mssgs, to much effort on a device i don’t like owning to beggin with. but i am also of a generation that the fear of the commies getting their hands on our intimate pictures wasso strong i know people who were grounded for 6 months for simply using her real first name as a user name (1999 to be specific on the year), no last name nothing else that could have id’ed her. i entered grade 7 with 56k modems being the fastest way to access the net, and was told there was little to no actaul security online at that time. they really pushed being anonymous online as a necessity of being online.
Mark
If he asks Joyce, where they actually went will come out and Joyce may freak.
Regret
If Joyce wants him to have those pictures, Joyce can send them to him. Just saying pictures were meant for you is insufficient proof that they actually were. As a general rule, don’t forward nudes just on the say so of anyone but the sender, even if the one saying so is the boyfriend.
zee
But she said they were meant for him. Joyce told him she sent some spicy pictures and those pictures ended up going to Dorothy. Ergo, meant for him
Regret
Joe can say that, but Dorothy should only believe that if Dorothy heard Joyce say that herself. You need to keep your mental models of all characters seperate and try to keep track of who knows what. Joe knows they were meant for him because Joyce told him. Joyce obviously knows they were meant for Joe. But does Dorothy know that from Joyce or from Joe? The distinction is important.
Jeremiah
God you are insufferable.
zee
Dorothy herself already said “oh these were clearly meant for Joe”.
And if they weren’t well fuck i guess Joes girlfriend is cheating on him, that has to be a conversation
Taffy
What are you on about? This isn’t some abstract hypothetical set in a white room with no doors or windows, Joyce literally meant to send pictures of her titties and panties to Joe. She even asked if he got them.
Regret
Try to see this from Dorothy’s perspective. Does Dorothy have confirmation that Joyce meant these pictures for Joe from sources other than Joe? You have to remember that Dorothy doesn’t know what we know, she isn’t reading the comic. She can only know for certain that Joyce wants Joe to have these if Joyce confirms it.
Taffy
No worries, that’s covered in this one. She already assumed the pics were for Joe, which is what started the chain leading to all this.
Makkabee
Taffy’s right, people who say we should look at things from Dorothy’s perspective ought to make sure they know what Dorothy’s perspective is.
zee
Damn I can’t believe you’d spread Joyce’s spicy pics around without her permission by making it your grav /j
Taffy
I’m cheating on Joe
Mark
Yes, assumed. Regret is right.
(In another dimension of my existence I’m a sysadmin. I can’t afford to assume that I have permission to do things with others’ information; I need to ask them.)
Taffy
It’s fine, actually. It’s not a court of law.
thejeff
The rules for jobs, especially jobs where you have access to things like that, are very different than the rules between friends.
Alongcameaspider
Why do you think Dorothy thinks so little of Joyce that she’d cheat on Joe?
Because that’s the only reasonable thought process if Dorothy doesn’t make the completely rational assumption that the pictures were meant for Joe
Li
I mean, I think you are technically right in terms of what someone should do IRL. Especially in our modern age where bitter breakups do sometimes lead to maliciously spreading similar photos.
But. It is not a hill I would die on here, when we and Dorothy both know the people involved well enough to know that isn’t a real concern.
GholaHalleck
Because people gotta be mad at Joe and take everything he does in the worst possible way. Like me and Dottie.
Jeremiah
And you are both equally annoying.
GholaHalleck
See, this is why we only hang out to drink wine.
Thag Simmons
While I am docking points for it, he’s not like out of line or anything. They were meant for him.
RocketRelm
I’ll be honest, I actually think I’m giving him points for that too. Hopefully Dorothy’s aware enough to realize that him butting those in is cutting the tension for her on purpose, because wow is she feeling like crap and wallowing in her own feelings.
Having a breather from that into something else is probably good for Dorothy, long as she ruminates on and digests the information on the whole later.
Liliet
Yeah, that’s how I’m reading it too.
Alongcameaspider
Yeah how dare he
*checks notes*
Request pictures that were intended for him in the first place
pope suburban
Also I think he’s aware that Dorothy is not comfortable being *this* vulnerable with him specifically. She’s just opened up a lot to someone she’s known and seriously disliked for a long time. Pulling back instead of pressing her, putting a little more distance in so it’s more like the relationship they’re used to, is a kindness. Dorothy is clearly just realizing a whole lot and it’s her choice who she shares this with, to what extent, and when. Joe not trying to be her BFF or her therapist is the right move. He’s giving her an out here and I think that’s really kind of him.
RassilonTDavros
That’s pretty much how I interpreted the last panel as well.
Abdomino
Gotta be careful about breaking people’s expectations for you, it can go poorly. Joe is actually doing something rather emotionally mature by taking an opportunity to deescalate the tension with someone he doesn’t have enough of a rapport with to maintain it healthily. Maybe not entirely purposefully, but he IS a child of divorce.
Let Dorothy shake her head about how Joe “never changes” and then leave her be to think on the ways he has.
pope suburban
Oh wow yeah, I think his parents’ divorce does explain a lot here. He’s always been perceptive about people’s feelings, and he’s always been leery of getting too deep into them – he prefers to keep things lighthearted. That totally makes sense if that’s how he navigated his parents’ split when he was younger. We’ve seen his dad do similar things too, though he appears to be taking things very seriously when it comes to being Stacy’s husband and being a father to Joe and Amber. So, you know, maybe it’s the character arc of the Rosenthal men and we’re going to keep seeing Joe do the right thing by the people around him.
Coatl
Good observation
Dante
Oh! Didn’t see this! But yeah, I thought so too omg, and Abdomino’s addition on him being a child of divorce is pretty on point considering the method.
Veronica
Yeah how dare he
*checks notes*
exist in a sitcom
TheCozburger
“WHO ELSE BUT JOOOE!!”
Needfuldoer
You never really know what he’s gonna do next!
Taffy
Quagmire jokes?
Schpoonman
Humorous juxtaposition of exaggerating Joe’s worst qualities and how it still doesn’t come close to an actual sex offender.
Li
?
Li
Like, seriously. Have some perspective, people.
Adept
I thought it was perfect. The pics were meant for him. He didn’t even ask Dorothy to delete her copies.
Longshot97
The slow, inevitable decline of Dorothy has never felt more palpable. Please, for the love of God, someone help her
Coatl
To think that she had only freed herself from a certain weight on her shoulders and it seems that there is still a lot to release, but yes, of course she needs help, but the question here is
Will she admit it?
Jamie