228

Touchscreen
Posted on December 11, 2022 by David M Willis

228 thoughts on “Touchscreen”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    TIL there’s a Taco Bell Wiki

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I suppose after I discovered the existence of a Mountain Dew Wiki this shouldn’t have surprised me, but it still caught me off guard.

      Also next year’s holiday flavor has apparently already been leaked?!?

      1. alongcameaspider

        Candy cane flavored soda? That just sounds awful

        Of course all their weird Christmas flavors are awful, the fruit cake one this year tasted like stale fruit punch

        1. ValdVin

          May i interest you in Jones Turkey and Gravy soda?

        2. Opus the Poet

          Had it wasn’t impressed.

        3. Taellosse

          um…No?

        4. All-Purpose Guru

          wat

        5. Needfuldoer

          It’s just peppermint…

        6. alongcameaspider

          And peppermint is not a soda flavor, if it has to be in a drink it’s a coffee flavor

        7. Ray

          Or a hot cocoa flavor (peppermint schnapps)

        8. JA

          I can taste the thought of it and no thanks do not want.

      2. Bicycle Bill

        beverage = liquid, uses the term ‘leaked’ — well played, Rassilon, well played.

    2. Mollyscribbles

      Thank you! Canadian, so I sincerely did not know what red strips were.

      (our menu includes fries supreme instead!)

    3. anon

      corporate sponsorships aside, i can imagine some foodies running a handful of brand restaurant names lol

    4. Rin

      I also had to look it up. Apparently its been a few years since I ate at taco bell XD

    5. JA

      And “red strips” are actually a thing.

      Here I just order a pile of softshell beef tacos whenever I go…

  2. Doctor_Who

    Taco Bell is the funniest restaurant for Joyce’s particular Food Foible to come into play. Everything you buy there, and I say this as someone who goes a couple of times a month, tastes exactly the same.

    They should just sell it by weight. “Welcome to Taco Bell, what would you like?” “About 2 lbs and some Fire Sauce packets, please.”

    1. The Wellerman

      I can see this isn’t something we’re gonna agree on any time soon 🙁

    2. Yeet

      Is the texture the same though? If I bit into something that tastes like chicken with the texture of… I don’t know, green peppers I would be somewhat confused at best

    3. Taffy

      The taste is the main draw, but it’s altered and augmented by the various shells and configurations. The chalupa feels way different from the quesadilla or crunch wrap, for example, and the steak is less grainy than the oatmeal beef, with a bit of a different seasoning. I’m one of those freaks who likes both sour cream and tomatoes, so those also go a long way toward remixing the other three ingredients.

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        > I’m one of those freaks who likes both sour cream and tomatoes

        Wait, wut? We’re freaks now? (or for me “again” since I’m already a ginger)

        1. Taffy

          I’m already an autistic, gender-apathetic, queerbinated, movie-obsessed pervert with a hobby that involves mixing immediately-lethal chemicals together so I can play make-believe with the resulting lumps of plastic. Frankly, the sour cream and tomatoes are the weird part.

        2. The Wellerman

          To tell more about this hobby, it sounds awesome! 🙂

        3. The Wellerman

          *Do tell more. damn typos -_-

        4. Taffy

          Oh, I make stuff out of acrylic polymer. Mostly dice. Mix part A and part B equally, stir it real good, pour the goo in a mold, wait a day or two, take it out, polish, done. If you’re interested and ever have the extra, look into Art N Glow. Just don’t drink it. Or put it in your mouth at all. Or use it without a fume-ready respirator/mask. Or forget to open a window/ventilate. It’s uhhhhh very poisonous, which sucks cuz it looks like corn syrup and the resulting creations look like candy.

          You’re not supposed to dilute it, but very small amounts of common food coloring (cheap at any store with a grocery section, don’t use more than 5 drops), alcohol ink (expensive, thin, but evaporates during the curing process to leave just pigment), and some types of.paint, those are all okay. Solid objects (sequins, seashells, teeth) and powders (glitter, mica, instant ramen flavoring) are also good and can make your creations look a little more unique.

          “Oh, but they don’t roll better just cuz they’re super fancy!” Bullshit. All my custom dice may roll with about the same mathematical odds (not different enough to matter), but they do it in fuckin’ style, Josh.

    4. AntJ

      respectfully, no. the Cheesy Bean and Rice burrito is miles better than the Bean Burrito

      1. Mano308gts

        Lots of opinions on this one…

        And nobody has mentioned the premium items yet. Taco Bell’s two best-ever items are no longer available- one was the double-XL burrito, and the other was the Power Burrito. Neither of these tasted much like ‘Taco Bell’, and both of them had a surprisingly high vegetable content, with Pico de Gallo, black beans, and guacamole.

        1. Yumi

          This made me look up the XXL Grilled Stuft Burrito in memory, and when I tapped on the top result from Taco Bell, it opened up my app like, “Oh, you want to order this? Here it is, ready to ad to your bag.” I… didn’t know that was an option…

        2. Yumi

          Update on this: It will let you customize it and add it to your bag and all that, but when you go to check out, it will tell you there are no pickup times available at the Taco Bell location you have selected. Boo, hiss.

        3. vlademir1

          Also:
          the Seven Layer Burrito – their best ever Vegetarian offering
          the Quesarito – online only since around March or April 2020, and no longer made as well
          the Smothered Burrito – this was a go to for me for a couple years

        4. Victor

          The problem with that XXL burrito is that it was only available ‘grilled’ unless you could convince somebody to not do that – difficult at TB. And all their ‘grilled’ things taste exactly alike, and that taste is BURNED FLOUR. It’s pervasive, and it’s awful.

          No, their two best things are the Burrito Supreme (which I don’t think has ever gone away) and the Enchirito (which I think currently exists again, but isn’t as good without the olives). 2nd best is the Chilito – which sort of still exists as the Chili Cheese Burrito, but only in a very few places, none of them anywhere near me.

          The Taco Salad was good, but only if you got lucky enough to get a non-stale shell, which was rare for the last decade or so it existed, and of course only if you didn’t put the red strips on it.

        5. Wizard

          I really miss the Rancho Steak Burrito. Man, that’s been a while…

      2. vlademir1

        The Cheesy Bean and Rice is good, way better than the basic Bean Burrito, but the Fiesta Veggie Burrito is still the best vegitarian option they’ve had since they dropped the Seven Layer Burrito a few years ago.
        Yeah, yeah… I know the Fiesta Veggie is 90% the same as the Seven Layer was.

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Don’t feel bad that it’s 90% the same. Hell we are 99+% the same as chimps and bonobos, and *way* worse. 10% different can be HUGE!

    5. Needfuldoer

      Once she conquers all five of their ingredients, their entire menu will be her domain!

      1. Mark

        Yeah, everything there is made out of the same stuff. I dunno why they don’t just have a Build Your Own option: type of shell, meat y/n, lettuce y/n, cheese y/n, beans y/n, sauce, grilled y/n. That’s basically everything on the menu.

    6. Daibhid C

      Everything I get most places tastes exactly the same. Because it’s always the same thing. It’s possible other things on the menu taste the same as well, but how would I know that?

      (ISTR — and I hope this is real and not another case of me mistaking a dream about the comic for an actual strip — Joyce once doing a YouTube review of everything you could get at Taco Bell, which consisted of “The thing I normally get is great, I’ve never tried anything else but they all sound weird and gross, the end.)

      I don’t exactly have the same food foibles, but even a milder version combines with vegetarianism to severely limit my choices.

      “Burger King, so it has to be the Beanburger. No, I can’t have the Plant-Based Whopper — I’m not that fussed about it being on the same grill, but it’s too realistic and I don’t trust it.”

      1. Daibhid C

        (If the strip I refer to exists, I’m pretty sure it was a Paetron one, before anyone starts searching the archive.)

        1. Needfuldoer

          There’s a bonus strip where she makes a YouTube review of all the various flavors of Nachitos. That’s probably the one you’re thinking of.

    7. Nicoleandmaggie

      Into the bucket! #tryguys #eatthemenu

    8. someone

      At least it’s not the fabled Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell. I don’t know if Joyce could survive being in there.

      1. ReJeneration

        I had the terror or being at a combination Taco Bell and KFC.

        A friend got a quesadilla and an order of chicken strips to make a “crunchy chicken quesadilla”.

      2. Opus the Poet

        They exist, at least here in the DFW area, and there is at least one KFC/Taco Bell over near Central Expressway and 635.

  3. AHR

    The red strips are off the menu?? since when?!

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      I’m still upset that they made Queseritos (sp?) App-Exclusive.
      Fuck app-exclusivity. Taking things away does not add value to your app – it removes value from your restaurant.
      I don’t much care for the food at Sonic, but I actually downloaded their app because offering half-price drinks is a far better incentive than holding entrées hostage.

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        … having that de ja vu feeling that indicates that I’ve ranted about this before, on this very site, and am now going to come off as the crazy Taco Bell App ranter…

        1. RassilonTDavros

          Honestly, I’m in the same boat when it comes to app-exclusivity. I’ve probably ranted about the exact same thing at some point.

        2. Jamie

          I’ve never run into app-exclusivity, but I agree that it’s an incredibly stupid business move that only exists to justify the sunk cost of developing an app that didn’t get as adopted as the executives hoped.

          The only other justification I can think of is pushing people towards to-go orders, but there are better ways to do that (a dine-in tax, or a to-go discount).

        3. bhtooefr

          There’s another reason, although nowadays it’s mostly on Android, as Apple’s privacy controls are blocking some of this: tracking and advertising.

          The app can see quite a lot more than it really should on an Android device with default permissions, and it can also pop notifications with advertising (which you can block, but).

        4. The Wellerman

          Hey uh, does this same deal also apply to other fast food and convenience store apps on Android? Like Wendy’s and 7-11? ?

        5. Decidedly Orthogonal

          It applies to **all** apps. ?

        6. Bruceski

          “its memorial day for kristalnacht! treat yourself with more tender cheese on your crispy chicken”

          Germany’s KFC apologized for that, someone plugged their ad system into a calendar list of events without pruning it.

      2. Needfuldoer

        Agreed. I hate the whole “the experience is even better in the app!” marketing wankery every company fell for. What if I don’t want to clutter up my phone with an app for every restaurant, business, media outlet, service, and municipality I encounter? What’s wrong with just a website?

        It’s all about drip-feeding you coupons so they can track your purchasing habits.

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Which is maddening because they can do that from a website too. But the app gives them a shoulder shelf-elf to whisper capitalist evil in your ear while reporting back to their data overlords.

        2. Yumi

          For me, the on marketing approach a fast food app that will let me order food that way needs is, “Hey! You have social anxiety!” Like, let’s be real about why I make my choices.

        3. Yumi

          *the only

      3. Lan

        I lost a part of myself when they took all their potato items off the menu. Even if some of them are back, I won’t forgive the betrayal

      4. Beau Kirin Maysey

        as someone who does not go to taco bell, ever new thing i learn about taco bell makes me feel less confident that taco bell is real and more confident that it is a shared hallucinatory experience

        1. Shadowsnail

          The movie Demolition Man is definitely part of the hallucination.
          P.S. Scott Peterson is one of the frozen inmates listed in that movie, nine years before he committed his crime here in the “real” world.

    2. RassilonTDavros

      I’m not sure if they actually are at the moment, but they’ve gone back and forth enough that the sliding timescale should take care of it.

    3. Bicycle Bill

      I didn’t know they were even ‘on’ the menu … I never ordered them but I’d find them mixed in with everything else in certain burritos, so I thought they were part of the normal way they did those.

      1. vlademir1

        That’s pretty much right on unless you specifically go adjust the details of a given ordered item fairly often.

    4. Smallmoon

      the ‘red strips’ are off the menu, what is being served now is “tri-color Fiesta Strips” which are… red, purple and orange strips all mixed together.

  4. Nono

    I can’t relate to Joyce at all.

    By that, I mean turning down free lunch.

    1. The Wellerman

      Eh, the way I see it is kind of like opening a jam jar with your bare hands. You can run water over it to make it easier or something like that — but when there’s someone around who might judge you as less than capable of something, suddenly it’s no longer really about opening the jar.

      1. huesatlight

        Put a rubber band around the edge of the lid. You can keep a band on each jar even. Like the ones that are around fresh asparagus/leeks/broccoli/etc. Rubber bands on jar lids means you are handy.

        1. Needfuldoer

          I save a few squares of that grippy stuff you put under throw rugs just for that purpose. Sometimes gripping the lid better isn’t enough, and you need one for the body of the jar too.

        2. Lan

          You gotta flip it around and smack the bottom of the jar. Done right, it helps diffuse some of the pressure and makes the jar way easier to open

        3. Needfuldoer

          How’s that going to do anything about the pressure inside a sealed container?

          Running the lid under hot water will thermally expand it slightly, but then that just makes the lid wet and slippery.

        4. Taffy

          Y’all are a bunch a rank amateurs. Bash the jar against a hard surface like you’d do with an egg, and the contents will come right out.

          “But Taffy”, I imagine you protesting, “Won’t that destroy the jar and stop me from putting anything back in it?”

          To which I say, that sounds like your problem, not mine. Don’t store more jam/pickles/garlic/sausage than you have the wild to use in one go. Or do, I’m not your mom.

        5. Needfuldoer

          A little broken glass never hurt anybody, right? Tasting your own blood builds character.

      2. egg egg

        I just stab the jar’s lid with a knife. Pressure go woosh.

        1. Nicoleandmaggie

          I bought a fancy German jar opener that uses the power of levers and grips to magnify my puny grip strength. Also give jars to stronger people (which is most people) if I’m not at home.

      3. Bruceski

        Jar wrench, works wonders. They make prettier “jar openers” if you just need grip (silicone rubber bands, or things that mount under a cabinet) but the wrench is a canning tool and built for wonderful leverage.

    2. Yumi

      Maybe she’s playing the long game, and if she and Joe go on a date and go somewhere nice, she can be like, “Well, I paid last time.”

      (I don’t actually think this is what she’s doing.)

      1. The Wellerman

        Hey now this is a viable hypothesis too! ?

    3. jeffepp

      There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

      1. Bratty Roger

        (double negative):
        Are you ^sure^ you said what you meant to say?

        1. wwwhhattt

          Double negatives intensify each other rather than cancelling each other out. This is English – logic, common sense and decency have no place here.

        2. Uly

          Negative concord is common in languages worldwide.

        3. khn0

          Which languages?
          I don’t know of languages that use double negative as stg else as positive (with the exception of using twice or thrice the same word, which is an intensifier that works beyond negative negatives). I’d even say I’ve only been aware of certain uses of english to be so, so I’m curious!

        4. Yumi

          I feel like that actually varies based on what the negatives are… like, “not” and “no” can cancel each other out– often with the benefit of emphasis– such as in “there’s not no money in it” or whatever. But “ain’t” works with other negatives as an intensifier, like in “there ain’t no money in it.” I just woke up and feel like I’m not being super clear, but the point is: Language is super cool!

        5. Yumi

          Now that I think about it, “not no” can be an intensifier in some dialects of English, I think, but those aren’t ones I really encounter around where I am, while the “cancel out” version and the use of ain’t as an intensifier are.

        6. Taffy

          I ain’t never heard of no double negatives that didn’t make things no clearer than they weren’t.

      2. Stanistani

        That was one of Robert Heinlein’s favorite maxims -TANSTAAFL!

  5. Taffy

    The bastards are always taking one of their 7 ingredients of the menu, just to fuck with us. They’re putting smoke in our heads, man!

    1. JBento

      Hey, regarding yesterday: it wasn’t a question about your hair (I wouldn’t even know what your hair is like, I’m not running surveillance on you people, I’m not Amazon), but about Dorothy’s comment about parts of Joyce behaviour being her autism or “just Joyce”.

      I wasn’t (and still aren’t) sure how I could phrase my doubt of “wait, but isn’t the way Joyce’s autism manifests ALSO “just Joyce”” without running the risk of sounding like I was reducing Joyce to her autism.

      1. S.R.

        In this context, I think “just Joyce” would be a personal quirk that she has, that few if any other people have. Personal manifestations of autism vary quite a bit, but a thing that someone does because of their autism is likely shared with a bunch of other people, because there are a lot of autistic folks and a limited number of sundae sprinkle combos that the autism can be.

      2. Taffy

        Aaah, gotcha gotcha. Some people might take offense if the phrasing was weird, but nah, I think that’s honestly a fine enough way to say it.

  6. Blume

    Maybe Taco Bell wasn’t the best choice… It’s definitely a funny one tho.

  7. Yumi

    The Taco Bell giveth, and the Taco Bell taketh away.

  8. Yotomoe

    On one hand it sounds like Dorothy is just straight up proposing a date. On the other hand it also seems like a “oh, don’t pay for HIS food. He’s scum”.

    1. Uly

      Yes.

    2. RassilonTDavros

      Por que no los dos?

    3. Sirksome

      I mean Joe’s a big boy, who works out. He’s probably ordering twice what they are. Dorothy’s just looking out for Joyce’s wallet. This definitely doesn’t have petty motivations.

    4. DailyBrad

      I don’t think she meant it as rough as that, probably just that Joyce paying for her meal and not Joe’s, too, would be, you know, one meal vs two.

      Then again, I know she obviously has a certain level of disdain for him at the moment probably for how he was at the end of the gender studies class, probably not helped by her unlikely having any context as to why he was being like that.

      1. Archieve

        Theres also the fact that Dorothy isn’t trying to correct Joyce about ‘owing’ her for something she never was asked to buy to begin with, her emphasis on ‘just the two of us’ does kind of come off as Dorothy looking for an excuse to hang out with Joyce alone even though she really doesn’t need to resort to such tactics.

        1. Joy

          I think Dorothy wants to date Joyce but hasn’t realized it yet so it’s coming out in weird ways.

    5. Amós Batista

      Kind of late to her asking for a date, huh?

      1. Yotomoe

        It’s never too late…unless they’re dating someone already or married or something.

  9. Sirksome

    Isn’t only cheese good for Joyce? I’m confused by the rules of her eating habits.

    1. Yumi

      I think she can eat only cheese, but she wants something else as well. I get it, just the cheese and the sauce of the cheese quesadilla isn’t that exciting, would be improved by even a little something like the red strips.

      1. Sirksome

        I’m just surprised the red stripes don’t get disqualified as being an extra food item and thus too gross to eat with her quesadilla in this case. I guess tortilla chips don’t throw off the texture? I don’t know I don’t like Taco Bell anyway.

        1. Yumi

          For me, something like that would add a pleasant bit of texture, and that might be the case for Joyce, too. Not sure how it fits with the food touching, though, but it seems like that’s not an absolute rule.

    2. Ryan

      She’s been trying to adult and expand her food horizons. Now, she’s being put back into her old ways against her will, unless she can expand her horizon under pressure.

    3. angie

      being a picky eater is one thing, but plain cheese taco just really points it out and is kind of embarrassing. plain cheese pizza is normal, plain cheese taco is weird. that’s why I don’t go to taco bell, cheese is the only part of a taco I like, and even then, cheddar specifically is so-so. and the taco shell as well is so-so

      1. Yumi

        To be fair, she’s talking about a cheese quesadilla, not a cheese taco. Cheese quesadillas are normal and good at some places.

        1. angie

          oh right I thought she said something other than taco but my late night eyes couldn’t find it again lol. I’d still be a bit embarrassed ordering a plain cheese quesadilla but only because I’ve had mexican food roughly 5 times in my entire life and I have no idea what the standard for normal is for anything other than a taco. so yeah, probably more what @Ryan said about expanding food horizons then

        2. Yumi

          I like both Taco Bell and Mexican food, but Taco Bell is more like… oh-yes-I’ve-heard-of-Mexico food.

          (I know not everything s for everyone. I get excited about trying different cultures’ foods, can generally find something I can eat on a menu, and live in an area where that’s decently accessible, but I know those things aren’t the case for everybody.)

        3. Jamie

          For the record, it’s specifically TexMex-derived. “Mexican” is basically a larger category that overlaps with TexMex, and there’s a lot of high-quality TexMex food out there. More here: https://cookwithcrafted.medium.com/tex-mex-is-not-mexican-b30b0672c727

          I don’t consider it a hugely important distinction, but you seem like you’d be interested in knowing about it. 🙂

        4. Yumi

          Oh, yes, I know. There are some things that blur the lines, and like… borders, especially such recent borders, are kinda… “eh.”

          That said, yeah Taco Bell isn’t a good representative of TexMex food either, so I don’t generally feel the need to get into “Actually, it’s questionably based on THIS” when people bring it up in connection to Mexican food. But it’s good to have more information in a discussion.

          Do you have any top TexMex dishes you’d recommend? I definitely have more experience with stuff billed as Mexican than TexMex (again, overlap).

        5. Roborat

          “Taco Bell isn’t a good representative of food either”. Fixed it for you.

        6. Taffy

          Yeah, but it’s based on TexMex the way Annabelle is based on a real haunted doll.

        7. Wizard

          Fun fact: when Taco Bell opened some locations in Mexico City, they took out ads in local papers to explain what a burrito was. Yeah, this was back when newspapers were a thing, and burritos are a TexMex thing, heavy on the Tex. I don’t think it ever really caught on.
          The town where I live has a fair number of immigrants from Mexico and Central America, so we have several Mexican restaurants with varying levels of authenticity. (Personally, I think “authenticity” is overrated. I just want food that tastes good.) I do regularly see Latinos eating at my local Taco Bell, though.

        8. Mark

          Now I’m really curious. “Cheese quesadilla.” What other kind of quesadilla would there be? Seeing as how “cheese” is part of the name “quesadilla.”

        9. Sirksome

          A cheese quesadilla while a little redundant is more accurately describing a just-cheese quesadilla. You can pretty much add anything to it. Chicken, beef, pork, lettuce, guacamole, etc. you order a quesadilla and sometimes it can imply you accept whatever they put in it. I know a lot places sometimes add lettuce or sour cream at the least. Saying cheese quesadilla let’s them know you don’t want anything else.

        10. Uly

          Cheese quesadilla is like cheese pizza. The adjective indicates that there’s no filling/topping other than the cheese.

        11. khn0

          Isn’t there marinara on cheese pizza?
          As a non spanish speaker who only knows a few words in spanish (well in fact beside plenty other words that are common to other languages ), I had the same reaction as Mark.
          As a former vegan, I’m also used to cheese not meaning cheese (it doesn’t help that in my own language, it’s derivated from italian for molding, only with a wrong spelling).

      2. Joy

        …I like cheese quesadillas…

        1. Yumi

          That’s fair. I like cheese quesadillas in general, but I think the Taco Bell ones could be improved. But also, I hardly ever get it to begin with because I think they’re overpriced compared to other menu items.

  10. Rose by Any Other Name

    @Alt Text
    For my eldest kid, it was the end of Adventure Time. Not the ending itself, but the concept that a cartoon could just end. Had a full blown extential crisis about it – the realization that anything could end. Including oneself.
    Led to some very deep conversations and also some nightmares.

    1. Awaiting Moderation

      Considering they were watching Adventure Time I’m amazed that conversation didn’t happen sooner. Shockingly high death count for a kid’s show.

    2. Yumi

      Very interesting way to encounter that concept! How old was your kid at the time? The first show I remember being super bummed about ending was Teen Titans– I cried when I learned that season 5 was going to be the last one– but I was also old enough that I had gone through some “things can end” existential crises before.

    3. Taffy

      Adventure Time mentioned. Deploying opinions about Distant Lands in 5…4…

    4. Andrews

      Not quite the same thing, but my youngest has fallen in love with football (soccer) during the world cup but hadn’t considered the possibility England might actually be able to lose until last night. Not happy!

      1. cookie1995

        You have just reminded me of going through the same thing when England lost in the 2002 World Cup, I straight up cried
        Didn’t help I had to go to school afterwards

      2. Plain Marie

        Yeah, that was a rough game for people rooting for England.

        1. Andrews

          It was a bummer but if I’m honest, being one of the best eight teams in the world sounds about right.

  11. anon

    lol i wish more menus have touch screens, even if i say the same things every time sometimes it’d be better to confirm esp if i say something like ‘no onions’ (which isn’t too much of a pain to pick off compared to them having sauce lol)

    never really had much taco bell, but i’ always preferred soft shell tortillas anyways

  12. Carla's #2 Fan

    I used to have stress dreams about which of my safe/same foods Aldi would take away next. This was roughly 10 years before my autism diagnosis. But they had taken away salt and vinegar chips (only brought back recently) and the knock off Berry V8 (took so long to come back that it wasn’t a safe food anymore). At least these days with “Aldi Finds” I know not to expect a food forever.

  13. alongcameaspider

    Oh no, that’s the sort of thing that can ruin someone’s mood all day

    1. Clif

      If you want to see Dorothy’s mood ruined, just wait until she learns that it will never be just the two of them again.

      1. Nova

        “Never” seems strong. People can have relationships AND friends and hang out with them independently of one another.

      2. StClair

        It’s always hard for a parent when the kids start dating…

  14. not someone else

    Okay. Okay. My brain yesterday was like “hah, Joyce does not like lettuce on a taco due to texture. I am glad this is not an issue I have!” and now she’s suggesting the little cronchy strips go with a soft melty cheese and my autistic brain is shouting about how I’m hurting myself.

  15. huesatlight

    In which Dorothy misses that Joe went to life drawing class with Joyce.

  16. DarkoNeko

    oh no

  17. Yumi

    I didn’t end up getting Taco Bell today, and now I want it again and am thinking about ways to try out customizing a cheese quesadilla… but after an accident tonight (I’m okay now), I don’t think I’m going to be up for driving tomorrow. Hm. :/

  18. MK15

    Everything on that menu can use some good crunch like that.

    Unpopular opinion though, iceberg lettuce aka “crunchy water” isn’t a bad substitute XD

    1. Yumi

      Hm. I think the crunchy water could be okay as a substitute in some cases, but not in a quesadilla. Don’t think it would hold up well.

  19. brionl

    When ever my wife can’t make up her mind on where we’re going to eat, I chip in with “OK, Taco Bell!”

  20. BBCC

    Liking third things is HARD. I feel you, Joyce.

    1. Yumi

      Not cheese or red strips, but a secret third thing.

      1. Beau Kirin Maysey

        a surprise ingredient that will help us later ;3

  21. thakoru

    I have never been to Taco Bell, so forgive me if this is ignorant or cliche, but “cheese quesadilla” is redundant, no? Quesadillas are defined by the inclusion of cheese. It’s in their name.

    1. Yumi

      Yeah, but it kind of implies the exclusion of other major ingredients, like a cheese pizza. I know there’s the reference of cheese in the name of a quesadilla, but “cheese quesadilla” is a pretty common way to phrase it whether you’re at Taco Bell or elsewhere, at least around the places in the US I’ve been.

      1. Mark

        Counterexample: a plain hamburger is a “hamburger” not a “bun hamburger.”

        In my family we’d say “plain cheese pizza.”

        1. Yumi

          I… don’t see how that’s a counter example?

        2. khn0

          Ham.

          It’s about ham.

          I guess.

          Or burger?

          Or Hamburg?

          Or the plain near Hamburg?

      2. davidbreslin101

        Over here, “ready salted crisps” are crisps (potato chips) with no flavourings. Other crisps do have salt on them, of course….

        1. thejeff

          The amusing thing is that generally plain salted chips have less salt than most of the flavored ones.

    2. Moonlighter

      Much like how cheese pizza is just pizza in the absence of other toppings, a cheese quesadilla is just the queso and the tortilla, no chicken or other additions.

  22. Jamie

    I … have no idea what Red Strips even are and according to the wiki, they just weren’t part of my regular order back when I still ate Taco Bell.

  23. Bicycle Bill

    Kusgt thinking … they’re at the Taco Bell on E. 7th and N. Walnut, which is at least a mile and a half from Read Hall (our characters, with the exception of Jennifer/Billie, are still living there, right?). And they walked there, in late January.  They must REALLY love Taco Bell.

    1. Jamie

      They are still at the same dorm, yes.

    2. vlademir1

      Maybe, or they possibly just really dislike the closer available offerings enough to make up for that. I personally ate a lot of TB in college because it was my cheapest option, and I was willing to suffer a good bit for the cost savings.

      Also: a 1.5 mile walk in January without recent heavy snow fall is not that bad when you’re already used to walking everywhere and are used to the temps that time of year from a short lifetime with them.

    3. huesatlight

      They’re halfway there, they started from Rawles, not the dorms. Plus aren’t there shuttles/buses?

    4. David M Willis

      Sure, it’s late January, but as evidenced by how snow has melted and they’re wearing hoodies and no hats or scarves, it’s not an incredibly cold day.

    5. The Wellerman

      From what I can tell, folk in and around Indiana are more adept to especially cold winters up here.

  24. Vanvelding

    Damn the vicissitudes of Taco Bell’s menu.

  25. shrub

    So what’s made Dorothy change her mood so quickly?

    1. Rotunda

      I also find this a bit odd. The three of them must have been conversing during the walk to Taco Bell, but apparently nothing drama-worthy happened.

      1. shrub

        Maybe a missed strip?

    2. BowlerHatGuy

      Hangry

  26. Rikunda

    I thought she could do tacos without lettuce? Of course that is 2/3rds of a taco bell taco.

  27. Yumi

    Anyway, sorry for going all-in on the Taco Bell discussion tonight; had some stressful stuff, and I guess this is how I cope.

    1. Amós Batista

      No, it’s nice getting people replying you. At least, for me.

  28. DailyBrad

    I hate when a menu item you like leaves. That has to be especially bad for Taco Bell and Burger King fans, they change stuff very often and love their gimmicks.

    I don’t get a lot of fast food, but when I do, it’s often Whataburger, and the most that tends to change there is pie flavors being more or less seasonal. I thiiiink they always have apple, though, which is the one I get, anyway.

    1. Bratty Roger

      《 pvote》

  29. Keulen

    Joyce is me whenever a restaurant I like stops having chicken tenders or chicken nuggets of some sort.

  30. Suet

    “Red strips“

    Who let Jeff Foxworthy/William H. Macy be an undercover employee?

  31. Wereg

    I think Dorothy’s accidentally showing Joyce how much Joe actually understands her. Very cute.

    I do feel bad for Dorothy though. I hope she becomes less anxious about her relationship with Joyce sooner rather than later.

    1. Archieve

      Yeah this strip sounds like she is trying to use the notebook as an excuse for alone time with Joyce at a later day but she should know Joyce well enough to know that she could just ask for hangout time. I’d say the main difference between Joe and Dorothy interactions with Joyce are that Joe treats her as an equal whereas Dorothy’s mothering tendencies tend to make Joyce the follower in there dynamic which is something Joyce is beginning to resent as she seeks independence.

      1. Wereg

        Fully agree, especially with the last bit. Joyce is currently reevaluating… pretty much everything, and respecting her boundaries is going to be huge for her right now.

        In all fairness, IIRC Joe’s mom(?) was diagnosed with autism so he has more experience with all of this than Dorothy does.

  32. Florence

    Everyone is so sweet and Joyce is RAGE!!!!

    I feel that need for specifics though. Worst is when they forget the sauce in your burger when you specifically ordered double the sauce in the app!

  33. AKP

    What on earth are red strips?

    1. Amós Batista

      Pepper?

    2. Taffy

      Lil strips of tortilla chips, and you’ll never guess what color they are.

      1. Needfuldoer

        *were

        F o7

        1. Azhrei Vep

          Are. They’re still definitely there. I had to order my Chicken Ranch burritos without them just last night, then have them remade because they didn’t listen.

        2. David M Willis

          They’re multicolored now and called “Fiesta Strips,” but the app doesn’t let you put them in other things, which is absurd.

        3. The Wellerman

          Say what -_-

          Why would they improve an item just to reduce what you can put it in? Just why?

        4. Needfuldoer

          So do you have to order them on the side and add them yourself, or do you just have to smuggle your own Fritos in?

        5. David M Willis

          I don’t think you can open up a Taco Bell quesadilla without destroying it.

        6. Needfuldoer

          Pop a couple in your mouth before every bite, I guess?

          That’s one advantage regular open-face tacos have, you can add anything you want. Even burritos can theoretically be reassembled.

        7. Alan Lafond

          Must be a US-specific menu item. I’ve never heard of them before up here in Canada. I remember going to a Taco Bell in the USA one time, and when I ordered Fries Supreme, they looked at me like I’d grown another head! I had to repeat my order a few times, to their continuing blank stares, like they’d suddenly gone dumb, until a friend of mine pointed out that they did not have fries on the menu board at all. They replaced all the french fries with tortilla chips!

          I mean, I get different regions having different menus, but come on! In Milwaukee, you’ve DEFINITELY at least HEARD OF what french fries are! The least you could do is tell the customer that you don’t serve them! Instead of looking at the customer like he’s a talking horse!

        8. MK15

          The only reason Taco Bell Canada has fries & fries supreme is because they pair most of their buildings with KFC.

          The more expansive US menu is far better in every way. (Cheap too!)
          The fiesta burrito or whatever it was I tried recently (with the red strips, no less) was like 80% as good as chipotle for 50% the price.

  34. Airyu

    This is the most biographical strip in the comic, isn’t it x’3

  35. Amós Batista

    Ah, We have reached a preview panel. (next one I’m sure it’s an argument)

  36. Amós Batista

    Never trust pics in menu.
    First rule of eating in fast-foods.

    1. Taffy

      Anyone expecting a menu photo to be anything other than an idealised visual indicator of what’s meant to be in your food, anyone doing that is being silly.

      1. Amós Batista

        guess I’ll present you to my parents….

        1. Taffy

          Please don’t let your parents see me, I’m horribly socially awkward and liable to hit on your dad by accident.

        2. Nova

          But in pictures, you’re an idealised visual indicator of a person? 😛

        3. Taffy

          I’m very sexy, yes. That’s why people’s dads end up flirting with me, but sometimes my instinctive mirror-type masking (probably there’s a more science-y word for it) leads to accidental reciprocal flirting.

      2. khn0

        I’ve got a friend whose job is make food looking good on pics.
        He usually ends up eating what he had to shoot.
        Some serious brand hire real chefs. If it doesn’t look like that on your plate, you’re free to ask what it needs to look good: studio lighting and an afternoon of cooking.

    2. ValdVin

      I would add to this: You can trust bad-looking chain food pics.

      Blimpie’s stunt food photos were never appealing to me. And they were competing with Subway. Consider what it takes to not clear that bar.

  37. zims

    I died a little inside when chili cheese burritos dropped off the menu.

    1. egg egg

      it was truly a tragedy, those were one of the best burritos

  38. ValdVin

    I would go to Taco Bell sometimes if it were closer to my home and work. So its interesting to read about Red Strip and wondering if I missed out.

  39. Needfuldoer

    According to the Taco Bell wiki (because of course there’s a Taco Bell wiki), red strips were discontinued, but replaced by the same product but in three different colors?

    https://tacobell.fandom.com/wiki/Crunchy_Red_Strips

  40. saltchocolate

    Willis, your kids are not allowed to be old enough to know or care when Taco Bell menu items go away! They were and are and will always be BABIES.

    1. David M Willis

      they’re seven

      1. saltchocolate

        ? Time flies

  41. maarvarq

    If I start buying a product that is at all out of the ordinary regularly, it’s practically a guarantee that it will go out of production.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Even products supposedly in production can disappear at random. I haven’t been able to find my hot fudge sundae Pop-Tarts in months. They’re still on the official website, and the grocery stores still have a spot for them, but I haven’t seen any.

      This is why I don’t buy limited-time-only stuff; I don’t want to get hooked on something that’s going away.

  42. BowlerHatGuy

    I’m buying lunch.
    No, im buying lunch.
    No Im Spartacus.

  43. BowlerHatGuy

    “You can wait until its just 5he two of us.”

    so is this some new generational social expectation where if 3 people go to lunch together like this, someone cant buy lunch for just 2 of them? If you buy lunch for one, you have to buy lunch for all? Or has this always been a thing and Ive been doing it wrong?

    In a group lunch situation, Ive borrowed money for lunch and then bought lunch for just the person who loaned me the money previously. Was i expected to buy lunch for everyone?

    1. cain

      Depends on the friend group, I think. I buy lunch for the whole group sometimes, other times someone else gets the group tab, and we don’t keep any kind of formal tally. (That means the chronically broke friend still gets to eat with us, without having to cover a big Taco Bell order for five.) Other friend groups keep it more individual where people usually pay for themselves – sounds like your group does it that way.

    2. StClair

      No, it’s specifically Dorothy (still) trying to cut Joe out of the loop, because she knows him and he’s no good for her little girl.

    3. thejeff

      I think that would be a normal case, if Joe hadn’t just offered to pay for all of them and Joyce jumped in to cover it instead. She’s saying Joyce doesn’t need to pay for all three to cover the “debt” to Dorothy.
      It would be weird to say “Don’t pay for Joe” after she’d just offered to pay for all three, but “you don’t need to do that” is a socially acceptable way to do that.

  44. Lan

    I feel like this is all building up to a moment where Dorothy grapples with her impulse to micromanage Joyce’s life (i.e. tell her not to date Joe) and the comments Jennifer made about Joyce not needing another mom.

    1. Archieve

      Yeah I get the vibe that Dorothy partly doesn’t want Joyce to pay for them because she doesn’t want to be lumped in with Joe and wants to be the more important person to Joyce. Eventually she’s going to have to accept that like Jennifer said she won’t always be the first person Joyce wants to hang out with.

      1. StClair

        NEVER!

  45. Beau Kirin Maysey

    *slaps this comic* This bad boy can fit so much [trauma drama] in it

  46. Adept

    I suspect you Americans can’t imagine how disturbed I’m about the concept of “red strips” as a taco filling. Reading about them didn’t help.

    America. We need to talk about food, and what you do to yourselves.

    1. davidbreslin101

      Shurely they’re just strips of the finest, purest, corn-fed hand-reared red? Wholesome!

  47. poyo

    *me who exclusively uses the mobile app to order because i have an extremely convoluted order that i only trust computers to remember* am i autistic ? (narrator: she was)

    1. poyo

      for anyone curious, i get the nachos bellgrande, sub beef for more beans, extra nacho cheese sauce, no tomatoes, and add rice and creamy jalapeno sause.
      i have celiac disease so i cant have the burritos anymore so this is my replacement for a spicy cheese and bean burrito which used to be my favorite <333

  48. Kazuma Taichi

    as a picky eater, I understand this feeling completely

  49. cain

    My sensory issues are different from Joyce’s, and my ADHD is definitely in the mix when it comes to food. I find an item on the menu I can enjoy without altering and order the exact same stuff every time so my order is memorable, short, and removes any indecision panic. And then I get upset if they change something about my Default Item, because it means I have to find a different Default Item.

    Mouthfeel usually isn’t a sensory minefield for me though, so Taco Bell can give me basically anything.

  50. Rabisch

    Go Joyce! Use this possibility, try new things!!!!

  51. KingMonster

    Once again, life teaches us that if we actually get nice things, we sure as heck can’t keep them.

  52. Ragingagnostic

    This is one reason why I prefer to cook my own food. Who needs this tsuris?!

  53. crow

    Dorothy it’s taco bell she’s gonna spend like 10 dollars

  54. Jonathan Holland

    I love the red strips, get the burrito with them practically every time. I’m kind of with Joyce, how can something like that “not be in season”. Yes, I’ve been told that’s why they didn’t have them.

    1. Needfuldoer

      They’re basically Fritos, aren’t they?

  55. Fnord

    Sounds kinda like Tesseire mint syrup in water, which is actually awesome. Not sure how carbonation will go with it but probably well.

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