605

Wait list
Posted on March 19, 2017 by David M Willis

605 thoughts on “Wait list”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Chloe seems to be like if I were made boss at work (like they’re threatening to do)

    that is, “HEY CAN YOU DO THIS PLS THANKS WHILE I HIDE IN MY OFFICE AND HOPE NOBODY CALLS”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      huh, first even though I forgot I’d cleared my cookies on my iPad?

      Who has two thumbs and no life on a Saturday night?? THIS D00D

      /said, ironically, at a game meet-up

      1. butts

        It’s okay, having a life is pretty boring anyway.

      2. Deanatay

        Hey! Game meet-ups count as having a life!!

        1. Clif

          No they don’t.

        2. Clif

          Speaking from experience. And noting they can lead to a life. And maintaining that sometimes having a life is over-rated.

      3. Strife

        Nobody plays “Guess what game Ana is playing?”

        I’m disappointed :p

        1. Pablo360

          Secret Hitler.

        2. Ana Chronistic

          mostly Pandemic: The Board Game iOS and confirming that there are in fact NO natural Pokémon spawns in our friend’s townhouse built after PokéGo was first launched

          not because I didn’t WANT to play Mr. Driller or Magical Drop–I just like to let the folks who come specifically for said games play first

      4. Kinoko

        I work in video games, so “game meet-up” to me means an industry networking event (and if I’m at one, I’m usually trying to find a job, since turnover is horrific). In this case, does it mean playing board games with friends? Because that sounds WAY less anxiety-inducing.

        1. TachyonCode

          I’m guessing more like scheduled MMO-playing nights.

          Or days.

          Or any time of the week, at all hours.

          That ain’t having a life – that’s pro sports, yo.
          (Also: Yuck.)

        2. TachyonCode

          (If you’re feeling younger, then MOBAs rather than MMOs. But still, yuck.)

        3. Ana Chronistic

          a Shmupmeet! (wherein folks from the Shmups forum generally play shoot-em-ups but sometimes other games come out)

        4. TachyonCode

          Okay, that, or a fighting game tourney, or maybe a party game or multiplayer offline RPG – *that* is a solid plan for socializing as part of a larger life.

    2. Scar Man!!!

      Gonna be honest, shit like this is why I refuse to ever be put in charge of anything if I can avoid. My anxiety would go into overdrive and I would pull this kind of shit all the time and be too scared to do anything. Either that, or try to not do that and get so scared that my heart explodes and I vomit blood on someone before dying horribly

      1. TachyonCode

        I used to think the same way, but I realize now that anxiety makes me prone to being a control freak in the best kind of way – sorting everything out so that nothing needs my attention.

        I am aiming to someday do at least middle-management, in my day job.

        1. Scar Man!!!

          that could jibe well with my idea about being the marketing guy for science people

  2. Mr. Mendo

    Sinister! And how will Billie react to this?

    1. Doctor_Who

      Probably with drinking, somehow.

      She reacts to good things with drinking too.

      1. Reltzik

        That’s less a reaction and more a baseline.

        1. butts

          “Still alive? Time to drink.”

        2. Clif

          Finally dead? Time to dr… Oh, wait.

    2. Deanatay

      I’m imagining… inchoate rage.

      Or, maybe that’s just me.

      1. Clif

        And now I’m wondering what choate rage looks like.

        1. Lokitsu

          I bet Sir could show you.
          (Shivers)

    3. Scar Man!!!

      punching. then stealing his cane.

  3. Aislashu

    THIS isn’t going to end well.

    1. Hescotti

      Truth

    2. Doctor_Who

      That should be the subtitle beneath the DoA logo.

      1. Kernanator

        Right next to “People doing the wrong thing for the right reasons”.

        1. chris2315

          And sometimes for the wrong reasons. And sometimes they even do the right thing for the wrong reasons. No one ever seems to do the right thing for the right reasons though.

        2. MatthewTheLucky

          Dina does.

        3. Clif

          It’s the influence of the hat.

      2. Scar Man!!!

        agreed

    3. TheAnonymousGuy

      Ruth better go full ruth on this or i’m gonna go full ruthllie (the dbz style fusion of ruth and billie) and worst of all…..I’ll do it sober

      1. Guairdean Beatha

        Ruth can’t do much. It takes more than a quick hospital stay and a couple of pills to cure Stockholm Syndrome (or abused spouse syndrome) when it’s that deeply ingrained. She may be able to process her new freedom over time, but for now she’s still under his complete control.

    4. Bagge

      And “Not well” is where it STARTED. I’m genuinely terrified where Ruth can go from here.

    5. Deanatay

      Well, seeing that this is the end of the meeting, and it’s BAD, yes, it has not ended well.

      Unless you’re referring to Ruth and her abuser having some time alone, yeah, that’s gonna be even worse.

  4. Ragnarok101

    Chloe, what the fuck is wrong with you.

    1. Doctor_Who

      The brown mold that has been consuming her hair has finally penetrated to her brain.

    2. Toad

      I’m still not sure how Clint even got involved, but other than potentially contacting him, I don’t think Chloe really did anything unjustifiable here–from her perspective, she’s solved all the problems!

      1. TheOthin

        Chloe is failing to notice a LOT of red flags.

        1. Reltzik

          Definitely clueless. But my internal jury’s still out on whether she’s third-tier scum.

        2. Doctor_Who

          Chloe hasn’t looked in a mirror and noticed her roots for several weeks, maybe she didn’t put a lot of skill ranks into Perception.

          Or the prescription of her glasses is in serious need of an update.

        3. Icalasari

          To be fair, we also have a LOT more knowledge than Chloe does of the various dynamics and situations going on, plus we can’t hear the tones of voice. Also, Chloe has access to information we don’t have that might make Ruth’s grandpa seem like a far more upstanding man

        4. Toad

          Yeah, abusers are often really good at being charming. I think Willis is showing us the red flags, but not in a way that would be apparent or obvious to most people in-universe. Dramatic irony and all that.

        5. chris2315

          You mean like how his face looks like it’s permanently frozen in the “look of disapproval”?

        6. Needfuldoer

          She probably notified him when she brought Ruth to the medical center in a catatonic state.

        7. spriteless

          If Chloe was good at seeing red flags she would have noticed them far before Carla got her attention

        8. foamy

          Such as the physical manhandling as Clint literally tows Ruth outta there.

      2. Tan

        Failed to recognize Ruth’s agency in her own life? Failed to entertain, let alone address, Ruth’s statements that she doesn’t think she can handle the responsibilities being thrust on her right now?

        What I would’ve loved to see from Chloe would be some sort of suggestion that she could take as much time as she needed before she ‘fully’ resumed her RA duties, or that she’d wrangle Dorothy and/or Roz into being some sort of unofficial ‘helper RAs’ in a quid pro quo that they get actual RA positions next year. Or just some sort of fundamental recognition that it’s Ruth’s decision, whatever Chloe and Sir may think.

        1. Toad

          Ruth didn’t actually say she didn’t want the job or didn’t think she could handle the responsibility though–what she said sounded a lot more like her saying she didn’t deserve it. (“Give it to someone else; you all know what I’ve done.”) It’s not hard to imagine how Chloe could think the appropriate answer there is “of course you deserve this good thing!” especially given that Ruth was just hospitalized for depression.

          You’re right that there’s lots she could have done that would have been better than what she did–we know she fucked up. But I don’t think she’s done anything that makes her a monster yet, just oblivious or too willing to see the most optimistic version of things.

        2. Reltzik

          Ruth said “give it [the job] to anyone else”. That’s pretty specific.

          But I’ll agree that what I’ve been seeing points more to woefully oblivious than outright monster.

        3. Reltzik

          Correction, the exact quote was “Pick anyone else”. My bad.

        4. Oruncrest

          Ruth: “Now get me fired so I can stop wasting so much goddamned space.”

          Does she have to write it out on a chalkboard before Puddinghead believes her?

        5. ozzi

          I would do everything in my power now to get fired. “Look kids, I am immune, go have fun.”

        6. Tan

          Words Ruth used: “Pick one of [the people who want to do this job]. … Pick anyone else [to do this job]. … I can’t.”

          Words Ruth did not use: “Yes” or “Okay” or anything positive or agreeing in any way.

          Chloe took Clint’s demand that Ruth do it in place of Ruth agreeing to do it, and that’s Not Okay. That being said, I agree with you that Chloe isn’t a monster. Few people are. But she did a shitty thing here. Lots of people do.

        7. Cerberus

          Yeah, she’s definitely enabling the abuse by doing nothing to actually return power to Ruth and make her an active member in all of this. It’s just flat-out ignoring what she’s saying (because that would make her job harder) and letting things be “sorted” (because that makes her job easier) and slipping back into the quiet denialism that she had before her “favorite” RA was hospitalized.

        8. Pat

          It’s… possible that she did notice, and that’s why she’s going along with everything. Until he’s gone and she can talk to Ruth without his presence.

          I’m not gonna hang on to that hope, though.

        9. Liliet

          You know what she could do here? “Sorry, Sir, I need to talk to Ruth in private about some things concerning the residents, it’s confidential, I assume you understand” *shuts the door behind him and quietly smuggles Ruth out of the window*

        10. Pat

          Yeah, if that theory is right she really should have done something, anything to prevent them from leaving together unsupervised.

          I did not suggest, even while entertaining this unlikely possibility, that Chloe is especially competent in this regard.

        11. nightsbridge

          Lately, I find intent to harm less important than the harm that has actually been caused. Maybe she’s not a monster. But she is destroying Ruth. And if she was put in the same position, she would destroy Ruth again, or destroy anyone else under her care that she’s supposed to be protecting.

          That it’s not done out of malice isn’t much better.

        12. BBCC

          Yeah, there’s two parts to weighing an action – intent matters (I think we can all agree someone being malicious is worse than being stupid) and the affect (where, no matter what your intent, you can hurt people).

        13. Pinkie

          Yeah, I’m hoping Ruth feels better about the job once her depression is under control. He reluctance could just be the depression talking…
          And now the conflict of interest has been solved, her and Billie are unofficially free to keep seeing each other.

      3. Oruncrest

        Yes she has – by forcing them onto a person who is not only not in the right frame of mind to handle them (as shown by the fact that she just got out of the hospital from being under a freaking SUICIDE WATCH), but all but BEGGED Puddinghead to be released from those problems (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/decision-2/) so that she can get on with her life. That Clint is backing her up is a wonderful bit of serendipity, but it’s clear to me that she had no intention of firing Ruth.

      4. Thulcandran

        Pretty sure outing someone to their guardian without their direct say-so is well over the line.

        1. butting

          It looks like it’s assumed knowledge between them (though I’m glad to see that Chloe at least said “Billie” and not “Jennifer”), but even so that’s still another point of awfulness against Chloe: to have a suicidal LGBT staff member present with an old-school authoritarian family member and not recognise that a potential abuse situation is staring her in the face is outrageously incompetent.

        2. butting

          (duh, on re-read I take that “at least” back: “she”. “her”. drown in a flood of lawsuits, Chloe.)

      5. trlkly

        Only if she’s absolutely fucking stupid.

        How does giving the job to the depressed/suicidal person who doesn’t want to do the job fix any problem whatsoever?

        How is Ruth supposed to handle any of these flashpoint situations when she can’t handle her own problems right now?

        If this was my RA and this happened, my parents would throw a fit about it.

        She solved absolutely nothing, and I actually kinda hope that Willis will use her for justice porn soon. Hell, people like her in this comic are the reason I don’t mind having a vigilante.

        1. nalem

          Justice po– what, do you mean RAPE? Yikes

        2. Adrastos42

          Thankfully, “justice porn” does not mean rape, or anything sexual. Not sure how best to explain it but, for example, Reddit’s earthporn subreddit is full of pictures of really nice landscapes, and no naked Gaias.

        3. Tan

          Just to clarify, justice porn does not involve anything of a sexual nature. The ‘porn’ part of the term derives from the concept of appeal leading up to a climactic satisfaction. All it really is is someone who has acted badly (bullies and criminals particularly) getting their comeuppance, preferably in a karmically appropriate manner.

          When Joyce punched out Toedad, that would be justice porn.

        4. Deanatay

          For something to be truly ‘porn’, it has to be forbidden in some way. Like punching a cop who deserves it – you Don’t Punch Cops, but it just feels so GOOD.

          For Joyce, punching ToeDad – an authority figure – was certainly porn.

          I suppose, if Ruth were to take revenge on Chloe, it’d be kinda pornographic. Better to take revenge on Clint, but I doubt she has that in her.

        5. Betty Anne

          She could punch the fuck out of Mary, for starters. Technically not “forbidden,” because their peers, but definitely forbidden by their power status (especially since she’s staying RA), and from Chloe’s clueless perspective, it would be out of fucking nowhere.

          And then she could be surfing the campus social networks, find out about the shitbag rapist roaming their campus, and ensure he is mysteriously constantly having accidents and running into Amazi-girl (just by dint of her knowing that Amazi-girl is likely roaming around looking for him, and if he’s drawing attention to himself through “accidents,” then she’ll have better luck).

          Unfortunately, Ruth is likely not in the mindset for either of these options right now. :/

        6. Betty Anne

          DAMMIT, and I make a they’re/their mistake on a post I can’t edit, because I’m multitasking. >_<

    3. Vinny

      Somehow, I think a large charitable donation has been made to the University. Nothing like money to make a university bend a few rules… or just bend over in general.

      1. Deanatay

        Esp these days, when the gov’t is cutting school funding, leaving schools desperate to find cash? Yep, Clint flashed some bucks, and the school became his lapdog.

      2. Deanatay

        Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if Chloe had Orders From Above to give Clint carte blanche in this situation.

        1. thejeff

          It’s pretty much explicit – She said earlier that it wasn’t only up to her and Clint said he “had a talk with the department”. The decision has been made and she’s here to implement it.
          Probably not “carte blanche” for Clint, just “We’re going to drop the disciplinary action against Ruth and leave things as they are.” She’s definitely ignoring huge red flags here and being far too eager to trample Ruth’s protests, but there may not be a lot she can do right now. Ruth’s still an employee and Chloe apparently isn’t in a position to fire her on her own authority.

    4. zoelogical

      that dude. is a very. particular. kind. of asshole charming.

      -screeches into the abyss-

    5. Nyzer

      From her perspective, this actually solves every problem in Ruth’s life without causing her to lose her job in the process. She’s not hiding her depression, instead now being treated for it while her friends and family have been made aware and are in a position to help her deal with it, and her relationship with Billie is no longer be a conflict of interest, allowing her to pursue it freely.

      Ruth is trying to turn down the job, but to Chloe, it appears like she’s doing it because of a lack of self esteem, not because it’s something she’s being pushed into by her emotionally abusive grandfather. As far as she knows, her grandfather is just being firm while trying to do the best thing for her.

      1. trlkly

        No! It doesn’t at all. The depressed person cannot do the job. She has her own problems. Making people aware of depression doesn’t in any way make it go away.

        She did nothing about the abuse she knows about. She did nothing to make sure that these “flashpoints” will be handled, since the person she’s putting in can’t do it.

        And, no, she cannot reasonably think that this is a self-esteem issue. Ruth made it very clear she wants someone else to do it.

        Oh, and she just set up a huge lawsuit for violating Ruth’s rights. So there’s another flashpoint. Ruth could share her depression with all the students on the floor and then their parents will think she’s incapable of doing the job, so they get mad.

        There’s absolutely nothing here that solves anything, even if she doesn’t know that “Sir” (and I will never grant him a human name) is abusive.

        1. BBCC

          My only issue with depriving him of a name is that “Sir” is technically a title with connotations of respect.

          I dub him Shitheel.

    6. Goblin Scribe

      She is Not A Very Good Boss. Remember, it’s been implied that she would ignore any complaints about Ruth’s abusive behavior just to keep her job easier. She acts nice, and probably doesn’t realize how shitty her neglect is, but she’s a shitty, neglectful person who derails her own good intentions.

    7. Aviana

      Honestly, Chloe is not who I’m mad at in any of this. Maybe I’m just thinking a little wishfully because I want some of the adults in this universe to not be awful, but I could understand how Chloe would hear a lot of Ruth’s protests about the job as “that’s the suicidal depression talking and she will feel better about things once the meds kick in”. She is wrong, of course, but I can see how she would mean all the best in insisting on this.

      Transferring Billie also makes perfect sense – now Ruth can have Billie’s support without the conflict of interests. I’m a little concerned that apparently no one asked Billie about this??? Can’t tell if that’s Clint swinging his cane and/or massive financial donations or if she thinks someone else has done it or if communication was sent to Billie that she never bothered checking?

      I also want to point out the abuse signs we’re seeing very clearly are meant for us to see very clearly – Chloe does not have the benefit of being a reader, and probably doesn’t see the signs as overtly. Yes, there are some red flags that she definitely should be noticed and concerned about, but 1) I could absolutely see her justifying to herself “well he would act more controlling and weird, I guess, he’s concerned about his suicidal granddaughter”, and 2) this is the same woman who didn’t bother to investigate why they had to fix Ruth’s door so many times. Observation and deductions are clearly not her strong point. That doesn’t mean it’s okay, just, it’s stupid to get mad about it in this particular instance when it’s happened more than once before.

      1. thejeff

        We also have the benefit of having seen bits of Ruth’s prior reactions to him and a few comments. And there are still people thinking he’s not that bad.
        She’s also likely just had a chat with Clint where he was nice and charming and set her up to ignore Ruth’s opinions. It’s a thing many abusers are good at.

        Chloe’s handling this badly, but not surprisingly badly.

        1. Bysmerian

          Yeah, it’s strongly implied that Clint knew how this was going to play out and set expectations accordingly; “See, she just closes up. Withdraws. Youth today, not even a thank you.” The smirk he makes implies he’s (pretending to) have good humor about this, and thus it sounds a lighthearted jab now that the danger’s over.

          Of course, I don’t know if he could have a non-ominous facial expression; he seems to have a permanent neanderthal brow that makes him look glowering and mean even when he’s putting on the nice face.

  5. inqntrol

    We done Chloe, you’ve doomed Ruth.

    1. inqntrol

      *Well

    2. Hellespont

      Yeah, she should have fired Ruth so she would have to drop out and move back in with Clint n Howie of Thrones. Much better idea.

      1. TheAnonymousGuy

        “Billie will no longer be under your care”

        “Fewer destractions would be prudent”

        one r.a to a hall would mean she’s being moved to another hall with a new r.a. and it sounds an aweful lot like he wants to keep them apart

        1. Hellespont

          Clint didn’t get Billie moved, that is a prudent and necessary step
          on Chloe’s part.
          Billie is getting moved to another hall, maybe even another floor. Not being sent to finishing school in Zurich.
          Don’t overestimate clint’s influence here. That is what he wants everyone to do.

        2. TheAnonymousGuy

          I’d bet she caves to demands like that, just about nobody in this comic (except sal and marcie) have any common sense.

          Would you get into a car with a crazed gun-man even if they were family – becky did

          would you willingly go out to eat with some rando you never meet walking out the shadows who claimed to be the relative of your girlfriend – danny did

          Would you blindly trust any random person you never meet at a frat party – Joyce did

          would you let someone nearly die because otherwise you’ll lose your blackmail on them – Mary did

          Most if not all of the main cast has made decisions that are completely terrible and a (very) few nearly fatal. So saying Chloe wouldn’t separate them on clints say so is more up in the air than you might think.

        3. Hellespont

          Chloe removing a conflict of interest is a simple, sensible act on Chloe’s part. When she mentioned it, it seemed to me it was the first time Clint had heard it YMMV

          Sorry, I just don’t believe Chloe is under Clint’s control at all. All of his influence here is bluster on his part. Chloe may have need some assurances on his part. Nothing more.

        4. begbert2

          Becky got into that car because she was worried Ross would shoot Joyce if she didn’t. Don’t hold that against her.

        5. Deanatay

          I’d say Becky got into Ross’ car to protect Ross, more than anything – he was minutes away from getting his head blown off by a cop. The fact that Joyce was handling the presence of a gun NOT AT ALL WELL only gave her more reason. Still, Becky was indeed blameless here. Her choice was a sensible one.

        6. Socks

          I don’t think it’s fair to call it a lack of common sense, that Becky got in the car with Toedad. She, you know, loves him, despite his being terrible, and she did not want to see him get his head blown off by law enforcement. Or see him shoot Joyce, or anyone else. And, while he’d indicated a perfect willingness to hurt other people, it didn’t seem super likely that he’d shoot her; he did all this to get her back and “rehabilitate her”, not immediately shoot her in the car, probably.

          I don’t think she was super unreasonable, there.

          Also Danny’s own parents are pretty crappy and he clearly has more of a lack of perspective of what crappy parents look like, and also a lack of spine, than anything else.

          Mary just sucks, I got nothing.

        7. thejeff

          Billie being moved is a necessity if Ruth is to stay RA and they’re too continue their relationship. It’s been suggested as an obvious solution by commenters here since their relationship started.

          It also doesn’t mean they get separated. Even if she’s officially in another dorm, she could still basically live in Ruth’s room – just openly now.

      2. Norah

        There would probably be other options. Even Ruth was
        starting to consider them before Sir showed up.

        1. Hellespont

          What are those options and how would they be better than keeping her job and staying in University?

        2. Fart Captor

          More student loans, and finding somewhere else to live while she continued at IU

        3. Fart Captor

          And that’d be better than keeping her job, because then instead of an additional source of stress she doesn’t need, she has extra time and energy to focus on therapy and her studies.

        4. Hellespont

          This is not an ideal plane. Those things take plenty of time and effort. Even if they are options for her, they may not be. This is now. Today. Ruth has a job and can explore her options as the semester ticks away. Ruth can quit her job, once she is alone again.

          Ruth could confront her grandfather at the conclusion of these strips and walk away with a firm foundation under her feet.

          I am sure we all want a golden outcome for Ruth. I imagine what happens won’t be that smooth a process.

        5. thejeff

          That’s a worthy argument and one that could be made to persuade Ruth to stay.

          That’s not what’s happening. What’s happening is that Clint (and Chloe) are deciding Ruth’s future for her, over her protests.

          Also worth noting that if she’s in a state where she’s not capable of making those kinds of decisions, she’s actually not capable of doing the job they’re forcing her back into. Which is also shown by how she handled the job previously.

        6. Socks

          And a lot of student loans? Thinking about loans as a problem-free solution is kind of one of the things that’s got us millennials fucked up in the first place. Also the fact that they’re necessary, and also a lot of other things, but yeah.

          It may, ultimately, be the better solution, but it’s not necessarily obviously better. Student loans are actually really crappy, it’s a fairly significant downside depending on the cost of the school, how much longer she’s going to be there, and what kind of job she’s looking at after graduation. There’s also the potential factor of useful drugs and therapy making the stressful job more doable. Things that I was sure would kill me turned out to be entirely manageable after I got some of that shit going for me. But if you’d asked me two years ago if I were capable of holding a job at all, I’d have insisted that it was impossible.

        7. Fart Captor

          It’s still an alternative, and one that Ruth clearly found to be preferable.

      3. trlkly

        If you’d actually paid attention, Ruth already had a contingent plan on how to deal with being fired.

        But go ahead and defend a shitty asshole who can’t do the job. That’s not familiar at all.

  6. spriteless

    oh I hate how it is when I’m too intimidated to protest this hits close to home.

    1. Cerberus

      *appropriate gesture of support*

      Yeah, when you’re just so reduced you can’t even fight anymore, just trying to ride it out until the awful stops. It’s a really shitty place to be.

  7. Shiro

    aaaaadsjhsdf nooooo :C :C :C :C

    *grabby hands, attempts to physically pull Ruth out of comic and away from bad bad man*

    :C

  8. Hellespont

    Clint leaves her, gets in his car and heads back home, leaving Ruth with a job, her girlfriend and her studies.

    Nah, something else is gonna happen.

    1. TheAnonymousGuy

      billie is being removed from ruths floor and likely they’ll be kept physically apart by clints request (Their relationship wasn’t a healthy one but they decided to take steps to change that)

      1. Hellespont

        I think both you and Clint over estimate his influence. Chloe did exactly what she always intended to do. Billie is changing bedrooms. Nothing else.

      2. Toad

        I… don’t think it’s feasible for them to be kept physically apart. Unless they’re going to be assigned guards, who’s going to know? They’re adults on an open campus. Heck, the whole point of moving Billie is to remove the conflict of interest–thus allowing the relationship to continue.

        1. Hellespont

          I agree. Clint doesn’t have very much influence here and is claiming more than he does have.

          What happens next depends on whether Billie did what Ruth asked her to, or not.

      3. Jago

        I don’t think they can keep them apart, they can’t keep boys and girls apart.

    2. Fart Captor

      A job she doesn’t want because the added pressure at this time will make treatment of her depression even harder.

      1. Hellespont

        And dropping out of Uni to move back in with Clint would help how exactly? Those are Ruth’s alternatives.

        1. TheAnonymousGuy

          chloe could tell clint to fuck off and deal with ruth directly, hell, she doesn’t even have to do it to his face, she can wait til he leaves and say to ruth “everything in my office, forget that, have a nice day”

        2. Hellespont

          Chloe is the RM, she will be talking to her RA very soon and on a regular basis. Without Clint.

        3. Krys Brynhildr

          Well, er…hopefully she will, despite it strongly being implied she didn’t actually look into any of the potential issues on Ruth’s floor too closely before this.

          Whether she’s a horrible person or not, Chloe honestly seems pretty horrible at her job, since the main thing she’s seemed to be on point on is transferring Billie.

          I mean, I guess her not being on point about the issue of the non-enrolled non-student staying on the floor is a plus side for Becky, but Chloe doesn’t seem great at managing things or making sure the rules are followed in general.

          Even her being so happy and obviously relieved (for some reason) about Ruth being allowed to go back to her RM job seems weird? I mean, yeah, losing the job would make things harder on Ruth in the short term. I mean she’d have to try and look for more work, or at least file a lot of forms and stuff to apply for additional aid, but why is Chloe so invested in putting an RA who just broke like….all the rules back on the job.

          Well, I mean its hard to tell if she’s faking how happy she seems about it or not, but it feels off anyways.

          That said, I kind of felt like she’d been trying to bank on being able to save Ruth’s job from the start (despite all the reasons Ruth had shown that she wasn’t actually someone who should have the job due to all her rule breaking), so maybe she for some reason actually assumes Ruth has been stressed out about losing the job. I dunno, the logical leaps she seems to be taking are kind of large, even with what she’s been there for.

          “Yay, you can go back to doing this thing you’ve been constantly openly telling me you didn’t want to continue doing since I found out you were having problems! Isn’t that great?!”

          Like even without getting into her noticing red flags or not, she’s spent the whole meeting acting like things are just great, basically ignoring the few things Ruth has said, and giving out all sorts of information in front of a third party that she probably shouldn’t be from a legal standpoint.

          No wonder the RAs she’s got aren’t handling things properly, with her as an example. Especially as it seems that she doesn’t tend to check in on them unless she hears about the problems directly because of complaints or things being a “newsworthy” event.

        4. Kryss LaBryn

          Firing one RA and choosing and hiring another is probably a fair amount of work and paperwork. Now, she doesn’t have to do any of that! Yay!

          Perhaps? :/

        5. Fart Captor

          No, they are not. Apparently, after a bit of therapy and a lightened load, even Ruth seems to think she can manage by getting more financial aid.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/lights/

  9. Yumi

    Uggghhh
    Uuuuuuugggggggggghhhhh
    UUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

  10. JayTheBookworm

    Uh oh, shiz is gonna go down D:

  11. Jaybie

    wow …. this is…

    holy shit I want to pull Ruth out of this comic and comfort her. :<

    1. Undrave

      I hope Billie didn’t leave. HECK! I hope Amazi-Girl shows up because he Abusive Parent sense was tingling!

      1. Deanatay

        *AG rises head, looks about intently*
        Dorothy: What’s wrong?
        AG: Dad-Sense… tingling…

  12. Kris

    My opinion of Chloe has fallen considerably in these last couple strips.

    1. Hellespont

      I know, preserving Ruth’s employment, degree studies and independence. Terrible woman.

      1. Jaybie

        Um more like… ignoring Ruth being bullied into submission and not seeing huge red flags?

        1. Hellespont

          Maybe Chloe just hasn’t read all the back strips yet.

        2. Jago

          Gotta be honest, it’s not obvious to everyone. I picked up there was something wrong, but could in no way tell what it was, so… yeah. Might be less conciously ignoring and more being unaware.

        3. Jago

          Gotta agree that Chloe is making a butt of herself here, though. Maybe not intentionally, but definitely.

      2. Kris

        It’s just that I can believe Clint is a smooth talker but at the same time Ruth is noticeably distressed and was arguing for someone else to have the position. That at least warrants more discussion.

        1. Socks

          If you’re 100% only expecting one outcome to a situation, you’re probably not going to see a lot of the evidence that a different outcome is happening. In her mind, of course Ruth will be happy to keep her job, and get to stay in school, and not actually face any disciplinary action at all. So her hesitation is just surprise at the big news, and her arguing was just a lack of self-confidence that she should be reassured about, and everything is great! After all, Ruth was just in the hospital for her depression. Of course she’s probably not going to look super happy about anything.

          Clint’s basically draped entirely in red flags, but presumably he was a smoother talker off-screen and could have prepped her with something like “She won’t react appropriately happily but that’s just kids today” or whatever, too.

        2. C.T Phipps

          It’s also possible Chloe doesn’t actually care about Ruth as she seems determined to keep her in the job simply because there’s no complaints from Ruth’s area (because everyone is terrified into compliance). In which case, Ruth’s happiness is irrelevant.

        3. Bysmerian

          It’s strongly implied he said exactly that a couple strips ago. “See, she just closes up.”

      3. Shiro

        Ruth, an adolescent under her care, has just reacted with extremely uncharacteristic fear to a family member. Chloe has now released her into the care of that family member. Do you see the problem? Chloe doesn’t.

        1. Hellespont

          None of that is apparent from the last few strips, the ones in Chloe’s office, alone.

          Ruth reacted exactly the same way when she was alone with Chloe earlier.

        2. Shiro

          “Ruth reacted exactly the same way when she was alone with Chloe earlier.”

          Not at all, imo. Her body language was way more active and fluid, and her expressions way less…checked out and frozen. Suddenly she’s back to acting almost as bad as before she got treatment.

        3. Mav

          Not to mention her grandpa commanding her, someone who is over 18 and not obligated to do anything he says at that point, that she WILL do it, and she just withdraws and shrinks- that would at least raise eyebrows for an observant RM.

        4. Hellespont

          Your humble opinion there is mostly your own projection based on knowledge Chloe is not privy to. As are most of the dramatic statements being made about this series of strips.

          This is a tense situation. The tension is building. We know something is about to happen, even if it is Clint leaving Ruth with a few well chosen last words before leaving her to collapse into a miserable heap. Chloe doesn’t know what we know, you aren’t psychic, you wouldn’t know any more than her in the same situation.

          Wait for it, it’s coming. Whatever it may be.

        5. Shiro

          As body language and expression, especially in comic form, are areas where it’s hard to cite specific hard facts, I suppose we’re going to have to agree to disagree. That said, you’re right–it is a tense situation. It shouldn’t be a tense situation. Why is it a tense situation, Chloe should be asking herself now.

          And I can tell you VERY certainly, if an adolescent in my care suddenly froze (as was commented on) when faced with a family member, I *would* be way more attentive than Chloe is being right now.

        6. Hellespont

          This meeting was never going to be a cause for celebration. I doubt any meeting under these circumstances would be anything but tense or dramatic. Unless you are suggesting Chloe should dial the AmaziPhone and have Ruth swept away while Clint gets beaten into the ground, preserving Ruth’s independence, job and studies is the best that can be hoped for.

          Ruth didn’t freeze. She did something much worse, although Chloe doesn’t know it, she gave in. Just shut up and let it all happen.
          Guardians tell their wards what do all the time.
          RMs tell RAs what to do, how to do it and whom to do it with as a part of their job.

        7. Fart Captor

          Chloe could have done a number of very simple, low effort things. The most obvious one being talk to Ruth before acting. Or just telling her that she’d invited her grandfather before he’d arrived. Neither of those requires super powers or extraordinary effort.

        8. Hellespont

          Chloe did talk to Ruth before acting.

        9. Shiro

          @Hellespont

          “This meeting was never going to be a cause for celebration.” Really? Because Chloe seems to think it is. “Congratulations! Everything is taken care of! You can go back to your life!” Typically, those are good things, no? Why is Ruth not acting like it’s good? Why was there no reaction whatsoever to Clint’s “you WILL do this” and general lack of concern for his beloved granddaughter’s well-being?

        10. Fart Captor

          @Hellespont No, she did not. She checked in with Ruth once, briefly, right after she’d been checked in to the hospital. She didn’t discuss anything she planned to do with Ruth. She quite deliberately did not tell Ruth that Clint would be here when she told her about the meeting.

          She at no point made any real effort to determine if this was actually a good idea.

        11. Hellespont

          You either want everything as context, or nothing. And in the same comment. Ruth just got out of hospital after a serious collapse. Chloe may be emphasising the positive, but that doesn’t make the situation any less serious.

          From Chloe’s perspective a guardian has just insisted that his sick ward keep her job and stay in school. And most people do not make dramatic, fluttering expositions when in meetings with mid level functionaries. They save them for when they are alone. Fake emotive exhibitions are much more suspicious than quiet confidence. Chloe’s perspective off (just in case you try “misinterpreting” again).

        12. Hellespont

          Oops, looks like I used the wrong stroke, way too much bold.

        13. Proxiehunter

          You keep calling Ruth an adolescent, She’s an adult. One of the biggest problems is that she’s being treated like an adolescent that Sir can order about and control because he’s her guardian rather than the adult she is who is capable of making her own decisions.

        14. RacingTurtle

          It can be difficult to convey nuances between depressed body language and a fear-based reaction in a drawing, but with Ruth there’s a really handy clue. Her eyes actually change color! I don’t mean that the characters can see the color change, just that the color change is a solid indicator of Ruth’s general behavior and affect. She is definitely reacting differently to this meeting than she was to the brief conversation she had with Chloe an hour ago; Chloe just isn’t picking up on it.

        15. C.T Phipps

          Adult in her care. Not adolescent.

      4. BBCC

        A) Ruth does not want this job. She JUST TOLD CHLOE she didn’t want this job. Chloe ignored her.

        B) What independence? Ruth’s grandfather just got the job for her – he now has the ability to hold that over her head and strong-arm her into doing what he wants in order to be ‘grateful’.

        1. Hellespont

          Ruth has never said she did not want the job, just that she didn’t think she was good enough (people seem divided on that one(. Or that she had done something unforgivable (I don’t agree, YMMV). Ruth has told Chloe she expects to be fired.

          B) Clint did not get the job for her. No matter how much he tries to imply otherwise. Chloe never wanted to fire Ruth. Ruth is dependent on the same th bs we all are.
          Which is more independent to you?
          Keeping her job, her own place and her degree studies at University?
          Or
          Losing her job, having to drop out of University and move back in with her grandfather?

        2. Fart Captor

          So if I were to start hitting you with a baseball bat, and you cry “OW! Ow that hurts!”, everyone should just assume you want me to continue, right?

          Since you didn’t explicitly say you wanted me to stop?

        3. Hellespont

          I know you wish that was relevant. But it isn’t.

          If you were a Doctor trying to set my leg after someone had hit me with a baseball bat and I said, “That hurts!” Would you stop?

        4. Fart Captor

          If a doctor was trying to set my leg when it was my arm that was broken, I would still call it malpractice and sue them if it resulted in further injury, regardless how good their intentions were.

        5. Hellespont

          Heh, once again, completely irrelevant. Unless you are suggesting Chloe has influence over something other than Ruth’s position as RA. Or that the RA position and its role in maintaining her studies are the problem here.

        6. Fart Captor

          “Heh”

          I can actually hear the neckbeard in that comment.

          The RA position and the fact that Ruth doesn’t want it because she does not need the additional stress right now are the problem here. You keep avoiding that point as if it was completely invalid.

        7. Emperor Norton

          It’s relevant in that you don’t see how in yesterday’s strip, Ruth is saying as best as she possibly can that she does not want the job; because there is more than one way of saying that one does not want the job.

          I mean, read yesterday’s strip again? In what world was Ruth -not- basically stating that she does not want the job there?

        8. BBCC

          Yes, she did – she told her point blank to give the job to someone else.

      5. Pat

        …do you actually know what independence is? Or preserving? ‘Cuz this ain’t that.

        1. Hellespont

          Then what would be? Leaving University and enjoying a life of minimum wage struggle? With no health insurance and crippling depression to cope with? You are confusing independence with freedom.

        2. Pat

          Being controlled doesn’t preserve your independence, hon. It’s kind of what not having any means.

    2. Undrave

      She really needed to speak with Ruth in private dangit!

      1. Norah

        Yes!

    3. hof1991

      So:
      Giving a recently suicidal and very troubled young person a position of some responsibility. This is functionally a re-hiring.
      Overlooking her very poor performance at that job.
      Gliding over serious issues (alcohol abuse, violence, abuse of authority) that should have resulted in her firing, even absent her near suicide.

      Ignore just how bad this is for Ruth (don’t make personnel decisions based on what is best for the employee). This is still a yuge legal and HR problem. The kind that blows up and gets you fired. The kind that ends up on the front page of newspapers / yahoo news.

      Chloe is not a very good person, but she is shit at management and HR, which is what she is hired to be good at.

      1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

        Yeah, when this blows up, the flan is going to be among the first head to roll.

  13. Hellespont

    I bet you get indigestion looking at the menu. Wait for it.

    1. Shiro

      …I see today’s That Guy has already shown up.

      1. Woobie

        I’m waiting for what Clint says when he has Ruth alone.
        If Billie isn’t outside.

      2. shammers

        I’ll just post this here too:

        I don’t think people were defending him. Believing that Ruth is/has experienced abuse/trauma and wanting to reserve judgement on Clint until he explicitly says or does something abusive are not mutually exclusive camps
        Several times I’ve told friends my father is abusive. they believed me but thet didn’t immediately start ignoring him or treating him differently when they saw him out and about

        1. Fox

          There were people defending him, many of the comments were deleted, presumably for being horrible, though so you may have missed them.

    2. temporalshrew

      Are you implying this is -not- proof? You must have a pretty hard time with novels if you’re this bad with subtext.

      1. Hellespont

        Nope, I am saying “wait for it”. That’s a four letter word, a three letter word and a two letter word. Let me know which one you have trouble with.
        Oh and stop putting words in my mouth, it’s really irritating.

        1. temporalshrew

          You’re the one replying in an opaque manner to a comment obviously directed at sceptics, my dude.

        2. Hellespont

          Because everything isn’t surface clear, my brother.

        3. Deanatay

          Feeling compelled to leave this here…

        4. Shiro

          Lots of people have been saying wait for it. For some reason. You should probably go back and read the past two days’ comments, the ones that haven’t been author-nuked.

        5. Hellespont

          So?

        6. Shiro

          So these are well-trod rhetorical paths, my man, and you don’t sound any better than your predecessors. In fact, as we get more and more *subtle* hints that Clint is an abusive fuckface, it’s getting less and less charming.

        7. Hellespont

          Heh, yeah, that’s what I thought. I’ ll explain what “wait for it” means elsewhere. Try to deal with it, without pretending it means something else.

          For the record, I find neither your insults or your self importance “charming”.

        8. Shiro

          I…wow, kid. Okay, you just go on and keep spreading those hard truths the rest of the world just can’t deal with. You alone are the true visionary here etc.

        9. Hellespont

          You obviously don’t need me for this conversation.
          Keep putting words in my mouth, only way you will ever be right.
          Let me know if the voice in your head that sounds like me says anything good.
          Out, “kid”

        10. Silva

          Okay, since it looks like people are talking past each other here and that has resulted in a lot of pointless hostility, here’s my take on the situation.

          Shiro, if I am interpreting this correctly, Hellespont was not saying “wait for it, there will be proof of grandfather’s innocence posthaste”. They, as far as I can tell, were saying “wait for it, despite the evidence, people will still justify what is happening here with some twisted logic”. You took it as the former, and Hellesponte was offended by being misrepresented by you, which you in turn misunderstood… Leading to a cycle of escalation.

          Hellespont, people are sensitive here to abuse being downplayed, and you were mistaken for participating in that behavior. I understand how that would piss you off, but try to understand why you were misunderstood.

          If I am totally off base about all this, I apologize, but that’s how it seems from here.

        11. trlkly

          If that’s what he means, then it’s on him to say it.

          He’s the one acting like a troll, getting all “offended” because someone warned him that he was coming off badly. He’s the one lashing out at everyone here.

          In my opinion, it’s not good to respond and give a possible troll plausible deniability. And I say this as someone who has the same instinct of trying to resolve the situation in this manner.

        12. Clif

          Said the troll. The last two panels are obviously leading up to a situation which is not good in any way shape or form. The first words out of my mouth after I read it we’re literally “wait for it!” Hellespont repeatedly asked asked people not to put words in his mouth. Why would you continue to be determined to do that? Unless… troll.

        13. Tan

          The two-letter one is the one I’m having trouble with. Now before you ask, I am familiar with the word ‘it’ as a third-person singular pronoun. But what, exactly, is the ‘it’ of this case that we are supposed to be waiting for that has not already happened? What is your goalpost? Where is your line in the sand? Because a bunch of really shitty things as regards Ruth’s personal agency and decision-making have already happened. Over the past three strips, she’s been ambushed, undermined, intimidated, and ignored. If these do not qualify for your ‘it’, what does? Does he need to hit her before you are willing to permit objections? What are you looking for here?

        14. Hellespont

          Objections to what? What exactly are you disagreeing with? Because it is nothing I have said.

          It is whatever is coming. A dramatic moment this very tense sitatuation is building towards. I know, at just a few panels a day, you want every panel to be that, but it isn’t. Something is coming. I don’t know exactly what it is. Neither do you. Just. Wait. For. It.

        15. Fart Captor

          We don’t need to actually see it to know it’s going to be awful. He’s not going to give Ruth a pony and start gushing about how happy he is that she’s alright.

          You can feel free to wait for it, but there’s no call for being such a snide jerk towards people to see the evidence in front of them.

        16. Hellespont

          Another one trying to put words in my mouth.

          Snide jerk, huh? There’s irony for you,

        17. Fart Captor

          Wow, keep trying to pull that one on people.

          If you really expect me to question whether “I bet you get indigestion looking at the menu” was actually a dismissive thing to say, you’re barking up the wrong tree entirely.

        18. Hellespont

          Heh, was that all you said? Well, well.

        19. trlkly

          You’re being an argumentative jackass. No one has put any words in your mouth. They’ve asked you what you meant, and you keep deliberately being cagey.

          It’s very clear you are just trolling. I wish this comments section had a report button so you could be deal with more quickly.

        20. Tan

          Re: “Objections to what?”

          Objections to Clint as a human being. This is the thing that we are doing to which you responded ‘wait for it’.

          Also, literally no one said or suggested that this moment was the climax, so not sure what you’re on about there.

        21. Clif

          Okay, I was born in 1949 which makes me ancient enough that the meaning of English words have shifted under me a time or two. But when did “wait for it!” stop being an expression of anticipation of an event? Can someone help me out here?

        22. StClair

          The argument seems to be, as near as I can determine, “wait for the climax, the open display, the smoking gun, the irrefutable evidence, before you pass judgment.”

          Which, IMO, is like saying we can’t know Tarkin is a bad guy until he actually gives the order to blow up Alderaan, and we see it happen.

        23. thejeff

          And is particularly bad in the case of even fictional abuse, because it so closely parallels what actually happens to abused kids. The abuser puts on a nice face in public, the kid isn’t believed, the proof doesn’t show up because the abuse is always hidden and private.

      2. Pat

        Or regular text. Supertext?

    3. Pat

      This would be the it.

    4. showler

      “wait for it”. If, given how Willis has set things up plus his past writings, you think this is somehow going to end with Clint not being a terrible person, then I don’t know what comic you’ve been reading.

  14. Danni

    his assholishness is reflected in his receding hairline

    1. boop

      i dunno, i’ve seen some very nice people with receding hair

    2. Jhon

      My receding hair will Fight you!

  15. IllogicalBobcat

    I know that guy and I don’t like him. I wasn’t in my 30s when I was in college though. That would have blown goats.

  16. Bluewind

    I have no words… there are none. I’d this what you wanted people!?! You just HAD to vote for unknown evil and I’ll be dawned if ya didn’t get Sir Grandpa Evil himself!

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      It’s like a Mystery flavour lollipop. It’s sounds like a fun adventure, but then we skip to later… and all that’s left is a horrible taste in your mouth.

      1. Bluewind

        Yup. That’s basically what we have here.

    2. Bluewind

      Also I’m so pissed that I typoed the hell out of it. I normally check that but no. Not now. I am rage: fucker of lives. And I can’t vent to my friend about how this whole story is making me feel and everything it’s bringing up because she only catches up once a month and oooo spoilers. FUCK A SPOILER! Your abused friend is crying over a comic strip and you won’t listen because of a spoiler!?! My mother cut me off from EVERY SINGLE FRIEND I HAD. Told them all I moved. And then years of hell where I literally prayed for death back when religion was a thing in my life. My dad has tried many times to take the few friends I have now out of my life and is so controlling that I a 9 pm curfew in my 30s and wasn’t allowed to date people who weren’t men and white and wasn’t allowed to have an opinion on anything. Or talk much either because the sound of my voice is annoying to him. But he’s great! Everybody loves him! He surprised me with gifts for my apartment! And I’m the poor disabled daughter who exaggerates everything and loves him and visits him all the time whose lazy and full of shit and could totally work. So I’m pissed and I’m crying and I’m acting like an idiot on the internet where random strangers get to think I’m crazy. Whoop – de – freakin – do!

      1. spriteless

        I want to give you hugs. BUT I also know that a lot of disabled people are treated like they have no bodily autonomy, and don’t want to do that.

        I ask permission to send you internet hugs. But you take care of yourself however you need to either way.

        1. Bluewind

          I’m a hugger hun. I give rl strangers hugs (after asking first because otherwise that would be creepy). Hug away.

          And my disability is a severe form of Hemiplegic Migraines. It’s basically a screaming migraine that causes half the body to become paralyzed (my left arm and leg) and also be in extreme pain. I get stupid, tunnel vision, dizzy, light sensitive, slurred speech, foot drop, weakness on left side, tired, cold, nauseous, and slow on top of the pain. A mild one makes my left side weak, moderate makes it very weak and forces me to have to “tell” my arm and leg to do stuff (consciously think of how to move my leg and foot so I can walk for example) and I might need my cane, and severe I’m lucky if I can crawl straight. This can last a couple hours to a couple weeks after the “attack” portion. I get aura and have warning (so I’m not driving when it hits), but sometimes the worst part comes on relatively fast and I collapse on the ground because my left leg suddenly quit working so I have become the queen of standing on one leg and how to twist my body not to land on the hard shit. The worst ones are often described to look like I’m having a stroke crossed with a silent seizure crossed with a migraine meaning lots of well meaning people calling 911 and lots of well meaning paramedics rushing me to the ER because HOLY CRAP SHE’S DYING! and I can tell them otherwise. Now I have it on record so I don’t waste their time. The sucky part was the year or two it took me to get a diagnosis and I was either brushed off because it was “just a panic attack” and then that one doctor who told me to start making funeral plans because I was dying. That really sucked. At least one good thing came out of it. I am now immune to embarrassment and strangers touching me! Also my pain tolerance. That is pretty insane.

      2. Cerberus

        *appropriate gesture of support* I think you’re pretty awesome. And you deserve to be able to vent. And I think your parents sound like folks I would very much like to headbutt in the face.

        1. Bluewind

          Thanks hun. I feel that way too sometimes. Goodness help me, but I do love my dad and he can be sporadically nice and he loves me in his own way, but boy does he make me feel like shit. Most of the time I keep it close to the vest, but just then I couldn’t and all that venom came busting out of me like a xenomorph. Now I feel guilty for even saying it. It all happened, but I feel like I betrayed him and I’m a bad daughter for it hurting me and for admitting that it hurts me. I’m in my home with the ceiling light on in the small hours no longer hiding under the covers with the light turned low so I can see my favorite comics when they go up or finish a book, but I still expect him to cuss me out for “wasting [my] time on that stupid baby ass bullshit” and “sleeping [my] life away”.

          He cussed me out earlier for not having my new place clean yet so I feel like I’ve failed. I’ve been here 16 days (paperwork mess up meant I couldn’t move in until the 3rd) in which the first three days was moving in with bronchitis and a sinus infection, 2 days I couldn’t be here for the whole day because they had to paint stuff, 1 day was taking his dog to the vet who was having seizures as a work in which took hours plus meds plus observing plus convincing dad not to euthanize him, and 3 days of period from hell and damn if I haven’t unpacked everything but clothes and knick knacks, cleaned the floors and bathroom, and hung 3 things on my walls because fuck the new dishes until otherwise noted because my dish drain is missing the part underneath and I’m not about to hand dry the lot of them… I guess when I lay it all out I couldn’t have done much more than I did.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          We moved almost a year ago and I still have shit in boxes.

          Fuck people making you feel like useless shit. That is total bullshit, and I understand completely and know just how awful and useless and terrible it makes one feel. 🙁 I am regularly reminded of a song “According to You” by Orianthi.

          *hugs*

        3. Bluewind

          Thank you hun

      3. EvolutionistX

        *hugs*
        At least ranting about the comic is totally a thing people *do* here.

        1. Bluewind

          Thanks hun

          Okay! Less depressing topic for a depressing string of posts. I’m getting a kitten! I have the okay to have one in my new place and I know a girl whose cat just had kittens. They are just babies so I like another 3 to 5 weeks before I get one (and before anybody says anything, I can have no more than one), but I’m having a hard time deciding. There’s a solid gray male, a solid black male, and a white female with a gray spot on her head. Anybody have any thoughts? Even if you don’t, google kittens. They are necessary after this strip and it’s comment section. Here’s a random kitty in a shirt to get you started
          https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2014-11/10/16/enhanced/webdr11/longform-original-13896-1415654840-22.jpg

        2. Hrovitnir

          Hey Bluewind. I’m a lurker here but I want to say (a) I’m sorry for how you are treated, you deserve better. (b) Yay kittens! I vote black male since you have to pick one – I’m biased toward black cats since most of mine are, also they legitimately find it harder to find homes, it’s cheaper to desex males, and on average males are more likely to be laid back than females. They’re all awesome though. =^.^=

        3. Bluewind

          Thank you.

          It’s really hard to pick. They are all cute, but too young to really see personality yet. *sigh*

          Random thing, but I just read this and came here to see your post and you remind me of number 4
          http://www.cracked.com/blog/what-helped-convince-me-to-stop-being-hardcore-republican/

        4. Kryss LaBryn

          I’d second one of the males, for the cheaper fixing price (although the females are less likely to pee on your stuff before you get them fixed!). Colour-wise, I’d have a really hard time choosing between all black and all grey myself! Hrovitnir is right about it being harder to find homes for black cats (although out here the local shelter especially advertises their black and mostly-black cats around Hallowe’en), and I have no problem with all-black cats myself; I just really love grey!

          I’d suggest lying on the floor, letting them crawl on you, and see which one is willing to come and snuggle the most, ha ha!

        5. Bluewind

          The reason I’m leaning towards a female is that they are less likely to spray. Plus the picture I got of the little white girl with the big gray spot on her head made my heart melt, but she means no dark pants for the next 16 years XD

          The grey one is cute and so is the black. I’ve had a boy before and loved him so much, but he had a bad bladder. He never sprayed; he just had accidents. Living in an apartment I have to worry about stuff like that.

          I’m not sure about boy names, but maybe Danny? I’ll have to brainstorm. For the girl, Jenka after a character on Girl Genius.

        6. Jhon

          It might not be such a difficult choice. When a friend had kittens to spare, I went over with a box. And shazzam! a kitten appeared in the box. We were happy for many years.

      4. Bluewind

        I wanted to update that I told my friend flat out what was going on and she was major upset and said she had no idea. So we talked a while and I’m feeling better. She even caught up on the strip to better understand why it triggered me so hard. She has good parents, so I explained to her like this (which caused her to have an epiphany)

        “Imagine you had a professor who everybody loved and admired who off handedly insulted you in class and in private called you a worthless idiot who can’t pull off the incompetence because you aren’t pretty enough. Now imagine that happening every class you have with him 3 times a week. How long until you started to believe he was right and you were really worthless?”

  17. Fart Captor

    Seriously though, fuck this guy.

    1. Shiro

      For real. We have Evil Face Shadows at this point and everything.

    2. Passchendaele

      Yeah, Clint is an asshole. Now he’s ten times as creepy as before.

  18. brasca1

    David Willis commented once that voice he would have Gallasso speak with would be David Warner because he reminded him of Ras Al Ghul. I’m picturing Clint with Michael Ironside’s voice because he reminds me of Darkseid.

    1. Hellespont

      I always give innocuous evil a Robert Duvall voice.

    2. Kryss LaBryn

      Gallasso must be played by Colm Feore, who looks exactly like him, plus is a pretty awesome actor.

      Must.

  19. Passchendaele

    Ruth acts and looks a lot like a ragdoll, which is how I would feel if my hopes and loved ones were put into a shredder and I was forced to stuff down my throat the screwed-up remains. Screw you, abusive and controlling jackass who finds Ruth’s only love a distraction. And screw you too, Chloe, for having seen them together and doing this anyway. I hope the next few in-story days come with a few swift kicks in the balls from reality.

  20. Sam

    This lady is fucking terrible at her job, what the fuck, how does she clearly not see the HUGE RED FLAGS in this entire situation????

    1. Shiro

      She’s just so happy :))))) that everything worked out :))))))) with a minimum of effort on her part :)))))))))))))

      uuuuuugh

      1. Cerberus

        The least effort possible. I mean, this looked like such a clusterfuck and now it’s just solved. What a lovely day. Nothing more to pay attention to, especially if it’s going to result in more work.

    2. C.T Phipps

      Uhm, Sam, did you not remember Chloe WANTED Ruth to have the RA job and thought she was a great RA? Ruth who physically threatens, beats, insults, and ignores her charges? A person who blew off talking about a kidnapping attempt by a homophobic armed gunman? It’s pre-established Chloe is an awful awful person and terrible at her job. We just forgot that because we’re rooting for Ruth.

      1. trlkly

        I didn’t forget, so much as hope we were learning more about her and that she wasn’t too bad. I was hoping that, despite her mistakes before, she was at least on Ruth’s side.

        1. Sunny

          Well, I think she thinks she is.

        2. Clif

          I find this to be a realistic depiction of people.

    3. Verdande

      Seriously though, how bad are the other RAs if RUTH is the best one?

  21. Keulan

    Fuck this is not gonna be good.

  22. Falcon

    Ok, this here is where Chloe screwed up big time. Clint doesn’t get to order Ruth to take the RA job.

    1. C.T Phipps

      I think it’s clear Chloe doesn’t actually care about Ruth except in the way which benefits her.

  23. Rukduk

    Oh hell no!!! Chloe you idiotic fake blond, do not let Clint be alone with Ruth in the hall!!! How dense are you?!? At this rate we could throw you in a lake and you’d sink faster than lead!!!

  24. IllogicalBobcat

    omg though guys. Yes. Ruth drinks. You just met the reason why. Calm down, even people who drink are people who have human reasons for their actions.

    1. Cerberus

      Yup, the kids that I see who abuse drugs the most tend to be the one’s with the most insufferable home environments where they are constantly facing violence.

      Cause, whatever numbs it all out until you can escape… and then numbs out the flashbacks.

      1. IllogicalBobcat

        You start to see different backgrounds drift toward different chemicals. People who want to escape want alcohol and opium/heroin. I love alcohol, it can be a lot of fun, but I swear its next closest neighbor is heroin.

        1. Cerberus

          Yup, when a kid starts to abuse the depressants, especially the ones that are designed to numb you, that’s usually a bad sign that there’s fucked up shit at home they are dealing with.

          Also getting busted with random designer drugs. All of the kids I’ve had at school that got busted at one point with designer drugs or had to go to hospital for an overdose were all getting hit at home on the regular (and which CPS did nothing about, because they are so stretched thin that only the most severe of cases of neglect and abuse get full attention).

  25. Socks

    So wait but if Billie is moved, they don’t have a conflict of interest any more, right? At the very least, there’s nothing in the way of their relationship any more. And maybe with useful therapy, the RA job won’t suck her soul out so much, and then she can stay in school and not have to go back home.

    Like, Clint is an asshole, but this is actually on the list of one of the better outcomes in general. Like, she hates her job and it’s making her suicidal and also presumably no one on the floor will ever take her seriously again, but, what are they going to do if she performs her duties poorly? Fire her?

    1. IllogicalBobcat

      I don’t disagree. I mean, if this weren’t a webcomic but were one of my schools instead, she would be fired. Probably not expelled, but fired. And based on earlier conversations Ruth knows what to do about Clint but it’s a hard thing to do.

    2. dunedon

      Sorry but I can’t see blaming Chloe here. She doesn’t know Ruth’s history with her grandfather, only we see that … and the Sir she’s seen has been nothing but concerned, helpful, cheerful and supportive towards Ruth.
      Add to that the fact that she’s moving Billie SO the relationship can continue and be there to support Ruth … Chloe is doing a fantastic job, when you remember that she doesn’t know what we know and doesn’t see Sir in panel 6, only we do.

      1. dunedon

        Umm … my reply (I thought) was to Passchendaele above .. whoops.

        1. Socks

          I agree though! So that’s cool. Like, damn, Chloe has seen this interaction for all of like a minute and was clearly expecting this to be a happy moment, how many red flags are you morally obligated to see given the information she has in this situation? It’s not exactly something you’d have a lot of reason to be on the lookout for. Most people are, like, happy to see their family and not lose their jobs.

          If this were, like, a longer meeting, or Chloe knew anything about Clint beforehand, of course that would be different, but damn it’s been like ten lines of dialogue here, and Ruth has been continuously visibly distressed in some fashion since literally the first strip in which Chloe appeared.

      2. Kris

        I think it’s a little more gray than that. I can buy Chloe being oblivious or lacking of information but Ruth was arguing against it just last page. If I were her I would at least question why. Especially if the person in question had just come back from psychiatric care. But hey maybe she is doing what most people would.

        1. Socks

          “I am not fit for this job” is both a thing that a person who is not fit for a job would say, and a thing that a person who’s too depressed to see their own skills would say. Ruth presumably put her bets on the wrong interpretation here.

        2. Norah

          Yes, seeing how Ruth talked yesterday and knowing she just came out of a suicicidal depression and is probably not out of the woods yet, you’d think Chloe would ask to speak to Ruth alone, and ask her her what was going on. Even if Clint had charmed her into thinking he was a caring grandpa, you’d think Chloe would be concerned with how Ruth took the news. And to be honest, Clint commanding Ruth the way he did “you will do this” seems like another red flag to me.

        3. boop

          not ‘you can do this’ which would have seemed encouraging. ‘you will do this’ seems nothing but creepy.

      3. Icalasari

        Heck, her uncharacteristic reactions could even be put down in character as her adjusting to the meds. For all we know, the next thing Chloe could be doing is figuring out if she should recommend Ruth to a counselor and if so, which one

        1. Socks

          Or as her just not feeling confident enough for the job because of her unjustifiably low self-esteem as a result of depression. That’s also a thing people do. If that had been the actual problem, and Chloe had said “ah okay you’re right, you’re fired, please pack your things and leave”, that would have probably been almost as bad.

        2. Norah

          Yes, it would’ve. Chloe needs to talk to Ruth alone and find out what she wants to do. If she doesn’t want the job, there might be Ober avenues of getting financial aid. Or maybe other on-campus jobs that wouldn’t have the stress of being an RA? Or have some other kind of help for her until she’s in a better place psychologically. Did Chloe ever talk to the therapist who was
          seeing Ruth when she was in the hospital.

          I certainly agree that they shouldn’t just throw Ruth out in her ass. It seems like maybe there might be other options than keeping her in a job that made her sick and that she may not want anymore, on the intervention of someone who maybe shouldn’t be involved and may have used questionable ways to save her job; or else fire her, which would mean no financial support and that she’d have to move back with her grandpa.

          I’m not sure if there are any other options for someone like Ruth, but at least it should be explored to see if there are, instead of Chloe just doing what’s easiest for her. Especially since Ruth doesn’t seem to be happy with this.

      4. C.T Phipps

        Chloe maybe should ask what Ruth wants and not involve her grandfather in a matter unconcerning him.

      5. Tadpole7

        Actually Chloe’s done a poor job. She missed a lot of basic stuff, among the first is that Ruth is an adult not a dependent. Sir should have never been involved at all in a employ disciplinary action/advisement. She didn’t consult with either Billy, Ruth about possible resolutions to their current situation. She has not done proper follow up on the events leading to the crisis that led up to her RA being hospitalized .

        She has almost categorically failed at basic communication, outreach, keeping to proper channels in dealing with this crisis.

        She is also failing the hall that Ruth is/was in charge of. Her Job is to look out not just for the RA’s she’s in charge of but all the students that they impact.

        Awareness and good communication are key for a admin of her level. She has been woefully short in both. I would say negligently so.

        1. thejeff

          Thing is, thanks to Clint’s “talk with the department”, this isn’t “a employ disciplinary action/advisement. ” That’s all been solved, swept under the rug. No need for formal action.
          So this can just be an informal friendly chat to give Ruth the good news.

          Except for all the reasons it isn’t.

        2. BBCC

          This was sold to Ruth as an employment meeting, ergo, Chloe needs to treat it like it is. Even though the result of the meeting is ‘surprise, you get to keep your job!’ that’s still regarding her employment.

      6. IllogicalBobcat

        I don’t think Chloe did anything wrong here.

        1. IllogicalBobcat

          Seriously though how do I not be Mary?

        2. Chris Phoenix

          Read Guerisso’s comment below. Do what they did:

          Listen to what other people are saying.
          Think about it. Try to learn from it.
          Pay attention to areas where they think differently from you. If you are certain that you are right and they are wrong in all cases, then you’re probably being Mary. If you change your mind about something, acknowledge it.

          Chloe is accused of at least three wrong actions: 1) Not listening to Ruth. 2) Missing red flags from Clint. 3) Outing Ruth(‘s bisexuality) to Clint. If any one of those three is accurate, then Chloe did something wrong.

        3. Clif

          Nice answer. I think he meant the avatar though. 🙂 1 and 2 are very human. 3 is not.

        4. Liliet

          pick another email

        5. thejeff

          Though Chris Phoenix’s answer was awesome: Liliet’s is probably what you wanted to know.
          You can actually use the same email – the avatar hash is case sensitive, so just experiment with changing capitalization until you find one you like.

        6. IllogicalBobcat

          Yes, this is what I’m asking. I don’t need help not being Mary in real life, lol.

        7. a snow ʍousɐ

          Or do you? dun-dun-dun~ (probably not! but it’s always good to check every so often whether you’ve been an asshole)

          Also, you can alter the capitalization of your email to get a different gravatar. It’s all hash-based, so changing whether any letter is upper- or lower-case should change the hash.

  26. JessWitt

    Gosh, this whole situation is making me nervous.

  27. wheelpath

    CONGRATULATIONS! *clap clap clap clap*

    1. Shay Guy

      Congratulations!

      1. Scoops

        Congratulations!

        1. Kensou

          Omedetou!

    2. Proxiehunter

      Congratulations!

      Who’s bringing the tang? Or are we all turning into it again?

      1. Emperor Daniel

        Congratulation! Achievement get!

  28. Roger Sterling

    I feel like there’d be a significant quality of life improvement if one out of every three characters’ parents/guardians in this comic was exterminated.

    1. Roger Sterling

      That was posted in haste.

      1. Ragnarok101

        Still correct.

        1. IllogicalBobcat

          Sometimes they seem less awful later. This comic is not full of examples of that. I mean, no one but cops have ever pulled a gun on me, for one.

        2. thejeff

          Hank got better, but he’s the only example I can think of.

        3. Clif

          People are complicated. Death is pretty perminent.

        4. BBCC

          We got 18 characters on the main cast page

          – Carla, Mike, Dorothy, and Dina have wonderful parents.

          – Joyce has a good dad. Amber and Becky have (or had, in Becky’s case) a good mom.

          – We’re not sure about Jacob, but it’s implied he’s on good terms with them. He certainly seems fairly healthy and well adjusted as well.

          – Sarah’s are implied to be bad, or at least she is not on good terms with them.

          – We don’t have enough to comment on Roz, Joe, or Marcie.

          – People who for sure have bad parents are Walky, Sal, Billie, Ruth, Danny, and Ethan.

          That’s 12/36 who are definitely bad, plus 3 definite bads from mixed ‘good/bad’ parents – so 15/18. So, yeah, a little more than one in three.

          Some of those bads could potentially change – Hank’s done so. I don’t know how good the odds are for them though, as we’d have to see more of them. I doubt it for most of them though.

        5. Silly Name

          Wait, where did we get that Sarah isn’t on good terms with her parents? I don’t recall her ever saying anything about her family (save for her grandma’s gift).

        6. BBCC

          Mostly in little comments like ‘Lying to your parents is an adulthood rite of passage, like pretending you love them.’

        7. Emperor Daniel

          Everyone always forgets about Sierra’s parents… 😛

        8. BBCC

          Sierra isn’t a main character, else I’d have included her, as her parents kick ASS.

        9. a snow ʍousɐ

          I believe that should say 15/36 instead of 15/18. Also, good points were made above.

        10. Roger Sterling

          This conversation is surprisingly insightful and measured considering I backtracked from my original comment for having been too psychotic.

          10/10 internet.

        11. BBCC

          36 parents, not main characters.

        12. BBCC

          Wait, misread, crap, yes, that should be 15/36, not 15/18.

  29. caesaria82

    This asshole’s facial expression in the last panel is TERRIFYING. And Ruth looks like she’d rather be anywhere else right now. This is so awful. Poor Ruth.

  30. tim gueguen

    Probably not. A flashback of Clint trying to stab her in the middle of the night is likely not enough for someone.

    1. Hellespont

      I dunno, show me that flashback and we’ll see.

  31. Lauralot

    Seriously, Chloe?! Did Ruth’s reaction in the last strip not set off a single alarm bell in your poorly-dyed head?

  32. Tacos

    RE: Alt-text: At this point, Ruth is probably wishing for Third Impact to occur because, seriously, fuck that guy.

  33. L!ghtn!ng

    Oh shit o_O

  34. Mandy

    In addition to Captain Jackass here and how fucked up this all is for Ruth, why the hell is that the solution here? Force Billie to move away from all her friends? Basically just “Bye Felicia”ing her? The fuck, Chloe?

    1. Rukduk

      These past few strips have proven that Chloe doesn’t give a shit about the students she’s responsible for, she just wants to stay as close to the status quo as possible with as little paper work as possible on her end. It’s a case of an incredibly lazy and irresponsible person being given a position of immense responsibility and authority. She either had an amazing resume and interview or nepotism was involved. I’m starting to suspect that Chloe’s job may have essentially been bought for her by her family, not unlike the current Secretary of Education that got brought in…

      1. Icalasari

        She doesn’t have the same knowledge as us, Clint clearly knows how to smooth talk and use a tone that makes him seem trusting, Chloe may have access to information that would make Clint seem even more trustworthy, and Ruth’s reactions could be deemed as a reaction to meds and something that may require observing, but not acting at the moment as for all she knows, it’s a mood swing. It is awful, yes, but as far as I can tell, Chloe is acting as she should in the situation. Heck, the moving Billy actually means there is now no conflict and that Ruth and Billy can date freely

        1. Tadpole7

          Clint shouldn’t have been part of the conversation to begin with, that alone violates a lot of employee to employer relationship and guidelines. Chloe should have thanked him for the offer and politely told him she would take it in consideration. Had a talk with Ruth and if she thought it was appropriate brought it up as an option for Ruth. Then she should have listened.

          I’m still curious as who told Clint that Ruth was in a bad way.

        2. TheKelliestKelly

          I imagine he’s Ruth’s emergency contact so it certainly would have been communicated to him when she was hospitalized

      2. Kris

        It doesn’t really read as malicious to me though. I think she’s just oblivious plus a various mishmash of reasons stated above. Plus I think Clint just donated a latge sum of money. I have no proof for that, but Chloe seems really cheerful here for no real reason.

        1. Clif

          Okay, I think Chloe wanted Ruth to remain as RA because it meant she didn’t have to deal with any problems like she did with the other RAs. But it wasn’t going to be possible. Then Clint came in and solved Chloe’s problem for her. Why shouldn’t Chloe be cheerful.

    2. Socks

      Um. If Billie moves, there’s no reason that she and Ruth can’t date. And as a person who transferred to university and never lived in a dorm in the first place, and I can readily confirm that it is possible to see friends in college with whom you do not share a half-bath.

      1. Mandy

        I recognize all of that, my issue with it lies more with the fact of where the hell Billie’s say in all of this is. She apparently gets no input whatsoever into her living arrangements being thrown around willy nilly.

        1. Socks

          I think that’s just a college thing? They assign you a room, and get to decide whether or not you get to keep living in that room (and whether or not you get to change that room, as well). I’m not saying whether or not that’s right, it’s just, also, I think, a fairly common part of living in school-owned housing. Same reason they get to tell you that you’re not allowed to drink alcohol on the premises, even if you’re of legal age to do so, or that you can’t shoot porn there. Like, if there were an issue where two roommates both wanted a new roommate assignment, but not to move out of their current room. One of them’s getting moved, whether they want to or not. I don’t think it’s something school residence managers are super torn up about, in general.

        2. Silly Name

          … You know, I can picture Billie being angry not because she has to move, but because it renders moot all the trouble she went through to get Sal to sign their roommate agreement.

    3. Toad

      If Billie moves, Ruth can keep her job and her girlfriend. That they had to keep their relationship a secret was one of the major sources of stress in Ruth’s life leading up to her hospitalization.

  35. butts

    Well hecking heck

  36. Reltzik

    Okay, first, credit where credit is due. Proper solution for the relationship-with-Billie conflict-of-interest problem.

    But…. not only are there so many red flags, Chloe…. and you’re totally clueless on those red flags… I mean, being clueless doesn’t make you evil, but this is the sort of thing you need to know in your position… anyway, not only are you missing all the red flags, YOU ALSO DIDN’T GET A YES OUT OF RUTH. You just assumed she was going along with it.

    1. Reltzik

      Aaaaaand I just realized.

      Credit WITHDRAWN for not actually discussing the wait list with Billie.

      1. Jake

        I’m hoping that she put her name on the list first and then planned to ask her about it later — it’s always easier to take your name off of a waiting list than hesitate and have a few other students beat you to it.

        And I’m really really hoping we’re both reading the Billie situation right and that Chloe is actually trying to do ONE good thing, here.

        1. Jake

          OH WAIT my bad, it’s my turn to just realize, now. She put her at the TOP of the waiting list, that changes my entire comment.

      2. Cerberus

        Not only not discussing that with Billie, but letting drop that tidbit and basically outing Ruth to “sir” because he’s not an idiot and will definitely put two and two together why a “Billie” needs to be removed from the dorms to avoid a conflict of interest.

        1. Reltzik

          I’d just kinda assumed Sir Clint had that information already. But if he didn’t, yeah, big nono.

        2. Cerberus

          I don’t see how unless Howie told him. Ruth only figured out she was queer recently and it hadn’t come up on any phone calls that we could see. I don’t think she’s even mentioned seeing anyone or has even been called since the relationship with Billie began.

          So Howie might have let it slip, but I strongly suspect that this is where Clint found out or at least got a confirmation that Howie wasn’t making stuff up.

        3. Norah

          Chloe probably mentioned it in her conversation with Clint before she called Ruth in.

        4. Reltzik

          Which would still be outing. I’m wondering if it was someone else who contacted Sir Clint initially and gave him an infodump.

    2. Bagge

      Yup. A kinda good solution to part of the problem (and ONLY part of the problem) performed in the worst way possible.

      Again, Chloe has not discussed any of this with Ruth before setting her down with “Sir” and telling her that it is solved.

      Chloe is bad at her job.

      1. thejeff

        That pretty much sums up Chloe. I think she means well, but she does things in the worst way possible and generally assumes she knows best and doesn’t do a good job of allowing agency to her charges – probably something of an occupational hazard dealing with college kids. Officially adults, but really in a transition phase.

  37. Sambo

    What is it with Willis and father figures?

    1. Rukduk

      Maybe it’s just that writing an abusive father figure is easier given how much more exposure they’ve been given in comparison to abusive mother figures. I mean, as a society we didn’t even realize that mothers could be abusive until about the late 60s or early 70s, but have known that fathers can be abusive since around the 1850s in all honesty.

      1. Socks

        Okay, but, Joyce’s mom.

        It’s really more, what is it with Willis and parent figures?

        1. Socks

          Also, also, Ethan’s mom. And Danny’s. And Walky and Sal’s. And Billie’s, I guess, through her emotional absence (unclear if it reached the point of emotional abuse or just kind of not good parenting?)

          I can count characters in this comic with two loving and functional parents on one hand, I’m pretty sure.

        2. Lauralot

          Sierra, Dorothy, and Dina all have good parents, right? Is there anyone else?

        3. thejeff

          Mike has good parents, though his mom might be overly smotheringly nice. Amber’s mom seems cool.
          Joe’s dad cheated and was a bad example, but there’s no evidence either him or his wife were abusive.
          Sarah’s nana apparently gave her a vibrator, so there’s likely a good relationship there.
          Then there’s a bunch of others we don’t know anything about, of course.

        4. Rachel McCall

          *shrug*

          I grew up in an abusive household, as did most people I’m close with. This just reads as regular normal life to me. Parents are usually monsters. That’s life.

        5. Jake

          The majority of my friends’ parents have been abusive on some level. Some more extreme than others, but that’s pretty much what’s going on in this strip.

          I’m not trying to say that no parents ever are non-abusive (mine, for example, did very well with a few minor mishaps). I just wanted to point out that it’s not actually that unusual.

        6. cmd1095

          Hell many parents, like mine, inflict emotional damage onto their kids without ever intending to do harm. They love their kids and would never want to abuse them, but something or another about their parenting causes issues. I’m not sure if I’m going to word all this properly but I’ll try

          The example I have is how my Mom would always just take care of things for me. If things ever seemed about to go wrong she’d always take over and never let me fail at anything even if it meant her doing the thing entirely by herself. She would be very vigilant for signs things were going South and grew very adept at picking up on my bad habits and stepping in to micromanage and make sure I didn’t screw up. On the surface that sounds great, such a supportive and loving parent, but there’s a damaging aspect of it too. Because I grew dependent on that help, between the challenges of my ADD and the hellish source of stress that was my time in public school, there wasn’t much point in my trying and failing and having her step in after that, best to just accept my inevitable failure and let her take over now.

          Now that’s an insanely simplified version of what was going on, and there’s so many more factors involved (which if I started to explain I’d be here all night), but the point is that my mom had all of the very best intentions for all the very best reasons, but because of how she went about it, she ended up inflicting some major emotional and psychological damage on me. So even the best, most well-meaning parents can inadvertently cause problems in their kids. I’m hesitant to call it abuse because abuse has the connotations of malicious intent, but not all abuse is like that.

          I probably explained my point horribly, but the gist of it hopefully got through, not all “abusive” parents are even trying to be abusive, which is probably why there’s so damn many of them.

        7. Pl0x

          *I realized that this is quite different from what you’re talking about. But I’d already written it so I’ll post anyway.*

          I think you explained it very well. I myself have been trying to figure out whether my mother is abusive. I hesitate to call her that. Like, is lecturing and rebuking abusive? Don’t all parents do that, to discipline their children? But she used to like doing it when we’re alone, ie. in the car going somewhere, because she knows I can’t escape. So she can really get her lecturing points across. I never want to listen to her or to talk about it. I just get really uncomfortable and irritated. But supposedly it’s necessary, right? Because I did something wrong or it’s an important thing to talk about, at least for her. I never see it that way though. Unfortunately I’m bad at communicating my thoughts when I’m uncomfortable or irritated. And I get scolded again for backtalk or for not talking politely and respectfully.

          Another thing is being grateful for what your parents do for you. Yesterday night I had a bad dream, sort of like a flashback. The scenario felt very familiar, although I can’t remember any real instances. My mother and I were clothes shopping. I picked out some article of clothing, and she chose for me a hat to go with it. But I didn’t want the hat, and I put it back. And she picked it up again and put it on my head. This went on for a while, with me vocally refusing the whole time. I started crying and then my mom felt hurt that I wouldn’t accept her ‘gift’. She’s like “Can’t you just be grateful for all the things I give you and do for you?” Which really confused me and I was now crying from confusion and guilt. But, the point is she had good intentions and just wanted to buy me a hat.

          She also tried to force it on me and then was hurt when I didn’t accept it. And now we’re both sad, meaning both parties received harm, so apparently we both did something wrong. I don’t really believe that, but I think that would be a justification made by some people for my mother’s actions. Again, this was just a dream, but it felt very familiar, so I think I’ve blocked out some of the real memories.

          She has done a lot of things for me and I should probably be more grateful. But a lot of damage has been done between us and it’s hard. Also it just seems so normal. And my brother seems pretty okay. Our emotional sensitivity levels are very different, I guess.

        8. StClair

          They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
          They may not mean to, but they do.
          They fill you with the faults they had
          And add some extra, just for you.

          But they were fucked up in their turn
          By fools in old-style hats and coats,
          Who half the time were soppy-stern
          And half at one another’s throats.

          Man hands on misery to man.
          It deepens like a coastal shelf.
          Get out as early as you can,
          And don’t have any kids yourself.

          (This Be the Verse, by Phillip Larkin)

        9. Pl0x

          …this is amazing. Thanks

        10. Hrovitnir

          Yeah, most of my friend’s parents were abusive. I’m pretty sure we find each other somehow. People whose parents were healthy (which doesn’t mean perfect) are kind of like an alien species to me a lot of the time. My partner’s family was strangely supportive without being smothering and it blows my mind.

          I guess the two other people I’m closest to now don’t have abusive parents – just in one case emotionally absent so he doesn’t feel like they are people he can trust or get support from, and the other probable-PTSD from Vietnam mixed with needing a Happy Face that has epically fucked up her daughters.

          I really REALLY think that people with healthy upbringings wildly underestimate the rate of abusive parenting. I understand the cognitive dissonance because it’s a massive mindfuck to see all aspects of the personality of someone who both loves you and tells you you should be dead, but it’s also awful feeling like half the world actively believes you’re exaggerating and should get over it.

        11. Cerberus

          Willis is a survivor of abuse, this comic is specifically focused on trying to face some of those old demons, and stories exploring abuse dynamics are rarely covered in fiction outside a poorly explored justification for a plot point?

        12. Gesc

          I didn’t know this and that changes a lot for me.

        13. Pat

          It’s kind of the topic of the comic, isn’t it?

        14. EvolutionistX

          >It’s really more, what is it with Willis and parent figures?
          Narratives require conflict. Conflict has to come from somewhere. For college students, negotiating boundaries with parents is a major source of conflict. This is true even for good parents with emotionally well-adjusted kids, but a such cases are a bit dull to read about.

        15. Pablo360

          I mean, I’d argue that narrative doesn’t require conflict, but an extended narrative is certainly enriched by it.

          For a certain value of “enriched”.

  38. Riley

    Chloe is either amazingly sheltered or amazingly horrible.

    1. Mav

      I would say she’s most likely very sheltered, which would make her terrible at her job, seeing as she’s supposed to be able to pick up on stuff and not always have people spell it out openly and plainly.

    2. Mav

      Additionally, she also seems relieved that she doesn’t have to deal with Ruth and her issues anymore – like she’s relieved that she doesn’t have to make any more of an effort or fill out anymore paperwork and whatnot.

    3. Jago

      Not sure if she should’ve had training for this, do people get any training as a RM? Never been to college myself, so no idea.

  39. Brigid Keely

    I know everyone’s bagging on Chloe for Not Seeing The Signs but the main reason we know Clint’s an abusive sack of garbage is because of the overheard phone call. This is a really good example of just how charming and manipulative abusers can be. It’s really super common for people to be taken in by them. Of COURSE he’s concerned about Ruth, her health, and her education! Of COURSE he wants to pull strings for her and make sure she’s got some stability! Of COURSE he’s looking out for her best interests, it’s what family DOES!!!! And he’s able to do that and say that and fool a stranger because that’s what he DOES.

    1. Icalasari

      Plus something else people are missing: Ruth would be on meds that stabilize her mood. Which means any changes or uncharacteristic outbursts can be seen as adjusting to the meds. It would actually be worse if she did suddenly react to that as a sign of her being abused. Yes, it does warrant checking up on as if she remains like this, then it’s probably not the meds/the meds are not doing their job, but as it is, even the red flags that would go off would indicate completely different things for Chloe due to the situation

      As it is, Ruth just stumbled into the perfect storm of crap

      1. Pigeon Pollyx

        ah, shit you’re right, that would explain her right now. Damn this really is a perfect storm of crap for Ruth isn’t it

    2. C.T Phipps

      Actually, I’m on Chloe’s case because she’s consistently done a horrible job at representing the students. Ruth was a horrifying RA and she wants to keep her in the job no matter the cost to her as well as her students.

      1. Verdande

        Chloe explicitly said at one point that Ruth was her best RA, which makes me wonder what the heck the other RAs have been getting up to.

    3. Tadpole7

      Even if we give her a pass with seeing the red flags, Chloe has basically set the procedural book for dealing with this situation on fire. In her effort to make this go away she and any boss above her that’s aware of this has violated a lot of regulations to make this happen.

      1. thejeff

        As I’ve said before, it’s pretty explicit that however the decision was made it was made above Chloe’s head. Clint talked to the department and solved. If it was, as many suspect, a financial investment, that’s nowhere near Chloe’s level and she certainly doesn’t know the details.

        She absolutely should be picking up on the flags here and not helping him run over Ruth’s objections. She absolutely needs to talk to Ruth about this without Clint present. She’s failing on those grounds.

    4. Jake

      Actually, the main thing that made me think he was an abusive asshole was the way Ruth completely shut down as soon as she knew he was waiting for her in the office. Plus her body language interacting with him. This is not the aggressive angry Ruth we’ve seen before, it’s not even the depressed suicidal Ruth. This is someone who is afraid and preparing themselves for the worst.

      And the fact that RUTH has been reduced to this? Tells me just how bad it has been for her.

    5. Norah

      I just think that Chloe should ask to speak to Ruth alone and really listen to what Ruth has to say, not just assume she really wants the job but is lacking confidence, or that Sir is just trying to be encouraging.

      1. Cerberus

        She should have kicked him out of the room to discuss anything in private. Like, great, he solved a major problem, say, thank you for a wonderful conversation but me and Ruth have a lot to discuss, I’m sure she’ll be glad to hear the good news and then one-on-one discuss the options.

        Like, even if we are to ignore that she openly ignored all the red flags here and has openly dismissed Ruth’s refusals, she’s still unbelievably bad at her job because she keeps letting slip things she has no business slipping to a private citizen with no formal connection to the school.

        Like, she’s basically let slip that Ruth is dating a girl, the exact steps to address it, the disciplining of another student, confirming another student’s sex tape, stating that 3 students are under heavy watch and are not thought of well by the school and considered “flashpoints” and naming them, and the exact shape of the job offer in an environment where Ruth is pressured to just go along with it.

        Like, holy fuck, I work in education and I cannot even process the level of fucked up you need to get where you’re openly communicating sensitive information about other students and school policy to a rando parental figure no matter how charming.

        1. Pat

          I’m not sure I’d say there’s evidence they’re “not thought of well by the school.” She just said that potential RAs don’t really want to walk into that situation–and I sure wouldn’t. Would you?

          There, I partially addressed one of your concerns, indirectly to your actual point. That’s settled, then!

        2. Cerberus

          Heh. Nice.

        3. Norah

          She shouldn’t have mentioned any of it in front of Clint though.None of it is any of his business, and it’s mostly confidential information. I realize Joyce made the news, but still.

        4. thejeff

          Roz’s sex tape apparently did too. At least Clint knew about it as soon as Roz’s name was mentioned. (Bets on Clint having sought out the tape when he heard about it?)

        5. Pat

          Oh well of course not. I dunno how confidential any of it is, though. She said the name “Roz” without even a last name, and he knew exactly what she was talking about.

        6. Pablo360

          It was definitely a big story a while back, and if he’s as overbearing as he most definitely is, he probably keeps track of local news.

    6. Commodore Jeep-Eep

      That Ruth was left in charge was a sign that she was pooching it, and I called it back when that puddinghead appeared.

    7. shammers

      I mean, I think she was supposed to be trained to recognize certain signs and deal with this in a certain way. It’s part of her job

  40. Mav

    Yep, it’s always worse when you’re alone with your abuser.

    It just occurred to me that “Sir” may not have known that Ruth is queer, and I have no idea how much Chloe told him.

    1. Cerberus

      She just outed her.

      Letting slip that there’s a Billie, that Ruth is dating her, and that she is in the same floor because Ruth is only the RA for a girl’s wing and so there’d be no conflict of interest if Billie was a boy.

      So, “sir” now knows. And it’s not like bi women are even more likely to be abused and more violently abused by their abusers than both straight women and lesbians or anything… Oh wait.

      1. butting

        I get more of a sense from the direction the Setting Forth Of Ways has gone that he already knows. His motivation for everything that’s gone down was already set, and nothing changed from the point where Chloe mentioned Billie.

        Which indicates that Chloe’s call-of-concern-to-uninvolved-outsider has already covered this.

        The outing happened while Ruth was in hospital.

        1. Cerberus

          … I really fucking hate Chloe…

          But yeah, you’re probably right given his response and his quick knowledge that a “Billie” is a distraction he needs to terminate. Fuck, Chloe, could you have fucked this up more thoroughly if you had tried?

        2. Pat

          To be fair, it looks like the outing itself isn’t causing any harm. I’m not certain of that, of course, and it could very easily have gotten her killed…

          I dunno where I’m going with this.

    2. Pl0x

      Being alone with my mother makes me uncomfortable, with no other family members or family friends to be a buffer of sorts, distracting her from me. Too often in the past she would dump a bunch of various negative talk on me when we’re alone. Because I’m an easy target for her during those times.

      I don’t know if this makes her abusive. She has some abusive tendencies. But it seems normal in my country, I think? Maybe I’m unusually sensitive. My brother seems fine. It’s nothing like Ruth and her grandpa. Sir is much more forceful. But if she’s not abusive, why do I feel uncomfortable around her? I dunno. I’m still figuring it out.

      1. EvolutionistX

        If it helps, I think it’s fine to think “This is like an abusive situation,” or “this is borderline abusive,” or, “This is inappropriate and I don’t like it.” Like, this isn’t science; there’s no exact definition for abuse like there is for hydrogen.

        Good luck.

      2. Pat

        My father… is willing to use me as a shield, so that they focus on me instead of him; he told me so himself. Is that abuse? Possibly.

        But he’s the one I’m afraid to be alone with.

        1. Pl0x

          Fuck, that’s awful. Being used as protection by someone you want lrotection from…that’s really awful and ironic.

  41. Brian

    I can’t help but seriously think that Willis must’ve had some serious issues with father figures in his life and it’s being reflected in his work.

    1. Lauralot

      There’s been plenty of bad mothers in the strip too, though. Carol, Linda, Ethan’s mom whose name I have forgotten, and probably others who’ve slipped my mind.

      1. Thevoiceoftreason

        No, the issues are with moms and grandpas.

      2. Norah

        I think k Ethan’s mom is Naomi. Also, both Danny’s parents aren’t that great.

  42. C.T Phipps

    Anyone else find Chloe about x100 times more interesting now that it’s revealed she was happy to throw Ruth under the bus for a patron of the university? That’s actually worth exploring.

    1. Liliet

      That’s honestly bog standard boring. Like 50% of all conflicts in fiction involve neglectful authority figures willing to throw subordinates under the bus.

      Now, a genuinely well-meaning but clueless Chloe having her own arc of slow realization just how badly she fucked up here and how much she needs to learn about her job, now that would be interesting.

  43. Bluewind

    So he’s purposefully cutting her off from her support system after she nearly took his life and forcing a huge burden on her shoulders when she is in no state to handle it, while her boss is completely ignoring all the signs that scream that this is a bad idea because she is either self centered or oblivious to others body language (both of which make her terribly suited for her job) and treating Ruth as if she has 0 say in her own life and not getting her write off on this plan (which I guarantee no doctor in their right mind would agree to)? That about sum it up? Good. Fuck Clint. Fuck Chloe. And fuck anybody that signed off on this in the administration. Fuck them all with a horseradish covered cactus.

    1. tyersome

      You monster! – Have you no mercy?

      That poor, poor cactus …

    2. Rukduk

      1. That’s painfully.
      2. We can make it even more painful. Roll it in salt and vinegar first. Then, flay Clint alive (the Aztecs had a process to remove the skin from a person’s entire body in near perfect condition with only one cut and a lot off peeling, so maybe copy their technique), then citrus juice on him before impaling him with a stake sized in such a way that it takes two days for him to die by sliding down under his own weight (the trick is to make the top thin enough to not block the trachea and thus allow the victim to breathe, while also making sure the thing section isn’t too long and thus break under the victim’s weight).

      1. Bluewind

        Far too kind and brief. Hook them up to a machine and being forced to feel all the emotional, physical, and psychological pain that they ever caused other people in their entire life, both short term and long term. And that time moved slower in the machine than the real world making the pain last years or even centuries forcing them to keep their sanity through the entire thing so they can’t go numb or insane through it all. And then they come out of it forced to live the rest of their mortal lives with physical alterations that make it impossible for them to harm others or themselves until they die at a ripe old age still remembering the faces and the pain that they caused even when they closed their eyes or tried to sleep.

    3. Fart Captor

      Moving Billie appears to be Chloe’s idea, though Granddick seems all to happy to turn it into another reason to be disappointed in Ruth.

      1. thejeff

        Agreed. It’s also one that lots of people here have suggested. It’s pretty much a necessity if they’re to stay together and Ruth is stay RA. Nor does it mean cutting her off from her support system. Billie can still visit and even stay over, just can’t be under Ruth’s charge.
        This part is a good thing.

    4. Cerberus

      I’ve been dropping the Power and Control Wheel a lot, but:
      http://www.loveisrespect.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Power_And_Control.png

      It’s really fucking relevant. In this comic alone we get intimidation, isolation, and definitely using male privilege. In the rest we get the full spread. I fear for which one’s we’ll see tomorrow.

      So yeah, fuck ’em all.

  44. showler

    Is it wrong of me to be glad Willis clarified that Clint is not Canadian?

    1. Reltzik

      Yes, it is.

      Under the given circumstances, we WANT him to be nice, eh?

      1. showler

        He was never going to be nice. He was just going to be a Canadian asshole. We have loads of them.

  45. DarkoNeko

    Oh lord.

  46. WikiDreamer

    *facepalm*

    And ONCE AGAIN, Willis breaks me.

    Fuck this shit. This enrages me in SO many ways. It’s not even about the disregard for Ruth’s issues, it’s about how easily he could just throw money at a problem and consider it solved. Shit, the investment was fiscal and I’m beginning to see how. Rich people make me fucking sick how they think throwing money at everything solves everything. Not counseling, not therapy, not attention, not basic human comfort. Money. Congrats Willis, you haven’t triggered me like since Blaine.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Hey, don’t forget Chloe took the money. I have no doubt a large portion of Clint’s donation if not all of it was to her personally.

      1. thejeff

        I’d be absolutely shocked if any of it was or even if Chloe knew the details.
        That would be an outright illegal bribe. Easy to bust. A large donation to the school is perfectly legal and it’s easy to suggest, unofficially of course, what concerns you have.
        Besides, Chloe’s a low level manager. Waste of time to bribe her. She doesn’t actually make these decisions, as she’s said time and again. Even in this meeting Clint said he “had a talk to the department, and it’s solved.”

  47. mister gray

    I was waiting til like this moment to pass judgement on clint, he is lex luthor evil! OMG I so want billie and ruth to just elope and live somewhere else far away from clint’s reach!

  48. Reltzik

    Okay, the computer scientist in me has to ask….

    … how is it that there’s a room transfer wait list consisting of more women than just Billie?

    I mean, the moment you hit two, you’ve got a transfer!

    1. Socks

      Maybe the women in question are really not compatible with the other people on the list for some reason. Like some floors at my college’s dorms were for transfer students only, or enforced quiet hours more seriously, or were specifically queer-friendly, or whatever. A person from the “quiet time” floor probably wants to stay on the “quiet time” floor?

      Or they just like hate the other people on the list, or something.

      1. Reltzik

        Okay, I can see that if you add in curlicues like that. But that should still give Billie an instant transfer if all the others on the list are incompatible…

        …. crap, all the pending transfer requests are from Ruth’s floor, aren’t they?

        1. Socks

          Uhhh everyone on the list right now is also incompatible with Billie? Perhaps because they’re all from Ruth’s floor in the first place.

          This is the least important detail of this strip why am I so focused on this.

        2. Cerberus

          Well, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Roz was on that list, yeah.

      2. Norah

        Also Billie is a known alcoholic–putting her in a room with another alcoholic might not be a good idea, but neither would it probably be good to put her in with someone who thought any kind of drinking was morally wrong. Also she’s bisexual, so you wouldn’t want to put her in with a homophobe.

    2. boop

      nope. people have to fill out a short form about housing/roommate preferences, and then you’re matched with someone who (one hopes) won’t drive you to murder

  49. Some Random Name

    Dumbing of Age is starting to just depress me at this point.

    1. Cerberus

      I blame Trump. For sucking all the hope out of everything and making everything dour.

      1. Norah

        Yes, this.

      2. Chris Phoenix

        Today I was playing Cards Against Humanity, which I’ve played several times before, but not in the past six months.

        I felt there was a big gaping hole in the game, because none of the cards referenced Trump. Amid cards like “Trail of Tears” and “Ethnic Cleansing” and “AIDS” there should be “Betsy DeVos” and “Accusations of Wiretapping” and…

        Trump is really some of the most awful stuff I can think of, and a random list of the world’s awful just doesn’t feel complete without him in it.

        That says a lot.

        1. thejeff

          I think there are expansion decks.

          During the election they did a promotion campaign:

          Today, we’re letting America choose between two new expansion packs about either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

          At the end of this promotion, Cards Against Humanity will tally up the sales of both packs, and depending on which pack gets more support, we will donate all the money in support of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

        2. C.T Phipps

          I take a perverse form of comfort that as much as people hate Trump, no, hes nowhere near as bad as Bush. We need to remember that Trump is an awful policy maker and flamboyantly evil but he hasn’t started any wars yet. We survived Bush and he legalized torture when it was cartoonishly evil before.

        3. thejeff

          Give him time. Bush hadn’t done any of that two months in.

        4. rectilinearpropagation

          Trump already has at least one death he’s directly responsible for because the initial ban prevented a woman from coming into the country to have life-saving surgery. Another woman was pulled out of a hospital room (again, waiting to have surgery) so they could deport her. Hopefully she’s still alive but he’s very determined to get people killed as fast as possible.

        5. David M Willis

          I think that first one turned out to be a lie.

  50. Pigeon Pollyx

    chloe more like christ-lady-if-your-lenses-were-any-rosier-i’d-have-to-get-the-weedwacker-oe. I could understand the initial ignorance in that first comic maybe and Sir’s certainly skeezy enough to cover himself but ruth’s behavior should at least warrant like, an eyebrow raise or something.

    I’m also kind of hoping Howie isn’t some kind of Golden Child situation here and his idiosyncrasies really are just coping mechanisms for his own breed of abuse. This whole thing is reminding me too much of my mom before she got herself together and one person having the ability to actually and fully emphasize with Ruth would help with these hot flashes right about now.

    But these are made in advance so whatever I guess

    1. C.T Phipps

      I wouldn’t be surprised if Chloe was given a personal check to make this problem go away. I doubt the university above her is involved so much as her getting a check and saying, “Problem solved!”

      1. Tadpole7

        I don’t think she got any money from this. My guess is that the paper work and the day to day crisis of dealing with this job has overwhelmed her to a degree. Offer her a way to solve this in a quick way that appears to benefit everyone and she’s going to be all over it. Stress relief is a powerful motivator.

        She’s going to want believe this so hard that she’ll filter contrary signs out.
        Bad management but perfectly human and requires no money.

    2. RacingTurtle

      “If your glasses were any rosier I’d have to get the weed-whacker”—that is an excellent phrase and I like it.

    3. Temperaryobsessor

      I theorize it might almost be a dynamic similar to the Kaiba’s from Yugioh. Ruth has high expectations which she can’t fail, and Howie came with Ruth. It seems weird for the golden child to joke that picking up chicks is yet another thing their sister is better than them at. So Howie’s breed of abuse might be just knowing that and being shoved out of the way. Also I might be reading too much into this but Ruth said Howie still lives with my grandpa not still lives with our grandpa which considering that she was talking about Howie it seems off.

    4. Guairdean

      I’m wondering if Howie’s idiosyncrasies are an indication of a deeper problem. Ruth is being groomed for something, and Clint wants her to excel in a position of authority in college. Normally, I’d have expected Clint to groom Howie for such a position, he strikes me as the chauvinistic type. Grooming a granddaughter to lead, instead of grooming her to marry well, points to issues with the person normally seen as the “heir apparent”.

  51. Derek

    *external screaming*

  52. brasca1

    And so we’ve moved on from vilifying Clint who we’re sure is 90% terrible to Chloe. She doesn’t have the benefit of omniscience like the readers. What is she supposed to do do assume everyone is evil and has a sinister agenda? From her perspective everything has worked out for the best. Ruth gets to keep her scholarship and position and because Billie will no longer be her responsibility she can be involved with her.

    1. showler

      She’s supposed to give more weight to the words of the student she supervises than the guardian who is giving that student orders.

      I could understand her expecting Ruth to be relieved, but she’s not reacting to Ruth’s obvious lack of relief.

      1. Socks

        I’m conflicted on the amount of weight that should be given to a person who was just hospitalized for depression saying that other people would be better at their job than they are? Like, yeah, take people at their word, in general, depressed adults are still generally competent for their own actions, etc. etc. But also, if every single time a depressed person said “no, I’m not good enough”, the people around them agreed instantly, I don’t think that would be a lot better.

        Kind of feel like people (maybe not the same people, but people) in the comments would be similarly upset if Clint were a great guy, Ruth was just saying she wasn’t good enough because she was depressed, and Chloe took her at her word and fired her, effectively possibly kicking her out of college instead. And as far as Chloe knows, that is exactly the situation she’s in, because somehow creepy-ass Clint managed to charm her and she knows that Ruth was just hospitalized for her depression and doesn’t think she deserves anything good. It’s regular old dramatic irony, where the audience knows something the characters don’t.

        1. Fart Captor

          The appropriate reaction would be to talk to her, and try to convince her she is good enough and/or determine whether it was just the depression talking. Ruth is still an adult, and competent to make her own decisions.

          Chloe might mean well, but she’s chosen poorly.

        2. Socks

          Well, yeah, but not like, criminally poorly. Not like, monstrously obliviously poorly. Just kind of, like, regular poorly. As people do, sometimes. I probably chose about that poorly several times this week, and they just didn’t have as disastrous results as Chloe’s poor choice probably will.

        3. butting

          She’s tortiously liable, at the very least. Her incompetence in handling Ruth’s privacy for a health-related employment situation opens the university to the sort of lawsuit they need to settle well before it gets anywhere near a courtroom.

        4. butting

          (and I really can’t see your week being anywhere near that bad!)

    2. Jake

      She is supposed to pick up on at least one or two, if not more of the red flags that have happened in the last few strips. Ruth’s body language shows that she’s scared and shutting down emotionally; Clint is is speaking for both of them (“our investment”) and ordering Ruth to do something she has clearly stated she didn’t want to do; he is ignoring her own needs and brushing off her suicidal state as an inconvenience.

      Personally, what I want from Chloe is a sign that she’s noticed that Ruth is not doing well and some indication from her that she cares about that. So far, though, she seems to be ignoring all of the red flags because it’s more convenient for her to do so.

      I wouldn’t call her evil, necessarily, but she is certainly not trying to take care of any of the students she is responsible for.

    3. CJ

      She doesn’t have to be omniscient. A little respect for Ruth and talking with her – as the only one who has a right to make decisions for her – about the job situation is all we ask. And that is a frigging low bar to fail.

    4. trlkly

      I’ve basically already explained why Chloe is doing a horrible job upthread–even if she has no idea that “Sir” is abusive. This literally solves none of the problems.

      But you ask what she should do instead. If no one wants to do the job, you offer a pay increase to get it done (seeing as they clearly just got a nice donation), or you just go on doing it yourself, or you hire one of the two students who are actually up for the job.

      You could even make Ruth officially the RA on paper, but then bring both of the freshman in to actually do the job–if, for some reason, you can’t do anything else.

      And that’s an idea we’ve heard given multiple times in the comments. If we can think of them, how can’t someone whose job it is to deal with this sort of thing not think of it?

      Because, she is what her nickname describes: a pudding-head.

      1. thejeff

        Most of that she can’t actually do. Not on her own certainly. As far as hiring/firing decisions, she’s mostly a mouthpiece here, though I’m sure her recommendations are important.
        She can’t fire Ruth by herself. Her superiors (the Department that Clint talked to) have solved the problem. She can’t give a pay increase or hire others or anything else official.
        She could take Ruth a lot more seriously and not help Clint steamroll over her objections. She could discuss this with Ruth privately.

  53. showler

    I’m still a little worried that Willis said the cane was a replacement for Amber’s corn popper toy. Most of us know how Amber used the corn popper toy.

  54. Josh Spicer

    Chloe, come on now. You can’t be that naive.

  55. Masumi

    Oh no… I remember these feels. They havn’t been part of my reality for a long time, but I remember. Someone needs to get Ruth out of there NOW. Or at least someone stick around so “Sir” has to act half-civil. Maybe Billie didn’t go back? And is ready to punch him? Please?

  56. Bagge

    “Sir” is about to congratulate Ruth for a job well done, make sure she is OK, high five her about Billie and offer her a cookie.

    You can see it in his expression the last panel.

    1. thejeff

      Shocking twist ending!

  57. Ross

    Honestly, even if Chloe didn’t notice the red flags re: Clint, it’s still pretty inexcusable no one is checking in with Ruth about this? It’s not hard to guess that this might not be welcome or advisable, particularly since no one has actually had a conversation with her about it and she’s refusing to engage her. The only redeeming possibility I can see here for Chloe is that she’s decided it puts Ruth at risk to force a confrontation in front of Clint, but honestly Chloe doesn’t seem aware enough for that.

  58. cmd1095

    Hmmm *glances at demon killing blade from last comment* I think we need a bigger blade

    1. MatsuoTanuki

      Evacuate Ruth from the area and then nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure…

    2. thejeff

      No demon killing blade here, but I’ve got this bowel disruptor I borrowed from Spider Jerusalem. Hmmm. “Unspeakable gut horror” would be a good setting, I think.

  59. Miffed Mab

    Wow, Ruth tells her to pick someone else twice and Chloe just keeps on going. She’s not listening at all is she.

    1. Bagge

      Duh, of course. This is an information meeting. The situation was actually solved between Chloe and “Sir”.

      Why would Ruth’s opinion, emotions or the fact that she just came out from a suicide ward have anything to do with it?

      *tries to be sarcastic but is mostly angry*

      1. Krys Brynhildr

        See, this all seems like information that could have been told to Ruth (and Billie, the girl they are intending on transferring to a different room without warning her beforehand in the slightest apparently) an in universe hour ago.

        Which basically seems to mean that the “Meeting” was actually just an excuse to have Grandpa Clint meet with his Little Girl to deliver the Good News. Thats really the only thing that wouldn’t have been accomplished otherwise. Well, and giving him an hour at the maximum to “explain” his take on Ruth to Chloe. I mean he obviously had spun some reason why “the girl” closes up around him before his “See, she does this sort of thing” line.

        1. thejeff

          Yeah, all handled very badly. And that’s all very much an abuser’s approach – talk to the authority and prep them to not believe their target’s claims.

          I don’t think the Billie thing is big deal though – Assuming the rest of this was above board, setting that up, then telling Ruth she can stay and how they’d handle the conflict of interest and then talking to Billie about it would be appropriate. If Billie refuses the move, then she can be taken off the list and the situation revisited.

        2. Krys Brynhildr

          I suppose thats true, well, so long as Chloe actually follows through with telling Billie in a timely fashion. Like I said, just another factor that looking back makes me question Chloe’s methods from a “Does she even fulfill her job duties properly” end of things.

          Waiting to tell Billie in this manner would make a lot more sense if there was actually any “Discussion” on whether or not Ruth would be keeping the job or not.

          I mean the one upside is that without the conflict of interest and with Chloe’s tendency towards a very hands off approach, I’m not sure there’s really very much of an enforceable way to keep Ruth and Billie apart short of Clint filing some sort of restraining order.

          Not when Walky and a lot of the other guys from the men’s wing are able to come over without any troubles anyways. From a literary standpoint, even if the “adults” are going to be shit about it all, things might end up still working out, as long as the students are able to provide the proper support instead.

          Which, you know, still doesn’t mean its wrong to call people like Chloe out for not taking care of things better in the first place.

        3. thejeff

          Sure, Chloe’s doing a lousy job at best here, but arranging for Billie to move is the least bad thing she’s done.
          There isn’t going to be any attempt on Chloe’s (or the school’s) part to keep them apart. Every indication is that Chloe’s perfectly fine with the relationship, other than the conflict of interest part of it.
          Clint may try to push Ruth to avoid her, but that’ll be separate.

      2. thejeff

        Actually between Sir and the department. Not clear how much input Chloe had. If it was entirely up to her, it’s been pretty clear she would have liked to keep Ruth all along. No need for Sir’s influence.

  60. MatsuoTanuki

    *runs ten miles out into the distance and screams a string of obscenities so loudly that several flocks of birds take flight in alarm and distant mountain villagers stop for a moment in confusion when what sounds like a litany of rage floats up on the breeze*

  61. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    :{ :c :_c

    Panels 1-3: Ugh, Chloe. Like, yes, not everyone is going to pick up on red flags, especially as “sir” has likely spent a good period of time selling her on an alternate reality he can use to easily dismiss her reactions. But still…

    Like it does not take a dramatic amount of skill to notice the woman having a full scale breakdown/shut down in front of you after begging to be let out of her RA duties and having her grandfather immediately and threateningly shut her down.

    At that point it starts getting into the “none so blind as those who refuse to see” territory.

    But it’s a nice gesture, and would be a kindness absent everything else that surrounds this. It’s a neat elegant solution to a conflict of interest problem that doesn’t involve the school demanding Ruth break up with her girlfriend. Her gf is being moved to a new floor (which will likely take until the end of the comic to go through given the average speed of a room transfer). And Chloe will handle any potential conflicts of interest so Ruth can be open in her love once again.

    And that’d be a sweet thing if Ruth had been really nervous about losing this job, there was no “sir” in the room abusing her and Billie had been called in as part of the “everyone relevant” in this portion.

    But none of that is the case. And instead it looks like a callous ignoring of Ruth while she’s locked in catatonic fear in front of Chloe because hey, she found an elegant solution to everything that’ll save her tons of paperwork. And that just feels heartless as fuck.

    And it’s also… well, first up, that Panel 3 expression on Ruth’s face is because she understands implicitly the implied threat in an abuser saying of a loved ones that “fewer distractions would be prudent” and that’s they are going to order you to break up with them or otherwise try and hurt your partner until you break up with them in order to protect them.

    This was a name she was not intending him to learn about, that’s why she told Billie to go upstairs where she wouldn’t run into him and Chloe just nuked that option to all hell.

    And not only that, but…

    Chloe just outed Ruth.

    Outed Ruth to her abusive parental figure who she has no clue how he feels about queer relationships or queer progeny and in a country and state where a lot of bad things have happened from abusive parental figures finding out their kids are queer.

    I mean, fuck, she drops Billie’s name, highlights that she’s going to be transfered because she’s a conflict of interest and thus that she’s one of Ruth’s charges in the women’s wing of Beck Hall. And as a piece du resistance, drops both the pronouns she and her to describe her.

    She in thorough and unblinking fashion just outed the fuck out of Ruth and I guarantee that “sir” is exactly the type of person to use queerness and the identity of a partner as more tools to hurt someone.

    I don’t know how much awareness Chloe has of how thoroughly she has fucked up here, but she’s basically won first prize in the cocking shit up sweepstakes.

    Like, this is the stuff that gets me unduly angry, seeing people in education who are this bad and this harmful in their jobs to the detriment of students who need their protection and base competence. Like, holy fuck the damage she has done here in this conversation, letting “sir” have so much more ammo to use against Ruth, outing Ruth, communicating loudly to Ruth that no one will ever intervene when “sir” is abusing her and no one will ever care about her wants or desires… it’s… holy fuck is all. It’s just holy fuck.

    1. Bagge

      Yup. Ruth and “Sir” has both been told in as clear terms as are needed that “Sir” has free reigns to terrorize Ruth.

      And plenty of ammunition too.

      And she just got out from the hospital.

      FUDGE Chloe. She was a better RM when she did nothing.

      1. Cerberus

        Yeah, literally nothing would have been better for Ruth.

    2. Guerisso

      Thanks for the explanation, I was wondering why I seem to be the only one to not expect doom to follow from this conversation. Now I get why: I didn’t realize Ruth was outed and the power her grandpa has over her. I’m not good with seeing these signs of oppression.

      I’m still not sure where this is leading to. In my mind, the next steps would be that Billie is transferred and they can continue the relationship, Ruth is supported by the girls on the floor and she gets paid. It doesn’t matter how she does her job because except for the Mary issue she didn’t have to do anything before, and that resolved itself. Grandpa won’t be a problem because Ruth lives on campus and he can’t be sniffing around all the time.

      But I should know better from all the things that happened. Something dramatic and truly dangerous will happen. We will see how much power an external relative with money has on campus.

    3. Tan

      One of my problems with this whole thing is… I kind of agree with Chloe on the base principle that it is most likely better for Ruth to be able to keep her job than to get fired… BUT. It needs, needs, NEEDS to be on Ruth’s terms. Both so that she can make sure it’s in a way that she’s capable of handling, and so she has a basic hold on control over her own life. Also so that it isn’t something an abusive guardian can hang over her head and around her neck, but the ship has already sailed on Chloe noticing that.

      Ruth needs to be able to say her piece and explain her needs, and ultimately needs to be able to, if it comes to that, say no. And the second it became clear that Sir was interfering with that, he needed to be gone from the meeting. Nevermind that he shouldn’t really have been here in the first place. Hell, if this is all Chloe was going to say, it would’ve made more sense for her to say it to Ruth and Billie an hour ago in Ruth’s room, especially considering it actually directly affects Billie and actually kinda requires her consent too regarding the room transfer. Like… Did Clint just arrive and arrange whatever it was he arranged within the past hour? If so, who were the original ‘everyone necesssary’ and where are they? That doesn’t seem to make sense, so Clint arranged everything by phone but on the condition that they wait to give the news to Ruth until he got there to help deliver it in person? And that was peachy with everyone? And… Ugh. I don’t even know.

      1. Cerberus

        This!

        Like there’s a good version of this conversation that ends in the same place (because frankly Chloe didn’t actually need “sir” to come in to the picture to come to the solution of “status quo, here we come”).

        But it would have involved having an honest heart-to-heart conversation without the random fear-building of keeping her out of that conversation. Have it be alone, just the two of them. Ask how she’s coping, express worries about having her try and find a job and apartment in her recovering state, admit that things are tough with a replacement and we’re willing to give it another go if she is.

        Let her express her fears, let her know about the Billie solution so she wouldn’t have to hide her relationship, offer a compromise, say you really want her back in her role, maybe even admit that the pool for replacements is really really low and the other applicants don’t fill you with confidence, say you’re willing to ease her back into it, share duties until she gets back on her feet a bit more.

        Listen to her response, address her concerns, state that you’re willing to accept a hard no about the position and that you can try to set her up with transitional services or the disability program so that it’s less of an immediate ball of stress, but state that you believe in her recovery and think she can do this and you’re willing to help make that a smooth transition. Let her make the final decision.

        Never involving “sir”, never letting him dictate the terms, never letting this feel like this was decided for her and her agency and health doesn’t matter. Instead centering her health, recovery, and how much the department needs and wants her (cause they do, Chloe probably couldn’t get clearance to install a freshman and it sounds like most of the RA apps in general dried up when they all saw nice Trek guy get punished for something that was clearly not his fault, so they’re pretty well shit out of options other than just reinstalling her).

        That would have been the healthy and respectful way to do things. Instead Chloe went with… not that. To Ruth’s massive massive detriment.

        And yeah, all the stiff “decisions are being made” posturing at that point was stupid on Chloe’s part. She knew then that she didn’t really have other options than just giving her job back and finding a means of removing the conflict of interest and likely already knew what that solution was. So just spill it when you see them or tell them that you’d love to see them both, Ruth first, don’t worry, it’s not bad. Things are going to be okay.

        But no. Because Chloe is just that bad at her job.

      2. C.T Phipps

        Ruth is an awful RA. Why is it a good thing she’d keep the job?

    4. Doopyboop

      I gotta admit, while reading your analysis here I was confused about the mention of Billie’s pronouns and now I feel silly. I reread the previous strip and…that’s RIGHT, Billie sounds like Billy! As a reader of this comic, I obviously know Billie is a woman but Puddinghead explicitly mentioning that Billie is a she, that there’s a conflict of interests, that SOMETHING is going on between Ruth and Billie. Fuck. Fuuuuck. Watching this bastard exert his control over Ruth like this is awful.

  62. Hellespont

    Sod this noise. Bernie Wrightson just died. I can’t even…

  63. Cerberus

    Panel 4: You shit haired goon, you unbelievable incompetent, you harmful waste of a half-office, fuck you. “Thanks to your grandfather”, that’s fucking spikes in the nerves for someone who is being abused by said grandfather. Especially when it’s so clearly a cage that she has no real say in.

    This shit hits a special bit of my hate because when my dad was smooth-talking my uncle on the side, my uncle was super fond of talking about all the things my dad was “doing” and “offering” to “help me” and how he was told about how ungrateful I was to be turning them down (because they required me to move to a location where he could throw me in a reparative therapy clinic and because they weren’t real offers of help in the first place).

    So yeah, flames, flames on the side of my face.

    Panel 5: And a fucking wave. You willfully blind motherfucker. Dear Bob, Ruth is literally stunned like a board, being dragged awkwardly from the room and is locked catatonic in a clear position of distress and it’s “happy trails, have a good trip, it was so nice conversing with a charming man who made sure I had so much less paperwork to deal with”.

    Fuck.

    Panels 5-6: *pops Lorazepam* Yeah, too many folks know this feeling. The abuser who is all smiles and the bare minimum of civility in public all for a glorious show of reasonableness and aid, and nasty glares and bitter threats outside of that.

    Clint’s relaxed face looking back, taking an arm around Ruth’s shoulder to make his literal dragging of her away seem like a fatherly gesture of support. And then the intensity of his glare as Ruth begins ever more to panic knowing exactly what level of abuse she’s about to receive once “company have departed”.

    It’s a familiarity that puts me back in some really bad places. I’ve talked too much about this, but my dad was a master of this shit. A salesman of decades, he knew how to perform the guy who just wants a happy solution for everyone, while actually setting up a complete shafting. He perfected doing public acts of control-based magnanimity, designed to trap my options or make more and more of the people who told me they loved me no matter what into dangerous encounters.

    And in private… yeah…

    I feel Ruth’s terror. And I mean that literally. Looking at that final panel, I feel that terror welling up from those memories, the flashback waiting for an upturned hand or a violent threat or a string of pure hate designed to attack every vulnerability you ever had.

    I fear for Ruth here. Like feel it in my bones fear. No child should ever have to go through this and too many of us did. I hope Ruth and all of us still trapped in those hells can eventually escape and recover in peace.

    Cause we deserve a hell of a lot better than this.

    1. Bagge

      *Internet hugs…. ALL the internet hugs*

      There is no doubt “Sir” got everything he wanted from that meeting, and then some. Ruth is now going to do EXACTLY as he says… or else.

      1. MatsuoTanuki

        *edges on the sideline hoping to make it an internet group hug, but keeps disrance in case presence is not desired and personal space is paramount*

        1. Bagge

          There are internet hugs for everyone!

    2. Liliet

      Yeah, I’m getting flashbacks out of that last panel, too.

      At least they are pretty old flashbacks, like… elementary school? I eventually got better at defending myself, including physically. Boy, I remember the day I realized I could actually physically stop mom’s hand and lock myself in the bathroom and no-one could touch me if I didn’t want them to…

      I really, really hope Billie is waiting outside that door.

      1. thejeff

        Yeah, I completely understand why Ruth wanted her gone. I really hope she stayed.

    3. Rukduk

      *hugs* That last panel is definitely making me crawl in my skin. I know my patriarchal authority figure, even once removed from my family’s life, didn’t stop making me scared until I realized I was and inch taller and had fifty pounds on him, which lead to me pretty impulsively picking him up by the shirt collar as a way of showing him he didn’t scare me anymore and couldn’t control me, my mother, or my brothers. Of course, we had the benefit of having pretty much the entire family on our side, including HIS mother, so it was a little easier.

    4. C.T Phipps

      Nice Clue reference.

      Everything else is horrible. Sorry.

  64. Woobie

    Gendo claps?

  65. RacingTurtle

    Chloe you have not had a single private conversation with Ruth in which you actually discussed this plan. That is not a high bar to clear! You chose to surprise Ruth with the “good news” instead. That is not okay.

    Also I still wanna know who contacted Clint. Whoever did that without letting Ruth know they were doing it needs serious correcting. (Every single way I tried to phrase that ended up sounding to me like a euphemism for physical violence. For the record, I do not mean violence, but I understand why my brain keeps going there.)

    1. butting

      “My girls, sir, they didn’t care for the Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a packet of matches and tried to burn it down. But I corrected them, sir. And when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty I corrected her.”

      The menacing roll that Philip Stone delivered “corrrected” with… *shudder*. Well done that man.

  66. Bagge

    Hooooo boy. My greatest hangup in this comic is people not living up to their responsibility and hurting people in the process, and these two are BAD.

    We have seen Chloe do practically nothing through the repeated crisis, she lets RAs take the fall for her inaction. When she finally got involved she told Ruth – again – practically nothing. She didn’t ask if she should contact “Sir,” she didn’t ask how Ruth wanted to continue. She didn’t listen when Ruth pleaded with her not to give her job back. She didn’t tell Ruth that “Sir” was coming (even when she actually talked to Ruth earlier that day). She didn’t let Ruth in on discussing the new arrangement. And she casually outed her. AND she does so happy smiling, somehow thinking that she is doing good.

    And of course she is right. She is doing good for her bosses and “Sir.” But not for the young people in her care. Not for Ruth.

    And “Sir” himself…. YOUR CHILD DIED, CLINT. YOU GOT ENTRUSTED WITH THE MOST VALUABLE THING THEY HAD, THEIR CHILDREN, YOUR GRANDCHILDREN. We know preciously few details of how he has interacted with Ruth… but I’m afraid we will soon learn more, and nothing we know is good. And everything we know reminds me of Blaine. Same smug smile. Same sense of ownership. Just look how he grabs his “property” in the second to last panel. He is not misguided like Chloe or even Carol. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing when protecting his “investment”. He knows that he protect his ownership of Ruth.

    I have never seen Ruth as scared as when she opened the door to this office – and she was right to be.

  67. Thursday Violist

    Clint: “Ruth, this is disgraceful. When I gave birth to you, I did not expect you to be such a dishonor to the family.”

    Ruth: “But…wait, what?!?”

    >what they are secretly saying to each other in that last panel

    1. Deanatay

      Um, remember, GRAND-daughter.

      1. Emperor Daniel

        Thatsthejoke.png

  68. AnvilPro

    Huh. I was kind of hoping there would finally be another good father figure, and Ruth was just scared because she didn’t want to disappoint him. But now I see that she probably has very, very good reasons to not disappoint him.

    This is gonna get worse before it gets better.

  69. RogueParasol

    Er…not that I always have faith in administrators, they can be thick as paste, but it’s a little too convenient that Chloe was like “Yeah, we’ll work something out, I understand, Ruth” and then just turns around and immediately goes with what a man she’s presumably never met says. Unless I missed something and he’s an authority at the college? Even so, I would think Chloe would at least say, “But sir, if she doesn’t WANT the position, we can’t force her into it, maybe we should hear her out…” This seems very abrupt.

    1. Emperor Daniel

      Remember, Mr. Hughes has just made a very generous contribution *cough*bribe*cough* to the college.

    2. RogueParasol

      Ah, right, but even so, the institution isn’t legally bound to him, and they can’t override the free will of a student, donation or not. After everything that’s happened with Ruth lately, I’d think the institution would be more worried about legal problems stemming from Ruth’s misconduct as an RA. Ruth being intimidated into it by Sir, I get, despite it being terrible. But Chloe just being entirely deaf to Ruth’s “No, please, no” on top of everything else the administration has been dealing with in relation to Ruth (not that I’m blaming Ruth for Mary’s bullshit or her depression), this still seems like too easy a turn around. I’d expect co-RA, maybe, but just “No repercussions or input from you AT ALL!!!” seems too easy even with Sir there.

      1. Chris Phoenix

        It is easy. Very easy for Chloe. It’s the easiest course of action for her.

      2. Smiling Cat

        “I’d think the institution would be more worried about the legal problems stemming from ruth’s misconduct….”

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

        Haha, it’s funny because it’s mind crushingly depressing. No, if the University thinks they can get away with ignoring it, they’ll ignore it. If they can profit from ignoring it, they’ll ignore it twice as hard.

        If they get caught, they’re quick to declare how awful it is, and how they had no knowledge of how bad it was, and how nobody should judge them based on the actions of an individual. And they’ll get away with it.

        They have absolutely no incentive to exert more than the minimum possible effort. Not even the well being of their students matters as long as it’s behind closed doors.

        (yes, I’m bitter)

      3. thejeff

        Ruth could actually quit and they can’t override that. But that would be open defiance of her grandfather and she’s not up for that. All she can do is plead for Chloe to save her.
        And Chloe just prattles on.

  70. Badgermole

    They’re going to run into Billie outside (who doesn’t, AFAIK, know about “sir”) and the faeces will hit the rotating ceiling device.

    1. thejeff

      She’s had hints. She knows home’s not safe for Ruth.

      Besides, Chloe’s already outed the relationship. What more harm can come out of it?

  71. Lulu

    Someone please bring a gun to help this poor grandfather.
    But seeing him he probably owns one too so it would be shootout.
    And now we have a new villain. Next page will possible include Billie distraction.
    I wish Ruth would stand up to him but seeing her current situation and how scared she is of him that’s not possible.

  72. Historyman68

    Everybody wins (except Ruth, Billie, and the residents of the floor)!

  73. ninjazaku

    Okay considering that this school has had *multiple instances* of guardians of students or their guests arriving on campus and then threatening these children with physical harm within a *relatively short timeframe* you’d think that Chloe would be a bit more cautious.

    1. Jago

      That’s actually a point.

    2. nobilis

      I wonder whether Chloe did get any sort of training for her job?
      If I understand correctly, the well-being of the female students and RAs is her responsibility, right? And the campus does have a list of approved family members, so someone there knows that not all family members are good news. I would conclude from that that there is some awareness, and perhaps some training for the responsible people how to recognize red flags?

      (Still assuming that Clint is on the approved family members list, having forced Ruth to put him there or whatever. If he isn’t, Chloe should be fired simply for allowing him on campus.)

      1. Chris Phoenix

        Well-being? Responsibility? Hah.

        She is responsible to the people paying her. That is all. Her job is to make problems go away. That is all. If a student is hurt on her watch, and it doesn’t cause a problem for her boss, then it wasn’t a problem.

        Let’s talk about responsibility for well-being in public schools – where logic says there should be more responsibility for well-being of students than at a college.

        If you’ve been reading the comments section, you know what’s been going on at Cerberus’s school – rape being swept under the carpet.

        There’s a school in southern California where, I’m told, a boy recently gave a ten-year-old girl in his class a serious concussion, threatened another classmate with scissors, then sexually harassed the girl when she returned to school. And apparently nothing is being done to protect other students from this boy.

        Yeah, school employees know which side their bread is buttered on. Some of them (especially some of the teachers) are idealistic. Many of them are not.

        Follow the incentive structure. A lot of the time, that will tell you exactly what to expect. Schools are basically not accountable to the children or parents. They are accountable to the state, and one of their primary duties is to keep the children in school, regardless of whether that exposes them to risks which would be completely unacceptable in any other context.

        Any public school employee who holds themself accountable for student welfare is probably going out on a limb and may find themself in conflict with the school. This probably goes double at colleges.

        1. Cerberus

          CW: violence, suicide, sexual assault

          Yeah, admin levels are good only on a rare occasion in my experience. When I went to my high school, things that got swept under the rug included administration official sexually assaulting students in the middle of a dance to perform a “thong check”, several suicidal overdoses on campus, rape of students as part of a hazing ritual, and worst of all, some football player went apeshit on one of the few out gay kids on our campus and really went at him. And well, we had these concrete pillars that were all stylized with bits of stone pointing in all sorts of directions. So the kid smashed the poor gay kid’s head repeatedly into that leaving a giant blood stain. The kid lived, but that blood stain was allowed to stay on the column for at least 6 months afterwards causing endless terror to those who were queer who looked at it and I think the football player at most served a one-day suspension for it.

          So, yeah, like Carla I have learned a healthy amount of skepticism about most authority and especially school authority.

        2. BP

          *appropriate gesture of support*

          I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I’ve heard stories of that kind of thing happening, but to hear a personal account is chilling. You’re a brave, strong person.

    3. Grethelwvier

      That actually might be a good reason why she doesn’t. Chloe is grossly incompetent, and maybe likes her job, but doesn’t want to do her job. She may well be doubling down on “benefit of the doubt” (if she’s not mind bogglingly oblivious) because “No… He can’t be. There’s been too many already. Not another one. I can’t deal with another one.” Which would really fit with her characterization so far.

  74. EvolutionistX

    Oh dear. 🙁

  75. Gesc

    Like, the solution is good on paper.

    It’s just everything else that sucks ass. Now I’m not sure if I want Billie to be out there. It could get nasty. Nastier.

    1. Grethelwvier

      Yeah. As incompetent as Chloe is, at least she’s saying “Billie will no longer be your professional responsibility, so you can continue dating her if you like.” Meanwhile, there’s Clint. Clint… I think that last panel is pretty indisputable. That’s not a face of fatherly disappointment. That’s quiet, calculated anger.

  76. ChessboardMan

    I think the one I’m most disappointed in is Chloe.
    Mostly because I had low expectations for the guardian already.

    But I had higher hopes for Chloe. Now the only way she can redeem herself is if she told some white lies and half truths.
    “Yes, we’re moving Billie… to your room.”

    I think it is quite true that Billie has been one of the only things keeping Ruth together. Sure, she didn’t do a very good job of it, and yes, initially she was part of the problem too, but let’s not fool ourselves here, Ruth already had problems she was hiding. Even if Billie hadn’t been there, Ruth would still be on the way to a meltdown, but this time there would have been no one there to notice, to reach out, to actually save her. No one else would have been able to get close to her, and they would only have discovered the problem when it was too late.

    1. Liliet

      Moving Billie to another floor is literally the only thing that’s being done right here.

      Because a relationship where one person is administratively in charge of another is fucked up on multiple levels, and trust me as someone who’s been there, it’s VERY fucked up. Early Billie/Ruth dynamics (pre-phone converation) show one way in which it can be, but then there’s the direct opposite – playing favorites.

      Either way, moving Billie is the only reasonable response to the situation here.

      1. Cerberus

        Yup, plus, once the conflict of interest is removed, there is nothing saying Billie can’t spend most of her days sleeping over. Cause it won’t be a conflict of interest then and they are both students so it’s not violating the guest rules. I knew folks who did that and saw their roommate like maybe once because they were spending all their time with their boyfriend in one of the other dorm rooms instead.

  77. EvolutionistX

    Wait… if Clint has enough money to donate to the school to make this “go away” and keep Ruth’s job, what does Ruth even need a job for? Wouldn’t it be more efficient for him to just use it to pay her tuition?

    1. Big D

      Being an RA looks good when you’re applying to get into grad school, or even if you’re not, it’s a good thing to have on a resume.

    2. Adam Black

      Exactly.
      He’s an asshole. A classic 80s movie/ TV show buissness man asshole. Even if he’s protagonist ( like Maurice on Northern Exposure ) still a Ahole

    3. Regalli

      1) “Our investment”. This was probably at his urging.
      2) Financial abuse is probably on the list of ways he has abused Ruth.

  78. Aprion

    This is one of those situations that calls for: The Infinite Double Facepalm.

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/7f/f2/19/7ff219f7c23ae9c9254b372744da5814.jpg

  79. OnyxIdol

    This sickens me.

  80. Jago

    The fact that it gets people talking just proves how well-constructed and written this scene is. I have so much respect for Willis as an artist, this is probably hard to pull off. I’m really curious how it’s gonna go. I just hope for the better sooner than the worse (before better). 🙁

    …the fact that people are lowtier ‘insulting’ each other over this, though… not the way to go, guys. Try to keep an open mind, and treat each other with respect.

    1. David M Willis

      In fairness, a lot of shitty things get people talking, too.

      1. Krys Brynhildr

        In fairness though, what really gets people talking is that its something they care about or feel invested in in some way. So you know, being able to create something that people care enough to give this indepth of an analysis of, thats still pretty darn impressive.

        1. Pablo360

          Never kick a man’s self-deprecating comment while it’s down.

  81. Falcon

    You know Willis, it’d be nice if we could be rewarded for giving people the benefit of the doubt once in a while.

    1. Liliet

      You just need to look better. The red flags are red flags for a reason. Giving Hank the benefit of doubt has paid off. Giving Jocelyne the benefit of doubt has paid off. Here? We knew already that there was no room for benefit of doubt here. And yeah, denial doesn’t pay off.

      1. Falcon

        We knew Sir was bad from the get go. I was referring to Chloe.

        Good point on Jocelyne though.

    2. StClair

      We have been. At least, some of us.
      There’s Ruth, obviously. And Hank. And I really didn’t care for Becky(‘s jealousy and habit of trolling her “best friend” – personal issue there), but she’s definitely grown on me, in part because we’ve been shown how much of her behavior is a response to/cover for her trauma.

  82. JBento

    I want to punch Chloe. Like, over and over again. I know it’s not the situation that’s actually happening in the comic, but transferring Billie just stinks of the usual MO of treating abuse/rape victims in campuses (at least, the ones I see on the news). “Oh, let’s completely change the life of the person that had less say in the matter while the abuser continues on with no repercussions.” (again, I know that’s not what happening in the comic, but that’s Chloe’s perception of what’s happening, and this is how she’s choosing to respond)

    You’re awful at your job, Chloe. You so far have a success rate of 0. Switch jobs with Becky.

    Look. Look at how happy she is to no longer be holding the hot potato. Holding the hot potato is your fucking job.

    1. Temperaryobsessor

      I get what you’re saying at best Ruth having a relationship with Billie is sketchy. But he comes in and throws his money around and Billie suddenly is expected to uproot her life to make Ruth’s life easier.
      While it sounds like a good solution, Billie basically lives with Ruth right now so there is no moving out but if things went south in the relationship it would be better if the room she had available to move into wasn’t on Ruth’s floor. Billie should be the first person they bring this option to and the first to be allowed to say no, having Billie told with no option to say no after they discussed it with the person technically sexually harassed her and her grandfather is the last thing she should do. But I guess gramps threw enough money around to make that happen (which has to be more than her tuition would have been).

      1. Vulcanodon

        Sounds paradoxical, but moving Billie to another floor means she can openly move in with Ruth if she wants to. Her empty bed on the other floor means she isn’t one of Ruth’s residents.

      2. thejeff

        But if she discussed it with Billie first, she’d be telling Billie Ruth would be able to stay as RA, before telling Ruth, which would also be uncool.
        This approach is the better option. Billie could refuse, of course, at which point we’re back at “break up or Ruth gets fired”.

        Including Clint in that discussion is completely inappropriate of course.

        1. Liliet

          She honestly should have discussed it with BOTH of them at the same time. Doing any of these convos behind the other’s back is dishonest. There is such a simple solution.

  83. Liliet

    So right outside that door, Billie is waiting with Carla, right? While Joyce, Becky and Dina hang out nearby with cellphones ready to record any shit? And Amber is lurking right outside the window? Because Billie has figured out what’s going on and assembled the Fuck Abusive Patriarchs squad? Right??? Right???????

    Oh, and Sarah’s in the stairwell with a baseball bat, just in case.

    This is totally my headcanon until the next strip comes out lalalallalallalalala

    (because the only other thing I can think of after the end of the last panel is my own flashbacks and let’s go for Billie with the girl squad instead)

    1. ChessboardMan

      Sorry, but I think most of the squad is in lectures right now…

      1. Liliet

        Clearly protecting Ruth from a physically abusive guardian is more important than that! Joyce herself even told Billie to skip classes today to stay with Ruth! And Becky doesn’t even /have/ classes!

        …okay, just Billie and Becky with a baseball bat works. Right?

        (seriously, that Billie might be right outside is a big hope I have there. Maybe she won’t emerge immediately, but I hope that after sir has room to show his worst, she comes and disrupts the situation allowing Ruth to get away. That’s my prediction. I like it. A lot. Lalallalalalalalalla can’t hear youuuuuu)

        1. Pat

          More important, maybe, but how would they know? They all have their phones silenced like responsible students, I’m sure.

        2. Liliet

          What, not even on vibration? Come on, who silences their phones COMPLETELY?

    2. Emperor Daniel

      I don’t think Joyce would join a squad with the initials F.A.P. 😛

      Though she would likely not have nice words for Mr. Hughes at the very least.

      1. Proxiehunter

        I think Joyce would join F.A.P. and the wonder why people giggled when she used the acronym.

  84. Vulcanodon

    It is likely that Clint arrived and “had a talk with the department”, which resulted in a call to Chloe telling her what she was going to do. It is possible that Chloe aims to get Clint out of the picture as quickly as possible and then go try to help Ruth. I’d love to believe that. A simple wink from Chloe to Ruth would help me believe that. But every indication is that Chloe is super-clueless. Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

    1. Vulcanodon

      The sheer amount of confidential information Chloe handed to this guy is staggering. Is this an Indiana thing? At our U in Illinois we are super-careful with that kind of stuff. We won’t even confirm that student X is taking class Y. You want to find out something about a student, you go ask them, and we won’t tell you where to find them. Even computer support staff like me get yearly training in confidentiality and ethics.

    2. Liliet

      It would have been /so easy/ for her to disrupt Sir’s dragging Ruth outside so she could ~talk to Ruth confidentially~. If she had the smallest clue.

      Also, not outing Ruth cost $0. That, also.

      1. Vulcanodon

        Exactly.
        “We’re so grateful for your help. Now if you’ll excuse us for a moment, I need to discuss some RA stuff with Ruth.”
        (Clint smiles) “We’re family; anything you can say to her, you can say to me.”
        (Chloe smiles back pleasantly, shrugs) “Sorry, we can’t. It’s the rules – you understand of course.”

  85. Vi

    Prediction: Billie ain’t gone and is waiting to punch dick-grandpa in the face? Hopefully? At least a little? At least verbally?

    1. Vulcanodon

      Or dick-punch grandpa (is how I read it the first time!)

      1. Pat

        Is that not what it says? Oh. Huh. it isn’t.

  86. Exilon1

    I am so worried right now, that last panel…

  87. Liliet

    You know what looks like a potentially interesting twist here? I’m not spying any homophobic reaction in Sir here. Maybe he’s just really good at acting, but also maybe he’s actually going to turn out to not have a problem with Ruth having a girlfriend? “Fewer distractions”, not “that horrible seductress”.

    Like, there’s obviously lots of room for him to very much turn out to be homophobic and for Chloe to have fucked up.

    But I think it would make for insteresting storytelling if of all things he has to dump on Ruth in private, that won’t be one.

    That’s… that’s benefit of doubt! That so many commenters here profess! Right? I’m giving it!

    1. StClair

      Yup.

      I think he’s still going to tell Ruth to break it off, that she won’t be seeing any more of this “Billie.” Not because it’s a girl, but because it’s not part of his Plan (and Billie is not also under his control). The only relationships she’s allowed to have are ones he signs off on, ones that won’t lead to her getting any silly notions of trying to defy him.

  88. Elsendor

    uggggggh fuck this guy and all the ppl who’ve been defending him ;_;

    1. shammers

      I don’t think people were defending him. Believing that Ruth is/has experienced abuse/trauma and wanting to reserve judgement on Clint until he explicitly says or does something abusive are not mutually exclusive camps

      Several times I’ve told friends my father is abusive. they believed me but thet didn’t immediately start ignoring him or treating him differently when they saw him out and about

      1. Liliet

        Reread the comment sections for the last several strips. People HAVE been defending him.

        Not many, but…

  89. shammers

    Yep, there it is. The Clint we’ve been waiting to see

    Also I think I now despise Chloe MORE than I do Mary

  90. lightsabermario

    Step one of making a Dave Willis comic: VILIFY ALL PARENTAL FIGURES (except for the atheist ones, those represent the parents Dave wished he had, so make those parents as perfect as humanly possible).

    Step two: butts.

    1. Bagge

      What about Hank?

      1. lightsabermario

        Hank’s mellowed out a bit but even Hank started out insisting Joyce not associate with atheists and comparing Dorothy to Hitler. Hank may be the lone example of David Willis saving Mr. Banks, but he’s still got a ways to go. He still doesn’t have the backbone to stand against his wife, and as the saying goes, silence is acceptance.

        1. Bagge

          Seems more like complex characterization than vilification to me.

          We also have Sierra’s dad who seems like a decent dude and, if his daughter is anything to go by, is probably religious as well. Bonnie is a more complicated case since was part of the same structure as her husband and also a victim, but it’s fair to guess that she was nowhere near Toedad levels.

        2. Scar Man!!!

          she did abandon her daughter to go “joe” Joe’s Dad. Which led to her daughter having to face her abusive dad alone. And, while hindsight is 20/20, she should have been thinking that he might try to pull something like this on Parent’s Day

        3. Bagge

          Bonnie is Becky’s mum.

          But yeah, Amber’s mum is a complicated case too.

        4. Bagge

          Was. Was Becky’s mum.

          Now I’m sad.

        5. Fart Captor

          🙁

        6. Scar Man!!!

          woops. bad with names. sorry

        7. Bagge

          No problems 🙂

        8. BBCC

          Yes, but A) She had no way of knowing her dad was there, and it’s implied he was not an approved family member (and therefore, not allowed in the building).

          and B) We know she risked death by leaving him and raised Amber on her own.

          C) She delayed seeing Amber. She did not cancel it. She met her to go get dinner.

        9. rectilinearpropagation

          Letting a character make a decision that has bad consequences != vilifying them though.

    2. Tufto

      This is a coming-of-age story about a diverse group of people learning to live in the real world. That means a certain level of independence from childhood is needed for story and character growth. A rejection of bad parents is a pretty good way to spur that kind of development. It makes sense.

      Also, American Christianity is really kinda horrible, so it makes sense they’d be more evil. Especially since Willis has experienced how awful American Christianity can be first-hand. Also, Hank.

      1. Liliet

        This.

        Yes, maybe this story contains a higher density of abused kids than average. That’s WHY it’s a story. It’s Walky contained a higher than average density of alien abductees, because that’s what the story was about. This story is about more or less fucked up families and college. It’s… like, the premise? Part of the premise? Don’t Like Don’t Read is in full effect here. It’s just the subject material.

      2. thejeff

        As a side note: It’s really only one subset of American Christianity. A particular strain of right wing fundamentalism. Just a very loud one with lots of political influence.

        1. Scar Man!!!

          who are so far from what even I, a Jew, realize are fundamental concepts of Christianity that it’s fucking unbelievable

        2. StClair

          alas, it’s not just credible, it’s reality.

          (“That can’t be true, I don’t believe it, I can’t” is a common refrain in cases of abuse, from both sides, when each finds out what the other considers “normal.”)

      3. C.T Phipps

        Speaking as an American Christian, those who talk loudest are not always the many but there is a sad truth that far too few have shouted in opposition.

    3. rectilinearpropagation

      Unfortunately, a lot of parents really are awful.

      And why would you constantly be showing parents who cause no conflict or move the plot forward in a strip about college students? They’re only around halfway through the semester.

  91. Lex

    One thing that I think people aren’t considering: Chloe would NOT have been informed on a lot of the things that were happening. Ruth was the RA. Chloe would only be getting involved when people brought complaints to her. Complaints that would normally be brought to her by Ruth, unless they were complaints about Ruth.

    What Chloe knows is that Billie and Ruth were in a secret relationship, and that Ruth became depressed to the point of being suicidal and not eating. She hasn’t heard conversations where Clint has said anything too worrisome. The worst Clint has said in Chloe’s presence has been that she will take her RA position back, and criticized her for staring instead of saying “thank you”. Chloe defended Ruth’s stunned look, and has made the arrangements that would allow Ruth to keep her job and continue to have her relationship with Billie.

    She’s missing some of the warning signs, but we as the readers are better informed on what is going on and even we don’t know all the flavours of abusive jerk Clint is just yet. Right now as far as Chloe has seen, Clint’s just a bit firm and demanding. What I’m HOPING is that Chloe will be more supportive and check up on Ruth afterward, and that she simply didn’t want to cause a scene while Clint was present. Sometimes the best way to handle controlling people is to let them believe they are more in control than they really are.

    1. Liliet

      Things Chloe Did Wrong:

      1) informing Sir Grandpa about Ruth’s problems without Ruth’s knowledge (or consent)
      2) informing Sir Grandpa of the particulars of Ruth’s employment situation
      3) not informing Ruth of Sir Grandpa’s presence beforehand
      4) not having Billie present for any of the discussions involving her room arrangements
      5) outing Ruth to Sir Grandpa either now or beforehand
      6) letting Sir Grandpa steamroll over Ruth’s objections without taking the time either now or beforehand to discuss the situation with her
      7) not reacting to him clearly applying physical force to Ruth right now

      Like… dude. That’s incompetence on the level that borders on malice, honestly.

      1. Liliet

        “8) failing to pick up on red flags in Sir Grandpa’s words right here and now” is the only one that can be remotely excused by lack of beforehand knowledge that we have, and is honestly redundant with seven previous ones. And still, if she had been trained for her job, if she were paying the least bit of attention, she still could have noticed A LOT of warning signs here. Sure, Ruth’s freezeups can be explained by drug side effects, but Sir Grandpa’s own behavior has been… urgh. That’s not what nice and supportive looks like.

        But yeah, if you think that can be excused, fine. The other points tho???

        1. C.T Phipps

          Yeah, Chloe is evil and doesn’t care about Ruth. Only the problem that was Ruth’s situation going away.

      2. zerotkatama

        Re: 3) What’s even more wrong about this is that Sir Grandpa wasn’t even a surprise. She knew he’d be showing up, most likely, if you look at panel 3 here:
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/future/

    2. BBCC

      She knows Ruth struck at least one of her residents, hard enough to leave a mark.

      1. thejeff

        Well, I’m not sure how I’d react to “slapped a sharpie dick on someone’s face”, since I’m pretty sure that doesn’t work.
        To the extent it does, I’d expect it would have more to do with quickly you touch them after drawing it than how hard you hit them.

  92. fire_daws

    Fuck Clint and fuck Chloe |:(

  93. Flakky

    In DoA, you either die a protagonist, or live long enough to become a villain (grand)parent.

    And with no deaths in this comic, we’re in for a ride.

    1. thejeff

      Luckily, no one’s going to die and we (the readers) will all be long dead before any protagonist becomes a parent. (Seriously even if someone was pregnant, but not far enough yet to show, it would be decades before the birth.)

  94. Boomer Gonzales

    but…but…she was free…..______

    1. Scar Man!!!

      request for an internet hug and mutual crying session?

  95. Scar Man!!!

    My current reaction: shivering like a fever patient and choking a little “no”

    He is one scary motherfucker, even compared to the fundie nut dad with a shotgun who shoots at superheroes and Ryan the walking shitstain

    1. Liliet

      The thing about those two is that it’s relatively easy to get help and support against them, at least in the moment if not long term. The law is on your side, the public opinion is on your side, your friends and benevolent authority figures are on your side. They made obvious villains of themselves.

      (This is all relative, obviously. There is still LOTS of shit there)

      This asshole? Is doing nothing illegal. The law is on his side. The money is on his side. Every modicum of power, including having a dependent little sibling as a possible hostage, is on his side. And he’s likable, and he’s MORE likable than his victim most of the time.

      That’s why he’s so much more horrifying.

      1. Scar Man!!!

        still shaking. fuck, even so, I don’t have experience with abusive parents myself, so why does this guy make me want to cry. It’s like that expression in the last panel brings back the guilt and fear from every time I fucked up and Dad yelled at me for leaving a big essay to the last day or breaking five pens in a day. I love my dad and he never hit me, neglected me, or tried to break my self-worth, but he could be a scary person.

        1. Liliet

          Making your kids scared of you is abusive.

          It’s normal to love parents who are/were sometimes abusive, it’s normal to have otherwise good relationships with them, it’s normal for them to be good people in general overall.

          But this absolutely sounds like your dad traumatized you instead of helping and I’m gonna be in this corner over here judging him for that particular fuckup quietly >_>

        2. Scar Man!!!

          no. I was scared when he yelled when I was young. Most kids are. 1) He stopped yelling for the past 10 years. 2) He always stopped within 30 seconds. 3)Most kids are a bit scared of parental disapproval 4) He is one of the people I respect most in the world and he lets me call him out on his flaws and actually improves on them

          You do not know my situation, ok. Most of this scariness is from Clint, not my Dad

      2. Scar Man!!!

        we also had awesome debates and converesations that taught me how to think creatively and critically and he taught me how to use power tools and is currently teaching me sql programming

        1. Liliet

          My mom literally taught me critical thinking and analysis. She gave little me books on advertizing and marketing to teach me how it works, and she knew me well enough to be confident that little me would like them (and I did). My mom has always been someone I could talk to about pretty much anything, someone I trusted implicitly and wouldn’t give a second thought about giving my passwords and revealing my secrets to.

          I still flinch when I hear the sound of wardrobe doors in her bedroom opening, and get tense at the very mention of the word ‘belt’.

          The awesome things and the bad shit aren’t mutually exclusive.

        2. Scar Man!!!

          wait, I am confused. Are you saying your mom was abusive and yet you still talk to her and like her?

      3. thejeff

        Give Clint time, he’ll get to it. (Or more accurately, we’ll see it. I’m about 90% certain he’s long ago crossed that line in private with Ruth and likely Howie as well.)

        You could’ve said the same about Ross, up until the gun came out.
        And sadly, while Ryan’s certainly broken the law, public opinion and the authorities are still likely to be on the nice preacher’s son’s side, barring another incident with solid proof. And maybe even then.

        1. Scar Man!!!

          which of my comments are you responding to, because i was just syaing that my dad was not abusive, not that Clint isn’t abusive

        2. thejeff

          Actually trying to respond to Liliet’s “Is doing nothing illegal”.

          I don’t think there’ve been any signs of molestation.

        3. Scar Man!!!

          wait, are you talking about molestation? you think he molested them? that is a whole new level of godawful I hadn’t considered

        4. Liliet

          I think it’s about physical abuse, not molestation.

        5. Scar Man!!!

          I’d say “thank Satan”, but that’s still awful

        6. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          That shit is beyond common, so, no it’s still on the table. Frankly, I consider it extremely plausible.

    2. Jhon

      “shotgun”? Wrongo. Unless you are blissfully unaware of Willis’ artistry? He chose to faithfully portray a gun with a distinctive appearance. A single shot rifle. Actually the worst possible choice if Ross had mass murder on his mind.

  96. Random832

    Can I just say how weird it is how everyone suddenly is criticizing Chloe’s hairstyle now that they don’t like her anymore?

    1. StClair

      You must have missed all the talking about it when she was first (re)introduced. *shrug*

  97. davidbreslin101

    Either Chloe is just that oblivious, or a deadly (and, I’m afraid, very common) combination of wishful thinking and pressure from above has made her ignore all the signs that something’s not right. If she had more self-confidence and professionalism, she’d have arranged to be left alone with Ruth at the end of this meeting.
    Ruth probably can get out of this trap, but it’s not going to be pretty. At the very least, she’ll have to get across to Chloe just how desperate she really is. I’m now worrying about knives.

  98. Arianod

    I find Ruth’s lack of reaction disturbing.

    1. Reltzik

      She is reacting.

      Her reaction is stark paralysis with wide-eyed fear that’s a little bit hard to make out from behind her glasses.

      1. Arianod

        Oh no; it’s pretty obvious and easy to see. But paralysis is the opposite of a reaction.

  99. Kugai

    THIS

    CANNOT

    STAND

    You hear me Willis, you prick.

    THIS

    CANNOT

    STAND

    1. Arianod

      That’s what Billie thought.

  100. Reltzik

    Okay, spinning out a new theory here.

    What if Sir Clint was the drunk driver who killed her parents, who were his passengers?

  101. BP

    That last panel is TERRIFYING.

    Commentary for this was posted on the previous comic by mistake, so go ahead and look there if you care to.

    1. Reltzik

      Yes, very much so.

      1. BP

        CW: Depression

        …. You know, it occurs to me that there’s something Ruth can do. Something Amber did with her father, though probably not in the same way.

        There’s a point in depression, just after you’ve hit “fuck it” but just before you’ve stopped caring completely. The point where you can be honest with people because you no longer care what anyone thinks of you. Ruth had actually ALMOST hit it before this, as demonstrated right: . It’s not a good point to be at, because no point of depression is good. But it’s a point where you can almost draw strength from not caring.

        Sadly, I think Ruth may be too far OUT of depression at this point to do that. But Amber was able to stand up to her horrible dad by using the strength of “you can’t do anything more to me than you already have”, so it’s possible Ruth can try to remember that strength and use it. I hope she does, anyway. This is physically painful to watch right now and I’d like to see her get out of it.

        1. BP

          Ugh, dang markup. Oh well. It links to the right comic, at least.

  102. Tenn

    Alt text: No, I really think it is that kind of congratulations. A strict father figure. A sense of “WTF just happened?! And why?!”. People deciding things over your head. And everyone seems to think it’s the greatest thing ever, but it’s really just creepy as fuck.

  103. John

    Oh, well, that explains why Clint’s name doesn’t make a word with “-less”! He’s Ruth’s maternal grandfather!

    … I don’t think “clinthughes” is a word, either, though.

    And those expressions in the last panel? This is totally a man who should be given all the benefits of the doubt.

    1. Tenn

      Hughesless is a word, though.

      And I agree; we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. He probably wants what’s best for his granddaughter. Maybe they’re just reacting to the panel border being so close? I mean, look at it, it’s right in his eye.

  104. Tobias

    Willis can always be relied upon to deliver the Evangelion references.

  105. Schol-R-LEA

    So, if I am reading the alt-text correctly, they gave Ruth the Clap?

  106. Arioch

    Okay, first let me apologize because I haven’t read everyone’s comments today. I just can’t deal today. I started, I tried, I can’t. So many of you have been wronged in so many ways, damn. Cerebus and Bluewind, you always stick out in my mind. I am sorry, in particular, your parents sound like people I’d like to send to the moon with out spacesuits. I can’t deal today. You can skip this next paragraph I just need to put it somewhere.
    I am sitting here, having a drink to remember a parent who on his good days was amazing and on his bad days was physically abusive and he was the good parent and he died when I was 6. I have 1 scar, it is small, it is from a belt. It is the only bad memory – I know there were others but I was too young and he spent most of my life in the hospital and only became physically abusive at the end because he was in so much pain. He never hit my mom, he never hit my brother, but I guess he hit me a couple times and beat me once. I remember bits of that beating, mostly trying to get away and being yelled at for trying to get away by my mom who really just thought this was discipline and the fact that my back was bleeding, if she could see it never seemed like it meant anything because I was disobeying. I remember my ankle being yanked on when I tried to scramble over the furniture. I remember feeling the belt tear my skin. I remember being told I’d be given something to cry about. I did not do as I was told, I was punished, I cried, I was punished harder.
    Okay, for anyone who to my advice and skipped my catharsis, I will repeat my last line. I did not do as I was told, I was punished, I cried, I was punished harder. I think I was 4 or 5 in that incident. It was a very long time ago. It is my only bad memory of my dad. A man who became deathly ill and was in so much pain that I cannot even begin to imagine it and I am on 24/7 pain management. He was hospitalized more often than not by that point and in the 70’s they did not understand how certain drugs (and I do not even know what drugs he was given as a veteran) worked. My mother was the mentally, emotionally, and psychologically abusive parent.
    Chloe is awful here because she is ignoring red flags to make her life easier. Yes, she can justify it to herself. “Sir” is the person on the contact info and likely there was a phone call between him and a higher up earlier that set things in to motion that she can’t control. And, hey, the moving Billie to another dorm thing has been on the table for a while, it’s just good sense. And, Ruth just needs confidence. She can tell herself all of these things. And, none of it matters. She’s still in the wrong. She is still allowing Ruth to be abused. Anyone and everyone can hope that he’s just look out for her best interests but he never asked how she was. When I said my dad was the good parent – that was the difference. Even when I was little, I remember going to see him in the hospital and he asked about us. My mother’s first thoughts were never about my well being ever. If someone said I was my father’s first thought every morning, I’d believe it. If you said the same thing about my mother, I’d laugh in your face. Sir’s thoughts aren’t about Ruth’s well being, ever.

    1. Sam

      *Internet hug*

      I would write something else but I can’t even explain to myself what I feel about these last few strips besides melancholic.

    2. Ana Chronistic

      Chiming in b/c I need to do that more, so sorry you had to go through this =(

    3. Bluewind

      Thank you sweetie. I’m okay now really. Just sometimes it hits really hard. 😉

      And I wish you had never went through what you did either. You didn’t deserve what happened to you. I hope that time (and hopefully a good therapist and a support system) has helped you heal.

    4. BP

      *appropriate supportive gesture*

      I really don’t know what to say other than that, but your bravery and support for the others moved me.

  107. chris73

    The road to hell may be paved with good intentions but wilful ignorance isn’t that far behind either

  108. Jhon

    Chloe is invested in Ruth’s success. Because if Chloe’s star RA crashes and burns, that doesn’t look good for Chloe, does it?

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