266

No thanks
Posted on January 15, 2015 by David M Willis

266 thoughts on “No thanks”

  1. Jen Aside

    Not to go on a tangent, but it doesn’t add up… I mean, I thought we could count on Willis that sum thing was going on, but in my estimation, I guess their relationship was too derivative of the AU version?

    Must be a sine of things to come…

    1. otusasio451

      Uh…UH…MATH!!!

      Oh, God, I panicked. I had the parts of the pun in my my head, but they just didn’t add up.

      1. Jen Aside

        MATHS

        Mathematical Anti-TeleHarsic Harfatum Septomin

        1. tyersome

          Excellent work Jen, from the way you worked multiple angles into that you’re clearly at your prime.

        2. JR

          Look around you.

          Look around you.

          Just look around you.

          Have you worked out what we’re looking for?

          Correct. The answer is: Puns.

        3. tyersome

          It is Venn of the many spheres of interest that intersect in the lines beneath this comic.

        4. thebombzen

          Sphere? You misspelled it. It’s spheresphere

        5. TachyonCode

          The power of these puns is exponentially growing.

        6. tyersome

          Are you sure … I thought the signs were indicating that we were converging … but that could be the product of my negative additude …

        7. saltchocolate

          These puns are infinitely better than usual. They’re really not half bad!

        8. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Are you sure that the power of these puns is growing exponentially? It looks more like they’re growing hyperbolically to me.

          A world where Sal is doing well at Maths? Perhaps we have entered the Matrix. I am determinant to work out if this is true, false, or unprovable.

        9. Chris

          Yes, I’m not sure they’re growing exponentially… seems to be one-linearly to me.

        10. Booyahman

          I’d say that at this point, the power of these puns is well/9000!

        11. 3oranges

          Secant you will find, they say!

          But here’s the critical point: while making increasingly frequent puns has a nice ring to it, I worry there might be a limit to what the union will allow before they stop inviting us to their functions. So maybe it would be rational for everyone to put more space between their puns, and to reciprocate, eigenspace mine out a little more too.

          Unless I’m mistaken, and that group is only imaginary?

        12. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          You won. Please accept mai offering of this internetz. 🙂

          Also, it seems as though the functional relationship between Sal and her ex-tutor is no longer bijective, and is certainly not smooth (or even continuous). Therefore, formulation of anything derivative from this may no longer be possible. Perhaps Willis should try integrating them back together somehow?

        13. Marianne

          Depending on your web browser settings, this page could be a manifestation of the Helvetica Scenario.

    2. Tayo

      you win, where can I send your cookie?

      1. GoogerGeiger

        Why send a cookie when you could instead send pi?

        1. Crazy Dina

          Because sending Pi would be irrational.

        2. xKiv

          Maybe, but it’s transcendetal.

    3. cesium133

      Not to go off on a tangent, but this is likely to make the relationship between Sal and Jason tensor. Sal should vector her anger into more productive pursuits, like tracking down Amazo-Girl and dividing her in two.

      1. tyersome

        Of cos in a series like this there are an infinite number of ways for this arc to go …

      2. A Scientist

        Tensors… God, I hate tensors…

        1. A Scientist

          Sorry for skewing up the string of puns, but tensors just made me so trig-ing mad that I couldn’t obey this well-behaved function of jokage.

        2. tyersome

          Don’t worry, I think that’s a pretty normal reaction and a few discontinuities are bound to show up … nonetheless I’m glad to see you did beta in your follow-up …

        3. A Scientist

          Yeah, I saw and loved the whole series of puns, but then tensors were mentioned, and my happiness decayed. Even so, between the math at the puns, this thread is Taylor made for me to expand, regardless of any perturbations I may have experienced. I always have high expectation values for the comments section, so I’m glad I could recover and add to this one.

        4. Crazy Dina

          Give me a secant and I’ll figure out how to return this war to the content of the comic. And more puns. -.-

        5. cesium133

          I can certainly understand hating tensors. Half of me is addicted to them, and the other half says “Dyadic!”

    4. Yotomoe

      I’d like to cosine that. It just seems less than likely that Sal and Jason are gonna be divided now. I mean a fraction of their time together has been fucking while another percentage of the time they’re at each other’s throats. What is the probability that this isn’t just a temporary thing? I think this is just the remainder of some of Sal’s desire to square off against authority figures. At least that’s the root of her problem. Her disposition is too variable to predict. If anything I’d say their relationship is closer to imaginary than anything, and it’s our fault for believing it could develop into anything real. Maybe Sal will finally start seeing them as equals. Then she’ll be sweet as a down south apple pi.

      1. tyersome

        … that was fantastic, an most absolutely valuable contribution!

        If this had been any more complex I’d have started to believe you had access to a higher power …

      2. Lel

        >Being Jason is suffering

      3. A Scientist

        Their relationship never had a complete basis. They were doomed to never converge, really. I don’t think either really wanted to be the other’s squeeze, anyway.

      4. tinfoil theory

        Half the time they have been at each other’s throats.
        And half the time they have been in each other’s throats.
        Quite the conjugation.

    5. Thor

      Pay attention, everyone. Jen’s showing the class the proper use of the first post.

      Please take especial not that the word “First” does not show up at all.

      Ten points to Ravenclaw.

      1. Kris

        I seriously don’t get why people do “first” posts.

        1. Tenn

          It’s so that the rest of us can laugh at them when they’re actually second or third. A valuable service to society, indeed.

      2. Jen Aside

        That’s actually why I bother doing it, I got tired of all the “FIRST”s =p

        Er, uh… a “first” can never equal quick wit! Don’t go for the least common denominator!

        1. tyersome

          Normally comments are be-set by such foolishness, fortunately here we are much better at integrating sum more interesting matherial into our silliness …

      3. Twilightomens

        To be fair, she probably wasn’t sure if her post would actually be first once she got done posting it.

      4. HeySo

        Willis has made it clear he’s willing to delete ‘First’ posts
        (In the DoA About/Read Before Posting he asks that you “please not post them”, and in the Shortpacked About, he flat out says “3) Don’t make “First!” posts. Those also get deleted! Don’t post to be first, post because you have something to say.”)

        so really, you’re congratulating Jen on following the rules.

        ..not that that isn’t worthy of appreciation in itself 😛

    6. Chris

      This whole thing is a huge series of ‘cos’ and effect situation.
      Hehe.

    7. Willoughby Chase

      To reciprocate, it will interesting to follow the arcs of emerging identities in DoA. I don’t expect to see true identities, after all Pythagoras hasn’t been invited to the party. Nonetheless, the imaginary world is full of surprises; I hope that the matrix of personalities aren’t surprised that they can’t return to their previous state.

  2. otusasio451

    …In-YOUR-endo.

    1. LiaHansen

      NO! That is the one pun I will not abide by! We cannot make the same joke every single time that word is used, it makes a mockery of the art!

      1. Yotomoe

        More like a mockery of the Fart!

        1. LiaHansen

          You see Otusasio? This is how it’s done!

        2. otusasio451

          You mean, this is how it’s pun?

        3. Pantheon the Mantheon

          LEARN WITH ME CHILDREN

        4. Barf Ninjason

          learnin’ be fun

        5. otusasio451

          It’s great to learn!

        6. la6ue mous

          Learning be pun

        7. Pantheon the Mantheon

          LEARN WITH ME CHILDREN!

        8. Barf Ninjason

          one time, one time

        9. Clif

          Wonka Wanka

    2. Em

      Danielle Corsetto would be proud

      1. otusasio451

        As would The Todd.

    3. Deanatay

      That’s not what she REALLY wants to rub his face in. Bow-chicka-bow-wow.

      1. Crazy Dina

        Walky’s paper if it somehow passes?

  3. Tayo

    i just wanted to beat jen aside tbh one day…

    1. Dean

      Jen Aside went to the crossroads at midnight with a black cat bone, and the Devil taught Jen Aside how to get first post every time..

    2. Jen Aside

      You missed most of last week, I had things going on =p

      1. Head Alien

        Liiike… A MEETING WITH THE DEVIL?! 😀

        1. Opus the Poet

          Is Mike the Devil?

        2. Crazy Dina

          No. Mike is no “Devil”. Devil’s are lesser daemons compared to him. Mike is the coordinator of the Devils. The drop in evil we are currently experiencing is due to Mike turning on the Devils (Cause DUH! EVIL!),

  4. jaimehlers

    I wonder if Sal’s and Walky’s papers got mixed up somehow.

    1. Jason

      Nope. I forgot all about the fact that Danny tutored her recently.

      1. Jason

        Plus, I’m sure they can recognize their own handwriting and names….

        1. lejwocky

          I’d be surprised if he had their handwriting down by the third week (or however long has passed in-strip). It took me half a semester to recognize most of my students’ styles.

        2. Riku

          I think he means that Sal and Walky would recognize their own handwriting so they’d know if they got the wrong papers back

        3. lejwocky

          Ah, yeah, you have something there.

      2. Pinja

        By recently you mean several months ago 😛

        1. Opus the Poet

          That’s in our time, in their time it was last week.

    2. Catullus

      Probably not, it works better for both of their arcs if Sal’s improving and Walky’s getting the bad grade.

  5. Solenoid

    It was an innuendo… for “screw you”

    1. Yotomoe

      Is THAT innuendo?

      1. Kris

        It’s all innuendo.

    2. Crazy Dina

      Yeah, not changing it.

    3. Bagge

      +1

  6. Disloyal Subject

    Bummer. Hopefully she’ll be back.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Next time she wants pasty, overly polite, bowtie clad sex she will.

      1. The Master

        She can just go to Doctor 11 for that, can’t she?

        I do pasty, overly polite, bowtie clad sex now, bowtie clad sex is cool.

    2. Yotomoe

      Once you go black, you never go back!

      1. Kryss LaBryn

        But everything tastes better on a cracker. 😉

  7. Mkvenner

    Probably

  8. Wonder Wig

    It may not be an innuendo, but it’s still a valid, “That’s what she said.”

    1. Deanatay

      But, she DID say… nevermind.

  9. Yotomoe

    “You don’ even’ make mah afro poof up anymore.”

    1. Doctor_Who

      Is THAT what that indicated? That she was ready to mate? Sort of like a bullfrog with the throat, then?

    2. Barf Ninjason

      “Ya mean ‘no more.’ Ah don’t talk like that, shee-it.”

  10. nothri

    I actually feel bad for Jason. I think the world is coming to an end.

    1. newllend

      The world turned upside down the minute Dina started to think sexaully.

      1. Yotomoe

        And Joyce accepted a lesbian. She even slept with her!

        1. nothri

          And my number one bit of evidence…Danny’s influence had the opposite effect of Danning up Sal’s grades.

    2. Kamino Neko

      No, that’s over in the other universe.

      1. John

        The world’s not actually ending. We’ve seen its future, and we know the triplets grow up and their moms grow old together. Sure, Soggies may rule, but, really, they could hardly do a worse job than some of the leaders we’ve got now. I mean, apparently they successfully repel the Martians.

        1. Kk

          The soggies seem to be coming through due to a rip in the time-space continuum (see: Walkyverse Dina being alive), so that future may no longer be in the cards.

  11. SUGauthor

    To be fair, he was a pretty damn lousy teacher for her.

  12. rhy

    Wait, who’s her new tutor?

    1. The Wizard

      Danny.

  13. The Wizard

    I was never a fan of Sal and Jason; So, more power to Sal!

    1. Clif

      But intimate relations based on mutual hatred and passion are so interesting.

      1. Yotomoe

        Nah, relationships based on mutual apathy are where it’s at.

        1. taekwondogirl

          Meh. Alright, what’s next?

        2. Opus the Poet

          Whatever, I don’t care.

        3. neeks

          Relationships based on mutual apathy are doomed to die of starvation because no one can decide where to eat or what to have for dinner.

  14. newllend

    Hmmm should I take back my statement about Danny being stupid… Na

    1. Mkvenner

      Not yet.

    2. Yotomoe

      Being book smart changes nothing. Anyone can read a book. Less people can read a street.

      1. Twilightomens

        That is consolation for people who won’t read a book.

      2. Pinja

        *Fewer people

      3. masterofbones

        Sure, anyone can read a book, except for the huge number of people who graduate highschool while remaining illiterate.

    3. Barf Ninjason

      I peg him as a high INT, low WIS kinda dude. Fair-to-middlin’ CHA.

    4. Spencer

      We never actually saw the tutoring session, but if Sal appreciated it enough to mention it to Jason (and not just bringing it up to spite him), then Danny might have actually done a good job.

      From what we’ve seen, Jason makes a pretty bad teacher. He only explains things using book terminology that, if you understood, you wouldn’t even be asking him. I’ve had my fair share of teachers like that.

      1. Barf Ninjason

        “Perhaps I should say it slower and louder.”

      2. Opus the Poet

        Half of education is teaching the jargon of a thing. I used to make a nice living writing Jargon translators for specific activities…

    5. David

      Danny’s pretty smart at making people see the good in anything but Danny. If he keeps this up, he’ll end up making Sal dry-humping Platonic solids, basically the definition of a solid Platonic relationship.

    6. Deanatay

      Getting close to Sal is not necessarily a smart move. Violence and Pain seem to follow Sal around, even in this world.

  15. Spencer

    Ah, Sal. Why you gotta be so mean to the brit?

    1. newllend

      Because he’s a dick… A dick she liked though.

      1. Coverfire

        Is that an innuendo?

        1. Gangler

          Maybe double entendre? That’s what you call it when both meaning are intended, right?

    2. Yotomoe

      She’s still mad about no taxation without representation.

      1. Barf Ninjason

        “Ah threw yer fuckin’ tea bags inna toilet, by the way.”

        1. tyersome

          Now that was clearly a brutal overreaction … or did you really mean tea?

        2. Ed

          You are a horrible person for giving me that mental image.

        3. Barf Ninjason

          Yeah, I meant actual tea. Jeepers H. Crackers, tea bags are still a real thing. Sassafrassin’ slang. Just thought the idea of her doing a mini-Boston Tea Party in the toilet was funny, is all.

          Now if someone wants to think up a sexual alternate meaning to Boston Tea Party, however… I’m all ears.

        4. Barf Ninjason

          Also pretty sure he wouldn’t need to be notified of the fact in that other scenario, come to think of it.

        5. StClair

          He’s British, he probably loses track of them on a regular basis.

          (kidding!)

        6. Amazistool

          “Lemon Tea” has a high number of google results.
          So obviously “Lemon Party”.

    3. Mkvenner

      It’s a Yank thing.

  16. Crazy Dina

    And Jason is now how I felt when Willis corrupted me, along with my family, friends, and pretty much everyone else.

    1. Crazy Dina

      Oh, “wasn’t inuendo”. Never mind.

  17. sps48

    Sad trombone is sad.

  18. JessWitt

    Wait…so there are parts of DoA strips that AREN’T innuendo?!

    1. Nono

      Amber stabbing Sal’s hand was clearly foreplay.

    2. Clif

      If they aren’t, they are after you add in the comments.

  19. Van Jealous

    Well Jason, I guess it’s time to start looking for that Penny you lost a while back.

    1. Clif

      More like the Penny he threw away.

      1. Yotomoe

        Guys, the proper idiom is the Penny he spent.

        1. Rabid Rabbit

          To be honest, he doesn’t strike me as the type to be into golden showers.

        2. neeks

          She didn’t look all that spent to me, but he definitely squandered his chances with her.

  20. Kris

    Haha! Jason. You suck.

  21. Idon'tcarenomore

    Sometimes it isn’t the students fault. Sometime it is.
    Guess it wasn’t in this case.
    Never could see Sal in the ‘I’ll screw you for a good grade situation”-just didn’t fit her.
    Jason is hopeless, but I kinda feel sorry for him in that last panel.

    1. HeySo

      Sal has always been self-destructive, the context has just changed a bit. That being said, it did seem a bit odd, but then, catholic school does strange things to your head.

    2. tyersome

      Like any other relationship things can not work out if the ‘chemistry’ is wrong even though both parties are trying and generally capable … that being said the signs all point to Jason being a terrible teacher …

    3. David

      Sometimes it isn’t the students fault. Sometime it is.
      Guess it wasn’t in this case.

      It isn’t an inherently defective teacher who cannot match a regular invested one-on-one tutor in performance.

      My little brother went from “5.0” (failing grade) to “1.0” (top grade) in math in the course of one to two years of tutoring. But there were others who did not require tutoring.

      And in general it is a mixed blessing to take one’s teacher as one’s tutor: you are not likely to get a different perspective and angle of attack but basically “more of the same”. It’s quite likely that such tutoring will do more to improve the teacher than the student. And since then everyone benefits, you still end up at the end of the class…

  22. maycroft

    I see, Now walky’s gonna have to search tutaring with Dorothy’s exboyfriend. HAHAHAHA excellent willis, excellent.

    1. AgentKeen

      Oh dang!

    2. SUGauthor

      Yeah, it’s such a shame he doesn’t have a yalebound girlfriend who’s super smart and believes in good study habits that could teach him how to keep up with classes.

      1. SUGauthor

        Oh wait…

      2. Yotomoe

        You mean the one with no free time?

        1. SUGauthor

          Something tells me she’ll make time for this.

        2. tinfoil theory

          Because her relationship is more important than… no, wait…

        3. timemonkey

          No freetime….because of studying. They could study together.

        4. Amazistool

          Have we seen Dorothy in math classes at all?

          A search for Dorothy+Jason only brings up two strips outside of classrooms.

        5. timemonkey

          And that would prevent them from reading books in the same room because….

  23. Boomwolf

    What was your first clue? I now feel a tad less manly with this guy as my icon…

    1. Thor

      You felt manly with a Jason icon before?!

      He’s British, and it’s a well-established fact that the British extracted all the manliness from their citizenry and pooled it together to create James Bond. Any manliness you see in Britain these days is almost certainly imported.

      1. David

        What was the joke? In paradise, the policemen are British, the engineers German, the cooks French, and the lovers Italian.

        In hell, the policemen are French, the cooks British, the lovers German, and the engineers Italian.

        Oh. I thought there were British lovers in this joke, but it seems they are not even good enough for that.

        1. Screwball

          Curious about where Australia would fit in with all that. Sure, Aussies are known to love a beer, being fairly relaxed, but they’re smart too. Bloody hot, need to keep the tinnys (beer cans for those from the USA) cool? Get an Aussie to invent a styrofoam box with a hinged lid & handles, the Esky. Need to carry something on a flatbed/in a tray, but not as big as a truck? Another Aussie invents the Utility Van, AKA the Ute. Gotta take pot shots over a trench’s wall without getting shot in WW1? more Aussies invent the periscope rifle, then a tin can timing system to keep them shooting long after they’re gone…

          …And the French may have their name on French Kissing, but Aussies brought it “Down Under”… 😉

          I like these Aussies, might hang around here when I’m not working. Long as I don’t overheat or rust, that is… 😛

        2. bleeters

          I always found that one strange. Having been to both France and Italy one time, I much prefered the food of the latter to the former. Actual Italian pizza is frikkin glorious.

    2. Kris

      Don’t feel too bad. Jason still got with Sal arguably the hottest girl in the cast. That’s something, even if he may be a bad tutor.

  24. Ed

    So Danny’s tutoring actually helped Sal? He actually did something right? And he’s not near the bottom of the favorite DoA character poll? Holy shit, the apocalypse is nigh. Next comes pigs flying, cats and dogs living together, and commenters not calling Danny a bad person for making well-intentioned decisions using the best available information at the time!

    1. Crotonhurst

      And soggies….lots of soggies

      1. Ed

        Oh man, it’s a spillover apocalypse from an alternate universe!

    2. Boomwolf

      Don’t forget Joyce’s million dong sucking spree.

      1. Amazistool

        Billion!

        1. xKiv

          *Like* a billion.
          Like a bi … lion …
          …

    3. Nena

      Nah, Danny’s not a bad person. Just young, naive and not a lot of common sense. His heart is usually in the right place.

      1. laila

        I actually rather like Danny.

        (And anyone who says they weren’t equally clueless at 18, in one way or another, is kidding nobody but themselves.)

    4. Bagge

      Go Danny!

    5. Pinja

      If Dina can get to the top of the poll it’s meaningless.

    6. masterofbones

      In this universe, Danny really hasn’t done many things wrong. Most hatred of him seems to have been carried over from alt universes.

      1. Spencer

        I don’t think he’s a bad guy, but he has made a lot of bad calls during the history of the comic.

        Honestly, I think a lot of the Danny hate comes from the fact that, until recently, we never really saw a lot of good about him. He starts off making a super demeaning statement towards Dorothy, then alternates between moping, being dicked around and insulted by everybody around him and being dumb about Amazi-Girl. If we saw more of his positive traits earlier on, I doubt the hate train would have gotten so big. I’m glad that my interest in himwas vindicated over the last year, but when a character alternates between accidentally screwing up and vaguely acting like a dick for years on end, it’s hard to like him.

  25. Arikel

    Awww man I can’t wait to see what happens next. I’d like to say things are just getting good, but things are always getting good-er. Is that even a thing? Things are getting gooder. I like it.

  26. Ridureyu

    Well, considering that he screws his students in exchange for grades… I have to sie with Sal here. He’s a shitty-ass teacher.

    1. A Scientist

      That’s not the only reason he’s a bad teacher. Even though we haven’t seen much of him teaching, he’s been brutal in the few moments we have seen. He tries to explain things directly by book definitions, which doesn’t help anyone but the people who already get the book definitions, and when someone doesn’t get it, he just repeats himself.

      He’s a bad teacher, even if he wasn’t also unethical.

      1. Crazy Dina

        Mind telling my freshman year English teacher that? Preferably before my freshman year? I mean seriously, if you could build a time machine and go back and tell her that, it would save me a lot of stress, and hopefully rescue me from that one time between English and PE.

        1. A Scientist

          College or high school? Very different environs. Either way, even though it doesn’t help you now, teaching is at last moving away from the traditional lecture format and into a more student-centered philosophy.

        2. Crazy Dina

          … Would you believe me if I said they both were the same person?

        3. Crazy Dina

          No? Okay, then highschool. And I’m not so sure, at least not for my current education level. MAYBE I’ll see some shift show up later, but there isn’t really any change yet.

    2. Twilightomens

      But he’s horrible because he screws students in exchange for nothing. He doesn’t even hold up his end of the deal.

    3. Marvelman

      I have to disagree with what you said. Jason never entered into any agreement with Sal. She initiated the relationship. Obviously, the relationship is utterly inappropriate. However, Jason never explicitly or implicitly offered to raise her grade for sex. And, it is my opinion, if Sal had suggested such an arrangement he would have refused. Jason may be an asshole and a lousy teacher but I think he has some integrity.

      1. David

        What about that “I’d have given you better than that for sex.” statement when the last papers were graded?

        1. Ed

          I think he was just joking. And/or complimenting Sal on her sexual aptitude.

        2. Amazistool

          He already had the sex and revealed in the same scene that he gave Sals work to another TA to grade!

  27. Marvelman

    That was really mean. I’m not sure Jason deserved it. Am I missing something here?

    1. Wendy

      He puts down her intelligence a lot in a really snide, condescending way. (And hey, maybe he really IS a terrible teacher.) He deserved every bit of this, if you ask me.

      1. Marvelman

        I went back and read some of the earlier strips. He did really have it coming.

    2. fit-to-flip

      I mean, he was pretty much an asshole to her when she tried tutoring.

  28. Wendy

    Yessssss this is such a great moment for Sal I love her so much. <3

  29. fit-to-flip

    Tbh I kinda hate Jason a bit

    1. A Scientist

      So do I, and it bothers me, because I’m a TA, and we’ve only met two of them, and Jason is the only one we can really form an opinion on, and he sucks entirely.

      Thank goodness at least one educator we’ve met (Leslie) is good at her job…

    2. timemonkey

      I never understood why anyone liked him to begin with.

      1. Kintrex

        It would be different if you met him in person, because when somebody acts like an asshole but has a British accent people find it charming.

        1. laila

          I don’t, but then I’m from England. Over here, assholes with British accents are just run-of-the-mill assholes.

  30. Twilightomens

    Aww, Jason 🙁
    Wait, Jason probably had it coming? Sorry guys, I just really like Jason.

    1. Barf Ninjason

      Uh… why? He’s kind of a prickly little snotbag.

      1. HeySo

        Yeah, because everyone in Walkyverse is super nice all the time. :eyes your avatar: Everyone.

  31. Gangler

    Okay, so real talk. What even are Teachers Assistants? Like I work with them but I don’t know basic things like whether they’re paid in money or if they just do this for credits. Is this just some hoop Jason has to jump through to become an accountant? Is it reasonable to expect him to approach his work with a certain amount of skill and professionalism? I don’t know.

    1. Matthew Davis

      It depends on the discipline. Sometimes they help with grading and one-on-one instruction in large lecture courses (the kind of thing where you go to the big lecture then have “section” with the TA), but sometimes they are the instructor of record for the course and their status as “TA” is a job title to differentiate them from adjunct instructors and the regular faculty.

      In college, at any rate, they generally are paid and get a tuition waiver, but do not receive course credits for their work.

      In the comic, Jason is probably the first kind of TA I mentioned, since he seems to be working directly under a math professor.

    2. HeySo

      I’ve yet to see a TA IRL that even fully understands the basics of their field, much less is a competent educator- even though often they end up doing all the real work in the classroom, while the actual instructor either dicks around or focuses on grad work.

      That’s not to say they can’t exist- and perhaps in big name universities that’s especially likely- but to my experiences, Jason seems more competent than most, namely since he has strict expectations of himself and attends to all the work [grading, offering tutoring, etc] diligently. That he’s not very competent at it is hardly a strike against him- most teachers aren’t even competent at it, and it’s their full on employment basis. Jason at least puts in the effort, even he’s terrible at adapting or thinking non-rigidly.

    3. anonymsly

      I think Jason’s most likely a graduate student in mathematics with a lot of understanding/training in math but absolutely zero training/understanding in math education, which is a whole ‘nother beast entirely.

      A lot of people (not here, necessarily, just generally) seem to think that when someone knows a lot about a particular subject, that subject-expertise translates to being a good teacher of that subject.

      I would actually have been shocked if Jason had been a good teacher/tutor. I’m certain he’s a good mathematician.

      And in the interest of admitting bias, I like Jason, I like him and Sal together, and I would be sad if this were the end-note for them here. (Which I think it may be, given that Jason is unlikely to pursue Sal in any way, and she has no further use for him.)

  32. Nena

    Jason looks so dejected.

  33. Orangey

    Good, Jason was a really crappy tutor anyway. I’m glad that he actually looks at least a little dejected from being told as such. Even with the snark. Ugh Jason

    1. segnosaur

      To be honest, I don’t really think you can make any real judgement over his qualities as a tutor or teaching assistant based on this one case.

      As an instructor, he would have to teach to the “average” student. Some students may have abilities above the course curriculum, others may have abilities below, and its possible for a teacher to be good to 99% of the students, but have problems dealing with that 1%.

      1. anonymsly

        I expect Jason actually IS a bad teacher/tutor, because he’s a mathemetics grad student with little to no grounding in mathematics education.

        He presents the material according to the professor’s syllabus, he seems to be dedicated to fulfilling the requirements of his job (keeping the office hours he sets, trying to help students who ask for it, etc), but this is basic calculus, it’s his specialty subject at a level that is so fundamental to him that it’s easy. When someone doesn’t understand this fundamental, easy thing, he can only assume the disconnect is on their side because this is easy.

        It’s possible I identify with Jason to a crazy degree, because that’s how I am. I am a horrible, awful teacher because I have this exact lack of understanding. I’ve spent literal years (heck, a decade plus) working at it, learning other ways to look at the things I know so i can teach them or explain them to others, and I still spend most of my teaching/training time frustrated out of my mind at how people seem to be stupid or just not paying attention. It is not my favorite part of my personality. 🙁

        1. ahuh

          What do you teach? I’ve noticed from friends in math backgrounds that you usually go from “I have no clue” to “this is easy!”.

        2. anonymsly

          I actually work in technical support, so I do a lot of peer training and what we call ‘floor support’ which often amounts to off-the-cuff spot training of reps who are struggling with some concept or process. It’s still teaching and it’s still very hard for me. But I do like helping, and people get a lot less frustrated with me than they used to, so I know I’m getting better.

        3. segnosaur

          The subject may be easy to Jason, but that doesn’t mean he can’t necessarily teach it to a student who a) is trying, and b) already has a basic understanding of math (even if they weren’t familiar with calculus before the class started).

          Its possible that Sal, prior to starting university, never really got a good grounding in math (unlike most of the other students who may have had a more solid foundation). Handling a person like that is different than handling the average student.

          It would be like an english teacher trying to teach Shakespeare to a student who never learned to read. The teacher may be exceptionally good at teaching Shakespeare, but can’t teach a person the alphabet.

  34. Icalasari

    I just realized

    Between Walky and his sister, they gave 110%

    Willis did you make an intentional stealth pun?

    1. Bill

      83 and 26 is 109 …. close enough.

      1. HeySo

        Always forget to carry the 1..
        That’s what we get for asking Malaya to carry it..

  35. HeySo

    Jason never screwed anyone for grades. Sal came on strong from the start, and Jason is- and has been in other universes- inept at understanding how to interact with others.

    And given the usual excuse sexual people give of ‘if someone that hot hit on you, would you think straight’, I’m not sure why there’s such a vicious dislike of Jason in some of these comments.

    Jason strikes me as being very similar to Danny. Book-smart, good-intentioned, but very awkward and easily socially confused.

    Most importantly, by the comments Jason makes in today’s comic, you can see that he associated the rough-natured discussions he and Sal had as a fundament of their relationship [and when Sal reacts extra viciously, he’s confused and hurt]. Obviously not the healthiest foundation for a relationship, but again, Jason seems very uncertain about relationships as a whole.

    Strangely, noone seems to be reacting negatively to Sal in these comments, even though she initiated the whole thing with this socially awkward spaz, and then kept leading him on [being the one to, each time, initiate the sex], giving him the whole confused aspect on what their relationship was based on in the first place.

    That is to say-
    They’re both flawed, they’re both clumsy and awkward and make mistakes-
    and more importantly, Jason develops into a pretty solid character in Walkyverse through similar social confusions, so lets see what happens here.

    1. HeySo

      That being said, I don’t argue that he’s a total jerk most of the time, but then, so many characters are 😛 He’s just generally less funny about it than the others.

    2. Bagge

      Student-teacher relationship. That’s why he’s at fault and not she.

      Also, they had sex in the middle of a tuition session. When her grades was the explicit topic, and he didn’t make it clear until well after the fact that he wouldn’t grade her test after that.

      If he wasn’t her teacher but just an older student who met Sal i the library and agreed to help her out – everything you said would be true. But he is her teacher.

      1. tinfoil theory

        Penny was egging him on to give in to his student’s advances, otherwise he might not have done it. If he was ever given the option of giving in in the first place. He made it clear that it would be a violation of his principles. Apparently he enjoyed it, though.

        And Sal just expected him to grade her better for sex, she never told him that, nor even alluded to it, and he never got the idea of even assuming that. (They were discussing her boy-toys at the time, not her grades.)

        It seems to me he has fallen for her, but never had a clue what she expected. Not surprising he inevitably disappointed her, then. Yes, he is a bad teacher, a bad tutor, and yet Sal went for an encore, so he must have some qualities. Paedagogy is not one of them. Or keeping true to his own principles.

        Did Sal lead him astray from the thorny path or righteousness, or did she open him up to a larger world of things that could not be dreamt of in his philosophy?

        1. Bagge

          “Yes, he is a bad teacher, a bad tutor”

          That’s my whole point. That’s bad enough not to make me care about his other qualities, about his attraction to Sal and how he fumbled it, about her motivation in it and other complicating.

          Due to the power imbalance in the student-teacher relationship and how much is at stake for the student, part of a teacher’s job is to NOT engage in any kind of relationship with a student that you can’t handle in a professional and constructive manner, and that solely lies on you as a teacher. If you can’t handle that, then you are doing a bad job.

          (Just to be clear, I don’t actually disagree with your other points, I’m just so angry about the bad-teacher-thing so I don’t care about it.)

        2. anonymsly

          See, I can’t actually hold the ‘bad teacher’ thing against him too much because I sincerely doubt anyone ever bothered to teach him how to teach.

          As being a student is a learned skill, so is being a teacher. Perhaps more so. Most TA’s, in my experience, are graduate students of the subject they’re TA-ing, which means that Jason ISN’T a teacher despite being in that position currently: he’s a mathematician. (A mathematician still in training, honestly.)

          I suspect Jason’s an excellent mathematician. That means absolutely nothing about whether or not he’s a good teacher, and certainly doesn’t mean that he should be expected to magically be a good teacher.

          It also doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t have to learn to do better, because he should. It does mean that I’m just really angry at the pass Walky’s getting for being a bad student (well now you have to learn, Walky, it’s so sad that you’re just getting started now, you can do it!) while Jason’s not getting similar treatment for a similar failing (Jason’s such a jerk and a horrible teacher, being good at math obviously means he should magically be the best teacher evar!).

        3. Bagge

          I think the “sex with a student without very clear communication and boundaries” thing makes him a bad teacher in itself, regardless of how good he is at teaching in class. That’s what I am angry about.

          But as for his actual teaching capacity I think you are right. It is a hard skill to learn, and most colleges do a poor job of training their TA’s, and they don’t give a good incentive to be better. That’s not (only) Jason’s fault, that’s the structure he is working in.

          But there is a huge difference between him and Walky. When Walky screws up his studies, he takes the fall. When Jason screws up his teaching, his students take the fall. With authority comes responsibility.

        4. Amazistool

          Jason is at least aware of the incorrectness of these sheenanigans and arranges with Sal to end it.

          Two seconds later they bonk again!

    3. fit-to-flip

      Hey except Sals not the fucking TA. And most people aare perfectly capable of thinking straight even when they find someone attractive. Like maybe you act a little goofy, you don’t have to hook up with them.

  36. heavvymetalqueen

    Awww Jason really likes her, doesn’t he. And he’s just realized their banter may not be foreplay anymore 🙁

  37. Bagge

    Newsflash, Jason: If you have sex with a student, and don’t in every possible way separate your role as a sex partner from your role as a teacher, this is the nicest possible consequence. If you get to keep your job it is more than you deserve.

    1. tinfoil theory

      Sal is angry because he did everything to separate his role as a sex partner from his role as a TA, even refusing to grade her work himself.

      1. Bagge

        Making students happy is not a teacher’s job. Giving them a safe space for education and a good opportunity to learn is. Sal can be as angry as she wants, that doesn’t change the fact that separating the roles was the right thing to do.

        The REALLY right thing to do would have been to do a better job of it. Make clear BEFORE sex that he wouldn’t grade her after that, make clear that he would teach her as best as he could regardless of how their private relationship progressed, make clear that their private relationship would be kept separate from their classroom relationship, don’t do sexytimes in the middle of a tuition situation but set up a later date instead to make sure both had the same idea. And if Sal wouldn’t have wanted that – why, maybe sex with her wouldn’t be the best idea, would it, bow-tie?

        1. tinfoil theory

          You say that as if Jason had initiated it.

          Of course it was a bad idea. He said so himself. He was explicitly reluctant to go along. His intent was “purely mathematical”.

          He did make an effort to tutor his abductor. Sal said “screw it” and went on ignoring his copious objections. She tried the same thing on Danny.

          Sal should be angry with herself for not listening to her teacher from the start.

        2. Bagge

          Oh, absolutely! It was a bad idea of Sal to sleep with her TA, it was a bad idea of Jason to sleep with his student.

          The reason I’m angry at Jason and not Sal is that his job is don’t act on bad ideas like that. Sal is allowed to be stupid in a way Jason isn’t. If that seems unfair, just remember who is paid for what they do and who is allowed to grade the other.

          Power difference, responsibility, accountability.

        3. Bagge

          Also, I agree that he did not handle the situation as bad as possible. He did take some steps to put it right even when Sal did things difficult for him.

          I just don’t think that “didn’t fuck up as badly as he could” is a good defense. Again, it is his job to fuck up less badly than he did.

      2. Heavensrun

        No, Sal is angry because she was struggling to understand the material, and his response, as a would be professional teacher was almost literally “stop sucking so much!” He’s an awful teacher who did nothing to try and understand where her struggle was, and Danny pwned the fanny off of him with one tutoring session. Their sexual chemistry and relationship actually has very little to do with that.

        1. Amazistool

          You are right about the reasons why Sal is angry now, but we have no indication to believe that Jason is a “would be professional teacher”.

          He may as well be a graduate student with no intention to become a teacher.

        2. Heavensrun

          A grad student working as a TA is getting paid to teach. That by definition makes him a would-be professional teacher, even if that’s not ultimately his career goal in the long term.

  38. Sir Robin

    I can’t decide if Jason sounds like Christopher Eccelston, or David Tennant

    1. Pinja

      Speaking as a Brit and given his attire, one is as unlikely as the other. A northern boy like Chris isn’t going to wear a sweater-vest and bow tie.

      1. Betty Anne

        You know, I hadn’t really thought about it before, but he doesn’t really sound like Eccelston or Tennant to me, either. In my mind, I can’t really put a ‘celebrity’ or ‘actor’ voice to his face…it’s kind of a nasally, not-really-Draco-Malfoy-but-kind-of, wannabe-royal voice, I guess? Not sure how to describe it, not being British and not having an exact well-known voice to compare it to.

        1. Pinja

          Hugh Laurie

    2. Heavensrun

      Psst. There are british people out there who weren’t on Doctor Who.

      1. Sir Robin

        Between Doctor Who, Harry Potter or Game of Thrones, there are not very many

    3. Tenn

      Well, he’s definitely not a northerner. Queen’s English is where it’s at.

      Now that I think about it… Benedict Cumberbatch is kind of close-ish to what I imagine him sounding like.

    4. laila

      Well, David Tennant is Scottish, so Jason’s probably not going to sound like him.

  39. artichoke

    *squeals*
    This is seriously the best strip in a loong time – not to discount the others. I’ve visitet this page three times today already, and it made me wiggle in my chair from glee every time.

  40. pretty flacko

    y so mean? 🙁

  41. mididooom

    “Shitty-ass”, aye? Makes me wonder what they got up to…

  42. Kim

    Yaaay! jason!
    The best couple is finally back in the same strip!

  43. Betty Anne

    I don’t have any puns to contribute to those pun-ishing chains of puns above, but I did just want to comment:

    TAs (and regular teachers/profs) like Jason piss me off. It was a little annoying to see “PAY ATTENTION” written on Walky’s paper, but I thought maybe Walky had just made some simple mistakes like forgetting to carry a number or move a decimal – things that inattentiveness cover. His “maybe you’re starting to listen” comment to Sal, however, seems to suggest he thinks the problem is 100% on the students and not in any way related to his (probably shitty) teaching, which Sal rightly pointed out is clearly not the case. If Danny was able to bring Sal’s grade up from Ds and Fs to a B, it seems MOST of the problem is actually on Jason and/or the prof for this class.

    I get that you can’t help every student. I was a TA at my university, I had plenty of students who simply would not put in effort to do anything but sleep in class and wouldn’t make any attempt to schedule meetings with me or the prof outside class hours. That didn’t keep me from coming around to their seat during lab hours and ask if there was anything they were confused about, did they have all the materials they needed, was any part of my lecture hard to understand, etc, etc. Yeah, some students you have to go the extra mile or ten for – but until our public school system (and the parents of said students) start turning out better learners, we have to take up the slack.

    And not be an asshole like Jason.

    1. anonymsly

      In some fairness, being able to do math and being able to teach math are two completely different things. You can be good at something and be horrible at teaching it, especially if you haven’t ever been taught how to teach.

      I, for example, am a horrible teacher/trainer naturally. When a thing comes easily to me and/or I’ve had a lot of practice and experience at a thing I internalize it as simple. Then, when I try to teach someone else this thing, I present it as simple (because it is simple to me) and get frustrated with the seeming lack of attention and stupidity when the person I’m trying to teach doesn’t grasp this simple thing. I have since worked at this because it is a skill, developing other ways of explaining, learning to draw pictures though I don’t think that way, etc.

      We don’t know how old Jason is or how long he’s been a TA. He doesn’t seem to have the right personality to be a professional teacher at the moment. He’s certainly not enthusiastic about teaching in itself. I’d be willing to bet he’s had little to no educational training.

      He’s as bad a teacher as Walky is a student: they’re both terrible, but it’s because they don’t have the skills. Not because they’re just shitty jerks and that’s an end to it.

    2. Kabo

      I’m sure Jason hasn’t forgotten the pretty T-Rex Walky produced in lieu of lecture notes, though. He seems like a guy that would remember a thing like that. And if that’s so, then the inference to “not paying attention” doesn’t seem that far fetched.

    3. segnosaur

      Re: Walky and “Pay Attention”…

      Remember, in an earlier strip, Jason collected all of the student’s notes so that they can get an idea of how they were understanding the material. Walky’s notes consisted of a drawing of a T-rex. Since Walky obviously wasn’t taking notes, I don’t think him telling him to “pay attention” is that far out of line.

  44. JohnnyO

    Is Jason just a T.A. and the professor is an unseen character? Or is he the one teaching the course?

    1. Marisa Mockery

      TAs always end up teaching the course.

    2. Amazistool

      We have already seen the professor.

      Once.

      1. Kk

        … I did not realize how much the prof reminds me of the Eleventh Doctor until this moment

  45. tunasammich

    Awww… for some reason it warms my cold dead heart that Danny has been tutoring Sal and is actually really helpful to her. Also I like seeing Jason proved wrong about thinking Sal was just a bad, hopeless student.

  46. timemonkey

    Danny superior. Jason inferior.

  47. Heavensrun

    I’m definitely on board with the “Jason is a shitty-ass teacher” hypothesis.

  48. Vree

    set-up for Jason x Walky I imagine

  49. Pinja

    What exactly has Jason done that makes him an asshole?

    And more of an asshole than Amber, Sal, Ruth or Mike?

    1. Bagge

      – Sex with a student in a completely unprofessional way (I rant about that in a few other comments if you are interested)
      – Unsupportive and generally bad teacher (see for example Betty Anne’s comment a few steps up)

      Is he more of an asshole? Do we have some sort of asshole quota now? I dunno? I like Jason less than some of those you listed because we have seen much less of him and therefor don’t know his positive sides and mitigating circumstances, and because he abuses his power over students in form of his teacher position, must like Ruth abuses her RA position. With great power comes great responsibility, assholery from a powerful position equals great assholery.

  50. Poli

    I vaguely recall Sal doing better before Danny started tutoring her right here so this does seem like it was unnecessary on Sal’s part. Still, I’m happy Danny is helping her understand it.

    1. No Name

      76 to 83 is a pretty big step though, not as big as 43 to 76, yes, but it is pretty big.

  51. Marisa Mockery

    Oh man, burn on every level. I kinda feel sorry for him. But either way, huzzah, no one is complaining about Danny for once!

  52. No Name

    Wait a second, Sal just used the G-word!

    Why am I making a big deal of this? Because while she does drop f- and s-bombs with ease, she also says “gaddurned” and “doggone”. Something tells me that Catholic school had an effect on her.

  53. Kugai

    Ahhhh Romance

  54. Tenn

    You shouldn’t be rubbing your face in that anyway, Jason.

    Not saying I wouldn’t watch if you did. But you shouldn’t.

  55. thatguy

    Ive been reading tgis web comic for a year. I think its time I support the artist. Im gonna buy all the books and get on patreon.

  56. Kit

    This is when Jason realises he fudged the marks on the wrong Walkerton.

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