“Well Mr. Wilcox, your foot’s qualifications are very impressive, and we’d like to offer it a position. Unfortunately, that means the rest of you will need to be removed from the grounds. Security!”
Danny might not even know about Jason losing the job – I don’t think he was in that Math class.
As far as he knows it could also have been back in her boarding school days.
Green screen? Nah, there’s another way to go about it that’s easier on the budget—just film on a set window built at a lower height and use careful camera angles to make it seem like it’s still the same high-up window.
Proxiehunter
But set builders are union. Better to do it CGI. If you’re an asshole anyway.
Sirksome
Yeah you can pay a college vfx grad in peanuts to do compositing work.
It’s the other way around. She always — ALWAYS — works on third floor ledges with a greenscreen behind her, and is comped into all other locations in post.
I can’t hear that yet, my brain has been stuck on “Master of Puppets” for nearly 2 hours. And by “stuck” I of course mean that I have been listening to it on repeat for nearly 2 hours.
I would like to mention again how much I approve of the administration’s “Trap for Idiot Professors” where the only way to appeal an accusation of sexual misconduct is to bring the person involved to claim otherwise. Which, of course, assumes that 100% of all misconduct is true and they will be shooting themselves in the foot.
Thing is, I think Sal would probably have covered Jason, were she to be questioned about it.
And I think Jason was fully aware of that. In the end, my view of the situation is that Jason decided to resign because he fully recognised he had done a massive professional mistake (even if he never granted Sal any favor outside of the angry sex) and should resign anyway.
One thing to note, though, is that him now being a bartender might invalidate his current Visa. Is Jason savy enough to have started the administrative change he needs to stay?
That seems over the top given that she initiated it. It seems like the whole thing got retconned. If anything his consent seemed to be in question – she didn’t really ask before jumping on him.
GUIGUI
Whether she initiated it or not is beside the point. He is at fault for accepting it. As a teacher , there is simply a rule of no such relation with any of his students and in itself, it is enough to justify resiging form the job.
Tan
Sal was pretty clear that her offer was sex for grades, and Jason states after the fact that he said yes to the sex but didn’t (technically) say yes to the grades. Which is still very abuse of his position. It is his responsibility to turn her down.
Of course, then they immediately fuck again, which is, uh. Technically somewhat better in that Sal is not under the false impression she’ll get grades for it? I guess?
GUIGUI
“Sal was pretty clear that her offer was sex for grades” I don’t think she ever made that clear at all, to Jason, at least. She just thought it was implied. What I think is clear is that she had sex with Jason because she was attracted to him (wouldn’t have bone him again afterward if that wasn’t the case). She just assumed that better grades would be an accompanying bonus.
Sounded more like innuendo to me than an actual bargain.
Tan
“Nothing matters except what my grades end up being” she says while whipping off her own shirt and pulling open his. She could not be more clear about this if she had said “This is transactional sex for grades. Insert penis to agree.”
Also, just to be clear, even if she WASN’T clear about it, it’s STILL an abuse of position on his part even leaving room to doubt that she might get favorable bias out of it.
And even if they had had a lengthy conversation beforehand that he will not improve her grade and will have a neutral third party handle her assignments, it’s STILL against the terms of his employment to have a sexual relationship with a student.
BBCC
Also, in the Slipshine promo Jason says “That is NOT what I meant and you know it” which makes it clear he knew exactly what she was proposing.
As someone who’s well versed in visas and has looked into US work visas after being an international student there: the bar would need to apply for & sponsor a wholly separate H1-B on his behalf, since those visas are tied specifically to employers, and also the job needs to fit particular criteria. It’s very likely that the school would have revoked his H1-B, so he’s basically there undocumented.
(Student visas in the US only really let you work on-campus. You could get an OPT afterwards that lets you work in the field related to your degree for 12-18 months post graduation. Bartending would still be very under the table.)
IIRC, Jason is well aware that leaving his teaching position torpedoed his visa status. Staying in the US legally would be pretty much impossible at this point, so any contact with immigration authorities would likely end with him on a plane back to the UK. His only plan seems to be seeing just how long he can fly under the radar.
thejeff
It wouldn’t kill his student visa. He’s still legit to stay in the country for school.
That whole thing never made a lick of sense. How could they possibly fire TAs for having sex with students when the students never complained about it or even verified that it was happening? That’s basically firing people based on rumor and hearsay at best. In real life there would be an actual investigation into the allegations.
Jason was reported by an other teacher and he never tried to challenge the accusations.
Azhrei Vep
Indeed. For all we know, he could have just said “No I didn’t, Penny’s just being an ass.” and that would have been the end of it. Since he never tried, we’ll never know.
thejeff
It was presented as “He has to bring the student in question to make his defense.” Apparently without saying who the student was.
Which is the worst of both worlds. If you’re falsely accused, there is no student, so what do you do? If you’re an actual predator, that lets you manipulate and prepare the student to protect yourself.
Welcome to the positively Kafkaesque world of sexual misconduct investigations on a college campus. Trust me, the reality can get a lot crazier than this. I’ve heard of actual cases where alleged offenses were reported by a third party, the “victim” wanted nothing to do with it, and the accused was not only denied anything resembling due process but was never even told exactly what they were being accused of. In many cases, one person effectively acts as investigator, prosecutor and judge, with no mechanism to appeal.
I have no idea how the real-life IU handles such cases, and due to the sliding time scale their rules may have changed since that story originally posted. But, anyone who expects a case like this to play out in kind of fair or logical way just might be in for some serious disappointment.
thejeff
And to be fair, far more cases where it was swept under the rug and nothing was done at all.
Since they relied on the accused to contact the student, it also leaves it open for an actually unscrupulous predator to threaten, bribe or otherwise manipulate the victim into defending them.
I think that part was more for a gag. Jason realizes he will have to defend the accusation “with the student in question” and then says “I’m doomed”. I think it’s just a joke about his and Sal’s hostile but horny interactions so far.
thejeff
Maybe, but they still didn’t contact the “student in question”, which would seem the first step in any sane approach. If they don’t know who it was, then they’ve got nothing and he could just blatantly deny.
Tan
If he came in claiming there is no student, it’s entirely possible/likely he would be subject to a lie detector test to confirm. And honestly it’s unlikely Jason would hold up to even the most basic questioning.
Speaking of which, I’ve been considering redoing Questing of Age, I’d like to think I’ve improved as a writer in the last 4-5 years since that came out.
Questing of Age was a fanfic I wrote, and placed in installments on this comment section back in 2016. It was written to answer the question: What if Dumbing of Age was a shonen manga? It honestly, isn’t very good.
144 thoughts on “Girlfriend”
Ana Chronistic
Danno, you need some better life goals than that
at LEAST try for “guilty pleasure”
The Wellerman
I like that one. Sounds cute ?
Decidedly Orthogonal
I don’t know. Wanting to achieve one of your partner’s goals seems like a pretty good indicator of compatibility.
As long as it’s not **only** because they’re your partner’s goals. That’s just co-dependence. (duhn duhn DUHHHHNNNNNN!)
And I can _totally_ see Danny being hot for teacher.
Opus the Poet
Plays Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher on the repaired Muzak:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TpLzW7fm1c0
Schpoonman
Danny did teach Sal math. She said cute didn’t get into her nickers. I guess adorable does, though.
Needfuldoer
*Terminally adorkable* does.
Achallenger
Please hurry doctor, my boyfriend is dying
Doctor_Who
Other interesting things Danny has been include an unaware hostage, a mercy dumpee, and his foot was cinematographer on a porno shoot.
Siddlaw
Use that last one on his resume!
Doctor_Who
“Well Mr. Wilcox, your foot’s qualifications are very impressive, and we’d like to offer it a position. Unfortunately, that means the rest of you will need to be removed from the grounds. Security!”
Nono
That Mary Worth alt-text, well played.
Rectilinear Propagation
Please consider this reply an up vote/like.
Daibhid C
Oh my goodness, I knew I recognised it from somewhere!
Sirksome
I mean most of the faculty we know is trash. Penny was a faculty member and she was boning Joe. Danny has a shot.
Jamie
Does the faculty member need to be named? Because there’s only one candidate I’m aware of.
thejeff
Danny might not even know about Jason losing the job – I don’t think he was in that Math class.
As far as he knows it could also have been back in her boarding school days.
Kyrik Michalowski
This is a very cute strip despite Sal being bad ass on a wall on the 3rd floor.
She can do it all.
Sirksome
It looks bad ass but it’s all green screen effects in post. She’s actually only two feet off the ground.
King Daniel
Green screen? Nah, there’s another way to go about it that’s easier on the budget—just film on a set window built at a lower height and use careful camera angles to make it seem like it’s still the same high-up window.
Proxiehunter
But set builders are union. Better to do it CGI. If you’re an asshole anyway.
Sirksome
Yeah you can pay a college vfx grad in peanuts to do compositing work.
thejeff
It’s actually just flat. She’s lying down.
Needfuldoer
Just like 1960s Batman!
butting
Nice distraction, but we all know the truth.
It’s the other way around. She always — ALWAYS — works on third floor ledges with a greenscreen behind her, and is comped into all other locations in post.
Keulen
I don’t think I could stand with my arms crossed like that on the balcony like Sal’s doing here. I’d be afraid I might fall off.
Kyrik Michalowski
That is why Sal is here, so we can live vicariously through her.
Akane
I can be your dirty little secret, dirty little secret…
Dunno why that song popped into my head xd
Akane
I’ll keep you* sorry
Kyrik Michalowski
I can’t hear that yet, my brain has been stuck on “Master of Puppets” for nearly 2 hours. And by “stuck” I of course mean that I have been listening to it on repeat for nearly 2 hours.
brionl
The Rob Scallon banjo cover?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB_RvsXu5Y0
Kyrik Michalowski
No, but interesting to know that there is a banjo version.
Wizard
It’s surprising how many metal songs sound great when covered by a bluegrass band.
Laura
In the words of Madonna,
“Ooh, something’s coming over me.
My baby’s got a secret!”
C.T. Phipps
I would like to mention again how much I approve of the administration’s “Trap for Idiot Professors” where the only way to appeal an accusation of sexual misconduct is to bring the person involved to claim otherwise. Which, of course, assumes that 100% of all misconduct is true and they will be shooting themselves in the foot.
And it worked! Twice!
GUIGUI
Thing is, I think Sal would probably have covered Jason, were she to be questioned about it.
And I think Jason was fully aware of that. In the end, my view of the situation is that Jason decided to resign because he fully recognised he had done a massive professional mistake (even if he never granted Sal any favor outside of the angry sex) and should resign anyway.
One thing to note, though, is that him now being a bartender might invalidate his current Visa. Is Jason savy enough to have started the administrative change he needs to stay?
Meagan
That seems over the top given that she initiated it. It seems like the whole thing got retconned. If anything his consent seemed to be in question – she didn’t really ask before jumping on him.
GUIGUI
Whether she initiated it or not is beside the point. He is at fault for accepting it. As a teacher , there is simply a rule of no such relation with any of his students and in itself, it is enough to justify resiging form the job.
Tan
Sal was pretty clear that her offer was sex for grades, and Jason states after the fact that he said yes to the sex but didn’t (technically) say yes to the grades. Which is still very abuse of his position. It is his responsibility to turn her down.
See: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/more-quietly/
Of course, then they immediately fuck again, which is, uh. Technically somewhat better in that Sal is not under the false impression she’ll get grades for it? I guess?
GUIGUI
“Sal was pretty clear that her offer was sex for grades” I don’t think she ever made that clear at all, to Jason, at least. She just thought it was implied. What I think is clear is that she had sex with Jason because she was attracted to him (wouldn’t have bone him again afterward if that wasn’t the case). She just assumed that better grades would be an accompanying bonus.
Tan
She absolutely made it clear at the time. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/whatsallthis/
GUIGUI
Sounded more like innuendo to me than an actual bargain.
Tan
“Nothing matters except what my grades end up being” she says while whipping off her own shirt and pulling open his. She could not be more clear about this if she had said “This is transactional sex for grades. Insert penis to agree.”
Also, just to be clear, even if she WASN’T clear about it, it’s STILL an abuse of position on his part even leaving room to doubt that she might get favorable bias out of it.
And even if they had had a lengthy conversation beforehand that he will not improve her grade and will have a neutral third party handle her assignments, it’s STILL against the terms of his employment to have a sexual relationship with a student.
BBCC
Also, in the Slipshine promo Jason says “That is NOT what I meant and you know it” which makes it clear he knew exactly what she was proposing.
Creatrix Tiara
As someone who’s well versed in visas and has looked into US work visas after being an international student there: the bar would need to apply for & sponsor a wholly separate H1-B on his behalf, since those visas are tied specifically to employers, and also the job needs to fit particular criteria. It’s very likely that the school would have revoked his H1-B, so he’s basically there undocumented.
(Student visas in the US only really let you work on-campus. You could get an OPT afterwards that lets you work in the field related to your degree for 12-18 months post graduation. Bartending would still be very under the table.)
Wizard
IIRC, Jason is well aware that leaving his teaching position torpedoed his visa status. Staying in the US legally would be pretty much impossible at this point, so any contact with immigration authorities would likely end with him on a plane back to the UK. His only plan seems to be seeing just how long he can fly under the radar.
thejeff
It wouldn’t kill his student visa. He’s still legit to stay in the country for school.
Meagan
That whole thing never made a lick of sense. How could they possibly fire TAs for having sex with students when the students never complained about it or even verified that it was happening? That’s basically firing people based on rumor and hearsay at best. In real life there would be an actual investigation into the allegations.
GUIGUI
Jason was reported by an other teacher and he never tried to challenge the accusations.
Azhrei Vep
Indeed. For all we know, he could have just said “No I didn’t, Penny’s just being an ass.” and that would have been the end of it. Since he never tried, we’ll never know.
thejeff
It was presented as “He has to bring the student in question to make his defense.” Apparently without saying who the student was.
Which is the worst of both worlds. If you’re falsely accused, there is no student, so what do you do? If you’re an actual predator, that lets you manipulate and prepare the student to protect yourself.
ValdVin
Was he “reported”, or was Penny just projecting, accusing him (and who knows who else) in a defense of her being with Joe?
I sorta think Jason could deal with what he did with Sal, but not lying to the Admin when directly accused of it?
Ed Callahan
She told Jason she reported him for “funses”; she had no idea he was having an affair with a student. An act of malice for malice’s sake.
ValdVin
Yep. That’s more “reported” than reported. Penny seems the sort for whom every accusation she makes is a confession.
Wizard
Given Penny’s behavior, it’s entirely possible that she never actually reported him at all and was just yanking his chain.
Wizard
Welcome to the positively Kafkaesque world of sexual misconduct investigations on a college campus. Trust me, the reality can get a lot crazier than this. I’ve heard of actual cases where alleged offenses were reported by a third party, the “victim” wanted nothing to do with it, and the accused was not only denied anything resembling due process but was never even told exactly what they were being accused of. In many cases, one person effectively acts as investigator, prosecutor and judge, with no mechanism to appeal.
I have no idea how the real-life IU handles such cases, and due to the sliding time scale their rules may have changed since that story originally posted. But, anyone who expects a case like this to play out in kind of fair or logical way just might be in for some serious disappointment.
thejeff
And to be fair, far more cases where it was swept under the rug and nothing was done at all.
Needfuldoer
Strong words in
The staff room
The accusations fly
thejeff
Since they relied on the accused to contact the student, it also leaves it open for an actually unscrupulous predator to threaten, bribe or otherwise manipulate the victim into defending them.
Alex
I think that part was more for a gag. Jason realizes he will have to defend the accusation “with the student in question” and then says “I’m doomed”. I think it’s just a joke about his and Sal’s hostile but horny interactions so far.
thejeff
Maybe, but they still didn’t contact the “student in question”, which would seem the first step in any sane approach. If they don’t know who it was, then they’ve got nothing and he could just blatantly deny.
Tan
If he came in claiming there is no student, it’s entirely possible/likely he would be subject to a lie detector test to confirm. And honestly it’s unlikely Jason would hold up to even the most basic questioning.
Liliet
Lie detectors are notoriously unreliable.
Suet
Danny, no.
Nobody dismisses faculties better than Sal, reason unknown yet.
Other than that hat.
Alex Boston
I would be freaking out if I were on that ledge. Sal is superhuman.
The Wellerman
Yeah she’s an anime bad ass ?
Some1
Speaking of which, I’ve been considering redoing Questing of Age, I’d like to think I’ve improved as a writer in the last 4-5 years since that came out.
The Wellerman
What’s Questing of Age?
Some1
Questing of Age was a fanfic I wrote, and placed in installments on this comment section back in 2016. It was written to answer the question: What if Dumbing of Age was a shonen manga? It honestly, isn’t very good.
The Wellerman
Oooo. Can ya send the link please, I wanna check it out anyway ? sounds interesting
GUIGUI
This is a test to see if it is no longer possible to reply after 6 reply. Do not pay attention to what I am saying.
Max
You failed the test. Or passed. Depends on who’s doing the grading. Not Jason.