A thing which everyone complains about except the people who have actually run studies and found that it’s affecting such a tiny percentage of cases as to not be worth worrying about.
The fact that the pandemic created a change in which jobs are hiring which created a mismatch in the skills needed vs skills available in the labor market, that child care is still unavailable or unaffordable, and that people who were laid off from really crappy jobs have decided to hold out for better ones means that really crappy jobs are having a hard time hiring, leading to bonuses and finally actual wage growth when employers are forced to actually compete in a competitive market for labor.
It has also led to governors cutting off unemployment so that people suddenly have to choose between taking a subsistence-wage job or starving, because free markets are apparently bad when they lead to companies having to pay reasonable wages for labor.
I’m pretty sure I could keep myself from breaking into a place even if it was unimpregnable, so I don’t think it’s that, but rather that the place cannot be modified so as to keep me out if I did want to get in, however little I might be willing to do to achieve that desire.
This issome of the best genre awareness I’ve ever seen. A captivity gloat which is *standardized* and fobbed off on, clearly, the least suitable and/or competent candidate, much like translation into English in Chinese and Taiwanese companies… a captive who still considers it her responsibility to be positive and help the poor sod in this difficult and unrewarding makework job her once-employer has dumped on him… pure gold 🙂
I’m trying to figure out what the breakdown in being a goon in an evil organization is. Like, what percentage of your time is spent hanging out in the breakroom vs. giving over the top speeches to unimpressed captives vs. doing actual, you know, super evil stuff? And what would the percentages have to be to make it better than, say, an average job at your average tech startup?
This may be at least partly spelled out in the manual for the henchperson’s union. I could get into delivering a captivity gloat. That would be about the limit of my ambitions in an organization like that.
Which union? There’s the standard Henchman’s Union for those who haul stuff around, and the Evil Henchman’s Union, for Igor-types that can find anything you ask for. Admittedly, this guy doesn’t look like he could pass the application exams for either, but clarification should help answer these questions.
You have to spend some time as a Goon before you graduate to Henching. Delivering convincing sinister speeches is probably one of the pre-requisites for moving up.
Given all the extirpating and, well, Mr. Green’s whole M.O., I can’t see ASig as the kind of organisation that allows unionisation generally (yep, I think he’s just that evil 🙂 ) and would see henchmen specifically as part of the problem.
Of course, your points that his massed goons are still effectively henchfolk and subject to all the relevant tropes and canon is entirely valid I feel – I just get the vibe that Ira would find the idea of his everso competent army of minions having ideas about (shudder) _collective action_ to be, well, icky to say the least. (At least collective action ofthat kind.)
Stross, in his Bond pastiche “The Jennifer Morgue”, has henchmen talking about how they’ll be in charge of small places once their leader’s IPO happens. IPO stands for Install Planetary Overlord.
Heh, heh, heh… Isn’t that the same bit where the henchmen reveal that they’re all wearing dark glasses indoors to hide the accursed eyeshadow they’re contractually obliged to wear? I keep thinking Jeff in particular would get a kick out of that series.
I like that he’s reading his gloat off a tablet. Also, did he holster that gun or just put it on the bedside table? Because that could come in handy if someone else were to manage to grab it.
Looking at the previous strip, I don’t see a bedside table, so he has to have either holstered his sidearm, or placed it on Virginia’s pillow.
Also, I just noticed when looking at the previous strip again that the restraint bed is not normal human length, so Virginia is having to lie with her knees up to keep her lower legs from hanging off the end of the bed. A deviously evil design, indeed!
Hard to get quality help when the gubmit is paying people more to stay home.
And you don’t even have to polish your shoes to get a check!
Hard to get quality help when they defund education for decades
Hard to get quality help when employers aren’t willing to pay what the market demands for labor.
Anisigma is paying less than 300 a week for full time work? Very evil.
A thing which everyone complains about except the people who have actually run studies and found that it’s affecting such a tiny percentage of cases as to not be worth worrying about.
The fact that the pandemic created a change in which jobs are hiring which created a mismatch in the skills needed vs skills available in the labor market, that child care is still unavailable or unaffordable, and that people who were laid off from really crappy jobs have decided to hold out for better ones means that really crappy jobs are having a hard time hiring, leading to bonuses and finally actual wage growth when employers are forced to actually compete in a competitive market for labor.
It has also led to governors cutting off unemployment so that people suddenly have to choose between taking a subsistence-wage job or starving, because free markets are apparently bad when they lead to companies having to pay reasonable wages for labor.
I mean, Ginny did once describe herself as ‘technically evil’.
Dr. Lee would make quite a life coach! Clearly it was only her cooking that made her unpopular at team building functions.
Everyone’s facial expressions are so perfect, especially in the last panel!
And I think Steve (or is that Kyle?) deserves Loyalty Points for practicing Gloat Delivery on his own time.
I’ve been thinking this so much the past few weeks, the facial expressions have been amazing.
Baron’s tiny lecherous smile, everyone’s spooked as hell faces, and now this. It’s great. 🙂
I won’t mind if he survives.
Hmm, if a place is unimpregnable, does that mean it’s impossible _not_ to break in?
That would track. Especially with the plot.
He spoke it into being, so it’s his fault.
I’m pretty sure I could keep myself from breaking into a place even if it was unimpregnable, so I don’t think it’s that, but rather that the place cannot be modified so as to keep me out if I did want to get in, however little I might be willing to do to achieve that desire.
How is impergonate form?
The vanquish unfortressable, sac for savenoth wait that not right
Really, I’m impressed that he can handle a tablet at all with those gloves on.
XD
As Helen B Narbon once put it, there is no-one on the side of evil this tactic doesn’t work on.
There’s only one answer to that:
Oh really? Tell me more!
This issome of the best genre awareness I’ve ever seen. A captivity gloat which is *standardized* and fobbed off on, clearly, the least suitable and/or competent candidate, much like translation into English in Chinese and Taiwanese companies… a captive who still considers it her responsibility to be positive and help the poor sod in this difficult and unrewarding makework job her once-employer has dumped on him… pure gold 🙂
I’m trying to figure out what the breakdown in being a goon in an evil organization is. Like, what percentage of your time is spent hanging out in the breakroom vs. giving over the top speeches to unimpressed captives vs. doing actual, you know, super evil stuff? And what would the percentages have to be to make it better than, say, an average job at your average tech startup?
One of the best obscure Marvel characters is Elsie Carson, Hydra middle manager in Arizona (which she chose because there’s no heroes there).
She joined up because they offer dental.
This may be at least partly spelled out in the manual for the henchperson’s union. I could get into delivering a captivity gloat. That would be about the limit of my ambitions in an organization like that.
Which union? There’s the standard Henchman’s Union for those who haul stuff around, and the Evil Henchman’s Union, for Igor-types that can find anything you ask for. Admittedly, this guy doesn’t look like he could pass the application exams for either, but clarification should help answer these questions.
You have to spend some time as a Goon before you graduate to Henching. Delivering convincing sinister speeches is probably one of the pre-requisites for moving up.
Given all the extirpating and, well, Mr. Green’s whole M.O., I can’t see ASig as the kind of organisation that allows unionisation generally (yep, I think he’s just that evil 🙂 ) and would see henchmen specifically as part of the problem.
Of course, your points that his massed goons are still effectively henchfolk and subject to all the relevant tropes and canon is entirely valid I feel – I just get the vibe that Ira would find the idea of his everso competent army of minions having ideas about (shudder) _collective action_ to be, well, icky to say the least. (At least collective action ofthat kind.)
Stross, in his Bond pastiche “The Jennifer Morgue”, has henchmen talking about how they’ll be in charge of small places once their leader’s IPO happens. IPO stands for Install Planetary Overlord.
Heh, heh, heh… Isn’t that the same bit where the henchmen reveal that they’re all wearing dark glasses indoors to hide the accursed eyeshadow they’re contractually obliged to wear? I keep thinking Jeff in particular would get a kick out of that series.
That’s the one. He’s a fun writer.
I like that he’s reading his gloat off a tablet. Also, did he holster that gun or just put it on the bedside table? Because that could come in handy if someone else were to manage to grab it.
Looking at the previous strip, I don’t see a bedside table, so he has to have either holstered his sidearm, or placed it on Virginia’s pillow.
Also, I just noticed when looking at the previous strip again that the restraint bed is not normal human length, so Virginia is having to lie with her knees up to keep her lower legs from hanging off the end of the bed. A deviously evil design, indeed!
Good point! Dr. Lee’s insistence on padded restraints shows she did what she could to ameliorate suffering!
Or to focus each victim’s attention on the suffering of their partner in “The Love Seat From Hell”?
Whatever.
This guy reminds me of the tower guards in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”… probably a direct descendant of both…
If only there was a way that Ginny could get to some paper and a bow and arrow.
Direct AND REINFORCED descendant I meant… probably heavily so…
Deliver captivity gloat. To shove it right down their throat. Betraying humanity, no escape from insanity. But he needs some more time to emote.