[TRENCHES] Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - Elsewhere
LegionPerseus VeilRegistered User, Moderator, Penny Arcade Staff, Vanilla Staff vanilla
Elsewhere
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/elsewhere
Top Secret Algorithm
AnonymousWhen layoffs hit, the boss had a big meeting to discuss the Elite Super Magical Awesome Team that would get to stay, and had big charts and diagrams to show how the selection process was going to work. He was going to have numerous closed-door meetings with his assistants, review everyone’s work history, and use a “secret” algorithm to determine an unbiased, impartial list of candidates, then interview each one personally. By some amazing coincidence, every single person kept (out of a pool of a few hundred) either played fantasy football with him, was a roommate, or was a drinking buddy.
It’s a pretty screwed-up system when a 22-year-old with 8 months experience gets kept over a seven-year industry vet with a wife and two kids.
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But then It does piss me off I have been dismissed from two jobs because someone massively screwed up who was the freind or more of the boss and someone had to get the blame instead to cover thier ass
I think the 7 years experience are more important to this story. He threw in the part about his wife and two kids to further elaborate that a 22 year old didn't need OR deserve the job quite as much.
Not that this was fair at all mind you just that both sides have problems.
But on the flip side a seven year vet will have a much easier time getting a new job than a 22 year old with eight months on his CV. Anything under 3 years many as well be nothing at all.
Christ, every fucking thread. Please, tell us what heinous sin Isaac has committed in this particular comic that so outrages you.
I love how the fact that a person has had bad things happen to them makes them a sympathetic character. How do you know he wasn't just as big a douchebag as you perceive him to be now when he was sleeping in his car? Do you assume every homeless person you see in real life is necessarily a saint?
It's called CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Isaac starts the comic as a twit (though not half the monster many of you make him out to be) so he can eventually grow. Also, EVERYONE in the strip is in their own way pretty much an incompetent, selfish asshole. Do I need to post the rundown of exactly all the ways each character is terrible like I did in the last thread?
This strip is like The Office, OK? It's about a shitty, dysfunctional company and the silly morons who work there. The difference is that The Office has Jim and Pam to be the token nice, sane people, and you all want Isaac to be Jim or something. And there is no Jim here. Stop looking for him.
Whether someone needs the job should never come into it. It's all about who is providing the best service to the company. The other trick is that a 7 year vet is usually more expensive than a rookie, significantly in some cases. If the rookie is willing to bust his ass to produce like he was a 7 year vet, he's sometimes a better keep. Really situational. Especially in IT or other process-heavy roles, I prefer rookies because they're less "set in their ways." I just have to train a new guy. I usually have to untrain a rookie, and fight with their constant gripes about how they used to do it.
Kinda dickish but my first thought from the story post was that the guy should have played fantasy football or gone drinking with his boss more.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
That said, it's also wise to be honest, pleasant, industrious, and reponsible. Own your shit. That way, if you do get bounced, you can live with yourself cos you took the high road.
In the long run, you don't want to spend half your waking life with dishonest or unethical people. Don't settle. But hey it's your life.
Good on them. I'm tired of getting the long hours, shit tasks in remote areas and and least consideration for raises and layoffs just because the other guy's lucky enough to have found love, made a family, etc, etc.
"How you would you pronounce this name?"
I may suggest then you are partially blind.
Preach it, my brother.
Yes, Isaac framing Marley was a manipulative and fairly douchey thing to do (though you could make the case Marley deserved it).
Nevertheless, Cora could have prevented the injustice of Marley being fired for her actions if she had chosen to do so; she could have stepped forward, taken responsibility and said, "Marley isn't the mole, I am - fire me, not him."
But no.
Instead, she huffed and puffed at Isaac for how for what a jerk he is, how mad at him she is, blah blah, all empty words. In the end, she's perfectly happy to reap the benefits of Isaac's misdeed: namely, that she still has a job (indeed, a better job, since she just got promoted) whereas Marley lost his for what she did.
Cora is arguably worse than Isaac. Isaac is at least fairly honest about framing Marley, and was not entirely (though probably still mostly) self-interested in his motivations for doing it. Cora, on the other hand, on top of screwing over all of her fellow employees with her actions from the start, is basically a hypocrite.
Find out soon! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
I still don't think we have any proof that Issac was actually helping Cora.
It was never explicitly said that Cora was the leak, Issac just assumed that was the case, and then threw Marely under the bridge to "save" her (and even that was self-serving on his part).
It's entirely possible that Marely was the leak all along anyway.
Either way, Issac has never been sympathetic in this comic. Not once. Not even when he was stuck living out of his rich dude car.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
The fact that they didn't come right out and say it doesn't make it any less true though.
I'm honestly shocked that there are people who think that she's not the leak.
I think the very fact that they've deliberately shied away from saying it is pretty significant. Also that Issac comes off as a delusional jerk most of the time, and he's the one who "put the pieces together" that Cora was the leak. He's also the one who "put the pieces together" that Cora would kiss him after he got Marley fired. He's not very skilled at "putting the pieces together", is what I'm saying.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
she is the leak
cora is a horrible person
But there really aren't even that many characters in the comic, the possibilities for who the mole could be are pretty narrowed down.
We know Isaac isn't the mole.
We know Marley wasn't the mole.
I guess it's possible Q could actually be the mole, punishing the company for the injustice it's doing to his beloved LawStarr, and has been making a show of hunting himself the entire time. That would be sort of funny/clever. But extremely unlikely.
Credenza isn't engaged enough to bother/care.
That leaves...
Cora...
Mr. Toots...?
I guess there was a nameless (?) secretary/receptionist character we saw early on?
We know from comics like this one that there are other employees on the QA team, or at least were, but they certainly don't qualify as characters - they literally blend into the background.
Wait, how do we know Marley isn't the mole?
I thought the very fact that he blanks out half the time and doesn't remember what he did was a prime indicator that maybe he did shit when he wasn't aware of it (like leak things).
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Isn't this editing error bothering anyone else?
"How you would you pronounce this name?"