@#$% Economy
Cidu Bill on Jul 2nd 2009
Nicole: Ok — the economy is in the toilet, jobs are scarcer than hen’s teeth and it is an EMPLOYER’S market. Why wouldn’t this guy RAISE his standards and tell Eno to take a hike and interview the next guy?
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, comic strips, comics, humor | 15 responses so far
Singapore Bill Jul 2nd 2009 at 12:45 am 1
This is not a CIDU but a scathing indictment of capitalism. The boss has opprotunistically taken advantage of the recession to fire all of his staff, claiming that he needs to make cuts for the good of the business. He figures he can hire new people who have little experience (and are therefore lower-priced on the job market) and, as the economy is bad, he has cut the wages even lower. Therefore, he is attacting substandard candidates and has had to lower his standards. The quality performers have been snapped up by competing carnivals that pay their employees fairly. The management of those carnivals reckoned that, given the sad state of the world, people would be eager to embrace some escapist entertainment and they have seen their attendance increase. The boss in the strip, a typical business school MBA, has slit his own throat by trying to screw the workers.
Kate C Jul 2nd 2009 at 01:09 am 2
I think your style of thinking Singapore Bill, but Glenn McCoy is also a political cartoonist, and is quite right-wing, so I have a card time believing this is an indictment of capitalism.
Singapore Bill Jul 2nd 2009 at 01:40 am 3
Kate C, this is an example of how the right-wingers’ own utterences show them up.
Patrick Jul 2nd 2009 at 02:19 am 4
What I don’t understand is: Why has McCoy so horribly confused the two job titles “Carny” and “Sideshow Performer”?
Annie Benson Jul 2nd 2009 at 04:01 am 5
I took this to mean that since the economy is down more and more morons are losing their usual menial low paying jobs and are turning to the carnival in desperation, thus increasing the noise to signal ratio of people who want the job because they excel in alternative show business enviroments.
Singapore Bill Jul 2nd 2009 at 05:06 am 6
Patrick, like many biz school grads, the boss expects his new hire to “work smarter, not harder” by doing the jobs of two employees he has “right-sized.” Being burdened with more work for no additional reward is a scenario many will be familiar with.
Ooten Aboot Jul 2nd 2009 at 07:16 am 7
@#$% economy? I thought he said *@#ی economy. No family newspaper would ever print @#$%.
Rasheed Jul 2nd 2009 at 08:42 am 8
Yes, Patrick. I believe the term is “geek.” I kind of concur with Singapore Bill. I don’t think this strip is showing the boss fired all his “good carnies” and is looking to replace them. People come and go in any industry for whatever reasons. But this carnival/freakshow can’t afford to hire “experienced” workers like the rest of businesses.
labradog Jul 2nd 2009 at 09:07 am 9
The carny boss can’t afford to pay a real geek because of the economy.
Zbicyclist Jul 2nd 2009 at 09:24 am 10
Labradog and Annie are right: The manager has had his budget cut, but somehow still needs to put on a show that attracts customers. He’s also deluged with job seekers looking for anything.
Daniel J. Drazen Jul 2nd 2009 at 10:33 am 11
I think there’s a bit of confusion about geeks and carnies. Geeks are the sideshow performers; carnies are the carnival equivalent of “roadies” only way farther down the employment scale. Absolutely positively ANYBODY can work as a carny, and usually does.
But yeah, the strip doesn’t seem to have been thought through very well. @#$% deadlines!
The Ploughman Jul 2nd 2009 at 10:41 am 12
I almost sent this as an LOL. The carnival manager’s frustration at Eno’s obtuseness makes him bizarrely sympathetic. All he wants is a guy who can bite the heads off chickens, darn it!
DevilDan Jul 2nd 2009 at 10:59 am 13
This is an indictment of how you can be a cartoonist with practically no understanding of important fields like economics and circus management.
Patrick Jul 2nd 2009 at 11:18 am 14
When I was in cartoonist school, I did really well in my Econ and Circus Management classes. But my inability to draw an anthropomorphized uterus almost kept me from graduating.
Nicole Jul 3rd 2009 at 03:05 pm 15
So … even if his budget IS cut … he should still be able to raise his standards because there are SO many applicants