Thursday, July 05, 2007

I'm in a race with Ted Forth

Sally Forth, July 2, 2007

Sally Forth, July 5, 2007

I applied for another job today. Now the process is starting to feel random: I see a job that might be a fit for me, I check out the company, and if I don't have any irreconcilable objections, I apply for it...and don't hear anything back.

A while back Francesco Marciuliano, the writer of Sally Forth, decided to shake things up a bit by having Ted Forth lose his job. (It wasn't just him; all the people in his office lost their jobs together.) Ted's post-employment career has parallelled my own experience: cheerful optimism has given way to an awareness of the bleakness of the situation. The past week or so of strips have been especially relevant, but today's really hit home: "I apply for jobs I want and I don't hear back. I apply for jobs I don't want and I don't hear back."

Well, we're trying. At least I haven't been sucked into watching a "Press Your Luck" marathon on Game Show Network like Ted was last week! Plus I'm a bit bulkier and less feminine-looking than Ted. (Those hands!) So now it's a race to see who gets a new job first, me or Ted Forth!

(How cool is Francesco Marciuliano? So cool that he posts comments as "Ces" on The Comics Curmudgeon! He didn't even seem to mind when we suggested that the feminine-looking Ted Forth is in fact a woman, and Sally Forth is actually the first mainstream comic about a lesbian relationship. The whiskers that out-of-work Ted has been sporting lately seem to indicate otherwise, but you never know!)

3 comments:

yellojkt said...

I'm glad someone else sees Ted as a hero. I was unemployed for about six weeks many years ago. I see the temptaion. Sally Forth RAWKS!

Francesco Marciuliano said...

I certainly hope--and believe--that you will not only get a job but THE job. As a cartoonist with an English degree you can bet I went through my career fallow periods ("You can provide a cogent disquisition on 'Middlemarch,' Mr. Maraculianolianinio, but that doesn't mean you're ready to operate the frappuccino machine"). Eventually, though, the perfect opportunity does arise or you manage to eliminate the right person at the right time with the right garrote, leaving open a post only you can fill. After all, has anyone heard from or seen Greg Howard lately?

I guess what I'm trying to say is sneak up on Jim Davis and prepare yourself for the ensuing fortune.

D.B. Echo said...

Thank you both, O Gifter of Glass Swans and O Writer of Sally Forth!