Monday, June 8, 2009

Getting a bit real

Hi all:

To kind of mirror actual life layoffs will be coming to Working Daze. Yes one character will be cut basically cause he is very replaceable mid-aged white guy who works hard but is nothing special. In other words an easy cut. Don't worry being the comics this will sort of hopefully end happily. Well sort of.

On another note still trying to get Roy 1000 followers (at least on twitter) though I am being flexible and also counting followers on this blog.

If this happens I will give away copies of some of my books. In today's world free stuff is good stuff.

So come on, if Ashton can get close to 2 million followers surely a fictional geek (who is many respects leads a life much closer to the norm than AK) can get 1K.

Thanks.

Jz

12 comments:

Anne said...

Sorry I just haven't gotten bitten by the whole "twitter" bug thing (I do facebook though) ... and of course follow you here... I am saddened by the reality of lay offs coming to WD but do get it ~ so sorry for Jay but don't touch Roy!!!
Okay keep up the good work!!!

Muhammad Paulie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Muhammad Paulie said...

This is also in response to your comic from June 9th. I get the whole, Rita being out of touch with reality, but the fact that you put in your comic (and your blog) that you're going to fire a white guy because it's easier isn't sending the write message. It perpetuates the stigma that the black populations takes "good" jobs away from "good" hard working whites. As a hard working black male, there is already enough bigotry out there in the real world and now your're condoning those racial stigmas, in what is supposed to be entertainment. I just wish you had thought through the situation first.

Johnzakour said...

Hi Paul:

Not condoning racial stigmas, especially since I myself am married to a hard working latino woman.

It's a comic it's meant to be kind of ironic and hopefully entertaining. (Since my perception of the situation -- be it right or wrong -- is that for better or for worse many management choices are made this way.)

It is not meant to take anything away from workers who are not "middle aged white males".

Sorry if i offended.

scott roberts said...

I have to defend John on this one. We are absolutely not condoning that kind of thinking. Satire is a hard thing to get across sometimes, particularly where it involves sensitive issues. The fact is, this kind of thinking does exist, and in some organizations, it's enforced. We're trying to show that it's wrong by putting it in a strip that skewers corporate mindset. We all know what kind of person Rita is. We all know how her mind works. Yes, she's wrong, and that's the point. Pretending the problem doesn't exist by painting a smiley face on our strip doesn't make the problem go away. Creating a dialogue about it is a better step in that direction.

Muhammad Paulie said...

I appreciate John's apology; I don't think he had any ill intentions. I don't think he is a racist or even a bad person. I was put off by the comic and I voiced my opinion on the matter. Thank you John.
And thank you Scott, I think that you're doing the right thing by defending John, and I'm sure satire is hard to convey. Most of the people that I work with on my team live out of state so we communicate mostly through email, so I understand how hard it is to convey a message through a non-tonal manner, but please don't try to turn yourself into a martyr or a hero by saying that you're confronting the issue to develop a dialogue. WorkingDaze has not shown a pattern of behavior to be considered a political comic strip. Again I appreciate both of your work, I just didn't appreciate that day's comic.

scott roberts said...

Paul, It's true that serious commentary is not what WD is known for, and no, we're not trying to be heroes. We're not on any crusade. But the mindset does exist in the corporate world. Is it serving anyone to pretend it doesn't? Based upon the comments left on the site by readers, though, it did create a discussion. Will we personally solve the world's ills? No. But should we hide from them?

Johnzakour said...

Yeah, I agree we certainly aren't a political strip but occasionally my "inner John Stewart" sneaks out.

Hari said...

I can understand Paul being offended, but since Andrew is the only black guy I recall seeing in Daze, Rita does have a reason to fear the "Affirmative Action" quotas. Since this isn't a political blog I won't get into my opinions on that topic. Andrew has been portrayed as far too cool to call in the ACLU, but Rita isn't the type to count on that. The big thing to remember is that this comic has always poked fun at the stupidity of management, and this one is no exception. It's also worthy to note that Jay is the character John says is most like him, so in essence he was laying himself off.

Unknown said...

Hari, you hit the nail on the head. Working Daze likes to poke fun at the little idiosyncrasies of management. That's our bread and butter. That's all this toon was meant to do.

Muhammad Paulie said...

Look I've been a fan for a while. I started following this strip when Yahoo picked it up, back when Kyle Miller was drawing it. I'm still around so you're doing the right things. My post wasn't an attack, it was an expression of one reader's feelings. I won't make this a long post because at this point it would just get redundant.

Johnzakour said...

Paul, thanks appreciate your support and your opinion. We need to the readers to help keep us on our toes.