2011-04-06
Original: 2011-04-06 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (header banner): WHAT USUALLY HAPPENS.
Child: Mommy! My friends at school called me ugly.
Mother (wearing glasses, blue shirt): Oh, sweetie, no. You're beautiful.
Panel 2 (header banner): WHAT WOULD BE BETTER.
Child: Mommy! My friends at school called me ugly.
Mother (wearing glasses, blue shirt, looking serious): Your friends are assholes.
Votey:
Mother (close-up, looking down): I'm sorry, what were you saying? That's sorta my standard response.
Child: Mommy! My friends at school called me ugly.
Mother (wearing glasses, blue shirt): Oh, sweetie, no. You're beautiful.
Panel 2 (header banner): WHAT WOULD BE BETTER.
Child: Mommy! My friends at school called me ugly.
Mother (wearing glasses, blue shirt, looking serious): Your friends are assholes.
Votey:
Mother (close-up, looking down): I'm sorry, what were you saying? That's sorta my standard response.
Alt text
A two-panel comic contrasting two parenting responses. Top panel, labeled "WHAT USUALLY HAPPENS": a child tells their glasses-wearing mother, "Mommy! My friends at school called me ugly," and the mother gently replies, "Oh, sweetie, no. You're beautiful." Bottom panel, labeled "WHAT WOULD BE BETTER": the same child says the same line, but this time the mother answers flatly, "Your friends are assholes." The joke reframes reassurance away from the child's appearance and toward calling out the cruel friends. Votey (black-and-white aftercomic): a close-up of the mother looking down, saying, "I'm sorry, what were you saying? That's sorta my standard response." — implying she calls people assholes so routinely it's reflexive.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.