making-it-up
Original: making-it-up on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Title text above the comic: "THERE'S AN OLD JOKE IN BUSINESS."
Panel 1 (first woman, with reddish hair): "GUY GOES 'WE'RE LOSING TEN CENTS ON EVERY SALE.' HIS PARTNER REPLIES 'IT'S OKAY! WE'LL MAKE IT UP ON VOLUME.'"
Second woman (with dark hair): "HEH."
Panel 2 (first woman): "EVERY DAY I FEEL LIKE I'M LOSING. BUT IT'S ALSO REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME THAT I LIVE TO OLD AGE."
Panel 3 (first woman): "LIKE I'M TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR MY LIFE ON VOLUME."
Second woman: "YEAH."
Panel 4 (first woman): "THERE'S AN OLD JOKE ABOUT PIRATES. PIRATE HAS A WHEEL ON HIS CROTCH. SAILOR ASKS WHY. PIRATE SAYS 'ARR! IT BE DRIVIN' ME NUTS.'"
Panel 5 (first woman): "SOME DAYS I FEEL LIKE I'M THE WHEEL, AND THE PIRATE'S BALLS ARE... I DUNNO... SOCIETY?"
Second woman: "OR MAYBE THE PIRATE'S BALLS ARE THE FEELING OF ISOLATION IN AN EVER MORE CONNECTED WORLD..."
Panel 6 (first woman): "HONESTLY I THOUGHT AN INSIGHTFUL METAPHOR WOULD PRESENT ITSELF BY THE TIME I FINISHED THE JOKE."
Second woman: "I'M TRYING TO OPEN UP TO YOU ABOUT MY DEPRESSION."
First woman: "THE BALLS ARE DEPRESSION DRIVEN BY THE BUNDLES OF CIRCUMSTANCE."
Votey:
A close-up of a man's face with a single tear and a wry, pained expression. Speech bubble: "HUMOR CAN BE SO POIGNANT."
Panel 1 (first woman, with reddish hair): "GUY GOES 'WE'RE LOSING TEN CENTS ON EVERY SALE.' HIS PARTNER REPLIES 'IT'S OKAY! WE'LL MAKE IT UP ON VOLUME.'"
Second woman (with dark hair): "HEH."
Panel 2 (first woman): "EVERY DAY I FEEL LIKE I'M LOSING. BUT IT'S ALSO REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME THAT I LIVE TO OLD AGE."
Panel 3 (first woman): "LIKE I'M TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR MY LIFE ON VOLUME."
Second woman: "YEAH."
Panel 4 (first woman): "THERE'S AN OLD JOKE ABOUT PIRATES. PIRATE HAS A WHEEL ON HIS CROTCH. SAILOR ASKS WHY. PIRATE SAYS 'ARR! IT BE DRIVIN' ME NUTS.'"
Panel 5 (first woman): "SOME DAYS I FEEL LIKE I'M THE WHEEL, AND THE PIRATE'S BALLS ARE... I DUNNO... SOCIETY?"
Second woman: "OR MAYBE THE PIRATE'S BALLS ARE THE FEELING OF ISOLATION IN AN EVER MORE CONNECTED WORLD..."
Panel 6 (first woman): "HONESTLY I THOUGHT AN INSIGHTFUL METAPHOR WOULD PRESENT ITSELF BY THE TIME I FINISHED THE JOKE."
Second woman: "I'M TRYING TO OPEN UP TO YOU ABOUT MY DEPRESSION."
First woman: "THE BALLS ARE DEPRESSION DRIVEN BY THE BUNDLES OF CIRCUMSTANCE."
Votey:
A close-up of a man's face with a single tear and a wry, pained expression. Speech bubble: "HUMOR CAN BE SO POIGNANT."
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic titled "There's an old joke in business." Two women sit talking on a pier by the water. The first (reddish hair) tells a business joke: a guy says they're losing ten cents on every sale, and his partner says "It's okay, we'll make it up on volume." The friend chuckles. The first woman pivots to herself: every day she feels like she's losing, but it's important to her to live to old age, like she's "trying to make up for my life on volume." Her friend agrees. The first woman launches into another rambling joke about a pirate with a ship's wheel on his crotch who says "Arr, it be drivin' me nuts," then tries to spin it into a metaphor, guessing the pirate's balls represent society. The friend earnestly offers that maybe they represent the feeling of isolation in an ever more connected world. In the final panel the first woman admits she thought an insightful metaphor would present itself by the time she finished the joke, while the friend says she's trying to open up about her depression, and the first woman declares the balls are depression driven by the bundles of circumstance. Votey aftercomic: an extreme close-up of a man's face with a single tear streaming down, eyes pained, saying "Humor can be so poignant."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.