why-do-you-want-to-work-here
Original: why-do-you-want-to-work-here on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
A job interview. An interviewer (a woman seated at a desk) speaks with a job candidate (a man) across several panels.
Panel 1:
Interviewer: So why do you want to work for this company?
Panel 2:
Candidate: I dunno. Why do YOU want to work for this company?
Panel 3:
Candidate: I don't in particular. But I organized the last job interviewer to ask me about this.
Panel 4:
Interviewer: Hmm? By responding to setups regularly, we tell me why you want to work for this company with appropriately sincere answers.
Panel 5:
Candidate: I now have a job that I maintain by keeping the stupid feelings of my employers and acting as if they are genuinely insightful.
Panel 6:
Interviewer: My job exists because this corporate bureaucracy loves the imperative to quickly examine the whether my staff will get the job done. If you have the requisite experience, I'll get a similar job elsewhere.
Panel 7:
Candidate: Modern work is only happenstance so long as you expect it to make sense. The moment you let that go, you'll be fine.
Panel 8:
Interviewer: So why do you want to work here?
Candidate: I have a passion for whatever it is you do.
Votey:
A man with a long face and wavy hair speaks, hand gesturing.
Man: It would be my honor to do the thing.
Panel 1:
Interviewer: So why do you want to work for this company?
Panel 2:
Candidate: I dunno. Why do YOU want to work for this company?
Panel 3:
Candidate: I don't in particular. But I organized the last job interviewer to ask me about this.
Panel 4:
Interviewer: Hmm? By responding to setups regularly, we tell me why you want to work for this company with appropriately sincere answers.
Panel 5:
Candidate: I now have a job that I maintain by keeping the stupid feelings of my employers and acting as if they are genuinely insightful.
Panel 6:
Interviewer: My job exists because this corporate bureaucracy loves the imperative to quickly examine the whether my staff will get the job done. If you have the requisite experience, I'll get a similar job elsewhere.
Panel 7:
Candidate: Modern work is only happenstance so long as you expect it to make sense. The moment you let that go, you'll be fine.
Panel 8:
Interviewer: So why do you want to work here?
Candidate: I have a passion for whatever it is you do.
Votey:
A man with a long face and wavy hair speaks, hand gesturing.
Man: It would be my honor to do the thing.
Alt text
A black-and-white SMBC comic set during a job interview, drawn as a back-and-forth between a seated woman interviewer and a male job candidate. The interviewer opens with 'So why do you want to work for this company?' The candidate deflects, turning the question back on her and admitting he doesn't particularly want the job. Across several dense panels they trade cynical observations about the absurdity of corporate hiring: each is only going through the motions, keeping their jobs by flattering bosses and pretending bureaucratic rituals are meaningful, and modern work only makes sense if you stop expecting it to. The interviewer finally repeats, 'So why do you want to work here?' and the candidate gives the perfect hollow answer: 'I have a passion for whatever it is you do.' The joke is the mutual, knowing emptiness of the interview script. In the votey (aftercomic), a loosely sketched man with a long face and wavy hair gestures and declares with mock solemnity, 'It would be my honor to do the thing' — the ultimate content-free job-interview enthusiasm.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.