Claire Has Seen Enough
GOIN' GREAT
Comments (121)
"We here in the Void value your patronage, however we are currently at capacity. You can try our online service at screamintothevoid.com"
Ok.... *sniffle*... but Zoom better have a Catharsis audio setting or we're all just wasting our time...
I was re-reading QC, as one does, and check out strip 3811 ( https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3811 ) for a specific reason Claire is very sympathetic to our new science gremlin.
"Fartclown"?
Being unable to stop crying <=major depression. I have _really_ good evidence for that opinion. At least they've got her out of her dungeon and are talking with her. That can help.
I have had major depression myself. Getting people who listened and encouraged me to talk was a big part of my getting undepressed.
I was all in for Claire taking the job, but I'm not sure I would want her to anymore. I think she could deal with the chaos, but I don't know how she'd handle the stress of people being let down by the system and feeling she couldn't help them fast enough. There would always be more than she could do.
That’s kind of a metaphor for life though, it could be a good growth arc for her, to do her best, leave cubetown better than she found it, and maybe we make some new QC mainstay friends along the way.
I subscribed to your Patreon specifically to say, as a PhD who barely made it over the finish line and faceplanted for a few years after, this is a whole-ass mood. (Academia is Terrible, and also the specific bit about feeling like you're a flash in the pan who will never be relevant again.) Anyway, I love the comic and now that I have disposable income I would love to be supporting you.
I think you will find that the QC Patreon community we have here is pretty amazing. Welcome aboard 👍
It's good that Claire and Martin are highlighting the major issues in the clusterfuck of a place that Cubetown appears to be, but the longer this storyline goes on the more I think they're the wrong people to try and fix it. Claire was interviewed to be a librarian or maybe head of information systems (already a massive role for someone who's only just gotten their librarian degree). What we're looking at now is a need for a Chief Operating Officer, Head of HR or even a Mayor (see my previous comment about Cubetown being a place rather than a company). I love Claire and Martin but they're both way too inexperienced to be able to do any of those jobs well.
You're not wrong. I'd also add a whole bank of Industrial psychologists to that list.
Hmm. Makes more sense to just move Cubetown back to where Claire and Marten live. That way they have the resources they need via all of Marten's social circle to deal with the chaos.
Or install a two way portal in Marten's room.
Next week… we get to watch Faye eat cereal while Bubbles asks Faye if this dress makes her butt big!
"Yes but it could still be bigger."
Claire can take this on. She will need to be given a lot of authority to hire more humans for HR and social interaction. And if not CoD, at least a decent "third space" for people of carbon and/or silicon and/or gloop and/or all of the above to interact.
I do not like Cubetown. I am loving Claire and Marten right now though!
I just love how Marten has become a catalyst for good things. If he's not an Ascended Master of Chill, he is On The Path.
Identifying the issues, planning, getting resources, changing institutional culture in a week? QC is science fiction, not high fantasy :)
Within a week she'll have either fixed Cubetown beyond its need for her or burned it to the ground.
I WFH so my scream room is EVERYWHERE
And it's usually scream o'clock
For cooks we use walk in freezers for scream therapy.
Dishwashers as well. AND the entire wait staff.
My screaming room goes with me everywhere. It's in my head...
I hear the Dream Police are hunting for you for noise violations, Yelling Bird. (Does a Cheap Trick reference expose my age?)
Finding out just how deep the dysfunction in the organization that you join for your first professional job is, is 100% on brand for new librarians. I speak from experience.
Fellow librarian here. Hard agree.
Ok don’t hate me, I’ve never really liked Claire. One might even say I disliked Claire. That has all changed today. Claire putting her foot down in such a strong manner in defense of this very young person just really makes me happy.
Welcome to the Claire fandom!
I wonder if The Director could “tune up” Moray some and give her more leadership abilities…? It feels like Moray is supposed to be an extension of The Director but can’t really do leadership and have a hard time learning it.
Maybe it's *because* Moray is a segment of a separate entity, and all other Morays are the same; it's hard to lead when all your equals have the same motivations and personalities (at least at the beginning of their separate lives.) I'm not saying this well (too early in the morning, need caffeine), but it's a consideration.
Would that more interviews could share the honest deep disfunction of organization.
It seems like Claire has a moral obligation to take the job. You can't just walk away from that kind of situation and let the harm go on. Either you take the reins, or you try to get the place shut down.
This is a sticky situation to me, because companies as disorganized as this take advantage of hopeful, effective and smart people and tend to break them with disappointment and roadblocks.
YES CLAIRE 💚
In Moray's defense, having known people that push away others like Liz, it is goddamned exhausting trying to push through that. Anywhere but cubetown she'd probably have been kicked to the curb for that attitude.
Sad thing is that even if you want to push through, often your peers are rejecting them so hard the interference makes it even harder. And then, because they are socially isolated, they become the victims of people seeking easy targets. The reaction of some of the Reddit fandom to this character has been... infuriating.
Does anyone else feel like Moray is a bit like Beeps? SUPER well-meaning and lovely, but also totally unsuited to the position that they're in? I mean, she's a people person, but she shouldn't be *in charge* of the people... Mind you, I think Claire realised that from the first video call. I suspect one of the first steps might be to get Moray a... manager (that isn't the Director) or shift her into a more pastoral position. Head of Motivational Cheer?
Goolix aka Cubetown Neelix
If not for the fact that it would take Claire's new job with it, I'd say we might be about to shut down Cubetown. Or just completely overhaul it, but honestly, how doable is it at this point?
The fourth quadrant of cubetown now has a purpose, and it's just Claire getting everyone's shit together.
Also, this is a thing I love about Marten. The world can be running around in a panic, hair on fire, and Marten will be calm as a cucumber. Nothing phases him. And I like that. I'm not sure if it's because he has a core of inner string, or if it's just because he has made "laconic" an art form. Either way, my hat is off to him.
When Veronica was pregnant she was visited by the Great Capybara who said "He is Mine."
I just want to give Liz a hug and tell her it will be OK and she’s strong. My word.
I feel for Liz. A couple of weeks ago I had a massive breakdown and couldn't stop crying either. Lasted for three days because I didn't realize that I was taking the wrong meds and they were making it worse.
That sounds really rough. Lots of sympathy!
Screaming room closed for maintenance. The scream filters have clogged and need to be replaced. They haven't been replaced yet because Jared in maintenance hasn't finished developing the self-cleaning filters that he promised were easy and would be finished in a month, tops. Jared made that promise in 2019.
Liz in the first panel is SO painfully familiar. I don't know how many times I've apologized for crying, or indeed not being able to stop crying.
Once that dam breaks it's hard to stop the flow.
Claire is the right girl for the job. But the job isn't "Librarian and Director of Information Science". It's " Chief of Staff", just above Head of HR and reporting to the Director
I hope Claire gets an impressive staff for being Chief of Staff. Maybe the First Nations of Canada could help there?
Liz: "They didn't even give me a work computer. I Have No Mouse, And I Must Screen."
Harlan approved.
She’s gonna get more humans onboard at cubecity. Human resources, but, like, providing resources /to/ humans.
Human Human Resources.
They're AI. They don't necessarily understand the emotional needs of humans. Claire will not only organize them but make them more empathetic as well.
Claire-nan the Librarian has an axe to grind!
Claire's righteous fury is SO gratifying. Sic 'em, girl!
When Cubetown's not on your side, pound the table.
* hugs goblin *
How old is Liz supposed to be?
Early twenties I guess. This is her first job out of college
Screaming room closed for maintenance. Bang head on door.
Easy way to find screaming room: Check for door with severe bump damage.
I really love that Claire's immediate reaction is not to worry about Liz's productivity or lack thereof, but instead "this girl has been miserable and none of you noticed what the fuck"
Kudos to Marten for recognizing Gremlizabeth's problem and bringing her in for help. So... Who we shipping her with?
Liz is probably annoyed that there has been a screaming into a pillow room this whole time and no one told her.
I know I would be.
I can see at least 2 outcomes. Either Claire brings in the big guns and whips this place into shape...or she burns it all down out of sheer spite.
The only gun I can think of offhand that has a larger calibre than Claire right now is her mother, Aurelia Agustus. HEY! If she brings in Aurelia then we will have Yay moving with her, as well as Clinton, Eliot, Melon... Hrm... Yeah, I can deal with that scenario.
I do hope that Gremlizabeth* sticks with this new path and on this new trajectory, I really want to like her, but I am not fond of her attitude and actions prior to now. She's taken the first several steps towards redeeming herself and towards personal growth and development though. I'm hopeful about the character now. *Gremlizabeth, I can't believe I forgot to use her new @FC approved name!
It comes down to what I said earlier: Either we would start liking her (the redemption trajectory), OR we would have a new Corpse Witch. Either way, as Mr. A. E. Neuman once observed: What? Me worry?
I hope Gremlizabeth lets Moray give her a hug. She looks like she needs to be squished on 🥺
Can we get somebody physically warmer to take on that little task, please? Moray is actually a sweetheart, but I bet she operates at deep-subsurface temperature.
The Director better pray they don’t have a middle name
They will be assigned a middle name or two if necessary
claireffhanger
GDI
Today is wednesday, right? Meaning today is cliffhanger day. Excuse me, I need to go find a pillow and scream into it.
Turns out even AI-run utopian science islands need MOM VIBES. Claire is *clairely* tapping into all that Aurelia has taught her over the years. This is the content the Director craves. Somewhere deep, deep down below the surface of the Cubetown waters...their tentacles are tenting together, like "Good...goooood..."
Let the MOM flow through you!
I totally get where Liz is coming from, too. She had so many expectations placed upon her from being a young genius/prodigy and was so desperate to prove her ability and independence that she was unable to ask for help, and nobody else recognized that she really needed it.
By the way, that look on Marten's face in the last panel suggest to me that he knows it's best to let Claire deal with destressing on her own.
Marten is scare-roused in this comic.
Man, they got everything but what they need here.
Given what else they have, that screaming room is absolutely necessary.
Claire calls Aurelia and Veronica and tells they are needed in Cubetown post haste. Aurelia for the mom skills and Veronica for empowerment. Oh, and tell Clinton and Sam they have a new sibling.
Then bring in Coffee of Doom and problems solved.
She's gonna run this whole place entirely out of spite
Claire spite is the BEST spite, though...
Note: the Screaming Room is actually a sentient AI coral structure
I like that Claire's angry and upfront about it, that she gets to be furious because this is a bad situation!! Woe to anyone who tries to tell her to calm down. >:)
The room only screams when it is about to feed!
This has tech startup vibes.
Oh, not just startups. Bigger tech companies set people up for this flavor of failure all the time, too.
Time to go yell at a jellyfish!
Indeed. It crosses my mind to wonder if Claire is about to insist on speaking directly to the director and not through an intermediary.
In corporaty terms, "employees not being set up for success" is indeed a managerial failure.
She thought Moray said, "Ice cream room".
If this were real, I'd kinda be worried for Claire. Like, I'd be scared that she would take the job, and be overwhelmed by just how massive an undertaking this is going to be.
That being said, Claire is perfect for the job. But it is certainly not a job for only a few people. I'm hoping she takes the job with the condition of allowing her to hire a reasonably sized team of competent people that allows her to not be overwhelmed and lets her do what needs to be done with good working hours. Possibly including Marten, I feel he would do decent in such a job. May also want to hire some temporary contractors to help untangle the initial mess, because I imagine it would take a reasonably sized team many months to get the current situation sorted.
Up next: Witness the power of this fully enraged Claire! Seriously though, I'm wondering if this touches on something in Claire's pre QC past.
You think a trans person might have past experience with being in crisis without their designated authority figures realizing? Nah, that's crazy talk.
You don't just put someone really smart and inexperienced in a situation where they also have to be self-guided. This is precisely the kind of outcome I'd expect. And the smarter and more driven the person is, the worse it would be. Of course, the actual activities can vary, but they often come down to "avoids work because they don't know what to do and is afraid to reach out for help." Hence this. I have the same problem whenever I have to move. I look at everything I need to pack, panic, then sit down and play Warframe instead.
Thank you, Tom. I thought it was only ME!
"She's not gonna fire *you*, but pretty sure she's sbout to fire some other negligent fools. Out of a cannon, into a volcano"
Nah, there is some super science project involving solar projection of various items.
"I DON'T NEED THE ROOM, MORAY, I BROUGHT MY OWN PILLOW"
And it's hypoallergenic because I have allergies!
Just scream into Moray's boobs, Claire. For efficiency
MORAY: *stands there while Claire screams* "Oh, great, another angry person trying to be efficient about it."
Isn’t the person nominally in charge Moray? Or the jellyfish? Does the humming slab play a role here?
Moray is HR, so this would fall on her shoulders.
Somehow I imagine Yay must be cackling.
In a gentle fashion while cuddling Hercules. It's that time of day, after all.
So….. you’ll take the job Claire?
maybe a one-time consultation
She may be a genius but she's still a kid.
Plus, putting someone of any age into a role where they don't have clear goals, don't have anyone supervising them, don't have any reporting structure at all... it is neglect, to the point of basically sabotaging any possibility of success.