3057: Excusing Yourself

Excusing Yourself

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Title text: The most awkward part is when you have to pause to put on your shoes before you continue rolling out the door.

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Explanation

This comic revolves around different degrees of 'politeness' in ways to leave a gathering, showing various scenes replicating the end of a social event — possibly a dinner party — but with different outcomes.

The first panel shows Megan sitting at a table with White Hat and Ponytail. Megan expresses surprise at how late she's 'kept them up', and mentions that she needs to go somewhere early in the morning. Despite this and the fact that sleep is essential,^{[citation needed]} she offers to help tidy up the house before she leaves. This is considered the most polite way to leave, as it suggests that they're leaving, not because they don't enjoy the company, but out of necessity. It expresses concern for the well-being of the host (saying that she's kept them up), and even implies that she'd lost track of time because she'd been having such a good time. Offering to help tidy up, despite being tired, is additionally courteous.

The second panel shows Cueball at the same gathering, saying that he must leave due to the fact that he is tired and must sleep. This expresses the same sentiments as Megan's own statement, but in a much more blunt and terse way, and without offering to help clean up. Such an exit is acceptable to most people, but not excessively polite.

Even less polite is the trickster and classhole Black Hat, in the third panel, who excuses himself in typical Black Hat fashion. Instead of him saying that he alone is tired, he says that EVERYONE looks tired and bored. This is very impolite, especially in a social setting. Saying that people "look tired" can be taken as an insult, and claiming that "everyone looks bored" simultaneously suggests that the gathering is boring and that everyone present is either too impolite to hide their boredom, or simply unable to. Claiming to speak for everyone in expressing boredom is arrogant and insulting to both his fellow guests and the hosts.

The final panel shows three points in time, depicting an unfolding action. Megan (in a re-hash of the original panel) kicks the table, sending the chair tipping backwards and dumping her onto the floor. She then proceeds to roll away from the table, and presumably outside the house. This is the kind of maneuver one might see in an action movie, as someone tries to escape danger (or capture). In addition to being abrupt, disruptive and potentially damaging (since it clearly knocks over things on the table), this exit sends the message that she's desperate to escape as quickly as possible. It is also a health risk as she may sustain a concussion from such a fall pictured in the comic where the head directly impacts the floor, unless she has specifically practiced such maneuvers.

The title text adds to the general awkwardness of having to excuse yourself, when Megan has to stop rolling to put her shoes on before continuing. This would not be universal, since it is not the general practice in the United States for party guests to remove their shoes in someone's home. But if such were the case, then pausing in the middle of such a dramatic escape would really water down the impact, forcing her to remain in the company of people she'd just dramatically tried to get away from.

Transcript

[Caption above the panel:]

Ways to leave a social interaction:

[An arrow pointing towards the right is shown below the caption. Caption above arrow:]

Less polite

[First Panel: From left to right, Ponytail, White Hat, and Megan are sitting at a table with half-full glasses on it. Megan is looking down at her phone.]

Megan: Oh, gosh, I can't believe how late I've kept you up! I have to wake up early, so I should really go soon.

Megan: Can I help tidy up?

[Second Panel: White Hat and Cueball are sitting at a table (only the right half is shown, so Ponytail may be presumed to be in the left chair as in the first panel), on which there are half-full glasses and a plate.]

Cueball: It's been great, but I'm tired and need to sleep.

[Third Panel: White Hat and Black Hat are sitting at a table (again, Ponytail may be in the left chair), with two plates and a half-full wine glass at White Hat's spot. Black Hat's arm is resting on the back of his chair.]

Black Hat: We're about done having fun, right?

Black Hat: Everyone looks bored.

Black Hat: And tired.

[Fourth Panel: Ponytail, White Hat are sitting at the table. Megan is shown in a sequence of actions within the same frame.]

[Action 1: Megan kicks the table at which she was sat, spilling the drinks on it, while simultaneously pushing her chair backwards, to topple it:]

Kick

Megan: Bye.

[Action 2: Megan and her chair crash to the floor, with arm flung back.]

Crash

[Action 3: Megan tumbles away from the position she fell in, either in a backwards or sideways roll.]

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Discussion

Hey look, a new comic! YAYYYYYYY! DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 16:39, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

Added the starts of a new explanation for people to edit in the future. It's nice being the very first stepping stone. DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 17:00, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

I have to say, I was actually at the receiving end of something similar to the last panel-sequence. At a meeting, I was reading the minutes of the previous meeting (or some other administrative thing that even bores me), and one of the people sat opposite me deliberately pushed themselves back onto the floor (though didn't roll away, content to have made their 'point')... Clearly unimpressed with my contribution. But it was standard meeting stuff that needed to be done so... I can't remember quite where I went from there (it was 30 years ago!), but I probably gave 'a look' and continued. Possibly extemporised/varied my delivery as he got back up and everyone else recovered from being temporarily distracted by his antics. (Which I suspect was planned, not totally spontaneous.) 172.71.26.36 01:24, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

I've found the 'shoes' thing to vary by region and culture within the USA. In Hawai‘i, "ay, no leave shoes on in da house, brah!" In New England, and perhaps in northern-tier states generally, the shoes stay on, though the polite thing is to leave the overshoes on the porch, and/or make sure that the shoe soles get passed over the door mat. 162.158.90.24 05:56, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

Absolutely loving the 'citation needed' after the sleep note. --DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 06:07, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

Was wrongly positioned, regarding punctuation, though. Fixed that. 172.70.86.157 08:44, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

I would argue that Black Hat claiming to speak for everyone doesn't necessarily make him less impolite. I've known people who always talk as if their opinion represented a consensus, and it can come off as very arrogant. Bicorn (talk) 18:10, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

I agree! Feel free to add that to the explanation --FaviFake (talk) 21:08, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

I wonder where on the scale is leaving under the cover of smoke bomb, ninja/batman style. Or the beaming out / turning off the projection. -- Hkmaly (talk)

Is it Danish?

I labeled the panel 4 character as Danish, since she's being more rude than Black Hat and Megan is already present. Remind me, are there definite stylistic differences between Megan and Danish's hairstyles that are/aren't present here? --Jack (t|c) 18:05, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

I don't know. From what I can tell, there are no stylistic changes between Megan and the Mystery Woman in this comic. Edit: I've just looked at 2608: Family Reunion. Both Megan and Danish are present. Danish appears to be slightly shorter than Megan. However, I can't really see any difference in height between them. In 1014: Car Problems, Danish is the one reacting to Megan's slideshow. Danish appears to have longer hair than Megan in this comic. I also see no difference in hair length. DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 18:29, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

I can't see any major differences at the moment in this comic, but it makes sense for it to be Danish guess who (if you desire conversing | what i have done) 19:24, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

well, I changed it and ... well, just look Bb777 (talk) 02:28, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

are there definite stylistic differences between Megan and Danish's hairstyles that are/aren't present here?

Yes, there are! Here are some quotes from the Danish and Megan character pages:

Megan is distinguished by her black shoulder-length hair which generally appears to be parted in the middle in front and is draped behind what are presumably her (undrawn) ears. It is shorter than the character of similar appearance, Danish.

[Danish] is similar in appearance to Megan but has distinctly longer hair.

Here, Megan has short hair in both panels.

[Danish] mainly appears in comics together with Black Hat, which is the most certain giveaway that a long-haired woman is Danish rather than Megan.

In this comic, she isn't accompanied by Black Hat. I have edited the page to fix this issue. --FaviFake (talk) 08:40, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

Came here to ask the same thing in the hope that the beloved Danish had returned. I agree it's double Megan, so a missed opportunity by Randall. In addition it's not caustic misanthropy in the final panel, merely introvert desperation. 162.158.33.252 08:44, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

Agree, her last proper appearance was 3 years ago. Maybe he used Megan because the hair would have been too hard to draw? --FaviFake (talk) 08:52, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

imagine drawing a stick figure with long hair rolling out the door - Bb777 (talk) 03:00, 3 March 2025 (UTC)

yea hahaha --FaviFake (talk) 15:35, 3 March 2025 (UTC)

Black hat: Wtf is with Megan ⯅A dream demon⯅ (talk) 15:55, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
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