280: Librarians

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Librarians

Title text: Don't expect any leniencies on late fees, though.

Explanation

Cueball is pressing on Megan for stopping her idea to visit her family. While Megan is fully convinced that this visit will happen, Cueball takes advantage of her love of books. He starts to open up a brand-new hardcover book much farther than it was made to open, ruining the spine, and then mistreats it some more. Megan cannot take this anymore, and gives up on the family visit.

The title text goes on with the inflexible stereotype, as librarians will not make exceptions for or give reductions to their romantic partners' overdue fees. Alternately, it could mean that a librarian who is faced with the abuse of books as a bargaining tool would take retribution by not making an exception for late fees for their partner, particularly if said partner is absent-minded or otherwise disorganized.

The humor comes from the stereotype of librarians as very sensitive to proper treatment of books and inflexibility with rule-breaking.

Transcript

[Caption at the top:]

Advantages to dating librarians.

[Megan and Cueball are standing together; Cueball is reaching inside a paper bag:]

Megan: We're stopping in Baltimore to visit my family, and that's final.

Cueball: Oh yeah?

[Cueball is upright and is holding a book.]

Cueball: Hey, look, it's a new hardback book!

Megan: You wouldn't.

[Cueball bends the book backwards.]

Book: crinkle

[Cueball bends it back further.]

Book: creak

Megan: twitch

[Cueball bends the book back still further.]

Book: crack

Megan: OKAY!

Megan: You win!

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Discussion

Berserk Button: <<ON>>Boeing-787lover 07:44, 23 June 2018 (UTC) -- Xkcdreader52 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

...wah? —Kazvorpal (talk) 15:46, 1 November 2019 (UTC)