Those of you who read “For Better or For Worse” on a regular basis, I guess you know what I’m talking about. Those of you who don’t, I’ll bring you up to speed.
Elly, the Patterson matriarch, has owned a bookstore for a few years now. One of her employees, Kortney, has been causing problems, off and on, since then. She may or may not have been an accessory to a theft, for one thing, and beyond that, she just generally slacks off. A few months ago, April (yes, that April, but for once, she wasn’t being a brat) caught Kortney hanging out in “Hot Date Chat Live” when she should have been working, and when April didn’t promise not to tell, Kortney threatened her.
Now, the reason I’m telling Johnston to go to hell is that this is the point where Elly started acting like she’d had a lobotomy. When April told her about the threat, Elly’s reaction was “April, that’s hard to believe!” Then, she timidly approached Kortney to, I assume, “discuss” the matter. Kortney was all prepared with a sob story, which Elly swallowed without question. Apparently, “personal problems” make it okay to threaten the boss’ kid. Or any kid, for that matter.
Flash forward to last week. Elly discovered a discrepancy in the store’s bookkeeping. April, and Elly’s other employee, Moira, knew immediately who the most likely suspect was. Kortney has also basically been flaunting her fire-proof status to Moira, while continuing to surf the net and take all day to do nothing. Furthermore, when Moira brought up the subject of the missing stock, Kortney immediately implicated herself.
But Elly still “refuses to believe” that someone she “trusts” (WHY?!) could ever steal from her, and came pretty close to calling Moira a liar when Moira told her that Kortney “all but admitted it”. Monday through Thursday of this week were all about Elly dithering and hating the idea of having to fire an employee. Yesterday, Kortney miraculously “found” two undeposited checks, and receipts for supposed donations, which account for all the missing stock. And in tomorrow’s strip (available online),
Elly is dizzy with relief that she doesn’t have to fire Kortney. Moira asks Kortney “How did you do it?”, and Kortney flies off the handle, accusing Moira of trying to get her fired, and gloats, “Elly thinks I’m an angel, an’ that’s how it’s gonna stay!” Moira’s reply is “Better strengthen up those wings, then, 'cause when you fall, it’ll be a long way down.”
WTFF?
So here we have a main character who
a) lets herself be distracted by Bambi eyes from the person who threatens her kid (well, allegedly, from her POV, but still, she should have pursued it)
b) would rather let herself be robbed blind than suffer the trauma of firing someone
c) has more faith in Kortney, who has done nothing to earn her trust, than she does in Moira, who has always been an exemplary employee
d) gets so caught up in this so-called crisis that she runs a red light, then keeps babbling to the cop who pulls her over, and
e) unless next week’s strips cover this, doesn’t even follow up on these mysteriously-appearing checks and donations by calling and making sure that they’re valid.
Lynn, I have lost all respect I have ever had for you. Yes, I know characters don’t have to be perfect. But even if you have some reason for Elly to be this stupid, at least have Moira take a stand. Have her urge Elly to find out if those checks and donations are bona fide, or even make the calls herself. And if Elly has a problem with this, then let Moira seek employment elsewhere.
I’m a regular poster on rec.arts.comicstrips, and I’ve decided that I’m not going to read FBOFW any more until or unless other posters announce that Elly has finally grown a brain, or Moira a spine. We are talking about fraud here, and a victim who is lying down and painting “Welcome” on her ass.
I’ve had it with this. Goodbye, Lynn.
