i don't get it.

Plot:

The customer wants to purchase a food item. As she intends to eat at a nearby table, she explains to the clerk that the food item does not need to be placed into a bag.

The clerk explains that there are no trays, and that her understanding of her restaurant's policy is that, in the absence of trays, the food item must be placed into a bag before being given to a customer.

The customer expresses bewilderment that the food item must be placed into a bag and cannot simply be given to her.

The clerk says that she will "ask" someone to confirm that this is permissible.

The strip ends at this point.

Character development:

The customer wants her consumption of the food item to create as little waste as possible. She does not want to receive the food item in a bag because she intends to remove the food item from the bag immediately. When told by the clerk that restaurant policy may prevent her from receiving her food item without a bag, she expresses amazement -- "are you serious?" -- and may be contemplating further action.

The clerk is torn between obeying the request of the customer and obeying the policies of her employer. She has heard, but she may not understand, the reason why the customer has asked for the food to be served without a bag. What she does understand, however, is that fulfilling this request may bring her into conflict with the restaurant's policy.

Themes:

... the customer as a person who encounters petty authority and is in the process of exploring how to deal with it.

... the clerk as a person reduced to an automaton incapable of independent thought or the possibility of rebelling against authority.

Poor Roxanne, no one likes her comics.

Her fullsize books are much better, I assure you.

yeah cause eating at mcdonalds isn't in itself a wasteful and selfish act.

don't blame the 7 dollar an hour employees just cause you're a retard.

seriously, what kind of person gets mad at mcdonald's employees?

I think matty needs a change, a nice warm bottle and to be put to bed immediately. Poor thing.

they deleted my post.

i was just saying that who gets annoyed with mcdonalds workers? i mean, come on, they're mcdonalds workers. i'm sure they have enough problems without this chick giving them shit about a fucking bag.

Matty, I've republished your comment.

By the way, surest way to make people not listen to what you say: call someone else a "retard."

hey jonathan-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blobfish
also, http://divaboo.info/

i don't know why but i think the blobfish would look amazing in a fedora...

Matty: you asked, "so...did she get the mcdonalds with or without the bag."

This is besides the point. It is like asking whether Godot ever showed up, or whether Schrödinger's cat will be dead or alive when the box is opened. The purpose of the strip is to explore the tension (between environmentalism and corporate waste, between creative rebellion and meek acquiescence to faceless authority, and so on) preceding the outcome.

Fantasygoat: you stated, "Poor Roxanne, no one likes her comics."

Allow me to state that I like Roxanne's comics.

Matty: you asked, "who gets annoyed with mcdonalds workers?"

I don't think that the protagonist is actually annoyed with the worker as a person. Rather, I think that she is annoyed with corporate policy as interpreted by the worker as a worker. Perhaps a third theme of the strip is the justification (or not) of transferring one's disagreement with a policy to those who apply the policy. Perhaps a fourth theme of the strip is a commentary on a hierarchy that compels underlings to apply policies designed from above.

This is pretty straightforward and baffles me that people didn't get it. I third Robin Rix for comment of the year!

No matter where I shop or eat, I try to avoid taking a bag as much as possible. I don't really eat at McD's often, but haven't really come across that "we must bag it" policy elsewhere...usually they'll just give me my stuff and I go.

Roxanne, so what *was* the verdict? ;)

I managed to convince her to hand it to me, though it was a struggle.

And as for "who eats at McDonald's anyway," not me usually, but EVERYONE at Queen and Spadina at around 3:00 a.m. on a Saturday night who doesn't feel like a hot dog.

Actually, I meant that to say "the Queen and Spadina area." If you're restricting yourself to the intersection itself, then, yep, you're pretty much limited to hot dogs and McDonalds. Although that Jamaican place on the northwest corner might be open late.