Thank you everyone for the decongestant suggestions over the weekend. Feeling a bit better at the moment, seems like a Dayquil and some tabasco sauce helps.
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
Wonder what her allowance is. Looking at a random flower delivery service looks like she might have spend between 30-80 bucks on this.
Dang Todd, give her a chance to explain. She bought FLOWERS for crying out loud. Here’s how I imagine most parents would react:
Principal: Hello, Mr. Jones? This is Principal Baker at your daughters school. I need to talk to you about what your daughter did today at school?
Jones: Is something wrong? Is she in trouble?
Principal: I’m afraid so.
Jones: Oh great, what did she do?
Principal: She bought flowers for another student.
Jones: OK, and does this student have an allerfy or something?
Principal: Well, no…
Jones: A flower phobia?
Principal: Well, no…
Jones: Are the flowers threatening somehow? Like dead black roses?
Principal: No, no
Jones: Did it include an inappropriate note? Has she been harassing this student?
Principal: No, nothing like that.
Jones: So what exactly is the problem here?
Principal: Well we were worried the flowers might be from someone inappropriate.
Jones: OK, I can appreciate that, I’ll make sure she doesn’t do it again.
Like that’s the level of drama for FLOWERS. The way Todd is reacting you’d think she sent a death threat or something.
It’s not exactly stellar parenting to NOT punish her for that kinda excessive spending though. That’s a loooot of money for most people, yself definitely included. And it’s not like she bought food for her class or helped a sick kid. That’s a lot easier to excuse than buying flowers on impulse because she wanted to manipulate two of her classmates into dating. I don’t think it should be an extreme punishment no, but she has a decent history of being impulsive and toeing the line with rules. He at the VERY least needs to impress upon her why thinking things through and following rules matters. Her apologizing for breaking rules isn’t as impactful when she continues to break them. Just my personal view as someone who’s been hurt by other’s impulse and rule breaking and less meaningful apologies
I agree, an apology is meaningless if they keep doing whatever they apologized for. Some people expect an apology to wipe it out as though they never did anything in the first place. They find it incomprehensible or annoying if you are still angry or distrustful.
She stole a bunch of his money, guy.
^This.
Principal: “Mrs Jones? Your kid had flowers delivered here.”
Jones: “But where did he get over $90 for…OMG!”
Where does it say that? Todd says in app purchasing was allowed so she could spend HER allowance. There is so far zero evidence she spent Todd’s money. If she did, fine, he can get upset, but still, relative to other potential issues the reaction is overboard.
Also, my name is not “guy”.
I don’t know of any kids who save up money unless they are saving specifically *for* something, and Selkie has been shown to be a very impulsive spender. I also don’t know of any parents living in apartments that give kids with ages in the single digits $70 for allowance. Back when I was getting an allowance, in a middle-class family with two working parents, mind you, that would represent something like 3 and a half weeks of allowance money. There may be zero direct, in your face, neon-sign-level evidence (which Dave is too good a writer to use unless he has to), but the signs are there.
As for Todd being this mad, I’d be about as pissed if someone stole $50-60 bucks from me, too. With Selkie, it’s the principle of the matter: He trusted her, she abused that trust in a huge way. There’s also the fact that she caused a panic with her impulsive spending.
I think it’s pretty clear she stole Todd’s credit card and that she does not have anywhere near enough allowance saved up to cover the flowers.
They specifically indicated that she must have called in the order since it was misspelled (as a result of being dictated over the phone rather than typed in by Selkie herself), which means she’d need to use a credit card, which means at *minimum* she used Todd’s credit card without asking him.
That one would get a kid in a large amount of trouble in any family I know of (certainly the one I grew up in) even if they were spending money they had. You simply do not grab dad’s credit card without permission to make *any* purchase, whether it’s within your budget or not.
And Todd’s pointed explanation of “ONLY up to her allowance” on this page makes it quite clear that on top of the unauthorized credit card use, it was money she didn’t have to spend.
David K, he revoked her access to the wallet app because she didn’t “spend up to her allowance.”
I also don’t think his reaction is out of line. He isn’t being verbally abusive, or threatening physical abuse. He hasn’t decided on an appropriate punishment yet. He made it clear he intends it to fit the crime.
I don’t think Heather’s parents overreacted or were abusive when they punished her for stealing Selkie’s shirt, either. Heather was scared they would send her back to the orphanage. https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie174/
Her mom yelled at her and called her a little thief, but just grounded her https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie181/
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie184/
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie186/
If (and I emphasize IF) it’s the case that Todd granted her access to an app that gave Selkie full access to his bank account, then sorry, this is also partly on him. That’s irresponsible on his part. You don’t give a child $500, send them to the store and say “only spend $5”. You give them $5 instead. If he wanted Selkie to only have access to how much her allowance was worth, that’s what you do. Parental controls on smart phones are designed specifically for that scenario. Also, why was he granting her full access to the entire wallet and not just the application in question? Again, that’s what parental controls are designed to do.
So either Selkie had access to only her own money, spent more of it than she was supposed to, but didn’t actually steal anything OR Todd was himself irresponsible in allowing an eight year old child uncontrolled access to his bank account. Selkie was wrong to spend what was not hers, but Todd was more wrong to be so careless with his financial information.
Again that is assuming your theory is right and that she actually used Todd’s money, which has yet to be established.
I continue to say that Todd is overreacting based on what we actually know so far, as opposed to what people are assuming.
I agree that Selkie needs to face the music. But Todd trusted he to have the App. She agreed not to spend more than her allowance. Probably 5– 10 bucks a week, and in one Swell Foop she blew through (based on local current experience) $80USD. Dunno how flot others are with their money, but $40.-USD is my ENTIRE week’s discretionary cash, and I’m roughly twice as old as Todd, (Or Dave for that matter).
It’s ~ $70. Selkie said “Need so many brownie points for this one.” Dave’s commented “Probably about 70 brownie points if it’s a 1:1 conversion.” https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie1262/
Is there any indication that the app had anything to do with how she bought the flowers? I was assuming that was just Todd making sure she can’t spend any *more* money she doesn’t have, since she’s demonstrated her inability to spend within her budget by a wide margin.
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie1261/
Principal Angela: “It sounds like you stole a credit card!”
Selkie: “No I didn’ts! I useds a wallet app. It’s differents.”
That is a pathetic whataboutism. Todd screwing up doesn’t somehow mean Selkie deserves an easier treatment.
And assumptions are what you are making to come to the conclusion that she didn’t steal from her father. Creative and unreasonable assumptions. All we can make are educated guesses. What is a reasonable assumption regarding a child making a large purchase without parental approval? Most likely that the child stole the money and Todd’s reaction confirms (not supports, confirms) that this is what happened.
David K, if she had bought a $10 bouquet from the supermarket, or brought flowers from their own yard, he wouldn’t be mad at her. If she cut a neighbor’s prize roses, he would need to punish her, even if they didn’t ask for monetary recompense.
She spent $70 on a flower delivery service. She used the online app she was only allowed to spend up to her allowance on. She needs to learn accountability and responsibility.
Personally, if I had a kid who stole money from me, I would be pretty pissed at their lack of respect towards me.
Where does it say she stole money?
Nowhere. Maybe she did, but all that people have pointed to so far involves significant speculation, but nothing we actually know about the situation.
It seemed obvious to me.
Be glad you’re not female, Dave. I’ve had sinus infections just about monthly for years. Through a fluke, found out they’re usually tied to my cycle. Something about immunoresponse dropping in preparation for a babby then flipping its shit. I forget why/how exactly. So my months go: FREEDOM (occasional bonus sinus infection due to weather), ovulation fatigue and nausea, optional migraine, sinus infection, period, repeat. Make sure to keep an eye on sinus infections, because sometimes they progress into bronchitis (not a huge deal on its own), which can in turn progress into walking pneumonia.
For future reference:
Spicy food: My go-tos are Thai rice dishes or peppers
Mucinex: One of the varieties has some cross interactions with some antidepressants, so be careful there.
Lemonade: For nausea (this is rare for sinus infections, but does happen)
Dehumidifier: Place near head when sleeping
Nettie Pot: Hit or miss. Some swear by them; I’ve not had much luck with them.
Nasal sprays: Amazing, but don’t overuse them.
Hot Pack: Reduce that facial swelling
Guaifenesin and Tabasco. A Stuffy Mary.
I feel like it should have been made clearer that Selkie used Todd’s money without his knowledge *before* Todd entered full-dad mode so there wouldn’t be a debate about his behavior in the comments. I’m pretty sure Dave expected us to figure out what’s going on by now, but a flashback as to how this happened would probably clear up any remaining doubts for either side.
I admit, I’m a little surprised by the confusion and debate in the comments. No matter whether she spends up to her allowance (whatever amount that might be in a given week, two weeks, month) or more, it’s still ultimately Todd’s money because it’s his name on the card that’s tied to the wallet app. In the case of Selkie spending on her mobile game, she’s probably supposed to let Todd know if she buys something – and how much it cost – so he can mentally deduct the cost from any allowance that he might give to her in cash form.
So, I mean…if Selkie *did not* spend more than her allotted allowance or savings on the flowers, Todd’s reaction here and in the previous strip makes no sense. If that had been the case, I’d wager he’d probably be less miffed and simply give her a stern talking-to about asking permission to use the wallet app for other purchases. But he’s clearly Not Happy so the reasonable conclusion is that Selkie spent way more than she was permitted to spend.
Sometimes I try so hard to not over-state things, that I end up grossly under-stating them. 😡
So for the Luddites amongst us, who (like me)had to Google wallet app to find out what the hell we were talking about – Selkie called the florist and ordered the flowers (that’s how she was busted – they took down exactly what she said on the card, including her extra Ss), and then used the wallet app (that held Todd’s credit card number) that was on her phone to pay for them, greatly exceeding the limit that Todd had placed on her use of the app, so in effect stealing Todd’s money.
That about cover it?
You got it
I don’t think you understated anything this time around, Dave.
I thought you were clear, David K seemed the only one who couldn’t figure out at all what was going on. I do think some others were unfamiliar with wallet apps. Perhaps you should have defined it in the comic where it was brought up? https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie1261/
No, I just didn’t simply assume, I went with what was presented. There is a difference.
I don’t think you understated this that much; it seems reasonable from context. And I *really* appreciate writers who don’t think their readers are dummies and overexplain things. A little extra explanation in the Author’s Note is generally fine if you think there’s a problem, and you did that (explaining $70).
Of course, I grew up with Marvel Comics, where “I’ll use my powers to stop him!” was one of those common but eyetwitch-prompting lines. Because each new set of comics was aimed at kids of the same age as the previous set, so you couldn’t expect the audience to realize that the superheroes would use their powers that way, or whatever. Highly patronizing for those of us who kept reading after the (at the time) expected age, but somewhat understandable given the readership.
(I gave up on X-Men Evolution during the episode where Professor Xavier telepathically told Jean Grey to “use your powers!” and I kinda want to make a comic or something where the action stops and Jean Grey is like “Really? Seriously? Gasp! I hadn’t thought of that! Wait, do I have powers I could use to help in this situation? to actually save my teammates? I might have to think about this for a while… oh wait, yes I do! You’re right, Professor! I would never have figured that out without your help!”)
Anyway, yeah, I think it’s clear from context, and not under-explained. And that’s coming from a gal who (at 40) is not familiar with paying for things in apps and via phone — that is, I understand the concept, but haven’t really done such things myself — and so kinda thought Selkie swiped a credit card before other possibilities got raised.
Dad Mode: Activate!