Resignation

This week’s new Dustinland comic is about what it’s like to start a new gig during a pandemic.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love working from home. But I love the freedom to WFH when I want or need to. What is wearing on me is the need to WFH all the time. It just starts to get depressing being in the same room all day, every day, and then even when you’re in this sort of life-changing situation, you’re still there, and the feeling of newness that usually comes with a new job is muted.

Have you experienced this? That would mean you’re part of The Great Resignation — the huge amount of people getting new jobs during 2021. Hence the title. See what I did there?

9 Steps to Building Your Personal Brand

This new Dustinland comic is my most helpful and career-minded. Really, just follow these tips and you’ll find yourself more successful than you could ever have imagined. It’s not that hard. You just have to believe in yourself, then take the time and effort to identify what you want, and put your mind toward getting it by differentiating yourself from all the others out there.

You know what I mean? Yeah. You know.

A Modern Interview

This week’s new Dustinland comic was inspired by some of the job interviews I went on last year, before landing my current gig. You know, not every interview is crazy and weird, but some are. Especially in the tech sector, which I am not really a part of, but I guess you could say peripherally, I am. But yes, I had some interviews that felt like a maze of trick questions as opposed to the “get to know each other” back and forth I’m used to. Times are changing, my friends! As the Googles and Amazons and Facebooks of the world get bigger and bigger, everyone else wants to emulate them, and weird interviews are part of their process.

Jump

Well, my hand is healing, but this new Dustinland comic is still a bit sloppy. Also I just got back from Disney World, so I’ve been busy. So yes, this strip is not perfect, but it does exist, which I think is a plus. Also it really did happen, which is super weird and trippy.

More on Disney soon, but I really do need time to come up with something epic and David Foster Wallace-ian for such an experience.

Manpower

I’m sure some people will get this week’s Dustinland comic wrong, even though I think it’s super obvious. So just in case, what I’m saying is that it’s silly for men to be against taking up traditionally female careers at a time when many traditionally male careers are drying up due to automation and technology and other issues. Of course I understand it, especially with older dudes, but still, come on. Jobs are nice because they pay money. That’s what it comes down to and that’s what it will always come down to in the end. Money.

High five.

Time For Vacation

I know this week’s new Dustinland comic can come off sort of first world problems / mo money, mo problems, but that’s how I feel. It’s like at every moment my job is to appease one person or several people, possibly with competing demands, and there is no end and no way to make everyone happy. And forget about what I want. Although you can say ostensibly that in doing what I want in the bigger scheme of things, I subject myself to this lifestyle where I am subservient to the wants of others. Which is probably correct. But still, even if you have it good, relatively speaking, you can still feel stressed out — and do.

It’s time for vacation.

Single Malt Problems

This week’s Dustinland comic is a fast and cute first world problems sort of deal about something that happened to me late night in the office the other day. No big deal. Just a cute little one. I did draw it in colored pencil though, so that’s different. I’ve been doodling with my kid so I figured why not try his art supplies on my comic just to switch things up. Plus I was too lazy to go downstairs to get my felt-tip pen.

You’re Garbage

As I say in this week’s Dustinland comic, being a sanitation worker is probably not the horrible future you were meant to believe it would be as a child. I think I read there is a 5-year waiting list to get the gig in NYC. Or that they only hire 500 new people a year, meaning that statistically it’s harder to get into garbage than Harvard. It does look rough though, physically speaking. I would imagine these dudes are pretty broken by the time they retire. Which is probably at a relatively early age but still, hard to factor in that kind of wear and tear into your salary and benefits. Also it’s probably pretty stinky and dirty. But you know, until Scott Walker has his way with the rest of the nation, it should be a nice blue collar union job that lets people support a family. Imagine that.

PS I shouldn’t always say dudes and men since once I saw a woman sanitation worker. Seems pretttttttty rare though.

Two Weeks

Okay, first of all, the message in this week’s Dustinland is that the whole point of giving your job two weeks’ notice is so that you can leave on good terms, not so that you can run around like a dick the whole time. But hey, it sure does feel good to enjoy those two weeks!

And now just to head off any questions, yes, I did just get a new job and I am currently serving out my final two weeks at my current job. Things have not been quite as exciting as depicted in the comic, although I did leave at 4:15 the other day. WOOHOO! LIVING ON THE EDGE!