Page 1 of 2

18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:40 am
by Shouri

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:48 am
by Azrael
Good luck with that, Dillon. :ymdevil:
sdb20150918.png
sdb20150918.png (108.58 KiB) Viewed 8875 times

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 6:52 am
by brasca
Well he definitely needs an assistant if has no idea what his financial situation is.

And thanks to the Kickstarter I am reminded that 30,000 a year is nothing to sneeze at in Canadian dollars.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:03 am
by Storm-forge mystique
It'd be just above the US median salary, wouldn't it?

*Googles*

...nope, actually about US$4k below.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:14 am
by wiseguy
told you it was about 13 per hour

get Nathan to pay for that too and include "rent free place" as part of the salary

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:06 am
by Spidrift
And suddenly these characters remember that money exists. One sometimes wonders.

One also notes that Dillon's agent was the one who said he should get a PA, and she should know how much he makes. Though that may just have been her emitting a bunch of exasperated complaints at his lack of organisation, rather than a serious suggestion.

So now is time for some haggling. Dillon could offer to put her rent-free accommodation in the apartment on a more formal basis, but they don't really have room for a third person long term, and anyhow, Ruby was hoping to move out when she got a job. Perhaps the best thing would be for Ruby to claim partial payment in kind - getting Dillon to act in her live-action yaoi projects... Also, Dillon and Amber could offer to employ Ruby jointly, if they both need PA support; Ruby would like that a lot less, but she does seem to need a job quite badly.

This may also lead to other discussion of Dillon's (and Amber's) finances. I know that I keep going on about Ruby discovering how and why Amber and Dillon have the apartment free and clear, but it's a reveal that should detonate sometime.

One other characterisation detail here; "Even Ruby has to eat sometimes". Ruby is slim, and a bit austere by nature; she maybe has only a birdlike appetite for food.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:37 am
by Don Alexander
So... Dillon thought she'd do it for free? :-?? Or at least "for peanuts"?

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:44 am
by Spidrift
I suspect that Dillon is above such vulgar concerns as money. Or at least, that he thinks it's sprinkled onto him by the Dollar Fairy when he needs it.

And to be fair, the whole idea was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing, without much thought from anybody. And when you're hiring somebody to be organised and to manage your money, you might expect them to ask the organised money-related questions. And it also sounds like Dillon's agent rather implied to him that he should be able to afford this, which implication he passed on to Ruby.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:57 pm
by Cortez
Alternatively, Amber could be the one that moves out. I mean, she's barely in the comic these days.

She could move in with her boyfriend.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 2:04 pm
by Artemisia
The solution is fairly simple...she gets room and board for the moment, so deduct that from her salary. She can work for both of them, which spreads the cost between the two of them. And they can negotiate a percentage of each job they do so that this can cover any other expenses that she might have.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 2:53 pm
by Azrael
Spidrift wrote:And suddenly these characters remember that money exists. One sometimes wonders.



Only when it's funny to do so. :p

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 3:15 pm
by brasca
Artemisia wrote:The solution is fairly simple...she gets room and board for the moment, so deduct that from her salary. She can work for both of them, which spreads the cost between the two of them. And they can negotiate a percentage of each job they do so that this can cover any other expenses that she might have.
Working for friends can be problematic enough, but working for a sister that Ruby doesn't have the best of relationships might be too much. Even if Ruby is getting paid to be their assistant she is still taking orders from Amber and I don't know if 30K a year is enough. Perhaps Dillon's pay isn't enough to afford a starting personal assistant's wages so the offer of living there rent free may be required to compensate which would provide the justification for Ruby living there. That and Dillon will probably need her at the odd hours so having her there would be a matter of convenience.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 3:36 pm
by Spidrift
Cortez wrote:Alternatively, Amber could be the one that moves out. I mean, she's barely in the comic these days.
Well, Amber is still useful sometimes when the other two need a third party to talk at (who can say slightly more than "minew"). And who knows, one day, she and Ruby may start to sort out their screwed-up relationship.

But yeah, Amber is weirdly underused. She still has problems and character details of her own, and lots of plot lines that could spin off from them, but the creators never seem to want to go there. It may be inevitable or just as well, given that we only get two strips a week - if we had proper Amber stories alongside the Dillon and Ruby stories, the comic would take forever to go anywhere - but it still looks like she was dragged away from Ma3 to no good purpose.
brasca wrote:Working for friends can be problematic enough, but working for a sister that Ruby doesn't have the best of relationships might be too much.
On the other hand, it'd be an excuse for giving Amber a bit more to do in some stories - and maybe we'd see the sisters starting to sort out their relationship.
brasca wrote:Even if Ruby is getting paid to be their assistant she is still taking orders from Amber and I don't know if 30K a year is enough.
Ruby could grit her teeth and tell herself (a) it's a paying job, (b) it's good experience, and (c) she doesn't have to deal with Amber all the time. And she does seem to think that family loyalty is important, so she might not want to admit that she'd hate working for Amber, if someone else suggested it.

Heck, we might even see Dillon noticing her reluctance, and finally asking properly what their problem is.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 6:04 pm
by brasca
Seeing as how Dillon and Amber work in the same studio they are likely to see each other on a regular basis so she does not have to be Amber's assistant too for the sake of plot convenience. There is also the matter of potentially being in 2 places at once if Ruby has to do errands for Amber and Dillon when one is at home and the other at the studio. It might not be about toleration, but whether she can serve the whims of 2 people at once.

However, Ruby might still do it since she needs the startup money for her own business so if she tells herself that it is only for a few years she can endure working for her big sister.

Re: 18-09-15 A little left out

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 6:57 pm
by Spidrift
Dillon and Amber get on okay, so I think they could share a PA fairly well. A little bit of polite "Do you mind if I ask Ruby to..." would go a long way.