Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for November 18, 2012

And they weren’t even tryin’ to hit on her. Whatta pit.

I guess the 99 percent can’t catch a break.

Yeah, the cougars aren’t interested, either. Just as well, I guess. These days, if a woman says she has a proposition for me, my first instinct is to take a nap.

I think a repeat? We old guys are invisible to the young ladies.

The gorgeous checker-babe didn’t even notice the two dudes, they’re so over-the-hill. Whatta blow to the two male egos.

That’s Mike learning he’s past the age when women notice guys. Not that Mike ever attracted them.And that’s GT’s idea of a hot babe!

“… what they pay those poor schmucks ….”

“Many grocery clerks work part-time and have flexible schedules, making the job ideal for students or those needing a second job to make ends meet. Median hourly rates are $10.08 per hour, with a range of $7.66 to $16.89. Others work full-time and may see this as an entry point into a grocery career. Their median annual salaries are $20,960, with a range of $15,930 to $35,130. These figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics as of May 2009.”

http://www.ehow.com/info_7751678_average-salary-grocery-clerk.html

Ah, the “Mickey Mantle” lament. Yes, I know I’m showing my age.

Eh, same thing happens for women. Sadly it’s not just young guys. All the guys in their early forties are busy trying to get the attention of girls that age, so we start to be invisible to the young guys AND guys our age! :-p

Might be the last ti e Trudeau draws what looks like Wonderbread!

They should complain. Women start turning invisible when they reach 30.

They reached their expiration date.

We have become a nation of invisible old men.

I see it, but it would help if it weren’t the same as George HW Bush’s representation. I guess it’s been long enough that most reader’s don’t think of that.

Gee, I thought she was a distracted Ariana Huffington going through a rough spell after having a “Red Rascal” experience at the Huff Po.

Thirty-four years ago today Congressman Ryan was gunned down at the Port Kaituma airstrip while trying to leave from a fact finding trip of the People’s Temple, killed with him were 3 journalist (one who partially recorded the gun fire) and one Temple defector. Among the wounded was Ryan aid and my future (and now former after redistricting) congressional rep Jackie Spier, who was shot five times, This attack sparked the largest rehearsed and preplanned mass suicide in modern history (White Night). This atrocity occurred while the charismatic preacher was recorded admonishing his congregation to “stop the writhing and die with dignity”. Here is the Doonesbury strip from that day. A day later when members of the Guyana’s military showed up, they found the bodies of 918 murder/suicide victims scattered all over Jonestown. Most of the victims were from the San Francisco Bay Area and had it major reverberations here. Much of the political elite had benefited with patronage and association with the PT. Nine days later Dan White slipped pass metal detectors at city hall and assassinated Mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk, because both were connected to and benefited from the PT, there was fear that their deaths were from a Temple hit squad, the threats never materialized though. This is the Doonesbury strip from that day.

Nearly half of the remains of the cult victims went unclaimed, eventually Everegreen Cemetery* agreed to accept them in a mass grave. It’s only been in the last few years that a permanent memorial has been installed, for years there was only a single stone marking the grave. The site is marked with four panels with the names of all the PT members who died at JT. The most controversial is the second panel with the name “James Warren Jones” on it. One woman lost 27 family members and objected strenuously to the inclusion of JJ’s name.

These two events had impact far beyond the SF Bay Area, Diane Feinstein was propelled from a county supervisor to a two term mayor and then a long serving senator with a run for the Gov in between, and she’s the conservative by Frisco standards. The “deviants” Dan White was trying to save San Francisco from are a part of the social landscape, can serve openly in the military, get married in more and more places, and is the primary focus of numerous street festivals.One of the most important lessons to learn from this is to be aware of how people can be manipulated by a charismatic megalomaniac, from the rallies in Nuremberg to rallies in the pulpit.

* Coincidentally Huey Newton is also bury at the cemetery. It appears Evergreen is the preferred resting place for radical revolutionaries, wonder if Angela Davis has a plot picked out?

so sad….when was the first time that someone younger than you called you sir or ma’am?

Wow, am I the only one who thought (until the last panel) this strip was going to be about George H. W. Bush? Surely some of you are long-time Doonesbury fans as well.

Good one, Susan. ;)

Hell, they never noticed me at any age!

I think of it as my transponder no longer sending out a signal.

Interesting perspective. Too bad their egos are so fragile they are worried about whether or not a cashier pays attention to them, pretty or not, I’m sure she just wants to do her job and go home. And if she wants to flirt with some guys who happen to be her age, then that is her business. Like someone said in a previous post, we women get ignored at a far younger age than men. We women deal with it, we deal with all kinds of crap, besides just being ignored. Where are all the animal names for men, as we have for women, for example?

My 90 year old mom wants to tell every cashier her life story, every time we go anywhere. Those who are with her find this rather embarrassing.

They got old. So you know you’re not worth seeing.

Looks like GT hasn’t witnessed the corollary effect: the young person working the check stand appears to be a 12-year-old child to the aged customer. That’s the POV of this geezer when the grocery clerk is younger than 35 or 40.

I remember thinking when this first ran that they could cancel the invisibility effect by hopping into a Ferrari.I looked back, and if any of you remember, Mike’s first words in this world were, “Hi, there, my name’s Mike Doonesbury. I hail from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and women adore me.” Kind of puts the invisibility effect into context.

I get that Bernie might be that big a geek, but surely Mike has figured out that charm is ageless, and that everyone, even a attractive young woman, is happy to have a little personal attention, even from an older guy.

I get what he’s saying, but it’s not a universal truth. I’m in my fifties, bald, white-bearded, paunchy, and short. My girlfriend is in her twenties, tall, honey-blond, stacked, a little zaftig (like I like it!) I can’t figure out how it happened, but I’m not questioning it!

“I always thought “paper or plastic” meant “cash or credit”.”

That went beyond just good, babygirl. That one was GREAT.

You’ve obviously never been a 50 year-old man in a college town.

The only thing that counts is the party line, right or wrong (and it’s always wrong).

The original ran in July 2011: http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2011/07/24

“Good union employee, only thing that counts is the paycheck.”

“Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” —Jesus, KJV Matthew 6:2.

There is more to this life, my rightwing-wrongwing friend, than to worship the god Mammon. Apparently you have no idea whatsoever of what you’re missing.

I figured this was a repeat, elsewise her thought that “Everyone must be at the beach” wasn’t out of season, but east-coast ironic.

I have noticed a disturbing trend on this thread. It seems if you say something that someone disagrees with, your post is labeled as a “rant.”

It is fine to disagree with each other. I am not sure that labeling what someone else says as a “rant” because we disagree with it is entirely appropriate.

For some reason, the Republicans seem to usually be better organized during the midterm elections, so I am not really sure that the Democratic landslide is going to happen in 2014. However, even if we are experiencing gridlock, I am sure that is much better situation than we would have had if Romney had won.

Middle age and older guys, totally invisible to young women. Hits ya hard some days. Sometimes, it comes in handy, especially if they want you to clean something.

Did you miss the cashier running a scanner across your card? A lot of new registers require that when an alcohol sale is made. It’s the cashier’s job on the line, not yours.

it’s the same for us females over 40.

My Dad used to say he “disappeared from young women’s radar at about age 45”. He was 6’1", dark wavy hair.. I am now 72, have been invisible to them for 30 years..

invisibility

“I’d like to see some Greens and others win those seats.”

Gridlock forever?

You’ve just got to be friendly and a bit unusual in an interesting/not creepy way. Show a genuine yet casual interest and most people (including “hot” young women) who are actually worth knowing will respond in kind.

When I go to Walmart in the AM, I see what I can only assume to be remnents of Rev. Jim Jones. I wonder if they keep Kool-Aid in case of an emergency.

That’s sad

I think you guys are making too much of the male / female and young / old themes here (which are there). I think its also about the numbing, mechanizing effects of having a numbing job, where young people are taught, and reinforced, to act like ATM machines. Research has shown that these jobs actually cause neurological damage / arrested neurological growth.

Not a very realistic checker. No nostril stud, no eyebrow rings, no row of five cubic zircons in her ear, and no tongue stud. Sometimes even looking at the checker can be a challenge to one’s stomach. Sort of makes one wish he could ignore the checker as well as she ignores him! Of course, seeing one as un-disfigured as this one is quite a different matter.

Yes, men are invisible to any woman after 55, just when they start getting senior discounts. Their loss.

As though being invisible in a grocery store or a Costco was undesirable! In and out, the standard pleasantries, without hidden agendas. Then back to a saner corner of the world you share with voluntary invisibles who get together to watch the visible charade parade by. Invisibly. GT probably savors that.