Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 29, 2022

Maybe you’re not getting any satisfaction because you’re not doing the job well.

Picking up sticks builds character.

Quick study

Dad knows best. Early job experience at a pre-teen age will ‘stick’ with you for the rest of your life.

That is the correct message.

Surprising that Dad didn’t make Calvin mow the lawn, too.

After all, he DID make him shovel heavy snow!!

True, dat.

Bill you are wrong, that is an ignorant remark, you should encourage people to always do their best in order to have a self satisfying life.

You should write a song about it.

There may be some satisfaction, but 40 years of working as well as I could taught me that there is no gratitude for a job well done.

♫♪

I can’t get no satisfaction

I can’t get no satisfaction

’Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try

I can’t get no, I can’t get no

♪♫

I always have lots of sticks to pick up in the spring, and I never get enjoyment out of it either.

Haven’t you guys heard of a rake?

Those aren’t sticks. Their snowman arms! Oh my Gosh!! The humanity! …still, stick picking sucks.

I remember sticks from living in Michigan a while. In Central Texas, I mowed the dirt and mulched the rocks.

Calvin…sticks are how they originally made arrows..

Sure, Cal. Nothing’s as effective as nothing.

He’s doing it all wrong. You need to invent some fun while doing jobs… if possible.

The lesson? Get a big enough mower and grind those sticks into chips.

STYX was my favorite band in high school.

Then lay them straight, Calvin.

I’ve got a whole acre of winter sticks to pick up. Ugggggg.

I hate it when the lawn is sticky

Calvin will experience that satisfaction once you complete your newest transmogrifier, or pull off a water balloon attack on Susie.

It’s there, just not for the stuff Dad tells him.

on the other hand, you get what you pay for.

Well, that job is done.

Yet another reason why Calvin wants a flamethrower

https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/6316865/il_fullxfull.307459384.jpg

I bought my first house when I was 26. I mowed the grass on my one day off each week and it was hugely satisfying.

If “Carvin” had Asian parents:

Dad: “You doctor yet? Why you no doctor yet?!”

Bill Watterson also said that before the strip he had submitted six comic strips, all of which were rejected. He also got a job as a graphic designer for an advertising firm, which he said he detested. Someone asked him if he detested it, why do it? Bill’s response was simple: “Because if we only did work we liked, most of us would be sleeping in a ditch and scraping our meals from garbage cans.”

Sticks and stones will break your bones but words will break your heart.

Count yourself lucky Calvin. I had to pick up after the dog.

In the 50s hand lawn mowers handles were up to my shoulders, & were very hard to push through lush lawns. In the mid 60s I bought a Scott’s Silent push mower. Could mow early in the morning without disturbing neighbors. Our young sons loved it. The handle was low as their belt line & easy to push. My older son (11 at the time) had so much fun mowing the yard, but hit a rock & I had to have the blades sharpened. Decades later we moved from Overland Park KS to far N. W. Tucson Village of Catalina. Our ‘yard’ was 2 acres of cactus. My son now mows his small yard on his property in High Rolls NM. Yes the antique Scott’s push mower still works!

No child ever looked at a lawn and said Wow. it looks nice without any sticks on it.

I’d go with a job “worth” doing is a job is worth doing well. This doing it for the satisfaction is mostly someone trying to get you to do work for free.

Dad needs a mower that mulches those things.

Calvin is a minor, and as such is only allowed to make three acceptable responses to his parents:

1.) “No.”

2.) “Yes.”

3.) “Anything you want, Mistress and Massa.”

Oh, I do know the feeling of satisfaction, especially once you’ve grown up.

Yeah you can work your way up to branches, logs and eventually the tree its self.

Those sticks look just fine for just running over with the lawn mower. No need to pick them up – just mulch them!

Hey, picking up sticks beats picking up dog … stuff. (Years of ‘practice’)

A truth universally acknowledged.

helloBozo axel

Hiyou stupid dumb

Wait until you’re done. I’m sure you’ll find it then.

I hate, and I mean really HATE, doing yard work. Especially when it’s not actually necessary. (There’s a difference between required lawn maintenance and gardening) My dad would likewise try to pull the “take pride in your work” angle about it with me until I finally explained to him one day I DO take pride in a job well done- when it’s a job I do of my own voluntary accord. When it’s something I’m forced to do against my will the only satisfaction in a job well done is that it’s DONE and I don’t have to do it anymore!

The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.

Didn’t Dad make Calvin’s allowance contingent on his completing the task? If not, then he’s not teaching him anything about work.

I have all three of the complete Calvin and Hobbes books. It’s amazing to see all these comics and how they have changed.

The character building exercise prescribed by dad is going places for the first time.