Queen Tabby

Long May She Reign

It’s seldom that you see a weather warning for half of the country, but here we are. We’re getting covered in snow as I type. It’s actually not too bad. I’ve been putting off cleaning my place, but now that I’m trapped here the only way to escape the clutter is to do something with it. The obvious choice is to put it outside. It’ll be well hidden under snow until I can buy some more trash bags.

Speaking of ice, an artist I admire thanked me for helping her be distracted, temporarily, from the horrible daily news. Real life has stifled her creativity, which is the usual thing that happens to artists. It’s hard to paint a sunset in chaos.

I thanked her sincerely, but the truth is that I’ve never been able to function in chaos either. However, I didn’t used to have the greatest inspirational tool an artist can have: the deadline. No, that’s wasn’t it. Not really. Maybe it is. No! What I meant to say is that I didn’t used to have a cast of characters who live outside of my timeline. It’s very easy to want to escape this world and see what Penny, April Bloom, Berle, Tabby, or many of the others are up to.

With the thought of happy distractions, I grabbed a handful of comics featuring Tabby from her first year. Well, it was at the end of her first year when she finally wasn’t wearing a mask. Nobody really had a good look at Tabby’s face when she was first introduced because it was during the pandemic. Remember the pandemic? That was the last time we needed to be distracted.

Out of chaos comes Tabby.

This comic make me happy. For whatever reason I reached into Monty Python territory here. Many store apps are unnecessarily confusing, which is as politely as I can phrase it. Actually, apps do belong in a Monty Python sketch. It’s too bad apps were after their time.

This was an immediate favorite because many customers say this. “You must’ve found out that I like it and stopped ordering it!” I even say it. It’s some sort of requirement to say it.

I like the odd bottle stuck in the middle of the yellow things for sale. Customers pick things up, change their minds, and place them back wherever they happen to be standing, even if they’re in the bathroom. So it has always been, so shall it always be.

This was a little gem that I forgot about. Many of my comics are based on real life experiences, so you may be asking if this was one of them. No. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. You can tell which of my comics are based on real life because inevitably someone comments “this would never happen”. It never fails to amuse me.

If you’ve never worked for a company that is obsessed with customer reviews, you have escaped a hell that you don’t want to know about.

Another one that pleased me, but now I remember that a reader told me to never draw Tabby from the front again. I’ve ignored that advice.

Some people get annoyed by “Have a nice day”, and I get it. But what if I sincerely want you to have a nice day? Maybe I care about the human condition. Should I say nothing? That’s kind of creepy. Should I just shout “Next”? That’s uncaring. What about “Goodbye”? This isn’t a phone call.

I tell you to have a nice day. Now deal with it and leave.

Penny dressed up when she first became an Assistant Manager. I used to make fun of new managers about this. People dress up and get a new hair style with a promotion. Then you can have fun watching them as time goes by. They slowly revert to their old selves.

This has been posted a lot. It was the first Tabby strip to go viral. I still love it. Yes, I got the “this would never happen” comments. Yes, it happened. The phrase “crazy lady” was actually used and I thought it was a bit harsh. The customer was simply…eccentric. She wore this big hat with a fluffy ball on top that was too cartoony to put in the comic. It would’ve distracted from the joke.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the fact that some people are so weird that I have to tone them down. Many real people just aren’t believable as cartoons.

This was an actual conversation between one of the main inspirations for Tabby and an HR rep. I think she got written up for it. She’s been promoted twice since then, so we can safely say that she escaped unscathed.

This was my first comic on the “I’ll never shop here again” trope and it was always my real life reaction. News that you’ll never shop again at a successful worldwide conglomerate isn’t something I can emotionally attach myself to. Try me again if I’m working for an independent bookstore.