Hoo boy.

https://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/2023/11/20

Some of the commentators accuse Elly of unfairly accusing Michael of spending money on things he doesn't spend on.

But there's no indication of that! Besides, why would she do that? She would know his habits better than most people, right?

*I* think (given the signs that he's yelling and possibly being profane) that he's dangerously close to being an abuser, if only emotionally.

Also spoiled...but then, kids can't spoil themselves. As other people said: "Mike...get a job."

And, from howtheduck:

"The same happened to Lynn Johnston’s real life son when he went off to college. As Lynn tells the story, he was spending too much money, so she cut him off. After a few months eating at soup kitchens, he learned his lesson. I believe this comic strip came out about this time, so it was a subject near and dear to Lynn Johnston’s heart. I wonder if she will retell the soup kitchen story in her notes."

>
> And, from howtheduck:
>
> "The same happened to Lynn Johnston’s real life son when he went off to college. As Lynn tells the story, he was spending too much money, so she cut him off. After a few months eating at soup kitchens, he learned his lesson. I believe this comic strip came out about this time, so it was a subject near and dear to Lynn Johnston’s heart. I wonder if she will retell the soup kitchen story in her notes."

Btw, how DO you find the notes? I looked at today's strip at https://www.fborfw.com and there are no notes under it.

And then there are the strips from Thursday and Friday:

https://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/2023/11/23

https://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/2023/11/24

The second one reminds me of Beverly Cleary's spoof(?) of advice columns, in chapter 6 of "Henry and the Clubhouse."

"...Henry paused to read (the advice) column. A girl who signed her letter 'Flat Broke' said that her father did not give her a big enough allowance. Her father did not understand that she needed more money for school lunches, bus fare, and other things. What should she do about it? The smiling lady told her to talk it over with her father and explain to him exactly what her expenses were. The smiling lady was sure he would understand."

Granted, that MAY have been the fictional columnist's way of saying "I'm on to you, young lady. You just want more money for luxuries and your dad wants you to EARN the money for those 'other things.' So, earn it."

But that may well be too subtle for most kids. Chances are, the girl in that case would have thought "he already knows what I want to buy and he doesn't CARE! So why doesn't SHE care?!"

Not to mention that inflation is, in fact, something that many parents have never understood very well - so maybe the girl WASN'T asking for money for frivolous spending. Maybe she just had a father who refused to admit that prices had gone up.

But that clearly wasn't the case with Liz or Michael.