The basis for this strip — Andrew’s first day at Mall*Wart — was first drawn and published in 2004.  It was the original introduction to the comic.

My real first day as a cartpusher didn’t go exactly like this (although we did have to list beneficiaries for death and dismemberment insurance payments).  The most memorable part of it was the HR lady looking at my scrawny, geeky, 140-pound frame and saying, “As for you, Jason, I just… I don’t know.  Do you think,” she squinted up at me, “do you think you could handle being a stockman?”

I pictured myself stacking merchandise on shelves.  I nodded.

She shook her head doubtfully, but she handed me an orange vest and led me out toward the parking lot.

Turns out “stockman” is big-box-store lingo for “cartpusher,” and after a couple days of being bullied into pushing too-long lines of shopping carts, I understood why she looked so doubtful about me.

I guess I showed her.  I pushed those dang things for six years… three times as long as I drew the original comic strip.  (Obviously, drawing a webcomic is much harder.)

Classic strip posted below.  Note the absence of a demon-skull-candle-holder… I didn’t get the idea for a demonic boss until later in the original strip’s run, but I wanted to include it in the reboot.

…in which Andrew goes job hunting… again.