When you grow up

On the bright side with remote work you can work without pants.

Look closer, he isn't working from home. That's a cubicle
- maybe he lives there

It's about authoritarianism! You're busy wondering if he's wearing pants, but the point is he is not doing whatever he wants. His dad programmed him to do what he's told.

His dad programmed him to do what he's told.
Well THAT sentence caught my attention. My wife and I are very much in an "It Ends With Us" mindset when it comes to that kind of indoctrination. Which, by the way, often comes from otherwise loving and well-meaning parents who are indoctrinated themselves.
My son seems to have a lot of the same tendencies as me, and a life full of anxiety over all the rules around you is not what I have planned, to say the least. It's quite possible to be the awesome fun parents and also raise a person who isn't an asshole, as long as you remember to prioritize those things and put in some effort. (the word "effort" sounds negative there, but the secret is that spending that time on your kid will almost always be the best choice for your own future well being. Close family relationships are a big deal to our brains, turns out)
- What fucks with me is that you can't control all the variables. School and peers can outweigh the ideas you try to put forward. I feel like I'm working on deprogramming more than I actually have a chance to teach already and my kids are only small.

joke's on you, i work from home and a t-shirt is all i need ^^

I don't even need a shirt. Webcam not required.
- technically i could skip it too, but it's just 2 colleagues in my team and i like them a lot, we also hang out together privately, so it doesn't feel like a chore
oh bother
- 🐻 🟥🍯
I almost forgot to put on a proper shirt one time (I was wearing a tank top) and realized as soon as I turned on my camera. Fortunately I was able to duck quickly and turn it off.
- haha it's dangerous to get too comfortable ^_

Schroedinger's pants. He may be wearing them or not, depending on your interpretation.

He ain't wearing no pants

Neither do I

Here's a conundrum: what if most people wanted to organize the society in a certain way? They are doing what they want. Are they not allowed to do that? People who make complaints about not being able to do what they want rarely seem keen to grant others the same privilege.

Also, the guy in the comic is doing exactly what he wants - it's just that he probably wanted a job more than he wanted to not wear pants. The issue isn't not being able to do what one wants, the issue is that people don't want any inconvenience for doing so. The more you learn to tolerate inconvenience, the more free you are to do whatever you want. But you can't have your cake and eat it too.

You can't both resist a system and then demand to be able to enjoy the fruits of the system you are resisting.

You can't both resist a system and then demand to be able to enjoy the fruits of the system you are resisting.
I've spoken with some folks who might arrrrrgue with that.
- Yes.
  So I have I.
  Some people really do just need to burn down the pancake factory and then get upset that they can't get the pancakes from that factory anymore. There's a certain country doing exactly this right now. Some people just need to learn by experience.
He only "wants" a job because of the oppressive systemic forces that dictate the society he lives in necessitating him having one or else his access to material necessities be threatened.
The guy is not doing what he wants. He is being forced into doing what he is told to do (work a meaningless office job) because he was conditioned in childhood to do just that by his parents instead of doing what he wants.
- oppressive systemic forces that dictate the society he lives in necessitating him having one or else his access to material necessities be threatened.
  The fact that the society was built to work like this shows that enough people wanted it more than they wanted something else. Why should one individual's wants matter more than the wants of a collective? Isn't that just you trying to impose your wants on everyone else?
How do you know he's wearing pants in the last panel?
Can someone decode what the hell this person is even trying to say.
- "Be a good sheep and fall in line, stop daring to live in a free-er world, accept your place as a peasant and be content with what you have."
- We live in a society and you can't have it all your way.
  Social norms are necessary when people come together.
  Someones interest in not wearing pants needs to be weighted against other peoples interest not wanting to see their hairy balls halfway falling out of their slip. Imagine if that coworker whose "jokes" are just short of sexual harassment now gets to run around naked and rub his balls on your desk and you are not allowed to tell him to fuck off, because that would violate his "no-pants"-rights.

It’s like the mullet of remote work: business on top (suit), party on the bottom (underwear or sweatpants if it’s cold).

Edit: I overlooked that he’s in a cubicle but my point still stands (sits?).

When WFH you better bet I've done this.

Are you thinking what I am thinking?

Yes. I don't put on pants for work.