Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 23, 2019

A new dawn has arrived. Thank you, Bernice.

You see that gate at the end of the pathway, Tiffany? It’s the gate towards responsible adulthood.

Four Panel Epiphany. ✨

Tiff – Do the math…

I know where you are going Bernice, but there is no job that Tiffany can work where she will make the kind of money that would maintain her standard of living. Now if Bernice is talking about doing in Tiffany’s father, so she can inherit his money before Ann Eiffel has him change his will so his money all goes to her, then she might be talking about what could be the best Luann story ever.

Nope, I don’t. It is hypocritical of ANN to think she is in the position to DO that. It is hypocritical of TOM to pass this on to Ann. Tiffany is only 19-20 years old. Most late teenagers-young adults are not yet ready for financial independence, including the old Bernice here. As far as we know, she is not working so how is she paying for college? My guess is her parents are. Most of the people their ages still depend on parents to help pay their bills. Most of them work part-time, whether they are in college or not. Most of them still live at home or in apartments with several roommates to share rent and utility expenses. Bernice needs to re-word here. She needs to re-phrase to say that her desire to be independent meant to include paying her credit card bill which she hadn’t, therefore, she was still not yet independent and discount Ann from this whole picture. Once Tiffany understood that, then move on to the Ann problem – she shouldn’t be involved. She is not even a step mom. So why is she?

Tiff you have two options fist find a job and pay off your Credit Card bill or second follow Ann rules.

I think the emotional content is too close to the surface for Tiffany to accept change through logic (thinking). She has to be reached first through her feelings of hurt, rage, abandonment…

I wonder if Bern has encountered Primal Theory in her vast psych courses? :o)

Tiffany’s idea of being “independent” is I am free to do as i please while someone else pays my bills.

Tiffany: “I remember hearing something about being independent, or maybe it was independence, in my history class. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to secede from the Union!”

Nice job of Bernice slow walking her to an epiphany.

Maybe the question to ask was: what did being independent mean to Tiffany?

Bernice, your future is showing!! I hope because GnK are masters at the misdirection play. But she has beautifully understood the problem, Tiffany cannot, herself, expect to on the one had keep being supported by daddy, while at the same time wanting to be independent. If she understands that, and finally separates herself from her weak, feckless father, who is harming her more than helping her by keeping on that velvet chain of daddy’s money, then that witch Ann loses all control over her. The witch would be dead as to Tiffany. She has to become her own person. Maybe Luannverse, through Bernice will be the vehicle. That is the best counseling I have seen here.

Not hypocrisy, just a human failing. Hypocrisy is when you tell someone else not to do what you are doing.

You were cutting into Ann’s spending.

Tough call, Tiff. Take your independence and leave the “good life” behind, or hang in there and face further humiliation at Ann’s hands. Hope you know what you have to do (although we haven’t seen any evidence of it yet… you knowing what to do, that is).

Ah, “Hypocrisy,” the dreaded “H” word! Don’t feel bad, Tiffany. There’s a lot of Hypocrisy, going around these days. Too much, in fact.

And (GASP) for once, Bernice is making plenty of SENSE!

Wonder of Wonders!

Now Bern, Ask Tiffany this Question:

“Tiffany, if it had been your Dad that limited your spending and not Ann Eiffel, a person you HATE, would you have felt any better about it?”

This is getting GOOD!.

I get what Bernice is saying but I view the problem more of Ann Eiffel manipulating Tiffany’s dad. If HE had limited her spending then she’d be upset but would eventually accept it. I think Tiffany’s BIG problem is that she sees how Ann is but doesn’t know how to make her father realize it. If it was me I would call Dad and meet with him and make sure he is aware of her shenanigans. It might be the wake call he needs. I’m interested in how this will play out.

I do not think Tiffany’s a hypocrite. A hypocrite would have to recognize a connection between personal independence and Dad not paying her way.

I don’t know why everyone thinks Ann is going to somehow steal all of Tom’s money and leave him. That would be a monumentally stupid move on her part. As Mrs. Tom Farrell——and it does look like she’s going to BE Mrs. Tom Farrell——she would have something she never had before, and that is: social status, and all the power and prestige that goes with the Farrell name. She would also not only have access to everything he has now, but all he might have in the future. So take the money and run—not such a good idea.

I lasted two days, and now Bernice is bereft of sensitivity again.

Gotcha…

The whole Soufflé debacle brought this on. Tiffany stepped in to get her friends’ money back. Ann didn’t even know Tiffany at that point. Les and Tiff in cahoots shut the scam down and cost Ann a revenue stream. Ann gets pissed, Tom supposedly cuts Tiff’s allowance in half and doubles her therapy sessions. Ann still fuming devises revenge by cutting off Tiff’s revenue stream. Tit for tat. So, is Tom really having financial issues? Follow the money in this father-daughter-lover triangle.

Can it be? Tiffany is starting to have a clue?

Two words, Tiffany: Sugar daddy.

I think Tiffany wanting to be more independent is a good a noble thing, provided it is of her own volition. Having it rammed down your throat by a conniving, amoral witch you despise beyond words doesn’t quite have the same feel-good vibe – though the end result might be the same.

“Nobody tells me how to spend my Daddy’s money that he gives me!”

Yeah, maybe not hypocritical… more Oxymoron-ic…

“The Decoration Of Independence”

“A Long Way Down, From The Nest!”

“The Day Icarus Should’ve Called Out”

“Money Is The Root Of All Ann”

“The Power Struggle Is Real”

“The Evil That Some Anns Will Do”

“No Wire-y Hang-Ups!”

“The Leash Of Your Problems”

“Have Your Cake, And Buy It, Too”

“Taking The Hypocritical Oath”

“The Suite Catch, In Dorm Room 222”

“Between A Rock, I Think…And Some Other Hard Choice”

“Brood Awakening”

or

“Then It Hit Me, Like A Ton Of Feathers”

So Bernice is impling/insinuating that Tiffiny needs to get a paying job (which requires work) to earn her own money to be truly independent. Could be an interesting arc.

How soon until Tiffany’s father realizes that AE is a blood sucking leech and boots her to the curb? Hopefully, before it is too late…..

Imagine how effective of a therapist Bernice could be if she wasn’t using it as an opportunity to snark at people or win arguments against them. Bernice is intelligent and insightful; unfortunately she’s also a snide, judgmental b-word.

3

The one bright spot of today is how (as I hoped) Bernice is providing a voice of reason here. It seems to me now that this arc is really about showing the growth and development of Bernice, using the “old-style” Tiffany as the data upon which we can measure and better realize Bernice’s maturation.

Several opinion points I have:

1. Tiffany is justified in being upset because Ann is directing this. The message about a budget should be coming directly from and should be delivered by Tom “Cat” Ferrell. But, the idea of that ever happening is only a damn pipe dream.

2. Tiffany has an understandable negative reaction to the abruptness of this change, and that is legitimate and perfectly appropriate…. but at least currently, her awareness of context still irks me. She is smart enough and has moved to mature enough that she should be well aware of how her “horrible” budget is still a far more luxurious sort of situation than most all of her friends face. That lack of recognition of this is a bit off-putting. But… I am hopeful that as the week proceeds she may come to that sort of awakening.

3. The really harsh and sad aspect of this is that eventually, someday, Tiffany will likely realize how very little Tom “Cat” Ferrell thinks about and includes Tiffany in any of his thoughts, actions, and/or decisions. When Tiffany realizes how incredibly paltry his efforts are…. she will be even more hurt.

So here’s the question: What is the purpose of this Arc? Is it that Tiffany is maturing and Ann is actually becoming a positive character? Or is it just another bad action of Ann deserving of later retribution?

Get the money before she cuts you off entirely,Tiff

Anne has her own agenda. Tiff has to grow up anyway, but at the end Tom holds the purse’s strings. (At least let’s hope he still does.) Tiff needs this in order to make a life changing decision. Tiff matures, the game is over. Anne is trying to help herself, I don’t trust her.

For all you people wondering how poor little Tiffy can earn some cash…..how about she march down to that high end store where she buys her ridiculously over-priced make up and get a part time job at the cosmetics counter? (and PLEASE no one start screaming she can’t because she’s in college. Lots of full time students work part time jobs.) That would generate her some income of her own, and she’d get her cosmetics at a discount.

OR….she could sell whatever the Luannaverse equivalent is for Avon. That would be even easier. All she’d have to do is leave some of the catalogues in the student lounge, maybe drop off a few at other dorms. People call her, place their orders, then Tiff delivers it to them or they come to her dorm room to pick it up. She doesn’t seem to have any skills (for lack of a better term) than make up and hair care. Might as well play to her strengths. Could she support the lifestyle she’s used to on that? No. To do that, she’d have to go into politics, say city council. The one’s in my area make obscene amounts of money, and they vote themselves pay raises every chance they get.

Beats being a waitress as some have suggested. :D ;D

Ann is a professional scam artist. She is devising a way to funnel the $$$ previously available to Tiffany into her own account…and laughing all the way to the bank.

…it’s not that Daddy is putting her on a budget. It’s that AE has convinced Daddy to put her on a budget…Daddy wouldn’t care otherwise, as he has demonstrated through Tiff’s life…and seeing the way AE treated (and treats) her OWN son does not make me think AE is doing this for Tiff’s own good, she’s doing it for AE’s own good. The only thing that would make me happy about this arc is for Tiff to strike out on her own, gain her independence, AE be discovered by Daddy to be a thief and con artist and get dumped and/or jailed, and Daddy finally realizing that he doesn’t have anybody around him that he doesn’t have to pay to stick around…

Why should Ann have any say in her finances? Any more than any other random person?

And THAT, Bernice, is called counseling!!

“More independent” doesn’t mean COMPLETELY independent.

Even with limitations, dependence remains. Still.. considering Ann’s background…there could still be evil afoot.

Folks I am getting such a good laugh …reading some of the responses…. Thank y’all so much!

Maybe, after all, Bernice can give Tiffany some good advices . With her typical “Tact and kindness” … I hope she remember that Tiffany is also a victim of Ann.

Didn’t Tiffany do some acting & modeling before? Did she spend all that money? Especially when she had Dad giving her an unlimited card he paid?

Maybe she could do like Tara & Jack and model for the nude drawing class. So what if she has a little more meat on her bones. You don’t have to be skin & bones to pose nude.

How close are they to graduation? They’ve been in college since September 2014.

Time for Tiffany to find a new sugar daddy just like Ann did, eh?

Nice job Bernice! Now could you go have this discussion with Luann, who is still living/eating/not paying rent at home, speaking of hypocrites? Also, doesn’t Tiff HAVE a job at the same school as Luann? No, it won’t support her in style most likely, and no she probably won’t like dressing on Luann’s budget. Tiff should fight for what she wants – if that is makeup and girly clothing so be it. If Luann is comfortable with the clothing/food/luxuries on her budget, fine. But to expect Tiff to become financially independent at age 19-20, while at university, and still working on managing her depression, is setting the bar a little high. I’m guessing Bernice has student loans, so she isn’t financially independent. If Tiff applies for student loans BTW, they will ask about her father’s financial contribution and to document it. That’s going to involve more contact with her father, and most likely Ann, who will most likely insert herself. I like Bernice’s advice but wow, they are setting the bar a bit high for Tiff. I’ve said it before but Luann has had the least character development since going to college. And Bernice, lets start complimenting Tiff on handling a rough situation a bit more (maybe in front of Luann?) so Tiff isn’t literally having to do splits in front of Luann, while maintaining a full time job and college for financial independence to prove she’s competent rather than a “stuck up snot”.

Yes Tiffy. It’s time for you to get a paying job, stand on your own two feet and take care of yourself…or failing that get a rich sugar daddy.

Hypocrisy, well Ann did not parent/take care of Les and yet she seems to think she is fit to interfere with Tom’s parenting? I am so ready for this arc to end with the demise of Ann Eiffel.

I hope Tiffany and Bernice stay on friendly terms and that Tiff doesn’t get angry and defensive. Bernice could have used another word besides ‘hypocrisy’, maybe the ‘irony’ of it all! That said, the issue of this coming from Ann instead of Tom needs to be addressed.

Hitting the non-existent DISLIKE BUTTON ONCE AGAIN

I’d like to see tiffany become independently wealthy without marrying, of course Ann would say if she had not cut up her card it would never have happened.

The hypocrisy lies with Ann, not with Tiffany.

Dangerously close to agreeing with Annie Awful.

I stand by what I said yesterday, but I see there is some debate as to what kind of job Tiffany could get. I seem to recall that Tiffany was able to determine that the Souffle Lingerie Ann was selling was all fake. Tiffany also mentioned that she knows Simone, the CEO of Souffle Lingerie. They’ve been friends for years; plenty of time for Tiffany to learn about Souffle Lingerie’s merchandise. Tiffany even contacted her while she was confronting Ann.

I’m thinking Tiffany could contact Simone about working at one of her stores. Sure, she could start in Sales, but in time, she can climb the corporate ladder, since this kind of thing is her expertise. Yes, she’s studying Cosmetology, but she’s always been about fashion.

And what can Ann do about that? She can’t risk getting on Simone’s bad side. Simone could have her investigated about the fake merchandise, and Tom might finally realize that Tiffany was right all along.

tomorrow: Tiffany contemplates taking umbrage at Bernice’s comment, until she realizes she doesn’t know what “umbrage” means.

Uh-oh. I think a light is going on.

But I still don’t like Bernie’s attitude….

I will agree that Tiffany’s cowardly, wimpy father should have at least given her warning. It wasn’t fair coming out of the blue like that. Nor should it have happened in public by somebody other than him.

Bernice, though, nailed it. Hopefully, she can help Tiff see this is for the best.

Tiffany is not dumb! She goes to a University, while Luann is at a community college. She probably has a scholarship!

I thought he already put her on a budget.

As a real world parent with grown daughters, and having been through and seen many similar situations:

Sometimes people would rather “hire” someone to be the disciplinarian in certain situations. Good Cop / Bad Cop.It’s VERY clear from the restaurant conversation that Tiff’s dad is 100% supportive of Ann’s actions.It’s VERY clear from yesterday’s column, that Tiff’s upset about being on a budget. Not upset about Ann’s impending monitoring.