Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for October 14, 2021

I think Gus is saying that “it’s done, we move on”.

It was her dream job, even when it became a nightmare.

Closing a failing restaurant is the step needed to lead to starting up a more successful concept/location/menu.

Put the experience to work for you and do it better on the next run – Gus figures to be happy for his daughter now, as he’s the one who saw that the bistro wasn’t going to work in the long run. She can move on.

Frame three makes me think that Gus wishes she didn’t have to say it. He knows how disappointed she is.

Nothing ventured …

He celebrates her ability to admit defeat and learning from it with a cigar?

Poor Mary Lu♡.

And Gus did not say “I told you so”

Sometimes you don’t want to be right.

Nice schooner .

My Mother never said I told you so. She always asked “What did you learn from this?” I still ask myself that question instead of beating myself up.

If people listened to older people they would make less mistakes. But, I constantly read of people who are successes in their fields who were told their course of action would never work. One that comes to mind is the guy who founded FedEx, his professor told him it was a stupid idea. I’ve also read of A-list actors and popular authors who were told to find another profession. So you have to try, if you don’t you will never know if you could have made it!

Gus is not a “I told you so” kinda guy

They were doing so well! Why was it a bad idea?

“Has the dust settled over at the bistro?” That’s a bit of odd phrasing!

“settled at the bistro” could be taken as the physicality of removing stuff and selling

OR

“settled over the bistro” could be taken as a disagreement involving the closing

Was there some kind of “dust up” involved over the closing? And who was involved?

And Mary Lou is saying (or maybe just realizing) “we never gave up until it was over”. And Gus realizes that is a much greater thing than being wrong.

The point is that she would never have known if it would work or not unless she tried. They say “You miss 100% of the chances you don’t take.”

Running a restaurant is one of the hardest ventures to undertake! Fickle clientelle, changing fads in diets and food tastes, product availability, scalability, societal changes and challenges of “work ethic”, pay scales, worker availability, skill sets… the headaches of overnmental requirements from multiple levels (municiple, county, state, federal). Heck just fuel costs of getting product into your kitchen can radically change your business, not to mention panic-demics. It’s a well published statistic that 60% of new restaurants don’t make it past the first year, and 80% never make it past the 4th year anniversary. This was a brave thing Gene and his wife got involved with! I’m surprised Gus didn’t do more to disuade them!Hat’s off to Jimmy Johnson who obviously has a grip on what it’s like in this bittersweet life. Excellent story arc my friend! Well told!

BIG sailing vessel on the water out there considering all the sails and masts!

The three hardest things to say:

1) I’m sorry.

2) I was wrong.

3) Worcestershire sauce

- Facebook meme

“Now to more fun adventures!!”

This conversation is moving extremely slowly. It seems apparent that Jimmy Johnson is not as comfortable with Gus & Mary Lou as he is with Arlo, Janis, & Gene. These strips remind me, slightly, of those concerning Gene’s high school girlfriend and her divorced mother.

I never had the honor of a “family”, growing up or being an adult. I don’t know what it’s like to be a part of one. I never got married and never had children. You guys are lucky to have had a life with somebody who cared about you…

I love Gus’s gesture as he says, “And now you’ve said it.”

It was a crazy, stupid, Bad idea. Relax and don’t work yourselves to death or your husband will leave you.