Wednesday, May 20, 1998: No shoes, no shirt...

[NonsenseWords]

The issue I have is that it's this weird acknowledgment of human norms. Talking animals don't tend to wear shoes, and shirts are a grey area. Why does this business have this restriction? Is it, perhaps, a human proprietor trying to live in the midst of an animal-overwhelmed world, clutching at straws to maintain his facade of familiarity even as his business -- the French Fry Hut, which sells short individuals who wear berets, already bizarre to the poor man who inherited the business -- is daily invaded by creatures that should be impossible, or abominations. He hopes, perhaps, that by enforcing normal human law he can bring himself back to reality, but no; every day, the half-dressed animals keep coming. Every day, he keeps serving them.

Ever day, he goes just a little... more... mad...

[Maggot Brain]

Old joke. Not bad or anything, just a little dull.

6/10

[Feefers]

Presumably as it is a "french fry hut" and only has french fries on the menu they don't want oil to splash onto people and uh... .... the floors are really sticky with grease?

[Jakkal]

old joke... not this funny

[Segovia]

Presumably as it is a "french fry hut" and only has french fries on the menu

Or it could be like the International house of Pancakes.

[Muninn]

The issue I have is that it's this weird acknowledgment of human norms. Talking animals don't tend to wear shoes, and shirts are a grey area. Why does this business have this restriction? Is it, perhaps, a human proprietor trying to live in the midst of an animal-overwhelmed world, clutching at straws to maintain his facade of familiarity even as his business -- the French Fry Hut, which sells short individuals who wear berets, already bizarre to the poor man who inherited the business -- is daily invaded by creatures that should be impossible, or abominations. He hopes, perhaps, that by enforcing normal human law he can bring himself back to reality, but no; every day, the half-dressed animals keep coming. Every day, he keeps serving them.

Most adults seem to wear them, it's just the kids who're allowed to be more open it seems.

[Burning Sheep Productions]

It took me a long time to comprehend what this strip was about the first time I came across it. Are signs like that common in America?

[NonsenseWords]

It's more common in fiction than anything, and usually used as a setup for a joke like this. It makes me believe that they must have existed in real life at some point, but I've never seen one personally.

[Liz]

The gas station across the street from my house has/had a sign like that before actually. I assume they don't put "pants" because it'd be sexist towards those women who wear dresses and skirts. I really don't know though. The sign seems really dumb. I honestly wouldn't care who or what paid me as long as I was getting sales.

I thought this comic was cute :C

[Tom_Radigan]

It took me a long time to comprehend what this strip was about the first time I came across it. Are signs like that common in America?

They were more common in the past than they are now.

[sad jazz cantaloupe]

It's more common in fiction than anything, and usually used as a setup for a joke like this. It makes me believe that they must have existed in real life at some point, but I've never seen one personally.

no, why does everyone assume that all the jokes DCS used were things that don't hardly exist in real life anymore :/ show-and-tell is very common, as are "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs.
They're more common in warmer places, like beaches where some short-order restaurants will let you walk in with just your swim shorts, but other places won't for health code reasons.

[NonsenseWords]

I live near a beach. I've spent days at said beach. I've been to other beaches. I've been to beach-side restaurants. I've never seen signs like this.

They're archetypal joke setups at this point; jokes that are mainstream enough, in America, that everybody 'gets' them doesn't necessarily relate to them. Show and tell? My elementary school never really had a designated show-and-tell, and judging by the responses in the other thread, not a lot of other people did, either. No shirt, no shoes, no service? Very few people have seen signs to this effect, but most Americans have seen the joke setup before, so much so that we don't really question it; we take it as fact that this is done somewhere, or was at some time, but the specifics? Nobody cares. Because it is, almost exclusively, used as a setup to this. Exact. Joke.

[Cactus Jack]

I see signs like this at every fast food resturaunt I stop at, right on the door. Maybe you just don't pay attention.

[nickspoon]

This argument over whether these signs actually exist makes me think that it's a very regional thing. I have only seen a sign of this sort once, in Devon.

[Trance]

They used to be everywhere in Jacksonville -- fast food restaurants, convenience stores, laundromats even. They very quickly seemed to go out of fashion a decade or so ago, and now I don't see signs like that anymore.