The "Oops, I didn't get in" route, 1 June 2015

[PaulJones202718]

Well, it ain't as if she'd check up on that so a face-saving lie is the best plan. Also, they both know that Abuelita will always think of Candi as being more or less his wife so they know she ain't gonna stop calling her.

[pixiewolfe]

To be honest that is what I would have done of I were Alex ..but how is he going to explain ignoring his phone for ages?
Sigh.
When Alex gets a new girlfriend, do you think Candi will still get called?

[BenjaminT]

I wonder if a part of him subconsciously wants to follow Candi's suggested plan so that he has someone to blame when things go awry.

[SAGG]

Was I the only one who caught Candi's opening dialogue as a subtle crack directed at Alex, and what he did to her? He does whatever he wants--except rebel against his grandmama....

[wellheck]

Call blocking. Use it. Don't forget to put Alex on that list.

[Triple J]

To be honest that is what I would have done of I were Alex ..but how is he going to explain ignoring his phone for ages?
Sigh.
When Alex gets a new girlfriend, do you think Candi will still get called?

Yes, because I don't think anyone will ever be good enough for Alex in Abuella's eyes as Candi was, especially the old Candi who didn't have the spine the new one has.

That, and I'd imagine that race would play a factor too... like anyone not latina would get the instant disapproval, because IIRC, Candi is biracial Jewish/Latina, right?

[Triple J]

Call blocking. Use it. Don't forget to put Alex on that list.

Yes, call blocking.

Although doing that might prompt another visit from Abuella...

[Attalus]

Was I the only one who caught Candi's opening dialogue as a subtle crack directed at Alex, and what he did to her? He does whatever he wants--except rebel against his grandmama....

Subtle, nope, snide crack, yes. Richly deserved.

Further translated: Alick ain't gonna ask Abuelita to stop calling poor Candi. I vote with the "Call blocking" bloc.

[Weltall84]

To be honest that is what I would have done of I were Alex ..but how is he going to explain ignoring his phone for ages?
Sigh.
When Alex gets a new girlfriend, do you think Candi will still get called?

Yes, because I don't think anyone will ever be good enough for Alex in Abuella's eyes as Candi was, especially the old Candi who didn't have the spine the new one has.

That, and I'd imagine that race would play a factor too... like anyone not latina would get the instant disapproval, because IIRC, Candi is biracial Jewish/Latina, right?

Not sure about the Jewish part; as for being biracial I actually am not even sure that's a dissuading factor. Abuela seemed to give Candi trouble from what dialogue hints is just the fact her Spanish isn't too good, and Abuela is a piece of shit who gives everyone a hard time despite she actually liked Candi as the 'faithful stay at home wife while he ran around with his whores' type. In short the old bitch is an over opinionated, traditional-minded (and toxic) old coot, who's standards are too high to be reasonably met, especially since her ideal match for Alex would have to be fine with him cheating on her and being a 'good little house wife' only to pop out kids and tend to his whim after he got back from work.

Sure old school mind-set, but frankly in my eyes age doesn't excuse bad habits or toxic mind-sets that are not good for anybody.

[Weltall84]

To be honest that is what I would have done of I were Alex ..but how is he going to explain ignoring his phone for ages?
Sigh.
When Alex gets a new girlfriend, do you think Candi will still get called?

Unless this girlfriend meets Abuela's insane standards, probably will still push him towards Candi. Even if she likes the girl, she'll find some flaw to bitch at like she did Candi, and all Candi had against her was not being super fluent in Spanish... in an English speaking country.

Abuela re-read the name of the place you're living!!

(A bit petty of me but I honestly dislike people who come over to the U.S. then never bother to learn our fucking language; my Great Grandparents came from Norway and learned to speak the language. It's also just a common curtesy that when you move to a new country with a different language, you learn it. Sure as hell wouldn't fly over in some of the European and Asian countries. Just a pet peeve of mine.)

[PaulJones202718]

To be honest that is what I would have done of I were Alex ..but how is he going to explain ignoring his phone for ages?
Sigh.
When Alex gets a new girlfriend, do you think Candi will still get called?

Unless this girlfriend meets Abuela's insane standards, probably will still push him towards Candi. Even if she likes the girl, she'll find some flaw to bitch at like she did Candi, and all Candi had against her was not being super fluent in Spanish... in an English speaking country.

Abuela re-read the name of the place you're living!!

(A bit petty of me but I honestly dislike people who come over to the U.S. then never bother to learn our fucking language; my Great Grandparents came from Norway and learned to speak the language. It's also just a common curtesy that when you move to a new country with a different language, you learn it. Sure as hell wouldn't fly over in some of the European and Asian countries. Just a pet peeve of mine.)

That sort of crap sure does seem to bug the shit out of Gloria Estefan for exactly those reasons. The way she looks at it, English is what they speak here so God-damned learn it.

[carbuncle1992]

I don't mean to sound like I'm looking to dislike Alex, no matter what he does, or that I'm looking for issue to complain.

I'm not.

I haven't particularly cared for Jon's actions in the past, and I haven't cared for Alex's, or even Linda's, but I don't come into the comic looking for reasons to slam them.

>_>; This really is just an observation, again, that's negative for his case...

But why is he relying on his ex-girlfriend to make these big life decisions for him? What would he do if Candi hadn't agreed to humor him for the sake of getting Abuela off of her back? Which, at this point, seems like it was all for not if he's not even going to try to convince Abuela, even if he thinks it won't work.
He's a grown man who took a big ole' buzz saw and roughly cut his relationship in half. She is no longer tied to him through obligatorily loving loyalty. Honestly, Candi doesn't owe this to him. I'm very happy she was kind enough to provide the service of her advice, but I can't help but think something as ill thought out and disrespectful (to Abuela) as this will go wrong.

Alex shouldn't have had her solve his problem for him. He needs to learn to think for himself and not rely on others to paddle his brain canoe. But hey...it's Alex.

[shadowfey]

To be honest that is what I would have done of I were Alex ..but how is he going to explain ignoring his phone for ages?
Sigh.
When Alex gets a new girlfriend, do you think Candi will still get called?

Yes, because I don't think anyone will ever be good enough for Alex in Abuella's eyes as Candi was, especially the old Candi who didn't have the spine the new one has.

That, and I'd imagine that race would play a factor too... like anyone not latina would get the instant disapproval, because IIRC, Candi is biracial Jewish/Latina, right?

Not sure about the Jewish part; as for being biracial I actually am not even sure that's a dissuading factor. Abuela seemed to give Candi trouble from what dialogue hints is just the fact her Spanish isn't too good, and Abuela is a piece of shit who gives everyone a hard time despite she actually liked Candi as the 'faithful stay at home wife while he ran around with his whores' type. In short the old bitch is an over opinionated, traditional-minded (and toxic) old coot, who's standards are too high to be reasonably met, especially since her ideal match for Alex would have to be fine with him cheating on her and being a 'good little house wife' only to pop out kids and tend to his whim after he got back from work.

Sure old school mind-set, but frankly in my eyes age doesn't excuse bad habits or toxic mind-sets that are not good for anybody.

Potentially Jewish in that it's been stated (I can't remember if it was by her mother or by Candi herself) in the comic that her father was/is Jewish. There are a handful of ways to be Jewish, though, so 'it depends' is the best I can tell you as to whether Candi is Jewish.

If her father was/is ethnically Jewish (Ashkenazi or Sephardic), then Candi contains his genetic donation and is ethnically Jewish - the in-joke among a lot of us who are ethnically Jewish is 'if it was good enough for Hitler, then it counts!'

Culturally and traditionally to other Jews, Candi is not considered to be Jewish unless her mother raised her to be Jewish (which seems unlikely). Judaism is passed down matrilineally, so if your mother's Jewish, you're Jewish in the eyes of other Jews. (In the eyes of the rest of the world, well ... the eyes of the world is usually 'a Jew is a Jew is a Jew, don't confuse us with semantics!'.)

Now, if Candi's father was adopted but raised Jewish by his adoptive parents, then Candi is unlikely to be either ethnically or culturally Jewish, as he wouldn't have the right combination of genetic markers for Ashkenazi or Sephardic etc.

And of course it's possible that Abuela doesn't even know about her father; doesn't seem likely that it's something Candi's mom would casually bring up to her, since she doesn't even like talking to Candi about him!

[The Vicar]

Call blocking. Use it. Don't forget to put Alex on that list.

This is a part of a good strategy, but not enough by itself.

In Candi’s place, the steps here would be:
1. Text Alex’s grandmother and Candi’s mother with a message saying “from now on, if you can’t get in touch with Alex, contact Alex’s roommate X, whose phone number is Y.” Don’t explain why — that just gives her a chance to pretend she doesn’t understand. Just tell them to do it, and tell Candi’s mother to explain to Alex’s grandmother in Spanish.
2. Tell Alex to tell his grandmother that if she calls Candi to try and get updates on Alex again, she will be blocked, permanently. Say she should use the roommate’s phone number which Candi has already texted to her and Candi’s mom, instead. (That is, make sure Alex knows Candi has already taken steps. Otherwise, like his grandmother, he’ll try to pretend she wasn’t definite about it.)
3. Tell Candi’s mom to tell Alex’s grandmother the same thing, and not to bother Candi any more about this.
4. If and when there is a violation, interrupt the old bat and say “I am not doing this” and hang up, and follow through on the threat without a twinge of guilt or hesitation the minute there’s a violation, because the old bat has been warned.

Oh, and:
0. Stop having any contact with Alex at all. He’s a jerk, he’s not a boyfriend or even a friend. He’s an oblivious jerk who uses other people when he can and doesn’t even realize when he’s being obnoxious. He doesn’t respect boundaries (remember the iPod way back near the beginning?) but he gets furious when other people violate his boundaries. He’s not quite full of bees because he’s too self-unaware to realize that he expects everyone around him — particularly all the women around him — to be subservient, but he’s reached adulthood without ever really considering that maybe other people aren’t a series of Take-A-Penny-Leave-A-Penny containers for him to abuse, and it’s unlikely he will ever do so. Hanging around him will make your life worse without improving him at all. His number should have been blocked when the breakup happened.