2013-04-22
Explanation
This comic tells the story of parents who try to solve the problem of their young daughter walking in on them during intimate moments. The narration explains: "Our girl kept walking in on us having sex, so we attached a warning bell to her." The bell works in the sense that they can hear her coming, but it creates an unintended Pavlovian conditioning problem: "But now I associate bells with the combination of guilt and desire to finish sex as quickly as possible." This leads to an awkward moment where the child asks why mommy runs to the bathroom whenever the egg timer goes off.
The narrator then claims to have learned to control the association, even using it to his advantage -- when his partner mentions receiving church bell CDs, he becomes aroused. But the final panel reveals the downside: Christmas is ruined because sleighbell carols now trigger the same response, leaving his partner wide-eyed as he exclaims "'Tis the season!"
The comic is a classic escalating-consequences joke, exploring how a simple practical solution (a bell) creates an ever-expanding chain of embarrassing Pavlovian associations. Each panel raises the stakes as the bell-conditioned response infiltrates more areas of daily life. The votey panel shows someone asking, "What do you even do with a sex trident?" with the reply "I... no idea," suggesting the parents considered even stranger warning devices before settling on the bell.