Paycheck Loophole

Oct 19, 2025 — Comic #342

An officer announces, “Good news! We went back through some old ledgers and found a way to pay you one last time during the shutdown.” She sets down a barrel marked “XX 1791” (“THUNK”) and reads from a scroll: “Crew shall receive half a gill of whiskey, rum, or brandy a day. Officers may elect to receive the same, or three New York pennies.” The crew asks, “How much is a New York penny?” (“About a fourth of a piece of eight”), “I need an advance on next week’s,” and, slurring, “What if we brought our own ‘pay’ from home? hic”

This comic is fictional. Any rum we purchased in 1791 was drunk long before 1792

Read the transcript

Good news! We went back through some old ledgers and found a way to pay you one last time during the shutdown / THUNK / [barrel: XX 1791] / Crew shall receive half a gill of whiskey, rum, or brandy a day. Officers may elect to receive the same, or three New York pennies / How much is a New York penny? / …About a fourth of a piece of eight / I need an advance on next week’s / What if we brought our own ‘pay’ from home? hic

shutdown pay history navy

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