I like how it's a basic assumption that everyone "could get a different job." As someone who can't prove his intelligence on paper (don't have a degree. . .but I guess that does show something negative for project management or something), I can understand how getting another job is not an option for everyone.
I do like how "Job Hunting for Dummies" acknowledges that point and that not everyone job searching necessarily has the luxury of walking away from the table as a negotiating tactic. Maybe in an ideal world or for someone that has great skills, but not for the majority of people out there.
It's not for everyone.
But for most of the people reading the strip, I think, there is at least one tier of job below what you're doing now that you don't consider an option... in that your job, plus what you get paid, isn't altogether worse than theoretically available jobs in that tier.
Yeah, I know. I'm mainly venting about my own situation, where I'm starting to feel like I'm living someone else's desired life in regards to my current career without the power, at the moment, to jump into my own career life. It has been taking a lot of work over the years and possibly years to come to make the jump. . .and mainly because I have to work a lot for just survival (and yeah, debt, but that was worthwhile debt).
I hear you. And your initial point, that "just walking away" is often not much of an option, is valid.