Anyone who has worked behind a counter knows the job is less about selling things than about managing people: the customer asking for a discount on something already on sale, the coworker who disappears the moment a line forms, the new policy nobody asked for. Stephen Beals has built his comic series " Adult Children " out of exactly these moments, treating the small indignities of working life with a dry, knowing eye.

What keeps his strips sharp is restraint. Beals rarely reaches for the outlandish. He starts with an ordinary exchange and nudges it one step past reasonable, just far enough for the absurdity to surface. Much of the comedy lives in his characters' faces: a flat stare, a pause that lasts a beat too long, a reaction that says more than the dialogue ever could.

We've shared his work several times before, and his latest batch suggests the job hasn't stopped supplying him with material. Some of these may land less like jokes and more like memories of your last shift.

More info: Facebook | Instagram | stbeals.com | x.com | gocomics.com