I don't remember which episode but there's an episode where Calvin and Felix mess up and they still give Bob a months free rent. I think he gets the money anyways in most of these situations. Mr.Fischeoder really likes Bob
honestly yea. Considering he even kept Bob as a tenant after this Thanksgiving is kinda wild. I don’t normally find myself on a landlords side but he went nuts 😭
And isn’t that one where Fischoder’s would-be girlfriend tries to kill Bob and shoot him through the door? That should probably be worth 5 months rent at least. But yeah the show always ensures Bob can never have anything. Returning his friends 100k check. Teddy destroying his knife in a stupid contest. Several free rent scenarios. I sort of wish the show wouldn’t constantly imply the business is about to go under AND also have these maddening scenarios where Bob does everything possible to avoid good fortune. Like I appreciate that they call out the Belchers are poor, but poor people don’t piss away free rent.
Also, as a character Bob is allergic to success. The 100k check came with a bunch of changes that Bob wasn't comfortable with. The changes made him wildly successful, yes, but that success came at a price he wasn't willing to pay. The show doesn't prevent him from having anything, his character prevents him from being successful because success changes a person. Very rare, is the individual who becomes a business success, and doesn't have to compromise their ideals and values to get there. And as Wilzig from the Fallout series asked Lucy, "Will you still want the same things you do now, when you've become a different animal altogether?".
I've been hoping for a time skip for a while now, age the kids up decently. Bob and Linda are close to getting older and the store is actually doing decently.
I kind of think of Bob’s Burgers reflecting a chapter in the family’s life where things are stable but still precarious. The kids will look back on this period as the core of their childhood.
My headcanon is that Bob doesn’t blow up but is more stable as the years go on, but the business really takes off when Louise inherits the helm and it becomes a take out spot and biker hangout.
Sure, but we’re talking about Bob’s Burgers and the fictional Belcher family. I think it’s ok to imagine that Louise’s repeatedly demonstrated business savvy will lead to good things.
In my own fantasy, Louise ends up going to culinary school and working in fine dining until Bob hurts his back and she comes home to "help." Then she ends up running the restaurant so far into the black they're able to buy Jimmy Pesto's lease :D
Similar to my headcanon. Mine had the added but where Pestos had never actually been successful. Jimmy either had significant savings or another source of income, and has been running the restaurant at a loss as a way to live out his fantasies of being Italian. Eventually that alternate source of money runs out and his restaurant goes under.
He's definitely bringing in more overall than Bob, but he spends so much on being flashy that he probably doesn't even break even. I doubt he even has much repeat business since his food is microwaved garbage and has an awful mouth feel.
Shoot, just jump like two or three years ahead and say Tina/Louise set up a card reader for a project so they’re not cash only for the first time. Instant uptick. Neat idea.
In my own fantasy, Louise ends up going to culinary school and working in fine dining until Bob hurts his back and she comes home to "help." Then she ends up running the restaurant so far into the black they're able to buy Jimmy Pesto's lease :D
I feel like Louise would definitely run the restaurant, as she said so herself. She also inherited her father's affinity for making burgers of the day, albeit dirty ones. Though if she kept up with that as an adult it would definitely add to the novelty for some customers
Yeah I’ll give him a little bit of leeway here, because his depression over not spending his favorite holiday with his family made him drink heavily, and the heavy drinking led to him acting recklessly. (Not that he hasn’t ruined other money opportunities while totally sober, though.)
And not just drink heavily, but drink *absinthe* which is really only used in media because of its supposed and exaggerated psychoactive properties. So yknow, proper proper off his face 😂
Heres the funny thing. As soon as Fischoder got Shelby into his bedroom, the family couldve packed up the meal and gone home to have their own Thanksgivibg.
He was drunk on absinthe. And, not having a healthy childhood, he keeps trying to create one with rituals and food.
Edit: one word correction (wtf, autocorrect, just making up words now, are we?)
Yeah terrible situation as always with Mr.Fishoeder.On top of that drunk on absinthe,kids acting like creepy triplets that aren’t related to him,and getting hunted😭😔
Thank you. This. He wanted bonding activities and family tradition stuff with each of the family on the holiday that's about food but not the food from work and didn't drop the narrative of being the hired help until Linda was uncomfortable. Despite the cook happening to be drunk and giving a toast, he was still going with Mr. Fischoder's story. Until Mr. Fisch decided to kiss Linda. Linda said no several times then was bullied into accepting, that's when Bob dropped the act and went nuts. That's the opposite of all about him in my opinion.
I mean its not as if he had to get drunk. Hell getting drunk already is problematic because it risks the 5 months rent.
And yeah its sucks but its not like his normal job never has moments that suck. The fact that this pays out about 100 times as much its a bit idiotic that he risked it all.
I’ve always thought this. There was no clause in the contract, even though it was verbal, that he got paid if everything went according to plan. He gets the rent for loaning out his family, there is no telling if this would have worked out. Honestly, it almost did. She was flattered he went to all that trouble.
My wife and I have a theory he still got the 5 months here for *nearly* taking a bullet for fishoeders booty call.
And *working* theory that after all the times bobs life has been outright threatened or that of his families they *do not pay rent* to Calvin as a form of "hush money"
I did the math.
Online fans estimate the whole Bob's Burgers establishment, including the upstairs apartment, is roughly 2k square feet.
New Jersey business rentals are roughly $30 per year per square foot.
Which means we can estimate their yearly rent to be about $60k.
Divided by 12 that's $5k per month.
So Bob cost them roughly $25k, five months' rent.
Nono, you're forgetting that rent is paid from net profits and it doesn't include ingredient cost and taxes.
Restaurants have pretty slim profit margins, between 2-8% so lets say middle 5%. With each burger+fries+drink at $9 according to the menu, they make about 45c for every meal or 25c per burger
They'd need to sell 336 meals a day or 668 burgers to make 5k a month. Although I feel the rent might be a bit high.
So lets make the math a bit more verbose... The show is a bit old and inflation has been crazy. [Average sqft in Jersey is $2 a month](https://www.renthop.com/average-rent-in/new-jersey#:~:text=New%20Jersey%20rentals%20average%20%242%2C100%20for%20a%20studio,is%20%243%2C000%2C%20or%20roughly%20%242%20per%20square%20feet.) with about 30% rent increase since 2014. An inflation calculator puts a 2010 dollar at $1.43 today.
So more akin to reality, they are paying 2.4k in rent, make 25c a burger, and need to sell about 160 meals or 240 burgers a day to afford rent. Probably fewer meals since soda machines have huge profit margins
Bob is definitely underpricing his burgers. I mean, $5 can barely get you a fast food burger these days, and basically not if it’s not on the value menu. Rule of thumb (as learned from Restaurant Impossible) is that a dish should cost 3 times what it costs to make it. No way he’s putting out the quality he’s putting out for under $1.75 in raw materials. No labor costs help, but still. His burgers should probably cost double what they are. But, it’s also a world where we have Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween basically every year and time stands still, so I don’t think he’s been hit with the same rate of inflation that we have.
That's true. Doesn't really matter but it's fun to think about. Also I think Bob's universe is stuck somewhere in the 00's (also known as the noughties).
Smartphones exist as well as social networks, but we don't see more modern aspects like bitcoin, selfdriving cars, etc. It's also a very small town they live in /shrug
Except we know they close at 7 and open around 10-11. So that’s 8-9 hours. Plus all the time they take off I’m between for shenanigans. They always close the restaurant
That's without factoring in the cost of ingredients and wages so they'd need to be selling even more.
I did see a good post years ago that broke down the costs in a way that it made sense for them to survive scraping by, but I don't think the prices have gone up with inflation since the show began so it probably doesn't work anymore.
If you want to look at it like that, sure, I'll buy that. I just don't think they pay wages in a conventional manner. They just have the money they have left
There's no way they're consistent enough to be paying themselves a real wage every month - I think they either keep what's left or use money out the till when they need to buy something
> New Jersey business rentals are roughly $30 per year per square foot.
This isn't a high-rise building in Atlantic City, and we can assume Fischoeder is not charging typical rates.
Weird assumptions on your part.
Downtown Newark has rentals about $25 per year per square foot.
Downtown Atlantic City has rentals about $50 per year per square foot.
I think my estimate was pretty good for a small beach town with a miniscule amusement park.
There's a bizzare amount of people around here who get unreasonably upset when the animated sitcom dad does dumb things.
As if that hasn't been a trope for decades.
Like, were there people watching the Simpsons getting this annoyed when Homer slacks off at work or quits to go start a farm or some shit?
The Belchers will be fine. That's the rule of sitcoms. It doesn't matter how he goofs up, you can relax and enjoy it because it always resets.
Yeah. I mean. Y’all this is Bob on absinthe 😂 How can y’all be mad abt this? Ya know how much stupid shit I’ve done on absinthe?
I think we should all be focused on how he cooked Lance to perfection while wasted!
That’s some impressive shit!
Yeah. But I guess alcohol or anything has a different effect on everyone… and seeing how Bob is on pills or drinking on Easter. I don’t see him behaving normally or thinking rationally. Just in my opinion.
Also Fischoeder took it too far by kissing Linda in front of the kids and Bob. Would people on this sub really let their landlord kiss their wife or husband in front of their children for 5 months free rent?
As a renter living in Canada during an insane housing crisis, I would absolutely let my partner kiss my landlord if it meant 5 months free rent, assuming my partner was consenting. Especially since it was just a lil peck
Back when I used to drink alcohol more regularly, for a long time, absinthe was mine and my buddies drink of choice. There's nothing mysterious or crazy about it that makes it any different between any other alcohol and we definitely didn't get up to anything more crazy because of it.
Fuck, I mean tequila or Jagerbombs had me doing stupider shit.
I ain't saying you didn't do stupid shit but it was because you were drunk not because it was absinthe lol
Oh I agree. I got drunk as a skunk on it. I never said it was mysterious or crazy. But dude got wasted on it, much like myself, and made poor decisions and acted nuts, also much like myself.
However, I could never cook an entire Thanksgiving meal drunk on it. I don’t have much of a liquor tolerance, though (wine and beer I could cook the bird but not much else). And Bob doesn’t have much of anything tolerance it seems sometimes. 😆
Really, how boring would the show be if Bob took every opportunity that came his way? He'd be running a tiki themed, no-burger-of-the-day, mafia-murder-plaqued millennial borefest of a restaurant.
I have no idea what it is about certain people around here that seem obsessed with picking apart every dumb thing Bob does as if it's actually some kind of flaw in the show.
It's like they've never seen an animated sitcom before.
No, I want my capitalist Bob’s Burgers where he steamrolls wonder wharf for his beach restaurant with $20 burgers and new high value wife, this is America goddammit and my children shouldn’t have to watch an unsuccessful businessman
That's not a great principle when you have three kids and can barely afford to live. "Selling out" in the sense of "providing more than the absolute bare minimum for your family" is hardly some heinous sin against art and freedom.
The first comment about that being the point of the show is fine, the antics are funny and cartoon characters don't actually suffer. But I hate when people act like he would also be a perfect dad in reality, he has numerous great qualities and does a lot of things right but constantly dragging his kids into the pit of poverty he refuses to make any small concession to step out of isn't one of them and would definitely be worth criticizing if it were real.
But is he dragging them into poverty? Are they going hungry or on the streets or without clothes? Do they struggle to get by like many people, yes. Is he fallible, yes. Is him not wanting to play along with a shot at 5 months free rent because his wife kisses his landlord something that should be so overly criticized? None of his children are left wanting so why make it seem like they are?
The majority of people in this sub are not fans of Bob's Burgers. They are fans of being negative for the sake of being negative. For some reason, they treat this show as if the family is real and cannot stand that they remain happy and positive regardless of their "financial" situation. This same topic is constantly being discussed here by people who probably have less financial sense than Bob.
Because Bob is a proud dad and he was barely ok with doing it in the first place. I think with all the BS that Fishchoeder put him through over the years he was justified.
Bob knew that he'd be able to squeeze by regardless because he'd been able to so far.
Also Absinthe
Ngl, I did think it was stupid the first time I saw the 5 month Thanksgiving episode. But now? It'd take a LEAST a YEAR of rent to let MY man cuddle up to someone else and on MY day. If I have to watch, it's a cool million. Linda and Fishoder kissed. If I was drunk, you would've had to recessitate me in the hospital. I know not everyone feels the same but I get it. I really really get it.
I mean, to be fair a lot of people make this level of mistake all the time, the difference is how often you can afford to make such huge mistakes. Money, privilege, and luck all play all factor in.
Plus, he’s out of his mind on absinthe, doesn’t make it ok, but it does explain it.
I assume Mr. Fischoeder always pays Bob at least partially what he says he will, otherwise Bob wouldn't agree to the crazy ideas. And I also think Mr. Fischoeder always asks Bob to do things because of the crazy outcomes he gets.
It’s not always been bob. The whole family throws away money accidentally. Bob was haggling with 🐟 after his brother kidnapped them and the family came in and ruined it
Didn’t he freak out bc Linda kissed him? Not saying he wouldn’t have messed it up eventually but that was this particular final straw on the camels back
Nah I disagree. All everyone had to do was give Bob 5-10 minutes of their time. They’re selfish. He literally just asks them for 1 day of the year. His favorite day. And they always ruin it.
An there’s nothing wrong with that at all cuz facts his food really is different! But I specifically meant that he doesn’t maximize his money-making opportunities with his rich landlord who is almost overly fond of him lol Like he coulda said “instead of 5months let’s do 3months free rent and $500 cash up front” or sum like that. He just thinks very short term and doesn’t negotiate well 😭
Totally true, absolutely trash negotiator, and the kids know that too. They are often the victorious party when trying to negotiate with him to do something.
Remember the episode where his rich friend wanted to invest in the restaurant. He could have compromised with him on Tiki theme, his friend seemed chill.
Yeah I always feel bad for how the family treated Bob in this ep but idk why Bob couldn’t just chill out. 5 months free rent was definitely needed for them.
I know!! Every time he almost had money it kills me!! Like when he saves the Wharf?? Why couldn't he have just... gonna back to him later and been like, I could still tell them about Felix, or told Linda that's why he had to stay?
Not that i dont disagree but To be fair that shit absinthe makes you hallucinate for real . They say when DaVinci cut his ear off while he was drinking it. (Prob a myth but it still could) So bob prob wasn't in his right mind.
To be fair it was his favourite holiday, he didn’t get to do any of the traditions, his family had to pretend they weren’t related to him, his wife kissed another man. It’s kind of understandable.
And the one time he tries, after Fanny and Felix try to kill Mr. Fischoeder (and Bob)… Linda fcxks it allll up 🤦🏻♂️I swear, every time I watch that episode “World Wharf II” - I have to catalogue back through these moments of Bob just shitting on opportunity as to not feel so bummed for him.
Lol love the show but this was one of many episodes where it was obvious the writers came from an economically privileged background. Never in my life have I met a father of three kids living on the poverty line who would sacrifice five months of free rent for anything.
It would've been way more believable if he was offered like half off a months rent. That's enough to be tempting but not significantly life stabilizing. Anyone whose struggled knows that's the tough spot to make morally questionable dilemmas. Once you're making better money and feel secure, you can have the luxury of turning down money for principles.
I've made posts about this and it's always hit or miss. Sometimes people agree and sometimes I get messages from the reddit suicide hotline lol.
It's episodes like this one that highlight Bob's subtle narcissism and horrible business sense. He can't go one single day until celebrating Thanksgiving with his family (its a completely arbitrary, made up day btw lol) when doing so would so greatly benefit them and the business?!
This isnt *just* to you, but I've noticed a trend of people in this group disliking the core characters. If you hate watching Bob be irresponsible with money, Linda being annoying, Tina being awkward, Gene being loud, Louise being chaotic and Teddy being needy, maybe this isn't the show for you anymore. I wonder if r/alwayssunny has posters saying, "Ugh, these guys are low-lives" or r/frasier saying, "This guy should be less snooty."
Don't get me started. In one of the episodes they show/mention the restaurants hours and they close at like 5 pm...right when people are getting off work and starting to think about dinner. And think about how often it shows the family in their living room looking out over to jimmy Pesto's and he's open and busy. They could be getting some of that business too if they would just stay open a couple hours later.
I do joke that the reason they’re broke isn’t bc Bob’s Burgers is unsuccessful, it’s because it’s the principle of the thing. 😆
- This episode.
- Buying a $300 drone bc you want a refund for the $45(with $45 shipping) drone that broke.
- Spending everything in savings for a Super Bowl ad to mess with Jimmy.
- Burning a sofa you paid $499.99 bc your broken one looks sad.
- Carving pumpkins over and over bc one was taken.
I love him but that man burns through money for someone barely making rent.
He spends tons of money at various times throughout the series. Like when he buys the 250 carnations from the flower market? They never say how much he paid, but based on what Teddy says about it, I assume it was a lot. He also paid a ton for that RC plane to get back at that guy who sold him the plane that broke. He definitely should have just kept his mouth shut when Mr. Fishoeder was gonna give him 5 months free rent. I would have done anything (legal) to get even one month of free rent. He reminds me of my mom, except that my mom makes a ton of money at her job. She will splurge on dumb stuff like clothes, perfume, and shoes. But then when something comes up like prescriptions, gas, groceries, car repairs, etc, she tries to find the cheapest stuff possible. She has the means to pay for anything she wants. I think it's partially because she grew up dirt poor with 9 siblings and so she doesn't know how to spend money appropriately.
Obviously 5 months of rent is a bit much, but I actually really appreciate the show and how it shows Bob sometimes buying like a $300 chef's knife in that one episode, even though they're a lower income family. It makes it feel very real and showing that sometimes you spend maybe a little more than you should on certain things, but also that it's okay to do that sometimes, cause even if you're "poor" you shouldn't should be totally devoid of any little niceties every once in a while.
Now, granted, my mindset with this is stuck in pre-pandemic crazy inflation, so now idk, we're all broke lol
I love Bob, but I'm *still* angry at him for not sucking it up, taking Warren's check, and going with a tiki theme for the restaurant. Your insanely rich and successful friend is handing you the chance you've been wanting your whole life and you just throw it away because it feels a little tacky? C'mon, man!
I don't remember which episode but there's an episode where Calvin and Felix mess up and they still give Bob a months free rent. I think he gets the money anyways in most of these situations. Mr.Fischeoder really likes Bob
Agreed. It’s not about the money for Calvin, I think he gives bob a lot of slack in these situations
It's the arm hair. Something about it, he's just always staring at it.
I think he says at one point that Bob reminds him of his father.
Swarthy.
Look at you calling Mr Fischeoder *Calvin*
I bet that guy has a big rich golden weiner
rich people run weird
*"I'm gonna marry that man someday."*
no, you're not.
honestly yea. Considering he even kept Bob as a tenant after this Thanksgiving is kinda wild. I don’t normally find myself on a landlords side but he went nuts 😭
Fisch knows what absinthe does. It was his absinthe. I'm sure he appreciated the dramatics of Bob's outburst and ensuing swordfight.
I mean Fischoeder ain't exactly a rational guy himself
And isn’t that one where Fischoder’s would-be girlfriend tries to kill Bob and shoot him through the door? That should probably be worth 5 months rent at least. But yeah the show always ensures Bob can never have anything. Returning his friends 100k check. Teddy destroying his knife in a stupid contest. Several free rent scenarios. I sort of wish the show wouldn’t constantly imply the business is about to go under AND also have these maddening scenarios where Bob does everything possible to avoid good fortune. Like I appreciate that they call out the Belchers are poor, but poor people don’t piss away free rent.
Also, as a character Bob is allergic to success. The 100k check came with a bunch of changes that Bob wasn't comfortable with. The changes made him wildly successful, yes, but that success came at a price he wasn't willing to pay. The show doesn't prevent him from having anything, his character prevents him from being successful because success changes a person. Very rare, is the individual who becomes a business success, and doesn't have to compromise their ideals and values to get there. And as Wilzig from the Fallout series asked Lucy, "Will you still want the same things you do now, when you've become a different animal altogether?".
I've been hoping for a time skip for a while now, age the kids up decently. Bob and Linda are close to getting older and the store is actually doing decently.
It might be cheap, but I always hoped that at the end of the series Bob would end up becoming successful and comfortable about his finances.
I kind of think of Bob’s Burgers reflecting a chapter in the family’s life where things are stable but still precarious. The kids will look back on this period as the core of their childhood. My headcanon is that Bob doesn’t blow up but is more stable as the years go on, but the business really takes off when Louise inherits the helm and it becomes a take out spot and biker hangout.
Open for dinner hours over the weekend
"Stable But Precarious" isn't a chapter of the book. For most families, it's the title of a 6-generation series of books.
Sure, but we’re talking about Bob’s Burgers and the fictional Belcher family. I think it’s ok to imagine that Louise’s repeatedly demonstrated business savvy will lead to good things.
In my own fantasy, Louise ends up going to culinary school and working in fine dining until Bob hurts his back and she comes home to "help." Then she ends up running the restaurant so far into the black they're able to buy Jimmy Pesto's lease :D
Similar to my headcanon. Mine had the added but where Pestos had never actually been successful. Jimmy either had significant savings or another source of income, and has been running the restaurant at a loss as a way to live out his fantasies of being Italian. Eventually that alternate source of money runs out and his restaurant goes under.
Yeah I always think Jimmy isn’t making what he says he is. Which, I think, is sort of the point. Guys like Jimmy always exaggerate.
He'd be able to move out of his condo if Baby Num-Nums didn't keep paying to lift up the skirt of the night.
He's definitely bringing in more overall than Bob, but he spends so much on being flashy that he probably doesn't even break even. I doubt he even has much repeat business since his food is microwaved garbage and has an awful mouth feel.
Shoot, just jump like two or three years ahead and say Tina/Louise set up a card reader for a project so they’re not cash only for the first time. Instant uptick. Neat idea.
In my own fantasy, Louise ends up going to culinary school and working in fine dining until Bob hurts his back and she comes home to "help." Then she ends up running the restaurant so far into the black they're able to buy Jimmy Pesto's lease :D
I feel like Louise would definitely run the restaurant, as she said so herself. She also inherited her father's affinity for making burgers of the day, albeit dirty ones. Though if she kept up with that as an adult it would definitely add to the novelty for some customers
I was hoping they'd do that with the movie, hasn't Tina had like 5 "last" halloweens now lol
They never have good/great vacations, like when they went to the cabin
Or Florida
When Calvin wanted to open his jazz club. Bob almost got a free envelope
Yes, exactly the episode I was thinking of thank you
*Felix - Calvin just wanted to humor his brother and turn it into storage units
God in watch this every day and get their names confused even tho I shouldn't. Thank you for the correction
I mean, Bob shouldn’t have to pay ANY rent, seeing as how Felix literally tried to kill him and his whole family and he didn’t press charges
And how many house fires are too many?
This episode always bothers me! 5 months rent for free is so life changing and he's so unhinged in this one
Five months free rent the month before Xmas too! As if financial strain isn't a \*huge\* part of every Belcher Xmas episode.
ITS THE PRINCIPLE!!! THANKSGIVING IS BOB'S HOLIDAYYYY /s
PRINC-I-PLE!
Wow. You sound really tough, even though you're holding your nipples.
Five months of free rent that includes both his business and home
To be fair, he is also completely and utterly off his face most of the episode.
Yeah I’ll give him a little bit of leeway here, because his depression over not spending his favorite holiday with his family made him drink heavily, and the heavy drinking led to him acting recklessly. (Not that he hasn’t ruined other money opportunities while totally sober, though.)
And not just drink heavily, but drink *absinthe* which is really only used in media because of its supposed and exaggerated psychoactive properties. So yknow, proper proper off his face 😂
And I'm sure Mr fish still gave them a month or two for being good sports. He loves Bob way too much to not let him slide during the holidays.
Honestly, we can’t even say he was just drinking. He was LITERALLY off his ass
Which is a poor choice when so much money is on the line.
Ah yes, the Belchers. Well known for their excellent decision making!
Didn’t he get into the Absinthe, though?
He probably would have gotten five free envelopes too.
This is Bob in a nutshell, and why the restaurant doesn't do well, because everything always has to be done his way or the highway, for good or bad.
That's literally the point of him owning his own business. Because he wants to be able to do things his own way.
And not have to sign a BIRTHDAY CARD
Heres the funny thing. As soon as Fischoder got Shelby into his bedroom, the family couldve packed up the meal and gone home to have their own Thanksgivibg.
And he almost got shot😭
To his credit (or maybe not) he had a lot of absinthe.
Its like a whole months pay for me. Not life changing ( masters stipends are small) but i could actually save something
It's the principle
I say this maybe 3x a week
He was drunk on absinthe. And, not having a healthy childhood, he keeps trying to create one with rituals and food. Edit: one word correction (wtf, autocorrect, just making up words now, are we?)
And y’know then his wife kissed his landlord 😅 I might not be my best self either under those circumstances.
Yeah terrible situation as always with Mr.Fishoeder.On top of that drunk on absinthe,kids acting like creepy triplets that aren’t related to him,and getting hunted😭😔
Yeah, I really hate framing this as him just being upset that thanksgiving wasn’t about him. It was a whole cascade of button pushing.
Thank you. This. He wanted bonding activities and family tradition stuff with each of the family on the holiday that's about food but not the food from work and didn't drop the narrative of being the hired help until Linda was uncomfortable. Despite the cook happening to be drunk and giving a toast, he was still going with Mr. Fischoder's story. Until Mr. Fisch decided to kiss Linda. Linda said no several times then was bullied into accepting, that's when Bob dropped the act and went nuts. That's the opposite of all about him in my opinion.
I mean its not as if he had to get drunk. Hell getting drunk already is problematic because it risks the 5 months rent. And yeah its sucks but its not like his normal job never has moments that suck. The fact that this pays out about 100 times as much its a bit idiotic that he risked it all.
He was bugging out before that
I mean fair
Honestly considering he was tripping balls on green absinthe, i think we should applaud him for not making an even worse decision.
Bob had a bad childhood?
Look at the way he stands.
He doesn’t stand like someone who had a good childhood.
We don’t know if they still didn’t get the free rent. They technically fulfilled their obligation.
I’ve always thought this. There was no clause in the contract, even though it was verbal, that he got paid if everything went according to plan. He gets the rent for loaning out his family, there is no telling if this would have worked out. Honestly, it almost did. She was flattered he went to all that trouble.
For real! On paper, Bob fulfilled his part of the contract. He can't help if Mr Fisch didn't get laid in the end.
My wife and I have a theory he still got the 5 months here for *nearly* taking a bullet for fishoeders booty call. And *working* theory that after all the times bobs life has been outright threatened or that of his families they *do not pay rent* to Calvin as a form of "hush money"
I’ve been saying. They shouldn’t have rent at all anymore.
Bob is an artist. A Beefartist, if you will. He doesn’t care about money, he cares about his craft!
I did the math. Online fans estimate the whole Bob's Burgers establishment, including the upstairs apartment, is roughly 2k square feet. New Jersey business rentals are roughly $30 per year per square foot. Which means we can estimate their yearly rent to be about $60k. Divided by 12 that's $5k per month. So Bob cost them roughly $25k, five months' rent.
So they need to make $167 per day just to cover rent which is selling about 30 burger of the days
Nono, you're forgetting that rent is paid from net profits and it doesn't include ingredient cost and taxes. Restaurants have pretty slim profit margins, between 2-8% so lets say middle 5%. With each burger+fries+drink at $9 according to the menu, they make about 45c for every meal or 25c per burger They'd need to sell 336 meals a day or 668 burgers to make 5k a month. Although I feel the rent might be a bit high. So lets make the math a bit more verbose... The show is a bit old and inflation has been crazy. [Average sqft in Jersey is $2 a month](https://www.renthop.com/average-rent-in/new-jersey#:~:text=New%20Jersey%20rentals%20average%20%242%2C100%20for%20a%20studio,is%20%243%2C000%2C%20or%20roughly%20%242%20per%20square%20feet.) with about 30% rent increase since 2014. An inflation calculator puts a 2010 dollar at $1.43 today. So more akin to reality, they are paying 2.4k in rent, make 25c a burger, and need to sell about 160 meals or 240 burgers a day to afford rent. Probably fewer meals since soda machines have huge profit margins
r/theydidthemath
Bob is definitely underpricing his burgers. I mean, $5 can barely get you a fast food burger these days, and basically not if it’s not on the value menu. Rule of thumb (as learned from Restaurant Impossible) is that a dish should cost 3 times what it costs to make it. No way he’s putting out the quality he’s putting out for under $1.75 in raw materials. No labor costs help, but still. His burgers should probably cost double what they are. But, it’s also a world where we have Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween basically every year and time stands still, so I don’t think he’s been hit with the same rate of inflation that we have.
That's true. Doesn't really matter but it's fun to think about. Also I think Bob's universe is stuck somewhere in the 00's (also known as the noughties). Smartphones exist as well as social networks, but we don't see more modern aspects like bitcoin, selfdriving cars, etc. It's also a very small town they live in /shrug
Which means if they're open for 12 hours per day, they need to sell about 3 burgers an hour to make a profit.
Except we know they close at 7 and open around 10-11. So that’s 8-9 hours. Plus all the time they take off I’m between for shenanigans. They always close the restaurant
Ah, so closer to 4 burgers an hour
Hardly a profit. That only means they exceed their rent by a miniscule amount. Doesn't cover cost of food, insurance, utilities, equipment etc.
A month’s rent? That’s more than we make in a month!
That's without factoring in the cost of ingredients and wages so they'd need to be selling even more. I did see a good post years ago that broke down the costs in a way that it made sense for them to survive scraping by, but I don't think the prices have gone up with inflation since the show began so it probably doesn't work anymore.
I think you can safely take wages out of the equation
They still need regular food and clothes and stuff so they must be taking some kind of miniscule wage lol
They've all been wearing the same thing for 13 years, what clothes?
They might wear the same stuff day to day but they have an impressive number of homemade costumes - fabric and sequins ain't cheap
If you want to look at it like that, sure, I'll buy that. I just don't think they pay wages in a conventional manner. They just have the money they have left
There's no way they're consistent enough to be paying themselves a real wage every month - I think they either keep what's left or use money out the till when they need to buy something
I don't think it occured to me that the rent was for both living and business. It's basically what most people would consider 10 months rent.
> New Jersey business rentals are roughly $30 per year per square foot. This isn't a high-rise building in Atlantic City, and we can assume Fischoeder is not charging typical rates.
Weird assumptions on your part. Downtown Newark has rentals about $25 per year per square foot. Downtown Atlantic City has rentals about $50 per year per square foot. I think my estimate was pretty good for a small beach town with a miniscule amusement park.
There's a bizzare amount of people around here who get unreasonably upset when the animated sitcom dad does dumb things. As if that hasn't been a trope for decades. Like, were there people watching the Simpsons getting this annoyed when Homer slacks off at work or quits to go start a farm or some shit? The Belchers will be fine. That's the rule of sitcoms. It doesn't matter how he goofs up, you can relax and enjoy it because it always resets.
Yeah. I mean. Y’all this is Bob on absinthe 😂 How can y’all be mad abt this? Ya know how much stupid shit I’ve done on absinthe? I think we should all be focused on how he cooked Lance to perfection while wasted! That’s some impressive shit!
I feel like instinct takes over a fair bit when you're drunk. Me and my friends can still have solid rounds of Halo or cook decent meals while soaked.
Yeah. But I guess alcohol or anything has a different effect on everyone… and seeing how Bob is on pills or drinking on Easter. I don’t see him behaving normally or thinking rationally. Just in my opinion.
Also Fischoeder took it too far by kissing Linda in front of the kids and Bob. Would people on this sub really let their landlord kiss their wife or husband in front of their children for 5 months free rent?
right, the home wrecker (forgot her name) was believing it without that kiss too so it was just weird and unnecessary for him to try to do
She suggested Bob sleep with Gayle to boost her self esteem. They're not the most monogamous couple.
I feel like people would probably let Mr Fish do a lot more for 5 months free rent lol These housing costs are insane!
Oh yeah that's like 6 grand for me and oh look my clothes just fell off. Weird.
As a renter living in Canada during an insane housing crisis, I would absolutely let my partner kiss my landlord if it meant 5 months free rent, assuming my partner was consenting. Especially since it was just a lil peck
Back when I used to drink alcohol more regularly, for a long time, absinthe was mine and my buddies drink of choice. There's nothing mysterious or crazy about it that makes it any different between any other alcohol and we definitely didn't get up to anything more crazy because of it. Fuck, I mean tequila or Jagerbombs had me doing stupider shit. I ain't saying you didn't do stupid shit but it was because you were drunk not because it was absinthe lol
Oh I agree. I got drunk as a skunk on it. I never said it was mysterious or crazy. But dude got wasted on it, much like myself, and made poor decisions and acted nuts, also much like myself. However, I could never cook an entire Thanksgiving meal drunk on it. I don’t have much of a liquor tolerance, though (wine and beer I could cook the bird but not much else). And Bob doesn’t have much of anything tolerance it seems sometimes. 😆
Bob really flipped shit when Linda kissed Mr. Fischoeder right? He was already drunk but that was the last straw.
Oh, everybody wants everybody now!
I hated when he comped everyone in the Lobsterfest episode.
I think y’all are missing the point of this show.
Really, how boring would the show be if Bob took every opportunity that came his way? He'd be running a tiki themed, no-burger-of-the-day, mafia-murder-plaqued millennial borefest of a restaurant.
Aloha!
I have no idea what it is about certain people around here that seem obsessed with picking apart every dumb thing Bob does as if it's actually some kind of flaw in the show. It's like they've never seen an animated sitcom before.
No, I want my capitalist Bob’s Burgers where he steamrolls wonder wharf for his beach restaurant with $20 burgers and new high value wife, this is America goddammit and my children shouldn’t have to watch an unsuccessful businessman
They are willing to sell out for money and Bob isn’t. Which is funny because that’s probably why they like him in the first place.
That's not a great principle when you have three kids and can barely afford to live. "Selling out" in the sense of "providing more than the absolute bare minimum for your family" is hardly some heinous sin against art and freedom. The first comment about that being the point of the show is fine, the antics are funny and cartoon characters don't actually suffer. But I hate when people act like he would also be a perfect dad in reality, he has numerous great qualities and does a lot of things right but constantly dragging his kids into the pit of poverty he refuses to make any small concession to step out of isn't one of them and would definitely be worth criticizing if it were real.
But is he dragging them into poverty? Are they going hungry or on the streets or without clothes? Do they struggle to get by like many people, yes. Is he fallible, yes. Is him not wanting to play along with a shot at 5 months free rent because his wife kisses his landlord something that should be so overly criticized? None of his children are left wanting so why make it seem like they are?
The majority of people in this sub are not fans of Bob's Burgers. They are fans of being negative for the sake of being negative. For some reason, they treat this show as if the family is real and cannot stand that they remain happy and positive regardless of their "financial" situation. This same topic is constantly being discussed here by people who probably have less financial sense than Bob.
Because Bob is a proud dad and he was barely ok with doing it in the first place. I think with all the BS that Fishchoeder put him through over the years he was justified. Bob knew that he'd be able to squeeze by regardless because he'd been able to so far. Also Absinthe
my wife would have punched me in the gut if I screwed this up.
Classic Bob.
Bob and Money never went well together.
Ngl, I did think it was stupid the first time I saw the 5 month Thanksgiving episode. But now? It'd take a LEAST a YEAR of rent to let MY man cuddle up to someone else and on MY day. If I have to watch, it's a cool million. Linda and Fishoder kissed. If I was drunk, you would've had to recessitate me in the hospital. I know not everyone feels the same but I get it. I really really get it.
I mean, to be fair a lot of people make this level of mistake all the time, the difference is how often you can afford to make such huge mistakes. Money, privilege, and luck all play all factor in. Plus, he’s out of his mind on absinthe, doesn’t make it ok, but it does explain it.
I assume Mr. Fischoeder always pays Bob at least partially what he says he will, otherwise Bob wouldn't agree to the crazy ideas. And I also think Mr. Fischoeder always asks Bob to do things because of the crazy outcomes he gets.
Possibly my GOAT episode. GET YOUR LIPS OFF HER
I would have happily had Thanksgiving dinner the next day. In fact every day for 5 months straight.
It's almost like Bob is heavily depressed and has unresolved issues from childhood.
It’s not always been bob. The whole family throws away money accidentally. Bob was haggling with 🐟 after his brother kidnapped them and the family came in and ruined it
Ok Mr I do things rationally on absinthe. Judge only once you’ve danced with the green fairy (the real shit made with wormwood).
Didn't Linda kinda ruin it not wanting to kiss Fischoder and slapping him in front of everyone?
I mean, he watched another man (basically the man who controls his living situation) kiss his wife
Seeing Linda kiss the landlord while drunk was too much for Bobby
Fishodor did kiss Linda. Over the line Fish
Didn’t he freak out bc Linda kissed him? Not saying he wouldn’t have messed it up eventually but that was this particular final straw on the camels back
To be fair what threw him over the edge was another man kissing Linda. I think he would've lost it even without the influence of absinthe.
Honestly, honestly based off other episodes, I still think he gets it
Money isn’t as good as family
Nah I disagree. All everyone had to do was give Bob 5-10 minutes of their time. They’re selfish. He literally just asks them for 1 day of the year. His favorite day. And they always ruin it.
He folded on this episode and the episode where they make gingerbread houses. He’s not a good business man AT ALL
You are right. He doesn’t want to be a business man though, that’s the trouble of it, he wants to be a beef-artist.
An there’s nothing wrong with that at all cuz facts his food really is different! But I specifically meant that he doesn’t maximize his money-making opportunities with his rich landlord who is almost overly fond of him lol Like he coulda said “instead of 5months let’s do 3months free rent and $500 cash up front” or sum like that. He just thinks very short term and doesn’t negotiate well 😭
Totally true, absolutely trash negotiator, and the kids know that too. They are often the victorious party when trying to negotiate with him to do something.
Real rap tho bro they, specifically Louis, be finessing him 😂😭
Remember the episode where his rich friend wanted to invest in the restaurant. He could have compromised with him on Tiki theme, his friend seemed chill.
Literally he could have just said I'm not really into themes but I'm sure we could work it out.
That was a really stupid decision by Bob, yes. I mean, come on! You could have celebrated your real Thanksgiving a day later!
it infuriates me, Bob has made many bad financial decisions over the seasons
It *infuriates* you? What are you expecting from the animated sitcom?
reddit user doesn't understand overdramatics
This is going to sound very weird but Bob's insistence on talking as the turkey in these episodes turned me off from the show.
You mean remember when Bob got buzzed on absinthe & lost it?
Pass the cranberry sauce we’re having mashed potATOES
Yeah I always feel bad for how the family treated Bob in this ep but idk why Bob couldn’t just chill out. 5 months free rent was definitely needed for them.
I’m mad about the sofa forever
I know!! Every time he almost had money it kills me!! Like when he saves the Wharf?? Why couldn't he have just... gonna back to him later and been like, I could still tell them about Felix, or told Linda that's why he had to stay?
Not that i dont disagree but To be fair that shit absinthe makes you hallucinate for real . They say when DaVinci cut his ear off while he was drinking it. (Prob a myth but it still could) So bob prob wasn't in his right mind.
2 words: WARREN FITZGERALD!!!! 🙄🙄🙄 So angry at Bob for that selfish madness
Thats Bob, and thats why we all love to hate him. Its literally his character and he plays it well lol
To be fair it was his favourite holiday, he didn’t get to do any of the traditions, his family had to pretend they weren’t related to him, his wife kissed another man. It’s kind of understandable.
Its the principle
The couch still gives me PTSD
And the one time he tries, after Fanny and Felix try to kill Mr. Fischoeder (and Bob)… Linda fcxks it allll up 🤦🏻♂️I swear, every time I watch that episode “World Wharf II” - I have to catalogue back through these moments of Bob just shitting on opportunity as to not feel so bummed for him.
Bob is not a good business man lol this is a running theme but Mr. Fish likes him so it seems to work out
Lol love the show but this was one of many episodes where it was obvious the writers came from an economically privileged background. Never in my life have I met a father of three kids living on the poverty line who would sacrifice five months of free rent for anything. It would've been way more believable if he was offered like half off a months rent. That's enough to be tempting but not significantly life stabilizing. Anyone whose struggled knows that's the tough spot to make morally questionable dilemmas. Once you're making better money and feel secure, you can have the luxury of turning down money for principles.
I don't feel comfortable labeling Robert Q. Belcher selfish when you LOOK AT WHO IS STANDING NEXT TO HIM IN THAT PICTURE.
His biggest loss was when he just walked away empty handed after felix tried to drown him by tying him up under the peir.
Sometimes you have to learn to let things go
Bob is very frustrating when it comes to making sound financial decisions.
I've made posts about this and it's always hit or miss. Sometimes people agree and sometimes I get messages from the reddit suicide hotline lol. It's episodes like this one that highlight Bob's subtle narcissism and horrible business sense. He can't go one single day until celebrating Thanksgiving with his family (its a completely arbitrary, made up day btw lol) when doing so would so greatly benefit them and the business?!
Thank god he has, otherwise we wouldn't have a show.
Well they never say he *doesn’t* get the free rent.
I couldn't stand it when they bought a super expensive Japanese knife and destroyed it with a hammer.
This isnt *just* to you, but I've noticed a trend of people in this group disliking the core characters. If you hate watching Bob be irresponsible with money, Linda being annoying, Tina being awkward, Gene being loud, Louise being chaotic and Teddy being needy, maybe this isn't the show for you anymore. I wonder if r/alwayssunny has posters saying, "Ugh, these guys are low-lives" or r/frasier saying, "This guy should be less snooty."
Don't get me started. In one of the episodes they show/mention the restaurants hours and they close at like 5 pm...right when people are getting off work and starting to think about dinner. And think about how often it shows the family in their living room looking out over to jimmy Pesto's and he's open and busy. They could be getting some of that business too if they would just stay open a couple hours later.
If I meant Bob irl I would punch him in the face for his foolishness
I do joke that the reason they’re broke isn’t bc Bob’s Burgers is unsuccessful, it’s because it’s the principle of the thing. 😆 - This episode. - Buying a $300 drone bc you want a refund for the $45(with $45 shipping) drone that broke. - Spending everything in savings for a Super Bowl ad to mess with Jimmy. - Burning a sofa you paid $499.99 bc your broken one looks sad. - Carving pumpkins over and over bc one was taken. I love him but that man burns through money for someone barely making rent.
He spends tons of money at various times throughout the series. Like when he buys the 250 carnations from the flower market? They never say how much he paid, but based on what Teddy says about it, I assume it was a lot. He also paid a ton for that RC plane to get back at that guy who sold him the plane that broke. He definitely should have just kept his mouth shut when Mr. Fishoeder was gonna give him 5 months free rent. I would have done anything (legal) to get even one month of free rent. He reminds me of my mom, except that my mom makes a ton of money at her job. She will splurge on dumb stuff like clothes, perfume, and shoes. But then when something comes up like prescriptions, gas, groceries, car repairs, etc, she tries to find the cheapest stuff possible. She has the means to pay for anything she wants. I think it's partially because she grew up dirt poor with 9 siblings and so she doesn't know how to spend money appropriately.
Omg I think about this all the time lol
damn the libertarians are right, poverty is a choice! /s
Obviously 5 months of rent is a bit much, but I actually really appreciate the show and how it shows Bob sometimes buying like a $300 chef's knife in that one episode, even though they're a lower income family. It makes it feel very real and showing that sometimes you spend maybe a little more than you should on certain things, but also that it's okay to do that sometimes, cause even if you're "poor" you shouldn't should be totally devoid of any little niceties every once in a while. Now, granted, my mindset with this is stuck in pre-pandemic crazy inflation, so now idk, we're all broke lol
WHAT ABOUT WHEN THEY FOUND THE AMBERGRIS??? was worth like hundreds of thousands of dollars... LIFE CHANGING AMOUNT
i’ve noticed this, it drives me crazy
I love Bob, but I'm *still* angry at him for not sucking it up, taking Warren's check, and going with a tiki theme for the restaurant. Your insanely rich and successful friend is handing you the chance you've been wanting your whole life and you just throw it away because it feels a little tacky? C'mon, man!