A trans woman sitting at a bar and complaining about her job.

Joke Poo: A Bard’s Lament

A goblin bard is sitting at a campfire, glumly strumming a discordant lute. His adventuring companion, a stoic dwarf warrior, asks, “What’s got your scales in a twist, Grok?”

The goblin sighs, “The tavern patrons are so rude! I announce each song clearly, but they all just keep requesting ‘the smelly green one’ to play. No matter what I do!”

He pauses, picks at a scab on his knee, and mutters, “I fucking hate working at the bathhouse…”

Okay, let’s dissect this joke.

Key Elements & Observations:

• Setup: Trans woman, bar, job complaint – Sets up a relatable, everyday scenario with a specific identity at its core.
• Misgendering: “Male lady” is the core punchline setup. It’s purposefully clunky, ignorant, and insensitive misgendering. The humor derives from the absurdity and the discomfort it evokes in the listener, while simultaneously mocking the ignorance of the customers.
• Incongruity/Subversion: The reveal that she works at the post office shifts the expectation of the complaint. We expect the issue to be purely about gender identity, but instead, it’s about general customer terribleness.
• Irony: The irony is layered. A post office is a public service, meaning these customers should be respectful and rely on you to do your job. The fact that she has a name tag yet customers are still ignoring her gender, while requiring the customers to refer to addresses properly for their mail to be delivered.

Now, let’s build some comedic enrichment:

1. Witty Observation/Revised Joke:

“A trans woman is complaining to her therapist. ‘It’s my job. People are so rude! They look right at my name tag and still call me “Sir, with all due respect”… It’s driving me crazy!’ The therapist sighs. ‘Well, being a transgender knight at Medieval Times is a bit of a niche role.'”

Explanation: This plays on the “expectation vs. reality” humor of the original. Instead of a typical workplace, the profession is much more specific and unusual, which adds to the humor. The “Sir, with all due respect” is a double entendre and an amusing juxtaposition that is more pointed than the original joke.

2. “Did You Know” That Connects:

“Did you know that the United States Postal Service (USPS) has a long history of employing and supporting transgender individuals? In fact, the postal service was once a popular career choice for transgender people due to its relatively stable employment, good benefits, and less reliance on customer interaction (at least in back-end roles). It’s kinda ironic, then, that this particular postal worker is dealing with so much misgendering.”

Explanation: This adds a layer of historical context that subverts the original joke. It uses a factual tidbit to highlight the irony and create a more nuanced understanding of the situation.

3. Joke Extension/Alternative Punchline:

“A trans woman sitting at a bar and complaining about her job. The customers are so mean! I have a name tag and everything but they all just keep referring to me as ‘male lady’ no matter what I do!”

“Yeah, well, I get it. I’m a trans man who works at a gender reveal party planning company. Try explaining the difference between blue and pink all day while having to explain your gender identity, all day.”

Explanation: This expands the original premise by introducing another layer of gender-identity-related humor. It builds on the absurdity of the misgendering by adding another character in a similar position, amplifying the frustration and relatable discomfort.

The common thread in all these comedic enrichments is to amplify the humor by:

• Adding absurdity: Increasing the ridiculousness of the situation.
• Adding historical context: Contrasting the punchline with factual historical information.
• Adding complexity: Subverting expectations or creating new layers of irony.
• Adding relatability: Building on the original’s foundation to create new, amusing scenarios that can be relatable to others.

I hope you find these enriching extensions to be funny and thoughtful!