He Seems Nice

I was trying to think who he reminds me of, and it's Jesper Pate from Alice Grove. This fucker could be that guy's obnoxious big brother.

Krista Elliott

Welcome to the American health care system....

David Pipes

you mean Southie accent - be specific, the nuances mattah.

Joe

Anyone else unsurprised the person in charge of allocating bodies to AIs isn’t an AI?

SheepFace2000

So her assumption was infact correct.

I'm pretty sure this is how Skynet gets started...

Yelling Bird

Mr. Baggs (I'm pretty sure that's his name, Richard Baggs) has been waiting to spring that "due diligence" insult on someone for ages. What he doesn't realize is that Roko takes the phrase very seriously, like any good attorney or investigator, and really does work to that standard. He is factually wrong, Roko knows and can document it, and she has her ducks in a row. She's going to tear his head off and, since being a robot she can't defecate in his lungs, she's going to stuff said ducks in there.

OldGoat

Roko SMASH!

Bruce Steinberg

Just wait til Spookybot hears about this... Hmmm...

David Pipes

I'm not sure I've ever been so excited for the next strip as I am today. Well... At least this year. There were a couple last year that were outstanding.

Hawkeye

I foresee a thick boston accent is about to make an appearance.

Chris Driggers

Yeah... if he is working for a government bad reviews don't mean anything.

Shawn K. Younkin

Save your sympathy for those who deserve it.

Ted Van Roekel

_Rokoing....INTENSIFIES!_

jeff fearnow

I sense a new career opportunity for crusherbot.

Cley Faye

Oh. He's a soulless pedant, then. Wonderful.

Where's a harpoon when you need one?

Summer Sudbrink

hit him hit him hit him we all know you want to roko and we all want to see it doooooo eeeeeeet

Derrik Pates

Well SOMEBODY accidentally spilled the bottle of social skills before adding them to the recipe.

Sarah Manx

That guy would get a fistful of bad reviews... Not very productive but still.

Nicklaus Gunnflag

Wow... I was hoping for difficult... I didn't expect total flaming asshole.

Shawn K. Younkin

He never said "even you" though. Not saying he didn't disrespect her, just that I'm not sure where he lost you.

JD

okay Roko, that was enough of the 'good cop'

jimbo

I was sympathetic to his position right up until he said, "Even you." Disrespect is unprofessional. I am interested to see him get what he is earning.

Thomas Halpin

The problem is the catch-22 of not being able to acquire sufficient money for a new body with the body currently inhabited. It doesn't have to be a top of the line body. It just has to be not-falling-apart the way it currently is.

Am Queue

Foot? I think it's gonna go up to the knee

Tachpmg

Goddam you, that made laugh way louder that it shoud have... while on the bus

Tachpmg

I"m kinda afraid that Jeph is going for a "the world can suck sometimes and nobody in he sistem cares about it" and I get it, but I he goes all the way through it's gonna be way too sad

Tachpmg

Get Him Rokko!

Luis Roman

"Who" decides the budget for this uncommon situation? and why is it such that only defective bodies can bee purchased? Why not a decent working body which the reforming AI can pay for as part of their reformation?

Dancing on the Edge of Sanity

He's not seeing that look, he's going to get a surprise!

SpookyPenguin

Extra "to" in third panel.

Mark Hechim

Except the ones who are dead...

Dean Reilly

I expect a download from Yay and a manager out of job and facing charges within 3 .. 2 .. 1

Hteph

Maybe more than one!

Mark

Wow, what a bag of dicks. Literally everything that he just said could have been conveyed in moments with a quickly written email. I give my clients more information in less time that way, and that way it's also documented. Saves everyone time and avoids verbal missteps without being a toilet thinly disguised as a human being, like jackass in the comic here. I'm surprised he didn't have a copypasta response to email her and avoid the whole interaction. Now to see Roko dismantle him, verbally. Even better, let's have Yay play good cop to her bad cop.

Tim Eldred

This gent may not walk out of the office correctly today...

Andrew Stiegmann

Code Red, this is not a drill!

Mark

and that is what I am looking forward to seeing.

narkosys

I see it the opposite if criminal AIs asking for a body is as uncommon as he says itd be a low priority.

Creampuff

Roko's dialog and manerisms here remind me of Beeps... Roko has done her best with "Smiles and Sunshine", now she's going to try <i>her</i> way of negotiating.

Andrew Mitchell

Funny, he doesn't <i>look</i> like a penis.

awgiedawgie

The more I think about it, the more glaring it is that he's human. From what we've seen so far AI have their own police force. Their police force drags AI Criminals to special AI prisons, the precise nature of which is implied to be horrifying in a way completely alien and incomprehensible to humans. Up until a certain point, it's all AI's. Then when the AI Criminals leave AI Prison, there is a so called "Algorithm" who determines what accommodations can be budgeted to make sure they successfully reintegrate into human society. We meet this "Algorithm" and he is a flesh and blood human man. The narrative has suddenly shifted from one of AI's handling their own affairs to one of a human subjugator overseeing matters that only really matter to AI's. And if this AI criminal fails to reintegrate back into human society, then this once again ceases to be any human's problem, as May is shunted back into the AI prison system.

Mitchell Sealy

Is his calendar just a picture of a box?

Excellent news, Roko! He IS (or comes across as) an asshole

Bagge

Boston accent in five, four....

Alan

Whatever we are supposed to think of this droid (and I don't mean Roko), in the end, the matter is likely to be decided depending on whether the money is available to buy what is wanted. In the real (non-QC) world, there are efforts to reduce such money. "Your client wants a new body? Have her earn the money to buy one." That's what one like Roko would be told in many areas of (non-QC) America. In Massachusetts, maybe not.

Chas Simmons

I sense that someone is going to get torn a brand-new asshole.

Ack

The difference is that you give flying flap, and you actually wanted to help. This crap receptacle clearly wants to do as little as possible, so he can watch cat videos on YouTube for the remaining seven hours and forty-five minutes of his day.

Tom wilson

I'm taking the other side: I volunteer at a non-profit that, among many other things, tries to find prosthetic arms and legs for every single person who submits a request, with no financial qualifications needed. Some limbs, particularly lower legs, are refurbished: An old leg with a new cup. They actually got sued by an asshole who wanted them to buy him a new leg! The story is much longer and involved, but that's the upshot. Fortunately, one of the other volunteers was a lawyer who put the Fear of God into that jerk. Then we worked with another non-profit to get him a new one anyway (he really did need it, despite his shitty attitude).

BobC

Welp. I guess Roko was right about this 'fucker'.

Nick Hodgson

It's a judo situation. He's denying her any hold where she can get leverage, and staying passive so she has to act as the aggressor. He can take all her energy and reflect it back on her as a 'You should have known that before you came in.'

Sleepy John

A rare occurrence of a niche case within a niche case should be easy to plan for. This guy's just using a lot of words to say his department can't budget properly for the demand they face.

James Redekop

I’m guessing Jeph has met this guy IRL and has been waiting for a chance to put him in the story.

Populuxe

No offense but this has been mentioned in the comments numerous times already.

Populuxe

I mean, speculating on how any real life law may pertain to AI rights in the QC universe is pretty much just playing Calvinball. There are plenty of laws already that work a certain way in theory, unless you're a part of some particular demographic. The exact degree to which the government treats this fictional demographic with its stated values is pretty up in the air.

Mitchell Sealy

Fakkin right!

Gary Walker

Gosh it is so unreasonable how angry I am right now.

Creepy Cat Lady

Wait, don't social workers have a duty of care? And wouldn't this sort of policy be a hideous breach of it? And expose whatever government department to really unfavorable lawsuits? I smell an embezzler. Just speculating, but I think this guy has enough budget to get functional OEM morphs, but he sells them to a third party, buys the shitbuckets, and splits the proceeds with the third party. And the only reason nobody's caught on is because 1) his clients are few and 2) lack credibility.

least_rectangles

I'm guessing Roko _has_ done her due diligence, and is going to out-bureaucrat this guy so hard he'll be finding pencil-shavings in his stool for weeks.

Chubby Bunny

Yeah this seems about right for a government employee. "Not my problem, I literally do not give a single shit, fuck off now so I can get back to doing nothing and wasting taxpayer dollars"

YogSoggoth

looks like youre missing a word in panel 3

Chris Magnelli

Typo alert panel 3! "is not to responsible"

UsuallySpecial

pintsize's body was stolen from the military, and "you have to justify why someone deserves a healthy existence" is the opposite of socialism actually

Seth Aaron Hershman has they she pronouns

I don't think he is doing his job. His claim that the "Body Assignment Department" is not responsible for these Body Assignment related problems sounds sketchy at best. Basically what he's presented is a very questionable argument for why he shouldn't have to do his job today. He'll come to the office at 3:15 just like the schedule dictated but he refuses to discuss the case that he was scheduled to discuss much less take any action on this case like, I don't know, assigning a body.

Mitchell Sealy

Part of me wants to explore more media about the Three Kingdoms Period, but another part of me is just satisfied with Dynasty Warriors.

So, a system in which May wouldn't have gotten a body at all?

Rob Vary

Time for Roko to call Spookybot and arrange for an immediate audit of this department and this specific employee.

Wild Card

Honestly I was waiting for this. Pintsize is in a literally terrible body in comparison to any vaguely humanoid chassis. Why not put May in a body like Pintsize? That'd be cheaper. And Pintsize doesn't constantly bitch about how his body is terrible. And Pintsize didn't commit any crimes. May is literally terrible. She is so rude and unpleasant, but has moments where she just isn't awful and everyone is so head over heels. Sorry Roko, but welcome to socialism. There isn't more cake. You gotta have a reason as to why awful May deserves a bigger slice.

"I'm sure even you can deduce-" Oof.

Chris Luthe

Disagree. Giving May more money takes money away from someone else. And May is, as we have seen, terrible.

Incoming accent time.

Dkrewe

His position isn't valid. He uses the fact that not many people need this service to explain why the service has little funding, then uses the fact that it has little funding to explain why they can't give good service. Thing is, if the small funding is proportional to the small clientele, as he claims when he calls it commensurate, then that sorts itself out immediately. Basically he's using a bunch of big words and circular logic to obfuscate the issue. Now rather than discussing the case Roko is put into the position of dismantling this tower of bullshit he's built before they can move forward. I suspect on a limited time allotment no less. After all, he can't be helped if the schedule only allotted 15 minutes and she spent the whole time debating semantics with him.

Mitchell Sealy

GET HIM ROKO! DO IT FOR ALL OF US!

Mordaeus

I know this rude turnip is only doing his job, but I BADLY want a bird to mistake his head for a turtle and drop a rock on it.

ROKO UNLEASH ON HIM

Meg Taylor

*looks at comments* Don't listen to these hotheads, damn it, keep your cool, negotiate firmly but courteously, and commit only when you have firm control of the conflict. Be Cao Cao, not Lu Bu.

least_rectangles

I dont like him

Kyle Major

He's a bureaucrat. It's a job requirement. I applied once. Apparently I'm not a big enough asshole, even for FEMA.

Churchill (formerly TeaBear)

“Orbital rail gun justice!” Or better, have Melon sing at him 24/7.

Matt Grayson

Fucking destroy him, Roko.

Everett Bradshaw

Unequal pupil sizes = Roko gonna go medieval on yo' [body part]

His position is valid, but he doesn't have to be quite so disagreeable

AJ Sharma

I wonder if Roko could negotiate access to available chassis, and enlist Faye/Bubs to maybe make the best of it? That would be an interesting story arc.

Mooster

Third panel: "department is not to responsible" seems a bit off.

Dave Miller

Uh-oh! Scathing blast in Southie accent immanent! This guy has a few moves that have never failed him, so even if he has anything else, it's unpracticed. Roko, OTOH, is literally hardwired to have 16 plans, 1 through F (she thinks in hexadecimal), ready to go, each with a high likelihood of success.

OldGoat

That's big government for ya! Vote LIBERTARIAN!

I ship him with his glasses cleaning towel

Matt

I'm seeing a resemblance to Angus... is Roko in an SNL skit?

Brendan Jones

Oof. That's rough. Roku's going to have to rip this guy to shreds to get anywhere.

Uniquitous

this guy suckssssss

Oh, it’s worse case, he’s a “by the book” bureaucrat who doesn’t recognise when “the book” may be incorrect. And he’s using the “you don’t fit in the box so you don’t count” defence. Also, he’s extremely rude and non caring, there’s a bunch of ways he could have said “sorry, no budget” without sounding like a jerk. Or maybe that’s his plan, rile Roko up so she sounds unreasonable and aggressive, so he can use that as a defence for not listening. He’s probably immune to the “that’s not fair, the system isn’t fair, how can we make it more fair” reasoning too.

Thisguy

Or upgrade the lemon and discard chassis to OEM specs. Somewhere there have to be training schools for this kind of work. The work needn't be on his department's budget.

Michael Boettger

There's some definite optics to the fact that this seems to be a human who is employed at the Body Assignment Department denying AI's basic social services. He'll never need to have a body assigned to him. He only assigns bodies to others.

Mitchell Sealy

I hope she eats him alive.

Oh, dear. This will not end well. The only question is, for whom will it not end well. Somehow, I feel like Roko figured out where this guy gets his porn.

Elf Sternberg

Nah, more effective to kick him so hard he hits the ass of his boss, and so on up to someone who can fix the problem.

Brooks Moses

That poor man.

Scott Hilton

Some people deserve the cop treatment. Go get him, Roko.

Alcaria Swain

ASSKICKING COMMENCE

Kayisacat

I don't think Yay plans on just doing all the heavy lifting every time Roko's job presents some difficulties. They could probably be convinced to help out once in a while but ultimately it's Roko who's employed here, not Yay. Ultimately, this is probably a situation Roko's gonna encounter a lot, so she's gonna have to figure out how to deal with it.

Mitchell Sealy

It appears that Roko's first unseen assessment ("body assignment algorithm fucker") was spot-on.

Czarzhan

"is not to responsible"

runrin

He pushed the Roko button. Shoodna dun that

Joel Bateman

Oh he's playing a game all right. This has all the marks and smells of bullshit.

R L

oh oh oh oh I can't wait to see where this goes

Gary Huntress

Whelp. Who's down for a GoFundMe? Not for May but for Roko to replace her foot she's bound to lose when it gets shoved very firmly up douche canoe's backside.

Celine Chamberlin

He's a pencil-pusher who doesn't see any options, and doesn't feel a pressing need to search for any. So, yeah, a dick.

Czarzhan

Roko, get up, get out, and leave. Time for plan "B". Which might entail leveraging Yay's "friendship" and perhaps Sven.

Michael Boettger

Or Spookybot?

Paracog Steadham

oh cool so we get to see a murder happen on screen

Waffliesinyoface

There will be blood.

Josh

Roko, remember... It's not waterboarding if you use diesel fuel!

z

His argument doesn't even make sense. If it's such a rare occurrence, then even with a small budget, they should be able to get decent bodies for the few who want them.

JD

Surprise Crushbot?

Anthony Gaglianese

Fucking bureaucratic red tape

PlasticArmyMan

No. Not a chance in hell.

Michael Boettger

I work for people like this jerk. I hope Roko reams him so deeply you could use him as a water main.

Ted Van Roekel

Time for Roko to call in support. By which I mean throw Bubbles and Faye at him

WolfAmaril

That is NOT Roko's happy face, and I suspect the man facing her won't be happy soon.

Joseph Bonnar

KICK HIS ASS ROKO

Errol Lobo

This isn't going to end well for him.

Bailey Tighe

That guy. I don’t like him.

Oh, I want to kick this uncaring bureaucratic ass. Like, into the sun.

Randi Hart

Panel three seems to have an editing glitch?

Aquarion

I had a boss exactly like this once and he was the fucking worst.

Bigg

He seems like a dick

Samuel

Don't kill him! You need him to sign the papers first!

Magus