ohyesrobot.ordoliberal.com

2013-06-24

Original: 2013-06-24 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Transcript

Panel 1:
Manager (a woman with curly brown hair, in a purple sweater, presenting to a seated audience): "Welcome to our morale booster program."

Panel 2:
Manager: "Due to low morale, sales are down."

Panel 3:
Manager: "Because sales are down, we've been unable to pay for a proper morale boost program, so we'll need you to come in on weekends to design it."

Panel 4:
Audience member (off-panel): "Isn't that a vicious cycle?"

Panel 5:
Manager (now grinning): "Oh! That reminds me. From now on you'll need to generate your own elecricity."

Panel 6:
No dialogue. The audience members sit in a dim room. One of them looks down, dejected.

Panel 7:
No dialogue. A wider shot of the dark room with a TV/monitor and equipment.

Panel 8:
No dialogue. The cheerful manager gestures toward a monitor and a pedal-powered generator unit in the corner, while two unhappy employees look on in the foreground.

Votey:
The manager (close-up, mouth open, eyes a bit wild): "But that exercise ain't free!"

Alt text

An eight-panel SMBC comic. A smiling woman with curly brown hair in a purple sweater addresses a seated audience like a presenter. She says, "Welcome to our morale booster program." She continues: "Due to low morale, sales are down. Because sales are down, we've been unable to pay for a proper morale boost program, so we'll need you to come in on weekends to design it." An audience member asks, "Isn't that a vicious cycle?" The presenter, now grinning, replies, "Oh! That reminds me. From now on you'll need to generate your own elecricity." The final panels show the dim office room with a monitor and a generator unit in the corner while the employees look dejected, contrasting with the cheerful manager. The joke is a spiraling corporate logic where employees are forced to fund and power their own morale program. Votey: a close-up of the manager, eyes slightly wild, adding, "But that exercise ain't free!"

Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.