TITLE The Bastich By Hart: Summer "Vacation" Part 11
PANEL 1 (A customer at FRY'S ELECTRONICS holds a wire up to a clerk at the customer service desk.) FRY'S CUSTOMER: I paid for 25cm of this wiring, but when I measured it at home, it was only 24.987cm. I want my 47ยข back! FRY'S CLERK: Uh... I'll have to check with my manager...
PANEL 2 (Elsewhere in FRY'S, BASTICH is being escorted by two touch-looking FRY'S WORKERS.) BASTICH: So, what's it gonna be, guys? A stiff fine? Community service? Hard time? 20-page essay on the dangers of defying the despotic rule of the almighty Fry's? I can take it... TOUGH FRY'S WORKER: You wont be getting off THAT easy, spy!
PANEL 3 (BASTICH panics as one the FRY'S WORKERS secures him by the shoulder.) BASTICH: NOOO! Not Windows 98 Beta Testing! I'll repent! Uncle! Uncle!
PANEL 4 (The FRY'S WORKER faces BASTICH and points off-panel.) TOUGH FRY'S WORKER: Settle down. We're not monsters. No, your fate lies beyond that exit door... BASTICH: You mean... I can go? MAIN TOUGH FRY'S WORKER: Yes. Go...
PANEL 5 (Close up on the FRY'S WORKER as he strikes a menacing pose with clenched fists forward.) TOUGH FRY'S WORKER: ...and never return. To any Fry's. Ever. BASTICH: What..? I'm... I'm... TOUGH FRY'S WORKER: That's right. You've been BANISHED FROM FRY'S FOR LIFE()! CAPTION: ()add deep, ominous echo.
PANEL 6 (BASTICH slinks down in shock as he is carried out by the two WORKERS.) CAPTION: "So it was on that day that I found my geek badge officially revoked." BASTICH: Are you sure I can't go to prison?
CREDITS Bastich (c) 1997 Joshua Adam Hart
Commentary
And so, the unthinkable happens. Years later, I still like Bastich's last line here, which wasn't inb the print version.
I must have added that first panel to balance the three weeks I just spent bashing Fry's sales clerks. I'm pretty sure they faced more grief than most because of their customer base's aforementioned lack of social graces (myself included).