Editing 837: Coupon Code

{{comic
| number    = 837
| date      = December 22, 2010
| title     = Coupon Code
| image     = coupon_code.png
| titletext = This also guarantees he won't be one of the ones to get a bobcat.
}}

==Explanation==
Some online stores allow you to enter a coupon code for a discount on one of their products. Coupon codes may be a single, simple word related to the product or seller or a complex sequence of characters. 

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is buying something online, and he comes across the option to use a coupon code for a discount before checking out. Instead of entering a coupon code, which is often a random sequence of numbers and letters, he chooses to enter a long and detailed blackmail message in the normally short coupon code form, hoping that blackmail could scare the seller and serve the way a coupon code would. This works so well that, instead of just receiving a small discount on the items he bought, Cueball is discounted the full price of the product he's buying. 

The humor comes from the fact that Cueball's intimidation works as if the online seller checking the coupon codes was an actual person, and not a computer, which is how coupon codes are checked. In addition, his blackmail message was far too detailed and specific that it could only be used on a certain person and would have virtually no chance of succeeding, unless he knows the seller so well that he even knows about crimes he did secretly.

The title text references [[325: A-Minus-Minus]]; it has become a running gag that bobcats are occasionally sent by mail by [[Black Hat]] in various comics. By blackmailing the seller, it is unlikely that the seller will want to antagonize Cueball by sending him something that may lead to his injury. This implies that the seller is Black Hat; while petty crime is usually not the first association, given his impressive track record of malice, it would also not be completely unimaginable. Should this be true, this comic would also mark one of the few instances in which Black Hat does not get the last laugh.

==Transcript==
:[The panel shows an online shopping form.]
:Shipping: $14.08
:Total: $80.02
:If you have a coupon code, enter it here:
:[An empty form.]
:Check out

:[In a frameless panel, Cueball is looking at his computer.]

:[The empty form is now filled in. The rest of the panel shows the same page.]
:Form: In 1987 you quietly took something from the house of a dying woman. You thought nobody knew. You were wrong.

:[Cueball is sitting at his computer.]
:''Click''

:[The form is updated.]
:Shipping: $14.08
:Total: $80.02
:----------------
:Discount
:Applied: -$80.02
:Final price: $0.00
:Thank you
:-Your order has been placed-

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]