Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 11, 2015

A leprechaun riding a unicorn would’ve been more realistic. You know that Steph…

ain’t that the truth. This is the second excellent contractor strip Stephan has done.

How about a politician with a backbone?

I heard of a guy who tongue-in-cheek named his business “Adios Construction”

I hope that is a wax figure and the real Bob is out on a job somewhere.

Having just had some work done, I know this to be sadly true. For some reason, the area I currently live in, this is just an acceptable way of doing business. It drives those of us from other places crazy.

Great strip, check out Stone Soup this morning. This seems to follow on rather nicely.

For some reason, this strip reminded me of Joe Schlabotnik. I can’t remember why Joe’s name is familiar. Who is he? Is he a comic strip or cartoon character? Anyone else know?

I work as a contractor of sorts. The reason why it’s always like that? Better to be overbooked and busy all day than to have a reasonable schedule where others cancel, or parts arrive late, or certain preceding work hasn’t been done and sit twiddling your thumbs for three hours not making any money.

You mean must have been having work done. Pastis works months in advance of when the strips actually run. This has resulted in strips that he did focusing on an article then being in the news looking like they were an afterthought and the characters having no idea their behind the times. It’s also at least once resulted in a cop out on his part when he announced the winner of the 2012 election was blank. And there was a little note saying for the paper to fill in the blank with the winner. Any paper that actually did would have made Rat look strange since Rat notes the fill in the blank is a cop out.

Bob may be the most popular exhibit, but the other two shown are also worth a look! I think Mr. Schlabonski must feel very uncomfortable being on display like this rather than out doing contractor-stuff!

The ever considerate Bob,he even wears overalls…the original butt-crack eliminators.

Wonder what would be in Pig’s World of amazing things ?

Hey hey hey, what’s with all the contractor hate? My father’s a contractor and he’s always on time.

Ah yes, everything should be in 30 minutes or less….or it’s free. That’s why Dominoes fall.

Steph shoulda called this, “Rat-ley’s Believe It or Rot!”

Or howabout, "a Comcast member who will cancel your cable?

What is happening is that the local plumbers, electricians and contractors are screwing themselves by being this way. I see more ads for large chain places taking over. I get Roto Rooter for my plumbing now as they actually show up and if there is a problem, they come again and fix it. Again I have no sympathy for the little guy cause they have none for us!

What is a Tacko?

Rat owns a diamond and is just displaying it in a museum? How much is he charging admission?

AHHH. LOVED IT!

Ain’t no such thing as a contractor who shows up on time and who gets the job done in the amount of time they originally say. You will sooner find a combination Yeti-Leprechaun-Unicorn than such a creature.

That’s because they give you a half-day window. :-)It would be hard to miss.

I remember reading once about a contractor who put in a cement drive and then when to the door to let the owner know that the work was done and not to drive on it until the cement was dry. It turned out to be the wrong house (he’d missread the address in the paperwork). The owner said that she and her husband had intended to have the driveway done and offered to pay for the work even though they hadn’t ordered it, but the contractor refused any payment saying that it was his mistake and he was responsible, not them. The houseowners were happy with the man’s work and his honsety and started telling their friends about the guy, he ended up with all the work he could handle because of it.

Another rare exhibit would include the baby Stephan-Croc.

xxx

Yup—so true.

And I could think of a few other people who might fit in where the contractor is, too …

And around the corner, a Domino’s pizza guy who actually makes deliveries in less than 30 minutes.

Thank you to all who identified Joe Shlabotnik. Who could ever forget old what’s-his-name?

i fully understand why its like that from contractors’ point of view, but its bang on. I can really relate to that. (I’m inn UK but its the same here).

Even more rate is the contractor who does not abandon your job to go take care of a squeaky wheel customer. Be the squeaky wheel!

What?! This news is unbelievable.

I remember in the Rick Riordan book Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer, there was a rope made from paradox ingredients. It was a printer that prints, a politicians sincerity, and good public WiFi

I thought the world’s largest diamond was the Kloppman diamond