Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for February 18, 2024

Watch out.. SKYNET will be coming for you, Frank! ;)

Now that is some good satire! I mean seriously, these appointment reminders and confirmations are really getting out of hand in recent years; I’ll sometimes get phone and email reminders at the same time!

Don’t antagonize your future masters.

Try shutting your phone down, Frank.

We hate appointment reminders, but we use them anyway.

It appears the Frank has not learned about the silent mode on his phone.

And now for something non sequitur, I never realized Luann was a Southpaw.

Stuff the phone under some pillows in another room, Frank.

Frank’s gonna go out to th garage an get his old tin foil lined hat out

This strip is not an exaggeration. I had a service call from Xfinity, and it was just like this, not to mention the post-appointment surveys.

One of the many reasons why I just carry a flip phone for emergencies and never give that number out; if someone wants to call me, they have to use the landline and when I’m not home, oh, well…

Not worried about AI. More worried about UI, uploaded intelligence. Watch Pantheon and you will understand.

Yep! That’s the VA..

Do know WHY AI is “bugging you,” Frank?

Because if you MISS that appointment, They can charge you 75 bucks and up for “missed appointment.”

Especially if it’s a doctor’s appointment.

And you CAN’T say that AI didn’t REMIND you. ;-)

Something to appreciate. Who else thinks of you every five minutes.

Well, to be fair, it doesn’t KNOW you’re trying to nap.

This is one Dad Joke I can agree with.

This is why I don’t give out my cell number to schedule appointments

That is Cricut.

I was given a Cricut for Valentines Day. In four days, I have received over 20 emails. All like this:

“Wow, you’ver created your first project”“Hey, try out our Cricut Access”“Wow, you did another project, here is a coupon”

At least 4-5 a day.

I have unsubscribed from Cricut and will muddle through with the help of youtube.

Just turn the d@mned phone off, Frank!!

My dentist bought this AI nagging software. After two reminder calls on consecutive days three months in advance, I noticed that it did not have a spoof feature. I blocked the phone number. I handle my own calendar, thank you very much. I showed up at my appointment in peace.

My doctor’s nagging software does have a spoof feature. Yeah, really , it does. I changed my phone number on the doctor’s records to the phone number of the doctor’s bank. Two can play this game!

my dental office does that.

I’ve seen e-mails on my desktop, “Are you here yet?” Yep – carry that big old monitor EVERYWHERE!

My dentist’s office sends about 5 of them for each appt. I guess they have problems with people chickening out.

WOW… a Sunday comic that’s more than just three panels?? And it’s actually FUNNY!!

I love Luann’s joke, I really like these moments of normality at home where you see that she is not only committed to Mrs Horner’s writing class, but also studies for other classes every day, following a well organised study time. And as someone who doesn’t live in America, as annoying as it is, it’s comforting to know that these kinds of constant requests for medical confirmation are probably happening everywhere in the world and not just in your country.

I get a text the day before from my doctor. I don’t take a card but enter it in my online calendar. CVS has a robot caller and every time I have a one time prescription filled, I get a robot call telling me that I can get 90 day refills. But my Medicare part D policy, which is with CVS Caremark requires that I use mail order and yes I get 90 days worth.

I don’t take naps with my cell phone in hand.

A computer alarm isn’t “Artificial Intelligence.”

But Luann is kind of right.

AI is all too intelligent. That’s the problem.

See that same from my mail order prescription medication pharmacy. Your medication xxxx is ready for renewal; press Y to renew, N for no; ‘Y’ Thank you for renewing your xxxx medication. Thank you for renewing your prescription xxxx. Your renewal prescription for xxxx is being processed. Your prescription xxxx is ready fro shipment. Your prescription xxxx has shipped. Your prescription xxxx has been delivered. Thank you for using YYYY for your prescription medication needs.

AI is taking over the world. We have to stop it before it’s too late.

And don’t forget the survey afterwards.

My phone is on vibrate

Just shut the dang thing off!

And don’t forget to bring the pizza.

that explains it then. :p

Turn the dam thing off!

That is what the “Do Not Disturb” mode is for….

I set an appointment with my eye doctor for this Friday. I did that two weeks ago and with only as many reminders this far.

What really gets me is when they send you a text link to check in, but then tell you that you still need to check in at the desk after you’ve been waiting indefinitely. What’s the point??

Ping!!!!!

I agree with the top comment: Too much! AI still is about 4 years old in kid years.

That is exactly the sort of crap for which “Do Not Disturb” mode was designed.

Dentists the world over must have subscribed to this software. I threatened to find another dentist if they remind me more than once. Evidently they found a setting that stops it.. we will wait and see.

My phone is always on mute.

I never sleep near my phone. Last year the county sent out an emergency test signal – 4 or 5 very loud tones. It was supposed to go to everyone’s TV but it went to everyone’s cell phone instead – - at 4:30 a.m. Woke up lots of unhappy people, but not me. My phone was in another room.

The problem for me is that I rely on the reminders to the point that I forget…. What was I about to say?

Just silence the phone, works for me :)

Just silence the phone when you don’t want to be disturbed. Unsilence it when you are done. Don’t let the phone control your life.

Puzzled why they don’t include the 15 minutes when they make the appointment.

That is most certainly not AI. I would call it robo-nagging. AI would be when it looks at your past attendance to appointments and tunes the nagging as appropriate.

A couple of observations on all the prior comments

1) There is an inflationary nature of these reminders the more we get, the less we pay attention. In the end it’s whether you’re planning properly.

2) The DND feature is a real problem, particularly if you forget to take it off.

It never fails.

Luann is a lefty. I hadn’t noticed until now.

Frank, in those words of our illustrious former president, Bill Clinton, “I feel your pain!”

I get a text, an email, and a phone call from my dentist’s office, asking for confirmation. I always confirm via the first method that I receive. The last appointment, I confirmed by text, then ignored the other two. When I arrived for the appointment, they had canceled it, because they want voice confirmation. Couldn’t explain to me why they send text and email confirmation requests.

I’m still waiting for someone to send me a reminder that they are coming over to give me money.

Or when people sell off your email and you get nothing but junk emails from a lot of places

My Sunday paper recently started running the Sunday Luann strip, complete with the title panel that GoComics omits. Today, the title panel has a man (looks like someone we should know, but I’m blanking on his name) “recommending” the strip!

There’s a massive difference between an automated service and AI, Frank.

It’s kind of Frank’s fault for having the sound on his phone. My phones haven’t made a noise in almost 10 years now. My naps never get interrupted by it.

This is why places I make appointments with get my cel phone to call. It’s never on.

MWA-HA-HA.

Luann is good at eating a bananana and talking at the same time!

To be fair, I need all of those reminders.