Season 1 · a cartoon by the VARIA team
Gary in the Loop
Brad went AI-first. Gary still gets every ticket.
The AI says “done”, the ticket lands on Gary anyway, and nobody counts what that costs.
Marked done by the AI 00
Still reached Gary 00
Why Gary drowns
Where tickets go once AI joins the queue
Resolved ✅
The AI answers first and marks the ticket resolved. The dashboard counts it as handled.
forwarded to me. again.
28 tickets in 100 still reach an agent. The customer writes back, or a reply needs a person's OK before it goes out.
VARIA demo support flow: 27.5% reach a person, 1.09 touches each (modelled).
Why is this on my desk?
The routing model puts some in the wrong queue first. Someone reads them and passes them on, and the customer waits.
Wrong routes: $0.42 a ticket (modelled).
Fifteen thousand touches. A month.
At 50,000 tickets a month that is 13,750 tickets for your team. The AI bill says $52. The hours cost about $45k.
$3 a touch: people $0.90 a ticket, machines $0.0010 (modelled).
Count it first.
VARIA counts this bill for your own flow before you change it: who still touches the tickets, the wrong routes, the wait, and where to cut. The small version runs on your numbers right here:
Count my Gary bill ↓Your Gary bill
How many tickets still land on your Gary?
VARIA demo: 27.5% (modelled)
VARIA default: $3 (modelled)
- Gary's tickets a month13,750
- People bill a month$45,086
- AI bill a month$52
Gary costs 870× the AI.
All modelled: your three numbers, plus $0.0010 a ticket for the machines from the VARIA demo support flow.
Want the real one? VARIA prices your actual flow: tokens, people, wrong routes, the wait.
Shrink this bill on VARIA →How we counted
- Gary's tickets = tickets a month × the share that still reaches a person.
- People bill = Gary's tickets × 1.09 touches × one human touch. Some tickets need a second touch (a refund reply held for review), so the VARIA demo counts 1.09 touches per ticket that reaches a person (modelled): $0.90 a ticket, the same as on heyvaria.com.
- AI bill = tickets a month × $0.0010, what the machines cost per ticket in the VARIA demo support flow (modelled). Your model and prompts will differ.
- Not counted here: wrong routes. In the VARIA demo they cost $0.42 a ticket (modelled).
Gary's notes
Notes from Gary's desk
Tell Gary
Tell Gary your AI horror story
The office
Two humans, one robot, one cat.
Gary
Support. Gets every ticket.
Says “forwarded to me. again.”
Brad
Founder. AI-first. Believes.
Says “Our AI costs two cents a ticket!”
The AI
Helpful. Expensive. Always “done”.
Says “Routing to a human!”
The cat
Judges.
Says “Nope.”
The way out
Gary found a portal
Follow Gary