difficult
Explanation
The Joke
A man is staring at a hotel faucet and observing that "it appears to change parameters based on the motion of my hands within a toroidal region near its base." He is describing, in overly technical and scientific language, the experience of trying to use an unfamiliar faucet -- the kind with motion sensors or unusual controls that seem to respond unpredictably.
Below the main panel is a graph showing the relationship between "Classiness of the hotel I'm staying in" (x-axis) and "Likelihood of me being able to operate any faucet in my room" (y-axis). The graph shows an inverse relationship: the fancier the hotel, the less likely you are to be able to figure out how to use the faucet.
The Humor
The comic captures a universally relatable frustration: luxury hotels tend to install increasingly avant-garde, minimalist, or "design-forward" fixtures that are nearly impossible for guests to operate. Cheap motels have simple, obvious faucets that anyone can use. Five-star hotels have sleek, unmarked fixtures where you cannot tell where the water comes from, how to adjust the temperature, or even which surface is the faucet versus the soap dispenser. The character's scientific description of the faucet's behavior -- treating it like an alien artifact requiring empirical investigation -- perfectly captures the absurd experience of an educated adult being defeated by bathroom fixtures. The graph formalizes this observation into a pseudo-scientific law, giving it the veneer of academic rigor that makes the mundane complaint funnier.