diff --git a/c4mate b/c4mate
index 8632ef1..3bcb0d1 100755
--- a/c4mate
+++ b/c4mate
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ function MatePad:parse_log(size)
     -- Then extract and print oldbalance, newbalance, parameter and method.
     -- Depending on method, print either reason or item_name. If any extraction
     -- fails we fail with exit code 1.
-    -- Note: we allow quoted quotation marks in "reason".
+    -- Note: we allow escaped quotation marks in "reason" and "item_name".
     pipe = io.popen(string.format([=[
 curl %s --header "Accept: application/json" "%s/api/user/%s/log?type=json" | \
 sed -n --sandbox '
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ sed -n '
         b
     }
     g
-    s/.*"item_name" *: *\(null\|"\([^"]*\)"\).*/\2/p
+    s/.*"item_name" *: *\(null\|"\(\([^"]\|\\"\)*[^\\]\)"\).*/\2/p
     T fail
     b
     :fail
@@ -305,6 +305,14 @@ function MatePad:give(amount, recipient, reason)
         })
 end
 
+
+-- Parse -u flag (which may be given multiple times).
+while arg[1] == "-u" do
+    table.remove(arg, 1)
+    USER = arg[1]
+    table.remove(arg, 1)
+end
+
 -- Process help and username options.
 if arg[1] == "-h" or
    arg[1] == "--help" then
@@ -326,13 +334,6 @@ Give credits:
     os.exit(0)
 end
 
--- Parse -u flag (which may be given multiple times).
-while arg[1] == "-u" do
-    table.remove(arg, 1)
-    USER = arg[1]
-    table.remove(arg, 1)
-end
-
 -- Set up username.
 if USER == nil then
     USER = os.getenv("USER")