diff --git a/helpdesk/views/staff.py b/helpdesk/views/staff.py
index a9c28908..6d11e147 100644
--- a/helpdesk/views/staff.py
+++ b/helpdesk/views/staff.py
@@ -411,8 +411,8 @@ def update_ticket(request, ticket_id, public=False):
     # this prevents system from trying to render any template tags
     # broken into two stages to prevent changes from first replace being themselves
     # changed by the second replace due to conflicting syntax
-    comment = comment.replace('{%','X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-VERBATIM').replace('%}','X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-ENDVERBATIM')
-    comment = comment.replace('X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-VERBATIM','{% verbatim %}{%').replace('X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-ENDVERBATIM','%}{% endverbatim %}')
+    comment = comment.replace('{%', 'X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-VERBATIM').replace('%}', 'X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-ENDVERBATIM')
+    comment = comment.replace('X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-VERBATIM', '{% verbatim %}{%').replace('X-HELPDESK-COMMENT-ENDVERBATIM', '%}{% endverbatim %}')
     # render the neutralized template
     comment = template_func(comment).render(context)