Brooks ([info]brooksmoses) wrote,
@ 2008-03-12 22:32:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Yes, of course, that makes perfect sense. Riiiight.
So, we've got this relatively modern oven, with electronic controls and lots of buttons. To turn it on, you turn one rotary switch to "Oven On", push the "Bake" button, and turn the "Set" dial until the LCD shows the temperature you want. And then, after a moment, the LCD switches to showing the actual temperature in the oven.

The LCD also, of course, has a clock on it. I suspect there is a federal law that all home appliances that have multi-digit LCD displays must use them to display a clock.

So, as is a timely question right about now, how do you set this clock?

Well, in the row of buttons like "Bake" and "Broil" and "Deep Fat Fry", there is one labeled "Clock". So the obvious thing to do is to push the "Clock" button and then turn the "Set" dial.

I tried that. It didn't do anything.

Well, almost nothing; it helpfully noted on the LCD screen that the oven was off. Which I knew.

I tried holding the "Clock" button and turning the "Set" dial, which of course also did nothing.

Then, I was enlightened, and proceeded to set the clock.

You see, there is no "Oven Off" / "Oven On" switch. There is an "Input Disabled" / "Input Enabled" switch, which is helpfully mislabeled as a switch to turn the oven on and off. This mislabeling is, of course, obvious because it does not in fact turn the oven on.

And so, to set the clock on the oven, you first turn the switch to "Oven On" to enable input, push the "Clock" button, turn the "Set" dial to the correct time, and then (because it seems like the thing one does) turn the switch back to "Oven Off" once it's set.

This is, of course, exactly the opposite of our car radio, which one must first turn off in order to set the clock.


(Post a new comment)


[info]rosefox
2008-03-13 06:09 am UTC (link)
So why not leave the switch to "Oven On" all the time?

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]brooksmoses
2008-03-13 06:14 am UTC (link)
Mostly because I have this instinctive "make sure the oven's turned off" script in my head.

Other than that, I'm not sure. It's possible, but unlikely, that someone might accidentally bump one of the "Bake" buttons and turn the "Set" knob without intending to; that's the best argument I can come up with.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]rosefox
2008-03-13 06:16 am UTC (link)
If you had a cat, I guess that would sort of make sense, but it seems kind of unlikely.

To put it another way, I've never met an oven that had an "Input Disabled" switch!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]brooksmoses
2008-03-13 06:20 am UTC (link)
Yup. And it's actually a cabinet-mount, so a cat that could hit the buttons hard enough to register, after jumping five feet off the floor, would have to be seriously trying.

Mostly it's the "don't leave the oven on" script, and the fact that it's labeled "on". And I know it's silly. :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]allbery
2008-03-13 06:40 am UTC (link)
I sense a corollary to the old maxim that all programs grow until they're able to read your e-mail. All LCD-enabled devices gain features until they keep time.

At least my cable box also does DST transitions.

(Reply to this)


[info]julesjones
2008-03-13 08:39 am UTC (link)
It's a very strange control panel, if it's the same one I had to deal with. It didn't occur to me that this is because the switch is helpfully mislabeled, but now you've said, it makes sense...

(Reply to this)


[info]bungo
2008-03-13 03:02 pm UTC (link)
I feel your pain, and give you Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things".

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]cjsmith
2008-03-13 04:54 pm UTC (link)
Amen to that.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…