Scott's Pet Peeve #2519
by Scott Hardie on December 21, 2010
Why do some microwaves have a convenient quick-start option if you press 1 or 2 or 3, so that they instantly start cooking with 1:00 or 2:00 or 3:00 on the clock... but DON'T have this same functionality programmed into 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, which do nothing when pressed alone? How does an engineer possess both the vision to provide the former and the lack of imagination that results in the latter? If it's about cutting cost, is it really that expensive to add a few more instructions to the same circuit board? This doesn't bother me because I'm too lazy to press time-four-zero-zero-start so much as because I'm baffled how a machine could have turned out this way.
Eight Replies to Scott's Pet Peeve #2519
Matthew Preston | December 21, 2010
My guess is that it's a safety-don't-want-to-be-sued issue. Some legal person somewhere along the line probably figured that cooking things over 3 minutes could cause problems. Either with destroying food, or causing damage to the microwave itself. Americans are quick to sue for the littlest things.
Ours has the same thing, but pressing the same button more than once usually compounds the time. For example when I want to cook something for 4 minutes, I press 3 - 1.
EDIT: whoops, sorry Denise. I had this window open for a bit and hadn't noticed you had replied. Looks like we were on the same wavelength! :-)
Denise Sawicki | December 21, 2010
Another question, why do microwaves have a popcorn button when every bag of microwaveable popcorn says "do not use the popcorn button". Do the microwave instructions also say not to use the button? If so, why do they have the button? If not, why are they risking getting sued? By the way, I use the button and it works fine :P
Matthew Preston | December 21, 2010
A marketing gimmick perhaps? I always secretly think the popcorn button is just set for 3 minutes.
Lori Lancaster | December 21, 2010
[hidden by author request]
Erik Bates | December 22, 2010
[hidden by author request]
Scott Hardie | December 22, 2010
I guess since I eat frozen entrées for most meals (diet status: haven't lost or gained weight since last message), I'm accustomed to 3-7 minutes being a pretty standard use for a microwave.
At the apartment we just moved out of, the quick-start buttons went up to 5, which was a little more reasonable. But this new one has a little spinning carousel that cooks my food evenly and doesn't require me to stir halfway, so I guess it's a step up.
I don't recall ever using the popcorn button or the number of minutes written on the box. I just put the bag in the microwave and stand there until I can hear the popping stop.
Denise Sawicki | December 22, 2010
I didn't think there still were any non-spinning microwaves in this century. :)
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Tom's Ball Smells Like Apple Pie
For the last four months, I've spent Tuesdays at a bowling alley playing in a just-for-fun league. Score was kept, but the mood was friendly and non-competitive, except for one of my teammates who kept competing with us instead of the other teams. :-) I struggled with it at first, partly because I thought I was signing up for a six-week league and it turned out to be a sixTEEN-week league, and partly because my skills had somehow diminished even though I'm in better shape now. Go »Pug Life
A friend recently contacted Kelly and me out of the blue to ask if we could take care of her dog for six days while she was on vacation, since the arranged sitter was suddenly unavailable. Neither Kelly nor I have experience taking care of dogs, and we're definitely not dog people. I was attacked by a dog when I was little and I've never been comfortable around them, especially any dog large enough to leap up from the ground and reach my face with its teeth. Go »Intruder Alert
At 5:30am I was awakened by the doorbell and the sound of someone fumbling with my door. Through the peephole, I watched a young man desperately trying to pick the deadbolt. After a couple of minutes, he gave up and stumbled off towards the other apartments. Go »Illinois 2013: Four Pictures
As a follow-up to my Illinois road trip, here are photos taken at our engagement party. Shown are Kelly and me, Matthew Preston with his wife Liz, and Jackie Mason with her husband Will. I wish that our photographer Lori Lancaster was in one of the shots, but I'm grateful to her for taking the pictures all the same. Go »Pass Me the Green, I Need Some Trees with My Tennessee
Kelly and I just took a short vacation to Gatlinburg: Two days there, with two full days of driving to make it happen. We've been itching to get out of the house during this awful pandemic (and to use Kelly's PTO before it expires), but with options limited for places to go safely, we realized that we could rent a cabin with family and just go hiking and birdwatching and grilling, avoiding crowds in favor of natural spaces. Kelly's immediate family from Illinois drove over to join us. Go »
Denise Sawicki | December 21, 2010
Our microwave is like that. I assumed maybe it's a safety thing like 4 minutes would generally be too long for many purposes and would burn something. It is odd though.