Appreciation post: The time a customer's kid pointed out my multimeter setting

I was checking a control board on a Frigidaire range, convinced it was a bad 5 volt rail, and had my Fluke set to AC volts for about twenty minutes. The homeowner's ten year old son, who was watching, just asked 'why is it on the squiggly line, mister?'. Ever have a simple oversight like that make you double check your whole routine?

4 comments

4 Comments

laura_chen4110d ago

I mean, idk, I kinda feel like if you're a tech and you've been staring at a board for twenty minutes without realizing your meter's on AC, maybe that's a sign you needed a break anyway. Not really a deep lesson about troubleshooting, just a good reminder to not skip the basics when you're tired.

murphy.tessa2mo ago

Damn, that kid just saved you from a whole lot of wasted time.

jamieb802mo ago

Yeah @murphy.tessa, I just started asking "what's the catch" early on and it filters things out fast.

phoenix_lewis2mo ago

That's a great story. It makes you wonder how many times we miss the simple stuff because we're looking for the complicated fix. Do you have a standard double-check step in your process now, like always verifying the meter setting before you start? I've started tapping the leads together first just to hear the beep.