The hardware store guy who showed me how to read a radon tester

I was at Ace Hardware in Portland picking up more duct tape for my shelter door seals and this older employee walked by. He saw the radon tester in my cart and just stopped and asked if I knew the little blinking light meant the battery was low and not the radon level. He showed me right there on the shelf how to reset it and check the filter date sticker inside the back panel. I had been putting that thing in my bunker for 6 months thinking the screen was normal. Has anyone else had a store employee teach them something basic that their manual didn't cover?

4 comments

4 Comments

jamie_adams15d agoMost Upvoted

Respectfully, blake792 you're overthinking this - manuals exist for a reason and most people just skip them. Ngl, a little reading saves a lot of hassle.

felix41416d ago

Wait, you really spent six months thinking that blinking light was normal? That's wild but honestly kind of understandable since radon testers aren't exactly user friendly. I had a cashier at Target once show me how to peel the protective plastic off a new toaster when I was about to return it because I thought the display was scratched.

blake79216d ago

Honestly, I was already leaning that way too. Ngl, I used to think those blinking lights were just part of the design, but after reading stuff like this it totally changed my mind. Tbh, makes me wonder how many other obvious things I've been overthinking.

max22315d ago

Yeah I was definitely in the same boat thinking those blinking lights were just how radon testers worked. I had one sitting in my basement for almost a year before someone at a garage sale casually mentioned the battery thing. That Target toaster story hits close to home too, makes you realize how much stuff we just assume is broken instead of user error.