Everyone is dealing with a lot of change these days. [Holy state the obvious, Susan]
So if you can save them from making changes that don't fix a problem, you should.
Case in point - the Microwave.
We've owned two microwaves before this week, when we bought the third. The first one was bought about 1985. The second one - a Panasonic - was bought sometime in the mid 90's. [My spouse says February 26, 1996. He keeps excellent records, apparently. And apparently we get the appliance buying impulse at the same time every year!]
It's still going strong, actually, but we are renovating and wanted a smaller one.
Off to our friendly neighbourhood Sears, and Bay department stores, after doing some requisite online searching. [Aside: like many in a small inner city house, we were searching based on size, not features. Even though I was really hoping for stainless...]
We picked up another Panasonic. Pleasant surprise: the controls are almost identical!
How is this possible, when the last one is more than 15 years old?
It's possible, because some unsung genius over at Panasonic has set up some rules. And the rules say you don't change things unless you can make them better. And the better has to be enough better that it offsets the nuisance of learning a new system.
Which means we already know how to set the clock. Which took about a nano-second after we plugged it in. Thank you, Panasonic! You had a simple control panel that worked, and you kept it. [Probably a big money saver, too.]
There are improvements, in fact. It's easier to see through the window. It's smaller. It's a lot quieter. Nothing to learn there, just stuff to enjoy.
Learning new systems is a feature of everyday life now. And not always a welcome feature, let's be honest. I love Office 2010, but it was a little hill to climb. Not a big climb, a hill. But it made me wonder how many iterations I will need to learn before the end of time? [My personal time, that is.]
So hats off to you, whoever is designing control panels at Panasonic. I thank you for making my life a little easier. You spent your time fixing things that needed fixed, not things that didn't.
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