Snooze Buttons - Something to sleep 
  on…or through?
      by Robin

 Thursday, July 15, 2004 - 6:28 PM

      I hate snooze buttons. I hate them because I think they are a tease. I also hate being teased. (And those of you who know me probably take advantage of it. And like a good little corrupted blonde, I take it and fight back weakly, if that.) When it comes to snooze buttons, I fight with a vengeance.  

How do I fight them? I simply don’t use them. I set my alarm for the time I intend to get up. No questions. If I truly feel I would benefit from ten extra minutes of sleep when the intended hour and minutes arrive, I will set my cute little Timex alarm for ten more minutes. But most of the time, I jump up as soon as I hear it go off. I guess you’d say I’m a light sleeper.  

 I didn’t hate snooze buttons until I came to college. I got a roommate. My roommate was fond of snooze buttons as are my current roommate/suitemates. Each morning, the battle of the snooze button and Robin Kidd’s thin patience began. My roommate set her alarm to go off a damn near two hours before she intended to get up! This is aggravating to a light sleeper who is up at the first sounding of each of its horrible serenades. I suppose their variety and usage stems from the way we are reared. Perhaps it is our parents’ fault for training us this way. From the time one is young, ten more minutes is always okay. The only consequence of an ignored snooze button or bellowing mother was missing the bus. No biggie, right?   

To make matters that much more antagonizing, alarms are not pleasantly conducive for waking up. If they were, we would still sleep through them. We do that for regular alarms without even trying. When purchasing my first alarm clock, I made it a priority to find one with a pleasant beeping noise rather than a blaring foghorn. It just works for me. It’s all I need. You don’t have to tell me eight times to wake up. If that is the case, I’m probably dead.

 I love my alarm clock. I don’t always love waking up. But that isn’t the alarm’s fault. It is just doing its job I set it to do. It is reliable. It runs on a battery. A thunderstorm won’t be my excuse for missing class. (Too bad hot water and electricity aren’t reliable like that. I know…I’ve heard of generators…and they’d be practical if we had a fast way to charge them for normal everyday use. Maybe the simple Timex alarm clock with Indiglo knows something we don’t? )

 Do you own an alarm clock with a snooze button and make use of that button? Then you’re a liar. How? Each morning when you half-consciously assault that which you call an alarm clock, you are lying to yourself. Just ten more wonderful minutes! In what way is interrupted sleep blissful? You didn’t wake up dead. You heard it the first time it squeaked at you. You are going to have to get up eventually. It is bigger than all of us-don’t fight it.

 
Robin –the girl on the outside who is the butt of an inside joke and can’t understand why