Saturday, August 13, 2011

RV Alarmed Couple

Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
I found last week’s session very interesting. We too find generators annoying and always opt for generator free campground loops when available. Our unit has a generator but we find it annoying even when we have to run it. We would never consider running it around other campers who are enjoying a quiet camping outing. My concern is yet another new sound annoyance we have started noticing lately. Car alarms. I think many newer model cars come standard with car alarms. Campers with unfamiliar rentals or new vehicles get into them at all hours of the night and you hear loud honking until they finally figure out what button to push. By that time they have already pushed all my husband’s buttons. He tells them all what he thinks. The problem is, I’m the only one that can hear him. I tell him it solves nothing and upsets me. Should I just let him vent and ignore it or work on this issue until he goes deaf?
Horny in Havre, MT

Dear Horny:
I’m all ears. It is annoying and a growing problem. The ironic thing is, car alarms are so common, we are now programmed to think, “What an idiot,” instead of “Oh, someone is breaking into a car.” It is noise pollution pure and simple. I don’t think your husband is going to go out at dark-thirty in the morning and catch the offender. Besides, this person already feels like a jerk. If it’s a real Yosemite “break-in” he could be eaten by a bear. If he isn’t already deaf I am going to assume he wasn’t at Woodstock, so get him some ear plugs. You could also start taking him to Bob Dylan concerts. I did, and I lost a good share of the hearing I had left. Plus, as a side note, Bob can’t remember how his songs go anymore. Time will heal everything. Just be patient and appreciate the fact that there are actually a few people who have read their owner’s manual.
--Keep Smilin’, Dr. R.V. Shrink

##RVT813

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What gets me is how trucks and cars -- mostly American ones -- have remote entry/lock that BEEEEPS to tell you the lock is functioning. This is not very pleasant to surrounding humans in a campground, but the vehicle owners do not seem to care. In fact, everywhere you go you hear these annoying BEEEPS as the car owner checks it. At times I have jumped outta my skin because someone decided to set off the BEEP right as I was walking by the vehicle. A flashing lights signal is just as effective and not offensive. But as far as I know, it's mostly non-American vehicles that have the light indicators.

Anonymous said...

In all my years of RVing,(I started in 1957 when my parents got their first travel trailer), only once have I been awakened by a car alarm in a campground. So seriously, just how often does this happen to others?

Fred said...

We are fulltimers and we encounter car alarms going off in the night on average every 3-4 weeks.