Mystery of the Fridge Internal Light

[Lee-Anne-and-Shane0]

Hi,

just wanted to share this weird, but harmless, experience - and to see if anyone might be able to explain it.

I got to my property after several back to back stays over Christmas. I quickly noticed that the interior lights in the fridge and freezer were off. The fridge worked fine otherwise. 
I eventually tried to fix it and noticed that someone had sticky-taped the micro switches shut, so the fridge thought it was permanently shut and kept the lights off. As soon as I removed the sticky-tape, everything was back to normal. I even found the packet of sticky tape that they had purchased for the job!

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why anyone would do that?! Whyyy????

Does anyone have any ideas?

My only possible thought is that they were using the fridge as an air conditioner in the hot weather because the fridge fan also turns off when the door is open. However there is ducted reverse-cycle airconditioning, and it wasn’t a normal Adelaide hot Christmas period. 

Can anyone solve this mystery?

Shane 

[Shaun282]

We also had a guest tape the refrigerator switch shut and I never figured out why!?  At first, I thought something was wrong with the fridge light/LED and had called for service.  We've also had a guest put tape over the tiny indicator light on the smoke detector.  They would have had to bring a chair upstairs to stand on to reach it!

[Sarah977]

@Lee-Anne-and-Shane0  Ah, the mysteries of life as a host. I read a post where a host had assumed a guest had stolen or broken and thrown out a lamp, then found it stuffed under a pile of extra blankets in the back of a closet. Did his ex- wife have a lamp just like that, and he couldn't bear to look at it? Did he take some psychedelics and thought the lamp was threatening? Did he think there was a hidden camera in it?

If you really want to know, just message the guest and ask. Make sure they don't think you're mad about it, just say it's driving you nuts that you can't imagine the reason and you're just curious. I'd be curious, too. It's a head scratcher, for sure.

[Sherri175]

I am keeping an AIRBNB journal of all the strange happenings....someday it may be funny.

[Sarah977]

It would make a good TV game show. A host talks about something inexplicable that the guests did, then the contestants each give their guess for the behavior.  Then the guest comes on and explains why they did it.

[Lawrene0]

I, fruitlessly, play something like that game show in my head at turnovers, @Sarah977 . "Why on earth did they...?"

I can't play it when I get back to the house.

Me: "I found the spoons all stuck upright in a circle in the grass."

Husband: "Don't worry about it."

But I'm such a big fan of the game I'm going to take a stab at it, @Lee-Anne-and-Shane0 . Maybe the guests were filming something? A vlog post maybe? They needed the fridge door open for the scene, but the light and the fan were problems in the shot? 

[Sarah977]

@Lawrene0  I really miss that about being single now- men's practical attitudes and advice about not getting hung up on silly, unimportant stuff that I could obsess about for days 🙂

[Emilia42]

@Lee-Anne-and-Shane0 Maybe this guest suffers from bad migraines and doesn't want the light glaring at them?

Once the reviews are all said and done, I would ask them. It is a little concerning that the guest didn't remove the tape before they left. Because like @Shaun282, many hosts/cleaners could think the fridge is broken resulting in an expensive service call. 

[Ann72]

@Lee-Anne-and-Shane0  Crazy!  But I think one of them is an insomniac and didn’t want to disturb the other one with the fridge light coming on at night.  I wouldn’t do it in someone else’s home, but I too have put a piece of tape over the tiny smoke-alarm light.  I go around my own places unplugging and turning off things that emit any kind of glow.  If I were to do any of this at an Airbnb or a hotel, I think I would ask for permission or help first or would try to put it back the way it was before leaving.

[Quincy]

Same here @Ann72! I also go around unplugging things that emit a glow etc.. I would never do this at someone's home though! 

[Ann72]

Whew!  Glad I'm not the only one @Quincy 🙂

[Lee-Anne-and-Shane0]

I could understand that in a studio apartment, but the kitchen is totally separate from the bedrooms. 

[Tommy150]

That was going to be my guess... Light sensitivity? Or maybe if it was an open living space they didn't want to disturb their partner at night ?

[Lee-Anne-and-Shane0]

Yeah - but not in this case as the bedrooms are separate from the kitchen

[Sarah977]

@Ann72 @Quincy  I'm in the club, too. I can't stand those glowing lights, especially the time readouts on it seems every appliance and device. Why do people need the coffee maker, the microwave and the stove to all tell you what time it is?

I have my DVD player, TV screen and stereo plugged into a surge bar and click off the surge bar when I'm not using any if it.