A Short Story About Sears Kenmore Support

In 1992 our family moved to San Jose. We rented a duplex that had its own laundry so we bought a washer and dryer from Sears and had them delivered and installed. (That Sears at Vallco Mall had a clothing display called “The Mainframe” and I loved all of it)

The installers left and I went to try out the washer but it would not turn on. It had an all touch control panel, which was fairly new so I didn’t know how to diagnose the issue. I was tired and the installers had just left so I called support.

Support was super friendly and asked me to check if the red dot on the power plug was facing upwards. I wondered what a dot had to do with anything but ok, I will humor them.

I pulled the washer out and sure enough, the red dot on the power plug was not facing up because the plug was not plugged in.

I plugged the three prong plug into the socket, the only way it would go in of course, and now the red dot was facing up!

I told them it looked like the installers had not tested the washer and they apologized. I asked about the red dot and they said it is just a mechanism that they can use to get people to make sure the unit is plugged in without directly asking them, which might make the customer feel foolish.

I always think about this.