Light Switches

The basement light switch. 9/9/24 dwm

 It took 3,265 posts but the time has come to comment on one of the most important issues I've ever addressed.

 My friends, if you have a light switch at the top and at the bottom of a staircase, the toggle in the top plate should be up when the light is on and down when the light is off.

 If or when someone uses the lower light switch, which should be rare because if you go downstairs at some point you're coming up, right, that's when you flick the switch down, turning the light off.

 A small matter? Certainly not.

 When carrying something down, or up the stairs, it should be easy to use a forearm or elbow to flip the light on and with a basket full of clean clothes to turn it off without setting the basket down.

 In my personal quest to right such wrongs I frequently have to go down the stairs in half-light until I reach the bottom where I can turn the light and correct the direction that top switch is pointing.

Up is on, down is off. It's the natural order of things.

Skeptical? I suggest getting a clothes basket and head down the basement steps, it will be easier to turn on the light on if it was in the down position first. 

I'm glad you agree with me. You may notice that everyone isn't as enlightened as we are; that's OK, you will likely have years to show them the light. 

You're welcome.