The Clapper

in Giggles on October 17, 2022

Where are all my Gen-Xers??

My younger readers probably won’t grasp the full image of today’s post…but it will still be worth your time.

I vividly remember being at one of my grandmothers’ houses during the day while my mother was at work. I spent a great deal of time bouncing between three different grandmothers in my formative years. It was at two of these house where I was introduced to Bob Barker, Victor Newman, Jill Abbott, and a host of others. There was nothing quite like daytime TV in the eighties.

There was also nothing quite like the commercials of daytime TV in the eighties. We all knew that it took three licks to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop. We all wondered with America’s favorite Granny when she asked, “Where’s the beef?” And starting around November, there were no dry eyes in any household the morning that Peter came home for Christmas and started the Folgers coffee.

While there are many things from that era which make me happily swim through my memories…there is one commercial I am not particularly fond of. For whatever reason, this product’s jingle crept under my skin as a kid, and has managed to stay there allll these years later. Let’s see if I can get it stuck in your head today…

Clap on! Clap off! Clap on—Clap off! The CLAPPER!!

The Clapper device was the forerunner to today’s Smart Home. You plugged this little device into your outlet, and then plugged your lamp, TV, or whatever into the device—then—as if by magic—you simply clapped your hands together, and voilà!! The lights came on. The TV would come on. No more fumbling in the dark for a pesky light switch. Let the Clapper do the work for you.

Apparently, that was one of the most successful advertising jingles of all time, because almost forty years later, that wretched little number is still in use.

I am an early riser. When my kiddos were young, I purposefully got up around 4:30-5:00 every morning just so I could have a little peace and quite before the chaos of the day began. All of my kids have gone away to school, and still I get up around 5:00. I like the serenity of the early morning. I think better first thing in the day. I am more productive first thing in the day. I can work a six-seven hour day at my computer before noon, and then still have the rest of the day to do other things.

My husband, on the other hand, is a night owl. He rarely goes to bed this side of midnight. In fact, more often than not, by the time I am rising for the day, he has only been a resident of Dreamland for a few hours. This alternating schedule of ours, still allows me to have my own personal time in the mornings. It works for us.

Until…last week…

I had not been awake very long, in fact, I had not even finished my coffee. I was sitting in the living room, waking up, sipping hot coffee, and scrolling through my phone before I started my day…when all of a sudden, from the bedroom, I hear:

CLAP!! CLAP!!

That was it. No words. No other sounds. Just two rapid and LOUD claps. The dogs immediately ran into the other room; obviously any sound coming from the bedroom meant Daddy was awake, and MUST be greeted for the morning. I moved a bit slower. I was exceptionally curious as to what could have possibly possessed my husband to think that merely clapping his hands would work to get me off the couch and into the bedroom.

Naturally, I got up to ask him.

I stood in the doorway of our bedroom, coffee cup in one hand, the other hand on my hip, and asked, “Did you just CLAPPER me?”

He was just laying in bed, dogs crawling all over him, grinning from ear to ear, and said:

“Yup. And it WORKED!”

Ugh.

I was half-tempted to launch my coffee cup at him, and half-tempted to just bust out laughing. The laughter won out. The sheer absurdity of the Clapper coming to his mind as a means of summoning me was, in all reality, funny.

I shoo’d the dogs away from my mischievous husband, and snuggled down next to him. He hugged me tight, and in a low voice whispered, “It may have taken two decades, but I finally have you trained.”

So…if anyone needs to reach my husband, you’ll have to wait until he gets back from his trip…I’ve scheduled him for a nighttime tiger mini-safari with Carole Baskin over in Florida. I’m sure he’ll be back any day now.

Clap on!! Clap OFF!!

Have a great week.